Norton raises his eyebrows slightly at the word fascists. He'd hoped to have more time to acclimate himself to twenty-first century America, plan a cover more thoroughly before meeting Agent Burke and the others. But since he's dropped right in the deep end, and Neal has given him silent permission to answer, he'll start splashing.

"Close friend," he says with enough innuendo in his voice to invite speculation. "I'm sure it doesn't surprise you that Neal has friends around the world. I came here to help him with a sticky situation involving a former agent of ours."

Nothing Norton said was a lie, strictly speaking. Neal probably does have friends around the world, Norton did come to New York with Neal to help him, and he did work for British security services, sort of.