Chuck/White Collar - 1

[samecgh]

 

“All right,” Peter called to attention, everyone swerving to face him. Neal was leaning against the back window and reading more into the latest information. “The man that we are going after is Justin Hanover. He runs a small chain of restaurants throughout most of the Upper East Coast.”

 

“The guy behind Sadako Sushi?” Jones asked.

 

“Never trust a place that names part of their restaurant after a vengeful ghost from J-Horror,” Neal commented. Peter stared at him for a couple of seconds before shaking it off. “What?”

 

“J-Horror?”

 

“Yeah, Japanese horror.”

 

Peter shook his head again before continuing on the speech. “Three months ago, an employee of Hanover's came in and told us that they thought something shady was going on. Looking closer, we found Hanover was taking out large amounts of loans, even though he's making profits in the millions. The supposed funds were to go into the building of new restaurants across states. But the projects are turned down for some small reason and the money goes back to the bank.”

 

Neal picked up on the last word. “Bank? Same one every time?”

 

“Yep. Hanover uses RIght National Gateway bank for personal and work transactions,” Peter confirmed.

 

“The I's always capitalized?” Neal asked.

 

“Trademarked that way. Now, this bank has been looked at several times for money laundering. We think the restaurant is being used as one of the changing points. We may be able to get into the operation and break it up entirely.”

 

“That's been linked to several terrorist groups and drug runners,” Cruz brought up.

 

“Which is why we're also working with Counterterrorism,” he added, “One of the groups has been investigated by some FBI agents out on the West Coast. They're coming in later with their information. I want to wait before we start sending anyone in.” He looked over at Neal for the last part. “Lets see what we can get from the bank statements, the restaurants and try to trace the money for now.”

 

Neal looked down at his papers, pencil circling some letters in the names. He had managed to pick up on RING in the banks name, but he didn't understand what it meant. He'll call Moz to find out more about the bank and the restaurant. He looked at the papers that were left on his table for him to scan through. I'm going to need coffee. Lots and lots of coffee. He looked over at the maker and saw Jones filling a mug. Taking a sip, he grimaced and added lots of sugar before he could drink it again.

 

“Coffee run,” he muttered, heading out.

 

{*}{*}{*}{*}{*}

 

The three people that were heading to New York at the end of the week weren't FBI, although Peter didn't know that. The three were actually agents of the CIA and NSA. General Beckman showed on the screen just as the three members of the team, Chuck Bartowski, Sarah Walker and John Casey, were gathering around the table. “Perfect timing,” she noted. “On the table are files relating to a FBI case of money laundering.”

 

“Money laundering?” Sarah questioned.

 

“That isn't exactly our area, General,” Casey mentioned.

 

“Except that this launderer is a Ring Operative and the business that he runs and the bank he's connected to are fronts for the Ring.” The first file on the table had surveillance pictures of the man. Chuck glanced at the picture and flashed. “Anything to add, Bartowski?”

 

“His restaurant is named after a horror character,” he said.

 

“The NSA and CIA want to use this as a way to start bringing down the Ring. Taking out one of their ways to clean money may hinder them. At least for a little while. We've already contacted the agents, and told them you are a Counterterrorism group with the FBI that investigated one of the smaller groups that have ties. You'll be sent out later this week and should arrive by Friday. In the meantime, these are the files on the investigation and the White Collar team of New York. They're the ones that are leading the case into the money laundering.” Beckman nodded before signing off.

 

They split up the files. Chuck ran over all of them first for any flashes that he could just tell them. The main ones on the investigation went quickly and he passed them along to Sarah and Casey. He slid another file over to her and picked up the next one. He opened it and gasped. “What's wrong?” Sarah asked, noticing he wasn't flashing, just staring.

 

“It's Bryce,” he whispered, lifting up the file. Neal Caffrey's consultant ID photo was enlarged and along side the information about the anklet agreement and cases he worked on.

