"The rules are very simple Mr. Caffrey" Philip Kramer said softly "I have nothing against you personally, but make no mistake I am not your friend nor do I have any desire to be. You do your job, you stay out of trouble and we won't have any problems. You still have two miles and I don't care what you do with them when you are not working as long as it's legal. Contact with former criminal associates is forbidden, if I even suspect you are talking to someone from your criminal past and it isn't part of an approved operation your deal will be revoked and you will go back to prison, no questions asked. H*** I may just arrest your buddy on whatever I can come up with too. Is that clear?"

"Crystal." Neal sighed. It was going to be a long two years…being arrested for public endangerment just as the board was about to give their judgement on his commutation had obviously put an end to any consideration of an early release, but the older agent hadn't actually found anything to extend his sentence… at least not yet.

"Nor will you have excessive contact with Agent Burke. He is a good agent, but his objectivity when it comes to you is seriously compromised. I don't mind an occasional email… even a few calls, but you will not pull him down with you if you go down."

"Of course not. Peter's my friend… I would never-"

"Yes, you would. Let's be honest now." Kramer's voice never rose "You wouldn't mean to get him in trouble I'm sure, but just look at what he was willing to do for you already and… unintended consequences are just as bad as any other. You know what they say about good intentions." He smiled as they pulled up to rundown building with a broken neon sign that read OT L. Neal flinched as he looked the place over.

"Nice place" he muttered as they stepped through the door. He didn't say any more once the smell of the lobby hit his nostrils, a mix of mold, urine and a few things he didn't want to identify. He focused on holding his breath as much as he could.

"My office is putting you up here for a week. By the end of seven days I trust you will have found your own lodging. You have seven hundred and fifty dollars per month for room and board."

"What about-?" he started to ask about the two hundred and fifty dollar living allowance the New York office had given him to cover food and other expenses beyond the housing the state paid, but the other man's expression stopped him. Kramer waited quietly with his eyebrow arched slightly and frown playing on his lips. "Never mind." Neal finally said, the contract for DC was already written and signed.

"Let's go"

Neal nodded. He could do this…probably. While he seriously doubted that he would get as lucky as he had when he met June, anywhere was better than this.

)()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()(

Kramer watched the young CI work from his office. He had to hand it to the kid, he had a surprising work ethic for a criminal. He arrived on time every morning, he worked hard all day, he returned on time from his lunch break. The kid didn't even complain if their days went long. His only real complaint about Caffrey was the consultant was friendlier than the agent was comfortable with. The young man would be easy to like, he could definitely see why Peter and his team had been taken in by that smile.

The older man sighed. He had been naive enough once to be taken in the same way. He had allowed himself to think because Tommy was his friend that meant that the boy wanted to go straight. Philip Kramer had been a young agent, had poured his heart and soul into helping the "ex" con, bringing him home to dinner with his family, encouraging him to coach short stop on his son's little league team, taking the kid for drinks after work to make him feel like part of the team. For three years he worked his tail off to help Tommy get established before he realized his consultant had been selling forgeries on the side the entire time he had worked for the Bureau. Arresting Tommy had felt like a knife to the gut, but he'd done his duty and sent the young man back to prison for twenty years.

Well he was wiser now. Caffrey might honestly want to do the right thing, but Kramer had no intention of letting his guard down to find out. He'd use the kid's skills and enforce the rules as needed. There was no need for excess conversation. Marie didn't need to meet him, she didn't even need to know he was working with a full time CI again. If Caffrey wanted to go straight then strict rules and disciple was what he needed, not friendship. Tommy taught him that and Kramer was not going to forget the lesson.