The Blue Court Diamond 5
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Chapter 5 - Teams
“Hi, honey,” Elizabeth said, smiling up at her husband.
“What are you doing here?” Peter asked, kissing her automatically.
“My sister got a call from her team, the conference people wouldn’t let them until they had all five members of their team,” Elizabeth said as she motioned to where her sister was. “I got a bit worried about you, knowing that you only have four members of your team.”
“Thanks, but cons really shouldn’t attend a law enforcement conference,” Peter said.
“Peter, be nice to your wife,” Neal scolded.
“I wasn’t talking about her. I was talking about them,” Peter said as he motioned to his sister in law and her group.
“Are you calling us conmen?” one of the members of Sophie’s team asked.
“No, I think he was just calling me a con woman,” Sophie answered. “He’s having a hard time dealing with the fact that he just found out that his wife is a con woman.”
“Sophie, Elizabeth?” a Southern voice asked and a man made his way over from the other side of the second team that was waiting by the doors to the auditorium.
“Cousin Ezra, how delightful,” Sophie exclaimed.
“We didn’t expect to see you here,” Elizabeth said. She detached herself from Peter to go over and hug the man.
“I mean, of course we knew about your occupation, but it is still such a surprise to see you here,” Sophie said.
“Wait, you’re Ez’s family?” one of his team members asked as they all came forward.
“I didn’t know that he had any family beyond his mom,” another one of his team members said.
“Ezra used to spend part of the summer with us every year until he got too old,” Elizabeth said.
“How, uh, surprising this is turning out to be,” the leader of Sophie’s team commented.
“Don’t even bother,” Sophie softly warned.
“Ezra, this is my husband, Peter Burke,” Elizabeth introduced.
“We met at the wedding,” Ezra reminded as he shook Peter’s hand.
“It’s good to see you again. You’re the ATF team, right?” Peter asked.
“That’s us,” the youngest agent said.
“Sorry to interrupt, but the conference is about to start, so you might want to find your seats,” the young woman in charge of overseeing the door interrupted.
“My wife,” Peter said, looking over to Elizabeth.
“Can I commend you on taking two criminals onto your team? That’s just amazing,” the young woman said as she waved them in.
“She’s not on my team,” Peter protested.
“Your wife is a con woman?” someone asked.
“But don’t hold that against her,” Neal answered. He slung an arm over her shoulders and grinned at the teams. “She’s retired.”
“Hey, you’re Neal Caffrey,” the youngest agent on the ATF team exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”
“Don’t you know? All of the cool criminals are attending this conference,” Neal said with a wink.
“He’s working as a consultant for my husband,” Elizabeth said.
The three teams started moving into the auditorium, leaving Peter staring after them in bewilderment. “But, she’s not on my team.”
“Come on, Peter; you don’t want to miss anything,” Neal said as he and Elizabeth entered the large room, his arm still around her shoulders.
“And she’s not a con woman,” Peter said as he followed them into the auditorium.
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The three teams sat together in the last two rows of the auditorium. There was only one other team of five in the back with them, but Peter didn’t pay them any attention at first. He was too busy watching Neal talk with two members of his sister-in-law’s team and the family discussion that his wife was participating in.
His gut was still telling him that something was off with that team, but then everything with the world seemed to be off ever since Hughes handed him the file on his wife and told him that Neal was a ninja. Which reminded him, he still had to pin down Neal and get him to explain exactly what he meant with that one.
The first lecture of the conference started, someone preaching about the benefits of teams who had at least five members. Peter scoffed at it and turned back to observing the people around him. None of the conversations had halted when the lecture started, but voices still had gone down and Peter couldn’t hear any of it anymore. That was why his attention was finally caught by the group seated to his left.
“This is boring,” one of the members of that team whined. Normally this comment wouldn’t have held Peter’s attention for long - it was actually pretty standard fair for conferences - but there were two things that were different about this speaker. One was that he spoke with a Japanese accent and the other was that he was only a teenager.
“Will you be quiet, I’m trying to listen,” a second teenager hissed in reply, this one with more of a British accent than a Japanese one.
“Why? All the idiot is talking about is the stupid reason why he had to bring her along,” the first speaker said, jerking his finger at the redhead seated next to him.
“We would have brought her along anyway, so quiet down,” the second teen replied. He glanced up and saw Peter watching him. “Sorry about him, he has a short attention span.”
“My group is doing the same,” Peter said, motioning over to where even Diana and Jones were talking. “He was just louder.”
“Sorry about that,” the teen repeated.
“I also have to admit that your ages drew my attention; I didn’t expect to see any teams this young,” Peter commented.
“These three are genius detectives. Akako and I are just here for the donuts,” the first teen said.
“There were donuts?” Neal asked, breaking away from his conversation. “And we missed them?”
“You don’t need any sugar,” Peter said.
“Did they have any coffee too?” Neal asked, ignoring Peter.
“Had a hard time keeping him away from it,” the second teen confirmed.
“See, Peter, we should have skipped the tour and gotten donuts instead,” Neal scolded.
“The tour was the whole point in our being here, not the free breakfast,” Peter replied.
“Neal Caffrey and this is Peter Burke,” Neal introduced, leaning over Peter to offer his hand.
“Kuroba Kaito and this is Hakuba Saguru,” the first teen introduced, leaving over Hakuba to shake Neal’s hand.
“So why are you at this conference?” Neal asked.
“Kaitou Kid sent the task force a note saying that he would be here tomorrow. The task force couldn’t get permission to come, so we went instead,” Kaito said.
“Kaitou Kid is here?” Peter asked. “I thought that he wasn’t supposed to be here for another week.”
It was at that moment when something exploded and a banner unfurled with a note from Kaitou Kid, targeting the Blue Court Diamond.