 

Casey mutely growled as he saw the photo. Sarah was stunned as well. Bryce is alive and working for the FBI? No. “Chuck, he's dead. We recovered his body; I had his ashes, remember?”

 

“But...” He's died before and they brought him back and Fulcrum was a small part of the Ring and usually the badder guys do worse things so they could have made us all think he was dead and the CIA isn't that known for telling us if someone is still alive until we get paired up with them. “It's happened before. Fulcrum brought him back because they thought he had the Intersect. The Ring would see him as a perfect host for the Intersect.” If he didn't have one already, his eyes were open when I started the download.

 

She looked sadly, watching a small sliver of hope trying to expand. “I don't think it's him,” she apologized, “I'm sorry, Chuck.”

 

He sighed, “Too good to be true. I didn't flash on him, guess that should have told me.” He moved on to the next file, passing the Caffrey one to them.

 

{*}{*}{*}{*}{*}

 

Neal and Peter walked in to see Lauren walking over. “Counterterrorism's already here. Put 'em up in the conference room,” she reported.

 

“Good, we better get started with the introductions soon,” Peter said, heading on up. He pulled Neal at the last moment and ordered, “No pranks. Don't lift their wallets and don't start a war.” He walked in. “Hello, my name's Agent Burke. My team, Jones,” he pointed out, “And Cruz. And Neal. He's not an agent.

 

The female agent stood up and took his hand. “SJ Smith. My colleagues Mike Yates,” she nodded to the slimmer man at her side, “And John Benton.” The larger, clearly former military man nodded.

 

Neal sat next to 'Mike' and Jones. Peter took the lead and caught up the new agents. After going through the basics of the case, he announced, “We have a plan in motion. Hanover has been entertaining new clients. We're going to send in Neal, using 'Nick Halden'. He's going to convince Hanover that he has some money that needs to be cleaned. Once we have the trail on paper, we're going after him.”

 

“Sending in an unarmed man?” 'Benton' grumbled.

 

'Mike' spoke up, “These money launderers work with dangerous people. Wouldn't it be a better idea to send in someone with experience? And a gun?”

 

“Unless you have an alias that would work in the situation, Neal's the best way in.”

 

“Can we send someone in with him?” 'SJ' asked, “In case something does happen.”

 

Neal said, “Hanover is entertaining. He might be expecting me to show up with some type of escort.”

 

Peter looked over at Cruz, trying to imagine the order he would have to give to the agent. 'SJ' interjected, “Agent Burke, as much as your agent is proficient, I insist that I be the one to accompany your informant. I know what and who to look for.”

 

Peter sighed, “Lauren, do you have any problems not going in her place?” She shook her head. “Okay. Lets go over the party details.”

 

{*}{*}{*}{*}{*}

 

'SJ' saw the transmitters the FBI had proved and almost grimaced. They weren't the high-tech items she was used to, but the FBI didn't have budgets like the CIA. Hers was hidden as a large bauble, and to her, hideous necklace. Neal had a decent, but still bad fake watch.

 

“All right,” Peter said, “Any sign of trouble, you or Smith say 'UNIT' and we're in.”

 

“Unit, got it,” Neal repeated, fixing his tie. He waited by the car that would drive them to the party. 'SJ' whispered something in 'Mikes' ear and lightly kissed him. So they're together. He held open the door and allowed her in first before sliding in himself.

 

The first Sadako restaurant had been expanded to allow for several small, separate parties when people ordered them. Now, the entire place was closed and Hanover had each of the small rooms open as much as possible for his guests. After being searched, they were allowed to mingle with the other guests. Neal recognized several counterfeiters and other forgers, who he purposely sought out and reintroduced himself so Peter could pick up on their names.

 

“Nichols,” Justin chatted, “It is a pleasure to meet you. I've heard a lot about you through circles. And this beautiful woman would be....”

 

“Elizabeth,” she volunteered, “But Liz, please.”

