White Collar: An unofficial novel - part 9

Burke's seven

Peter opened the door for Neal and Sara.

"Glad you could join us, Sara." Peter wanted to hug her in gratitude but stopped the impulse. It would be awkward.

"No problem, Peter. That's what friends are for."

"Sorry, for the prank call, Peter."

"I'm not," he smiled back at the kid. "Now we know the thing works."

"Welcome into the gray zone," Neal greeted Diana and Jones.

"It can't be gray if it's legal," Peter objected.

"Relax, Peter. It's not like I'll scare them away. Have you found a good spot?"

"I think so." Peter showed him the place on Google Maps.

"Good," Neal nodded. "You have some cardboard?"

"What for?"

"Show'n'tell."

Peter left for upstairs to that storage room where they put everything that could come in handy one day and returned downstairs with a pretty big piece.

"Works?" he asked the kid.

"Perfect." Neal put it on the table and draw the area Peter had shown him on the map on it.

"How can you draw straight lines just like that?" Jones asked.

"Trick of trade," the kid smiled, but Peter could see that Neal enjoyed the admiration.

They arranged the map so everyone could see it and Peter put the photos of Bilal and Larssen at the top.

"The little guy's not coming?" Jones asked.

"I sent my best operative to get him."

As on cue, El followed Mozzie who drove inside in a wheelchair through the back door. To send El with her care package to convince Neal's friend that retirement was a stupid idea had paid off. As he knew it would. Their friendship fascinated Peter. He had been so sure that El would do a better job than Neal, so he had sent Neal to recruit Sara instead.

"I know you're all surprised to see me," Mozzie said, grinning all over his face. Then he watched the assembled and his grin fell. "Not one of you is surprised to see me."

"Amateur," El said and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Nicely played, Mrs. Suit."

"Good luck with your little con," she said and left them.

"It's not a con!" Peter called after her.

"Well, technically, it is a con," Neal objected.

"It's a sting."

"Yeah," the kid agreed, "but a sting's another word for—" Peter's eyes met the ones of his pet convict and his point got through. "Okay, let's start the sting."

"Let me start by saying we have limited resources and no other backup. The six of us are all we have." Peter watched the four around the table, the ones that had no reason to help him, but did so anyway.

"The Burke Six." Neal tasted it. "I like it."

"I appreciate you guys being here. All right, here's the deal... Larssen is using our Prince Bilal as a smuggler. We're gonna spook Bilal into contacting Larssen."

"And Larssen is going to tell Bilal to make the delivery to us," Neal said.

"How's that?" Jones asked.

"Oh, I'm glad you asked," Neal smiled. "Every day, Bilal takes a regular route from his apartment to the yacht club. Diana, you're gonna flash your badge and scare him into making a call to Larssen.