Caffrey Flashback

Chapter 43: Closure

"Then come with us," Kate said. "Vincent knew right away that Nick Halden wasn't your real name, and the more he uncovered, the more he thought you could prove useful. The only reason he didn't let you in on the Ponzi scheme was that he didn't know what your angle was."

"That's why he asked you to study me."

Kate shrugged. "It wasn't exactly a hardship. You'd made it clear you were interested, and I liked you. At first you were content to admire me but to stay politely out of the way while I was dating someone else. Vincent said the allure of an unrequited romance would get to you. But we pushed it too far. You gave up on me and went after Alex, instead. That's when Vincent had me change my approach, and actually get involved with you."

"I was an assignment," Neal said. She'd said as much before, but it still was bitter.

"An assignment I enjoyed very much. In another life, it might have been real."

"But in this life you're hung up on Adler. He's your unrequited romance that you haven't given up on yet."

"It's complicated. Who knows? Maybe one of these days I'll finally give up on him, the way you stopped chasing me to go after Alex. I think that's what Vincent is hoping for, actually. He hinted more than once that I should fall for someone like you. And he could have made those extra passports for anyone, you know, but he picked you. He appreciates your talents, and he still says you would be a great asset. Imagine what it would be like, being an insider this time. I have no idea what he has planned, but he calls it the score of a lifetime. How can you turn that down?"

Easily, Neal thought. He didn't trust Adler, and didn't want to put himself through watching Kate fawning over the man. She'd put him on a pedestal for years, and even now her main interest in Neal was in using him to please Adler. Shortly before he disappeared, Adler had made a comment about Neal being like a son. Neal hadn't trusted the sentiment then, and now with Peter he knew what it really was like to have someone think of him as a son. He wasn't about to give that up. "I've got everything I need here in New York."

"If you ever change your mind –"

"Enough," said Henry. "I already told you. The deal is you say your goodbyes and leave Neal alone. No getting in touch later to see if you can lure him over to Adler's side."

Before Kate could respond to that, Mozzie cried out "Eureka!" He stood up, and pulled off the headphones. "It isn't a location. It's a frequency."

"What good is that if you don't know where you're going?" Henry asked.

"We know where we're going," Kate said. "Vincent supplied the plane and a pilot who knows the destination. We have to tune into the right frequency when we're at the location where we're supposed to join him, and then provide the code phrase. That will prove we passed his test. He said if we don't pass the test, he'll shoot us on sight."

Neal refrained from saying anything about how little Kate's idol trusted her. He took the slip of paper Mozzie was holding. "You said a frequency and a code phrase? But Mozz said this is just a frequency."

"There's another code?" Mozzie asked. He returned to his work area muttering, "Of course. I thought it was a double blind to obscure the first code, but it's really a second set of data."

"Last chance, Neal," said Kate. "Will you come with us?"

"No. I have a life here."

Kate's father, the man Neal knew as Gil Goddard, had returned to the hangar. He held a gun and pointed it in Neal's direction. "With the FBI. I heard. We're supposed to assure Adler the Feds aren't on our tail. How do we keep you from telling your bosses what you've learned here?"