 

“Of course. The theme tonight is no talk about work, but I can't help if those that want to work together talk about it anyways,” he half joked. “The caterers are my workers, so everything's safe to eat from my end.”

 

“Thank you,” Neal said, allowing him to leave so he could talk to someone else. Looking around, he saw that the main source of thugs and enforcers were at the party, making sure there weren't any problems with fights. He motioned to 'SJ' and she nodded, moving along with him to get to the door at the back.

 

'SJ's' first stop was the computer at the desk. Neal looked around for hard copies of recorders while she looked over and copied the entire contents. Or tried to. Using her phone, she texted Chuck. 'Won't download a file.'

 

'Manually drop it on the icon.' She tried that and received another error.

 

'Not working.'

 

'Probably locked. Don't worry about it.' She nodded and finished the download. Neal had found messages between Hanover and a clerk from the bank. “Coded,” he muttered, thinking about different codes and trying to figure it out. 'SJ' looked over his shoulder and motioned to let her take photos with her phone.

 

The crash of someone stumbling into a wall started both of them. 'SJ' went to check it out. Neal went over to the computer. He woke it back up and went through the last known processes. “All copied except for TI2009L,” he mouthed. Agent 'Smith' wasn't allowed clearance to do this. Peter didn't authorize it. Curious, he opened the file that didn't copy.

 

The entire screen went black, before the first picture came up. After that, they flashed by at high speed. Neal couldn't turn away after a few seconds, the program going faster. Within a minute, the program ended. The sudden shock hurt his head; dropping it on the desk didn't help either.

 

'SJ' came back to see Neal behind the computer. “Come on,” she hissed, “We need to get back before we're noticed.” Nodding, he got up and wiped the computer information before putting it into sleep.

 

Stepping back out to the main part of the restaurant, Neal looked over at Justin, who was talking to a forger. As his face turned and gave him the full profile, Neal's brain started bringing up unrelated pictures. Attached to each of the pictures was information that entered his conscious like he had just read it.

 

Justin Phineas Hanover is a Ring member. His business, Sadako Sushi, is a front for activity along with RIght National Gateway bank, which is a major Ring enterprise. The money that they have cleaned is reported to have come from multiple sources, including terrorist groups and drug cartels.

 

'SJ' had to pull him out of his trance and motioned to Justin again. He had called for everyone's attention. “This has been great fun,” he announced, “Some of you I haven't seen in years. Daniel, you must come more often. Some I have just recently met.” He motioned to Neal, who raised his glass to acknowledge. “Hopefully, we can continue to keep this operation running for a long time.”

 

Hopefully not. Neal took a large sip of his champagne and waited for the cue to leave.

 

{*}{*}{*}{*}{*}

 

'Mike,' aka Chuck Bartowski, was going through the downloaded files that 'SJ,' Sarah, had downloaded. The encryptions were high, but he was working through it steadily. The last part was completed and he was able to open files without crashing anything. He waded through personal files for any hint of terrorist networks and Ring operations before dropping them in a separate folder. Then he got to the ledger books and looked for connections.

 

“Anything?” Sarah asked, already in bedtime affair.

 

He hadn't looked up, otherwise he would have seen. “Nothing yet, haven't flashed on anything,” he reported, then looked into a files that was labeled ITI2009L. Reading it a couple of minutes, he had to stop himself from gasping. He got lost in the report and didn't notice Sarah until she sat down next to him.

 

She started to try and read the report, but he was already a few pages in and didn't understand it quite as well. “What is it?” she questioned.

 

“I.... I think the file you couldn't copy was locked for a reason,” he said, turning to her, “I think it was an Intersect. Possibly two point oh. The one inside my head.”

 

“Chuck, that's not possible. You were the only one in the room when the download took place. There was no way to get a copy out beforehand that wouldn't have been found,” she argued.

 

A hopeful and disturbing thought ran through Chuck's head. “I was the only person, but I wasn't the only body. Bryce.”



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