Synopsis: Upon the urging of his wife, Agent Peter Burke investigates the theft of Iraqi artifacts that put a soldier in prison. John Mitchell, the husband of Elizabeth Burke’s friend, is accused of stealing and smuggling gold from Saddam’s museum in Mosul. Discovering inconsistencies on the evidence, Agent Burke is convinced that the soldier has been framed. Meanwhile, Neal Caffrey finally decrypted Kate’s message.Episode Summary: Neal Caffrey is feeling the dissatisfaction of joining the FBI. Having to look for a suspect’s company’s financial records is the last thing on his mind when he begged Agent Burke to take him in his custody. Talking to Agent Lauren Cruz was a welcomed break after discovering that he was part of her thesis at Quantico. Neal Caffrey begins to feel flattered thinking that he is the reason for Agent Cruz’ decision to be reassigned to the White Collar Unit. The young woman bursts his bubble when she informs him that it is Agent Peter Burke whom she admires. Continue reading...
A worried looking Elizabeth Burke along with another woman pays a surprise visit to the FBI. This worries Agent Jones more than Agent Burke, thinking that the woman his boss’ wife is with is his mistress. As it turns out, the woman is Elizabeth’s friend Dana whose husband had just been arrested by the FBI for stealing gold artifacts from Iraq. This worries Agent Burke especially after learning that his wife is aware of the suspect’s whereabouts. Moreover, there is hard evidence to prove his guilt. Elizabeth Burke convinced her friend’s husband to turn himself in to Agent Burke, believing that her husband can prove the man’s innocence.
John Mitchell, suspected of stealing the thousand year-old gold artifacts found from the royal cemetery crypts of Ur in Egypt, some of which he melted, surrenders himself to Agent Peter Burke who informs him that his prints, and some of his hair were all over the stolen gold. The man maintains his claim of innocence, and requests Agent Burke to look into a man named Patrick Aimes of the State Department whom he refused to help smuggle goods into the US. As promised, Agent Burke looks into Patrick Aimes who did work for the State Department overseeing the reconstruction of Mosul, but is now working for a New York private security contractor. He meets with the cocky Patrick Aimes who is being protected by a bodyguard with blisters on his arm, those a man can get from melting gold. In light of this too coincidental discovery, Agent Peter Burke decides to reexamine the evidence, and finds that all the stolen goods were wiped clean except for John Mitchell’s prints. Moreover, the prints were all from his left hand. After having drinks with Peter Burke, Neal Caffrey finds a possible reason for the left-handed prints, this after noticing that Peter had only touched his beer with his right-hand. Peter Burke theorizes that someone John Mitchell had drinks with must have framed him. Peter decides to ask Dana about it.
Already uncomfortable at having a grieving woman staying at his house, his question of whom John might be drinking with only made it worse for both him and Dana. Moreover, this upsets Elizabeth, blaming her husband for causing her friend more pain. Elizabeth steps in to console her friend, and also to talk to her woman to woman, and learns that Dana and John had a fight just before his arrest. Dana had suspected her husband of cheating after finding out that he had drinks with a woman. The woman, as it turned out, is a journalist who joined John Mitchell’s unit for a story. However, after John finished his tour, the woman reconnected with the soldier over drinks for what Dana thinks as a false pretense story of writing an article about vets returning home. Moreover, it was the same night that John Mitchell lost his favorite Yankee cap.
Elizabeth Burke proved to be better than her husband at extracting information. Agent Burke learns that the woman in question is Alisha Teagen, a segment producer embedded in John Mitchell’s unit. With her press credentials, she could have easily smuggled the stolen artifacts into the country. While Neal Caffrey is busy flirting with a publicist, Agent Burke makes his way up Alisha’s office. This proved providential given that Alisha has not yet arrived, and after ordering the guard to inform the reporter of his presence, Agent Burke assigns Neal the task of gauging the woman’s reaction at learning that an FBI agent wants to have a word with her. Just as they suspected, Alisha’s face was enveloped with fear, and even considered avoiding having to meet with the FBI.
Neal Caffrey with no ID or FBI badge to get himself inside the office improvises with a stack of coffee, and pastries to fill his hands. Learning the guard’s name, and pretending to have his ID in his back pocket, the guard buzzes him through the turnstile. Neal Caffrey follows her, and sees her suspiciously putting a receipt under lock and key. While Agent Peter Burke is busy interrogating the reporter, Neal Caffrey is engaged with picking the lock of Ms. Teagen’s drawer, and making a quick copy of the receipt she purposely hid. Agent Burke, unaware of Caffrey’s plan, is completely distracted at his interrogation, but nonetheless learns that Alisha Teagen finds the soldier forgettable, and claims to be only one of the many vets she is considering for her story.
