When Castle arrived at the FBI's New York office building near Times Square, Neal and Mozzie had been waiting for him for a few minutes.
Meanwhile, in an office upstairs, a sharp and competent-looking man in his forties, dressed in a suit, was standing by the window, watching Neal and Mozzie greet Castle with a hug.
This man was Peter Burke, head of the FBI's White Collar Crime Division in New York. After chasing Neal for years, Peter had finally captured him four years ago and put him in prison. It was also Peter who, after Neal's recent escape, had recaptured him within a day. Of course, Neal hadn't really intended to run this time.
When Neal proposed using his expertise to help Peter solve cases in exchange for serving his sentence outside of prison under supervision, Peter had pulled out all the stops to get his superiors to agree. Peter knew better than anyone how valuable Neal's skills were. With Neal's help, solving the kinds of financial fraud and art theft cases that fell under their jurisdiction would be much easier.
Standing at his office window, Peter watched Castle, Neal, and Mozzie get into a car and drive away. Without turning, he spoke to one of his trusted team members standing behind him, Jones Clinton, a Harvard graduate and military veteran: "Jones, find out who the guy with Neal is. I want his full background."
Agent Jones promptly responded, "Yes, Peter, I'll get right on it."
Jones sat down and opened the FBI's database, running a facial recognition search with the photo he had just taken of Castle.
While Jones worked on identifying Castle, Peter continued to watch the car drive away, mumbling to himself, "Neal, I hope you're not planning to run. If you are, I'll find you no matter where you go…"
Meanwhile, in Castle's car, the three friends were joking around. Mozzie, sitting in the back seat, teased Castle, "Rick, don't drive too far. Our young friend Neal has a 'mommy' at the FBI who's put him on a short leash. He can only move within a two-mile radius of Times Square. If we go beyond that, his cranky 'mom' at the FBI will throw him back in jail. You don't want him to be sent back right after getting out, do you? His friends in prison would think he tricked them for goodbye gifts!"
Neal smiled wryly again, "Mozzie, do you really need to broadcast that I'm wearing an ankle monitor? Rick, he's telling the truth. Let's just find a nearby café to chat."
Castle, grinning, said, "Alright, let's stop at the next café."
The three of them found a café, ordered coffee, and began to catch up. Castle casually commented on Neal's decision to help the FBI in exchange for limited freedom and offered to use his connections to look for Neal's missing girlfriend, Kate Moreau. They agreed to meet again once Neal was settled, and then they went their separate ways.
Back at the FBI, Peter was looking over the information Jones had gathered on Castle. "Jones, you're telling me that guy is a best-selling author? He wrote the Derek Storm series? So why is he so familiar with Neal?"
Peter was surprised. He had assumed the man might be one of Neal's former partners in crime. Instead, he was a successful novelist. It seemed strange to Peter that a writer would be so close to a notorious con artist like Neal.
"Peter, we also found out that our writer friend has been working with the NYPD recently, supposedly for research on a new novel. Do you think the NYPD might have sent him to approach Neal?"
Jones had been examining Castle's file and pointed out his recent connections with the NYPD. Given the long-standing friction between the FBI and the NYPD, it was a plausible question.
"No, Neal's case has little to do with the NYPD, and Neal's skills aren't particularly important to them. The NYPD wouldn't need to send Castle to approach Neal. I still think he's likely an old friend of Neal's. Didn't you notice how familiar the short lawyer looked with Castle? They didn't act like strangers. Plus, Neal just got his freedom, and the first person he meets is Castle. It's more likely he's an old friend."
Peter's seasoned judgment and analytical skills were spot-on. Though there were still some uncertainties, he was fairly certain that Castle, who had come to see Neal immediately after his release, was an old friend from before Neal's imprisonment. What remained unclear was what they had talked about and whether it would affect Neal's cooperation with the FBI.
"Jones, put the writer in our special attention database. Keep an eye on his interactions with Neal, but don't focus too much on him. Our priority is to make the most of Neal's abilities to solve more cases."
Peter Burke made his decision: maintain surveillance on Castle but keep the focus on Neal's unprecedented cooperation with the FBI.
"Yes, Peter, I'll handle it right away…"
Jones went off to execute the order, leaving Peter alone by his office window, gazing at the Manhattan skyline.
At that moment, Neal and Mozzie had arrived at the small, rundown hotel the FBI had arranged for Neal. Both of them stared at the shabby building in disbelief. Mozzie was the first to break the silence, "Neal, are you sure this is the place the FBI arranged for you? Are they trying to humiliate you?"
Neal, rubbing his temples, said, "I knew I shouldn't have expected much from the FBI. This place is uninhabitable. Do they want me to live with streetwalkers, junkies, and petty thieves?"
Mozzie looked at his friend with sympathy. "Come on, let's find you a decent place to stay. Whoever wants to live here can have it. We're leaving!"
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