Caffrey Flashback

Chapter 18: Enscombe

Town car. Thursday morning. February 26, 2004.

"I'm real sorry, Mr. Halden," said the driver as they pulled away from the Highbury Manhattan location. "We're gonna be a little late getting there. All the rain made a sinkhole open up this morning along the main road into Enscombe. It brought down a bunch of trees, and the road's closed till a crew can clean it up. There's another route to that part of Kings Point, but it's gonna add another thirty minutes. You wanna stop for coffee or anything 'fore we head out?"

"No, that's fine. I'm not in a hurry," said Neal. But that was a lie. He was already feeling the rush of a heist or undercover assignment. The adrenaline was hitting him, and now he had an even longer wait before he could actually do anything. Because the driver was inclined to chat, Neal asked him questions about Highbury and Enscombe, but didn't learn anything useful. As they took the bridge leading to Long Island, Neal looked out the window on the off chance of catching a glimpse of Graham Winslow's sailboat. The Executive Decision had been loaded with monitoring equipment, and Graham, Henry and Peter were on their way to the Kings Point coastline. This far away they wouldn't hear anything from the transmitter in Neal's watch but they'd pick up the feed once Neal reached the estate.

Jones and Tricia had spent the night at the bed and breakfast next to Enscombe. Tricia was posing as an avid birdwatcher, and her cover was looking for a Northern Shrike recently spotted near the Enscombe property line. Jones would be fishing near Enscombe's dock. Tricia had gotten the better deal. She actually loved birds. Jones was a confirmed urbanite who hated fishing.

As a Highbury member, George Knightley had spent the night at Enscombe. And Mozzie had stayed at his Long Island safe house, preparing for his second day on the job as Dante the bartender.

Shortly after the time the Bureau expected Neal to arrive at Enscombe, Neal's phone vibrated. He wasn't surprised to see it was Peter calling. "Hey, buddy, what's up?" Neal answered.

"We're not getting a signal from your watch. Is anything wrong?"

"No problem. We're running about thirty minutes late, so I have time to talk."

"I see. Well on our side, all of the players are in place. And I need to warn you, Jones saw Kate. He thinks he dodged her before she noticed him, but she also stayed at the B&B. Did you know she'd be there?"

Neal glanced at the driver. He assumed the man knew nothing about what was going on at Highbury, but wasn't going to take the chance of saying anything he wouldn't want repeated to the staff at Enscombe. "She's persistent. I assume she's been in touch with our mutual friend."

"Why would Mozzie tell her the timing of the op?"

"He probably thought it was safe. He called me yesterday with some interesting details."

"She told him the model of the safe so you could bring the right equipment for breaking in?"

"That's right. He believes in being prepared. He'll have everything we need."

"Okay. Mozzie's bringing the equipment. Text me when you arrive and we'll check for a signal from your watch." Peter paused. "Neal, be careful. Don't take any unnecessary risks. Say the panic phrase if anything seems wrong, and we'll get you out of there."

"Everything's under control," Neal said before he hung up. Then he frowned. That's exactly what Henry had said last night when Neal asked what was bothering him. Neal had been too wrapped up in his own issues to remember that when Henry said that, it meant he was making things up as he went along. After this op was over, Neal would get his cousin to tell him what was wrong.

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Built in the 1920s, the main building at Enscombe was an ornate structure with classic art deco touches. Neal would have loved to spend all day exploring, but he had a safe to break into. On his arrival he'd been greeted by Jane Fairfax, a woman of Vietnamese descent who appeared to be in her mid-thirties and who wore the standard dark suit and pale blue shirt of Highbury employees. Jane had planned to give Nick Halden a tour of the estate, but within minutes she was confronted by Dante the bartender, who carried a binder stuffed with more pages than it was designed to hold.