The receipt turns out to be a pawnshop ticket, but learning that Neal Caffrey had illegally obtained that information, Agent Peter Burke foregoes taking a look at it. Peter Burke returns home, and finds Dana Mitchell in a better mood. Knowing that having Peter at the house would remind Dana of her husband’s unfortunate situation, Elizabeth asks Peter to spend some time away from the house. Meanwhile, Neal Caffrey is at his room decrypting Kate’s message. After sifting through an atlas, Neal realizes that the x in Bordeaux marks the spot. He quickly gives Moz a call. Luckily, Moz is already on his way to see him following his discovery at the pawnshop. A second after he hangs up, Neal Caffrey, hears a knock on his door, and is surprised to see Agent Peter Burke on the other side of the door. Minutes later, there is another knock on the door, but before Neal Caffrey could say a word, Moz has said too much, and revealed having gone to the pawnshop, and gotten a coin. Knowing that the man who calls himself Dante Haversham is truly Neal Caffrey’s trusted friend, Peter Burke invites the man to join them for drinks, much to Neal’s displeasure. After a chat and a few laughs with Mr. Haversham, Peter Burke goes down to business, and Moz flips him the coin he got from the pawnshop. The coin turns out to be an Islamic dinar from the Abbasid dynasty, one that was stolen from a museum in Mosul. Having illegally obtained damning evidence, Agent Peter Burke could not use it in his investigation, but he thinks of a plan to work around it.
With Alisha Teagen not meeting Neal Caffrey the last time he was at the studio, Agent Burke orders him to go undercover as a whistleblower about a cover-up in Iraq. Neal Caffrey meets with Alisha Teagen at the studio for an interview. He starts with the story of a greedy thief, and an opportunist who found a large amount of treasure. Immediately, Ms. Teagen recognizes the story, and decides to cut the interview that they already are filming. Neal continues with his story, talking about how the two successfully smuggled the treasure, and went about finding a fall guy in John Mitchell to allow them to sell the stolen artifacts. Though concerned, Alisha Teagen finds Neal’s story baseless especially without proof, but Neal pulls out from his pocket the gold coin Moz retrieved from the pawnshop. This terribly upsets Alisha Teagen.
Pushed to a corner, Alisha Teagen turns herself in to the FBI. She claims that Patrick Aimes orchestrated the looting of Saddam’s museum, and that her only crime is helping him smuggle the stolen treasure into the country. The reporter had lost a lot in the market crash, and is on the verge of financial ruin. This is when she decided to help Aimes with the theft, and decided to steal a few of the smaller treasures that she soon sold. Teagen also reveals the reason for melting some of the gold. According to her, Aimes felt that with the culprit locked up, the FBI would lose interest at recovering the gold if they learn that most of it is gone. The fact of the matter is Patrick Aimes moved the gold without Alisha Teagen’s knowledge. In order for the FBI to find it, Agent Burke orders her to convince Aimes to unload the gold to a very rich, and discreet private buyer she found.
Neal Caffrey is once again assigned to go undercover, this time as a very wealthy buyer. Much to his dismay, the car he is to drive is not fit for the role he is to play. He together with Moz visits a garage where they find a limousine. The two pretending to be FBI agents inform the man in charge of cleaning the limo that the vehicle is involved in a crime, and will be taken in as evidence. Afraid to be implicated with the supposed crime the limo was used for, the man turns over the car to Neal Caffrey. Neal Caffrey with Moz as his limo driver arrives with Alisha Teagen and Agent Lauren Cruz acting as his business manager at Patrick Aimes’ private gallery. Neal notices that some of the pieces at his gallery are mere reproductions, but the ones they are after are actually there hiding in plain sight. Alisha Teagen shocked at discovering that the treasure has been at the gallery all along finds it difficult to keep herself composed, this alerts Patrick Aimes whose bodyguard now points a gun at Caffrey. He immediately realizes that Neal Caffrey is with the FBI, and runs away. Luckily, Agent Cruz is quick with her gun, and points it at the bodyguard, and even suggests to the man to shoot Caffrey warning that the FBI will not only charge him of theft, but of murder too. Shortly after, the other agents arrive, and accost the bodyguard. Agent Peter Burke runs after Patrick Aimes who takes a shot at Agent Burke. Luckily, Moz is at the limo right behind Aimes, and runs him over, incapacitating Aimes long enough for Agent Burke to take the gun away from him. Soon after, Agent Peter Burke brings John Mitchell to the loving arms of his wife Dana.
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