White Collar - as an unofficial novel - part 3

Within the FBI

Neal was dropped off by Peter outside his home.

"Are you okay?" Peter asked.

Neal nodded.

"I'll be fine. See you tomorrow, Peter."

He walked upstairs to his apartment, opened the door and found Mozzie in the sofa with an open box of files from the FBI. He was excited.

"Oh, hey, I'm just going through these FBI files. There is a terrifying amount of information here. How many shots from the knoll? Let's take a look. Did Elvis fake his own death? Ask the mystery box."

Neal just waited. Mozzie saw his lack of enthusiasm.

"What's wrong?"

"Kate called me."

"And?"

"And I can't help her. She won't tell me where she is!"

Mozzie gave him a sly smile.

"I have a theory."

"Conspiracy?"

"Of course." He grabbed a paper and rose from the sofa. "Look at this. Fowler's ID number. Over here, a local address. Note the dates."

"This is from before the diamond heist."

"Yeah," Mozzie agreed, shining with satisfaction. "It's a hotel room. It's not linked to any operation I can find. Now, if I was inclined to believe in such things, I'd say it's worth a look. Room 525."

It was. He had been set up, and Kate was held captive. If this was not a conspiracy of some form he did not know what else it could be.

"Thanks, Moz."

He grabbed the paper and was out the door. His tiredness was gone. He got a cab and got to the hotel within fifteen minutes. It was a mid-class hotel who seemed to think beige was a fashionable color. He ran up the stairs, without the patience to wait for the elevator. Without hesitation, he banged his hands on the door marked 525.

"Open the door, Fowler," he yelled. "Kate!"

The door opened and Neal hurried inside and stopped dead.

There were a lot of people in the room. He saw a long-distance binoculars by the panorama window.

Fowler appeared in front of him, looking baffled.

"What are you doing here, Caffrey?"

Neal stared. This was not what he had expected at all.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"Who told you about this, huh?" Fowler wanted to know. "How do you know about Mentor?"

"Mentor?"

Fowler placed his hands on his hips and stared at him.

"What do you think is going on here? You're busting my operation here."

No, this could not be it. Mozzie had not found any records of this operation. And Fowler had set him up! And he was not going to fool him again.

"No. No, where is Kate?" He pushed passed Fowler "Kate?" He scanned around the room, not caring they were all staring at him. There was a second floor too.

"Kate?" Fowler repeated.

"Kate!" he called up the stairs.

"Kate? Kate Monroe? There's no Kate here, Neal."

He turned to Fowler, ready to object but Fowler did not smirk.

"Kate?" he called out to illustrate how insane it all was. "You're losing it."