elrhiarhodan

Title: Fingerprints
Prompt: White Collar 100 – #017: INK
Author:

elrhiarhodan
Rating: R
Characters/Pairing: Peter Burke, Neal Caffrey
Fandom: White Collar
Spoilers: None
Warnings/Enticements/Triggers: None
Word Count: 300 Exactly!
Summary: Mozzie got hold of some information, Neal has an idea, and Peter has a friend. Could it be that our heroes have finally caught a break? Continues the Danger Series.

THE DANGER SERIES:

TARGET | HUNT | CASE | FILE | BACKGROUND | INTERROGATION | WITNESS | HOME | HOME 2 | FAMILY | FAMILY 2 | TEAM | UNIT | UNIT 2 | PAPER | CLAY | PAINT

______________________

“I have an idea.”

“What?”

Neal handed the file to Peter – it was the dossier that Mozzie had compiled on Eric Hostler, the former Army captain who became the CEO of McGuiness-Humboldt, which happened to include a set of fingerprints from his security clearance file. Peter didn’t want to know how Moz got hold of that.

“How do we know that Eric Hostler is who he says he is? How do we know that any of these guys are for real? Jansen was a ghost after all, why not Hostler?

Peter thought for a moment. “If we run these prints through the national database, it’s going to send up warning flags. But…” Peter looked at the fingerprint card; the ink was done in New York City. “I think we may have caught ourselves a break.” He handed the file back to Neal and pointed at the “origin” box on the card – the 15th Precinct.

“Your friend, Capt. Shattuck is at the 1-5.”

Peter smiled at Neal’s use of local PD terminology. “Yup. He can run these through the City’s database. This may turn up nothing, or it may be just what we need.”

“It’s probably going to be another dead end.” Neal sighed.

“Yeah, probably. But let’s be optimistic.” Peter was getting tired of Obscurity, they’d been cooped up for weeks. Elizabeth was coping, barely. She handled her business with a series of burner phones, and gave thanks that her staff was so competent. But she still needed to get out there, to meet with clients, to sign contract – to get the ink on the signature line.

Peter wasn’t letting her out, no matter how urgently she wanted to go. It wasn’t safe, and his enemies certainly knew that the surest way to get to him, was to go after Elizabeth.