Chapter Text
"Uh, hold on a second," Neal said by Peter's side as he changed his grip on the large box he carried. "Isn't there a probie who would've benefited more from lugging evidence around?"
Peter grinned. Some part of him just loved to tease the kid, reminding him that he was a prison inmate.
"Hmm, carrying evidence isn't considered valuable field experience," he said.
"For anyone," Neal added to that.
"I'm sure you never complained when you were hauling around plasma cutters and borescopes."
"When I'm cracking safes, I have a sense of purpose." Peter really did not like that smile on the kid's face. "Had," the young convict corrected himself. "Had a sense of purpose."
"Now you have a new purpose," Peter lectured. "Lugging these Rolex knock-offs to evidence." It may not be glamorous but he was working for the FBI, not rotting away in a maximum security prison.
Neal changed the grip on the box again as they walked into the entry floor of the FBI headquarters.
"We're almost there," Peter said in the elevator, and the kid looked desperate.
The door opened, and they walked into the office of the White Collar unit. The kid stopped and Peter had to sidestep to not walk into him.
"Sara," the kid said. Peter looked around and, yes, there was Sara. "Did you... Find something interesting?"
"On your desk? No." Sara flipped a file open and showed them a map. "In the ocean, yes. This is big, guys."
"I'll get the team together in the conference room," Peter said at once.
"I'll talk to Neal first."
What had the kid done now? Peter glanced at Neal, but to his surprise, he was met by a smile and handed over the box with knock-offs.
"Thank you."
"Oh!" Peter almost dropped the box because it was so heavy. Luckily he did not. "I'll meet you up there." Had he had Neal carry this for two miles? He did not want the kid to prefer prison before working with him.
He put the box on the table in the little kitchenette and saw Neal and Sara go toward the conference room.
"Ah, more 'faux-lex' watches?" Jones asked. Diana inspected the content too.
"Yeah." Peter glanced at the two. Were both smiling?
Jones opened one of the boxes and looked at the watch inside.
"These are the nice ones."
"Our fence in Alphabet City is trying to move 120 boxes," Peter said. "Each box with 35 of these."
"At 600 apiece, that's…" Diana lingered on the answer, calculating it in her head.
"It's 2.5 million street value," Jones said, replacing the watch.
"Oh, you've been sitting too close to Caffrey," Diana chuckled.
Peter watched Sara and Neal in the conference room. They stood close. Close in a way only two very comfortable with each other stood. Close as if they were lovers.
Diana and Jones had turned to watch what he was looking at.
"When did that happen?" Diana asked, baffled.
"I don't know." How was it even possible? She had been close to shooting the kid. Neal saw them watching and waved for them to come. "Diana, round up the Harvard crew. Jones, take this box to evidence."
When Jones lifted the box as if it was empty Peter reminded himself he needed to go to the gym more. It was nothing he could promise even to himself, though. He knew he would prefer a quiet night with his wife any time. And those times were not many.
He walked into the conference room but had no time to say anything about them dating because both briefed him about what Sara had found. Had they been discussing a u-boat, standing like that? Unbelievable.
The crew filed in, and Peter prepared for a briefing.
"Okay, people. What we have today is a chance to take down one of the most notorious white-collar criminals in New York" He held up a photo. "Vincent Adler. As you know, Adler ran a Ponzi scheme about a half a decade ago that rivaled Bernie Madoff's. When it folded, he disappeared with a billion dollars."
"He's also my former boss," Neal added.
"Sara Ellis, from Sterling Bosch, has come up with a fresh lead. Adler is looking for a sunken u-boat off the New York coast."
"First music boxes, now u-boats," Jones mumbled to Diana. Peter let it pass. He had a point. Treasure hunts like this were things that never happened.
"Sara?"
"This is u-boat 869," she said, spreading black-n-white photos to everyone at the table.
"It was launched from Germany in 1945," the kid said.
"What makes this thing so valuable?" Diana asked.
