White Collar Fanfiction

Chapter Three

I carefully lay the contact into the holder and snap it shut.

Let's see what's on you.

After Neal left I got a gentle conversation with Kyle about how if I needed a break I could take one, and about him being someone I can talk to. Someone I can trust. I've learned it's easier to just agree instead of getting the sympathetic looks whenever I say nothing at all.

Supper will be delivered by Jake at some point, like it always is whenever I hide in my bedroom, and then I'll probably be left alone until Kyle goes to bed. Then me and Jake will start work on our plans again.

Now comfortable in jeans and a t-shirt, I pull my bare feet up off the floor and onto my bed. I lean back on my stack of pillows against the wall and open the book.

Images of the FBI Most Wanted are covering the first four pages, and since there is no way Peter would do this, I'm guessing that's Neal's way of saying: "Stay safe" or/and "You owe me now" which is endearing and annoying. But then I turn onto the fifth page.

There is a note. Summed up, it strongly suggests that if I feel like it, I need to go find information on book copyrighting.

Orders from on high.

And then a note that isn't in typing. It has been folded up and taped on. I open it to see Neal's neat, creative handwriting:

I don't know how our chat will go, but please listen to what I have to say. I have been looking for Kate, and you probably already know, that I'm not getting too far. I want to be able to find her, yet she has told me already to stay away. I need someone she won't expect to get with her, then maybe we can finally meet again. You don't have to help me, but it is appreciated.

Thank you,
Neal Caffrey

I can't decide weather to fangirl that I have a signature from Neal Caffrey, or rip the ending off and burn the rest.

I end up squeaking into my pillow and folding the note back up into the book.

As I flip through the rest there are hidden notes from Neal about everything he and Mozzie, his real partner I'm not supposed to know about, have found about Kate. I feel some pity at how little they know when I finish the book.

But how am I supposed to help them? I'll have to get Jake's help for sure, there's no way I'd be able to go through and learn anything without his connections.

The rest of it is tips about random things that appear to have been put together by random people. Everything from how to make and shoot a gun, to how to act with a dead body.

I tuck the book under my mattress and lay down on my bed. I need to decide what to do now.

Neal is the obvious one that I can help as of right now. He's taken the form of a math tutor, so I can have him over again without Kyle getting suspicious - maybe a few mummers about trust, but not suspicion.

I decide to go the easy route and first study the contact I got from Neal. I roll off my bed and open my bag, digging past my stuff and to the little scanner box at the bottom with multiple tops for different devices. Carefully, I lift it out and place it on my desk, then pull my "school laptop" out of the bag.

I had to convince Kyle it was for school, and in a way, kinda it is. I mean, you need money to go to school and we get money from the shop...

I plug in the box the contact is on and the file pops up. I click on it. I watch our conversation again from Neal's point of view, noting the imperfections in my mask that could've given me away to someone I didn't trust. I watch him slide the book over and stop.

Back it up.

Play it again.

There is a second where he slips something into the book. A wire? Tracking coin?

I pause it and zoom in. The contact is high enough tech that even while zoomed in past what normal eyes can see, it doesn't distort into pixels.

Impressive. Someone spent some real cash on this.

It's another piece of paper, and he has slipped it inside the cover of the book. I lean over to grab the book out from under the mattress as I ponder what it could be.

Another note? Some sort of bug?

I trace a finger along the bottom edge of the book and find a small pocket, barely big enough for a credit card. I poke a finger in it and pull out a paper with one word in bold, large print:

Run

I hold onto the paper and slide out of my chair, grabbing my bag and leaping up onto the window seal, I throw the window open and jump right as my door bursts open and someone shouts,

"Police, freeze!" But I'm down the alley and turning to my right.

I don't look back when I hear Jake's brotherly shout, or whenever I hear Kyle's disbelieving cry.

I round another corner right as a gunshot fires from behind me. I hear glass shatter from the store I just ran behind.

I growl and kick off a wall, zigzagging up between the two brick walls and reaching the top.

Another bullet whizzes by as I go over the fire escape and onto the roof. I take a stupid risk and glance at who is shooting at me.

Peter Burke.

And Neal Caffrey is grinning from ear to ear as he watches me vanish out of his sight.