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Chapter 6
Chapter 5 - Teams
“Hi, honey,” Elizabeth said, smiling up at her husband.
“What are you doing here?” Peter asked, kissing her automatically.
“My sister got a call from her team, the conference people wouldn’t let them until they had all five members of their team,” Elizabeth said as she motioned to where her sister was. “I got a bit worried about you, knowing that you only have four members of your team.”
“Thanks, but cons really shouldn’t attend a law enforcement conference,” Peter said.
“Peter, be nice to your wife,” Neal scolded.
“I wasn’t talking about her. I was talking about them,” Peter said as he motioned to his sister in law and her group.
“Are you calling us conmen?” one of the members of Sophie’s team asked.
“No, I think he was just calling me a con woman,” Sophie answered. “He’s having a hard time dealing with the fact that he just found out that his wife is a con woman.”
“Sophie, Elizabeth?” a Southern voice asked and a man made his way over from the other side of the second team that was waiting by the doors to the auditorium.
“Cousin Ezra, how delightful,” Sophie exclaimed.
“We didn’t expect to see you here,” Elizabeth said. She detached herself from Peter to go over and hug the man.
“I mean, of course we knew about your occupation, but it is still such a surprise to see you here,” Sophie said.
“Wait, you’re Ez’s family?” one of his team members asked as they all came forward.
“I didn’t know that he had any family beyond his mom,” another one of his team members said.
“Ezra used to spend part of the summer with us every year until he got too old,” Elizabeth said.
“How, uh, surprising this is turning out to be,” the leader of Sophie’s team commented.
“Don’t even bother,” Sophie softly warned.
“Ezra, this is my husband, Peter Burke,” Elizabeth introduced.
“We met at the wedding,” Ezra reminded as he shook Peter’s hand.
“It’s good to see you again. You’re the ATF team, right?” Peter asked.
“That’s us,” the youngest agent said.
“Sorry to interrupt, but the conference is about to start, so you might want to find your seats,” the young woman in charge of overseeing the door interrupted.
“My wife,” Peter said, looking over to Elizabeth.
“Can I commend you on taking two criminals onto your team? That’s just amazing,” the young woman said as she waved them in.
“She’s not on my team,” Peter protested.
“Your wife is a con woman?” someone asked.
“But don’t hold that against her,” Neal answered. He slung an arm over her shoulders and grinned at the teams. “She’s retired.”
“Hey, you’re Neal Caffrey,” the youngest agent on the ATF team exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”
“Don’t you know? All of the cool criminals are attending this conference,” Neal said with a wink.
“He’s working as a consultant for my husband,” Elizabeth said.
The three teams started moving into the auditorium, leaving Peter staring after them in bewilderment. “But, she’s not on my team.”
“Come on, Peter; you don’t want to miss anything,” Neal said as he and Elizabeth entered the large room, his arm still around her shoulders.
“And she’s not a con woman,” Peter said as he followed them into the auditorium.
-
The three teams sat together in the last two rows of the auditorium. There was only one other team of five in the back with them, but Peter didn’t pay them any attention at first. He was too busy watching Neal talk with two members of his sister-in-law’s team and the family discussion that his wife was participating in.
His gut was still telling him that something was off with that team, but then everything with the world seemed to be off ever since Hughes handed him the file on his wife and told him that Neal was a ninja. Which reminded him, he still had to pin down Neal and get him to explain exactly what he meant with that one.
The first lecture of the conference started, someone preaching about the benefits of teams who had at least five members. Peter scoffed at it and turned back to observing the people around him. None of the conversations had halted when the lecture started, but voices still had gone down and Peter couldn’t hear any of it anymore. That was why his attention was finally caught by the group seated to his left.
“This is boring,” one of the members of that team whined. Normally this comment wouldn’t have held Peter’s attention for long - it was actually pretty standard fair for conferences - but there were two things that were different about this speaker. One was that he spoke with a Japanese accent and the other was that he was only a teenager.
“Will you be quiet, I’m trying to listen,” a second teenager hissed in reply, this one with more of a British accent than a Japanese one.
“Why? All the idiot is talking about is the stupid reason why he had to bring her along,” the first speaker said, jerking his finger at the redhead seated next to him.
“We would have brought her along anyway, so quiet down,” the second teen replied. He glanced up and saw Peter watching him. “Sorry about him, he has a short attention span.”
“My group is doing the same,” Peter said, motioning over to where even Diana and Jones were talking. “He was just louder.”
“Sorry about that,” the teen repeated.
“I also have to admit that your ages drew my attention; I didn’t expect to see any teams this young,” Peter commented.
“These three are genius detectives. Akako and I are just here for the donuts,” the first teen said.
“There were donuts?” Neal asked, breaking away from his conversation. “And we missed them?”
“You don’t need any sugar,” Peter said.
“Did they have any coffee too?” Neal asked, ignoring Peter.
“Had a hard time keeping him away from it,” the second teen confirmed.
“See, Peter, we should have skipped the tour and gotten donuts instead,” Neal scolded.
“The tour was the whole point in our being here, not the free breakfast,” Peter replied.
“Neal Caffrey and this is Peter Burke,” Neal introduced, leaning over Peter to offer his hand.
“Kuroba Kaito and this is Hakuba Saguru,” the first teen introduced, leaving over Hakuba to shake Neal’s hand.
“So why are you at this conference?” Neal asked.
“Kaitou Kid sent the task force a note saying that he would be here tomorrow. The task force couldn’t get permission to come, so we went instead,” Kaito said.
“Kaitou Kid is here?” Peter asked. “I thought that he wasn’t supposed to be here for another week.”
It was at that moment when something exploded and a banner unfurled with a note from Kaitou Kid, targeting the Blue Court Diamond.
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Chapter 6