"We don't know," Peter admitted. "Germany sent out a number of u-boats towards the end of the war. Their contents were unknown. Whatever's in this, one person's been shot, and at least two people are dead because of it. Adler wants this sub." Peter made it clear. "Which means we can use it to find him. If he's looking for this thing off the New York coast, then he's using boats. He's renting sonars and submersibles. There's a paper trail here. Let's track him down." Everybody rose to leave. "Diana. Jones. There is another lead I need to you to find."
"Alex Hunter," Sara said, placing a photo on the table. "She's an old acquaintance of Neal's." Jones and Diana sighed in unison and glanced at each other. "But you already know that."
"We're already familiar with Alex," Jones sighed.
"How's she involved?" By her tone, Peter guessed Diana had little room in her heart for Alex. For her, Alex was more on the level of a stool sample, it seemed.
"There's a lot she may know about all of this," Peter said, not going deeper on the subject. "Find her."
"Sara." Neal stared at her, waiting by his desk. Sexy and beautiful. "Did you..." 'come to see me', he was about to say but halted in time. "Find something interesting?"
"On your desk? No. In the ocean, yes." She smiled all over he face as she showed them a map. "This is big, guys."
"I'll get the team together in the conference room," Peter said.
"I'll talk to Neal first."
When Peter turned to him, Neal took the opportunity to get rid of the damn box and put it into his handler's arms.
"Thank you." He smiled as if Peter had volunteered.
"I'll meet you up there." It was hard to keep a straight face as Peter had to walk with bent knees to get the box just a few steps.
"So..." Sara said, with an awkward move but with that look in her eyes that made him feel wanted.
"Yeah." He was not sure what to make of all this.
"You look well," she said and walked towards the conference room. What a strange comment, Neal thought.
"Thank you." Absolutely not rejecting, though. He yanked off his hat and left it on his desk. Then he hurried to catch up with her. "You too." She smiled. It was a good sign. "Did you change your hair?"
"No."
"I like it."
They walked into the conference room.
"All right, look, before everybody else gets here," Sara started the second they passed the door, "I just want to say that if we're gonna continue working together, then we really should not ignore the other night." She dropped her things on the table and faced him.
She was so beautiful. And straightforward. And strong. He turned away his eyes. She probably did not enjoy the idea of almost having sex with a convict she helped put behind bars.
"Look," he started, "it was—"
"Hot."
"Hot?" Did she…?
"I mean, I thought so, but—"
"No, I know," Neal assured her. "The stacks with no AC. It was like being back in college."
"Neal, you didn't go to college."
"Well, I wasn't enrolled, but I did spend a lot of time…" dreaming, planning crimes "…researching."
"Uh-huh. Speaking of research, take a look at this." She unrolled a map on the table. Neal stood beside her and saw at once that it was a map of the Atlantic. There were dots marked with a 'U' and a number spread over most of the northern part.
"U-boats?"
"Last known location of German U-boats during World War two."
"Gerhard Wagner's U-boat?"
"Yeah. That one," she said, pointing at the one saying 'U869' outside of the US coast. Peter had to hear this. He looked up at saw Peter watching them. He waved at him to come.
"There's a paper trail here," Peter finished his briefing. "Let's track him down. Diana. Jones. There is another lead I need to you to find."
The two stopped and waited.
"Alex Hunter. She's an old acquaintance of Neal's." Sara said, and Neal wished he had told her more. From his colleagues' faces, she learned it all. "But you already know that."
"We're already familiar with Alex."
"How's she involved?"
"There's a lot she may know about all of this," Peter said. "Find her."
Peter, too, left, and he was alone with Sara again.
"So...Alex?"
"Okay, calling her an 'acquaintance' may have been an understatement," Neal admitted.
"Neal, you don't owe me anything. I've lived a life, too." Strong and straight to the point, as always. "But if there is anything between us, then don't lie to me."
"I would never."
"Yes, you would." Some truths hurt. He was not sure if it was that she was right or if she presumed he would that hurt most. "So, Alex?"
"Over. A long time ago."
"Was that so hard?"
"No."
"Lunch tomorrow?"
"My place?"
"See you at one."