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She was fighting for their freedom.
She had hoped that Neal would not come chasing after her when she broke up with him. She was only trying to protect him – three months and his sentence would be up. He would be a free man and Peter Burke would be nothing but a distant memory.
She should have known the damned fool would break out and come racing after her. She should have known he would fall right back into Burke's clutches. She should have known.
She had always known that Neal was a man ruled by his emotions. (Burke and his cronies thought he was a sociopath. That red-haired harpy had said it at his trial. They did not know how wrong they were.) She had just expected – hoped, really – that he would do the sensible thing for once in his life and wait until he was free to come after her.
In another time Kate might have called him a romantic for coming after her. So she broke his heart and left the empty Bordeaux bottle and walked away when Fowler threatened her.
They used to say it was a promise of a better life. Neal had lamented the promise when she visited him sometimes. Kate hoped that he would take the bottle that she left him as that promise: he had a better life ahead of him. One without a leash and Burke and all of the strings attached. She intended to make sure of that.
Kate also wanted to go home. She wanted to be with Neal and to find somewhere quiet, away from all of the scheming and plotting and everything that had made their life together so difficult. She wanted to be away from New York.
Fowler's offer – a new life for that blasted music box Neal had spent years chasing – seemed too good to be true. If there was one thing she knew for sure it was that she could not trust him, nor could she trust the man holding his leash, whoever that might be.
If there was one thing that Kate was good at, it was the classics. Neal always said she loved classics and he was right. There were few things that were more classic than faking one's own death.
It seemed like a logical solution – but it was one that she would have to handle on her own. If she let Neal in on her scheme – or on what Fowler was planning – then he would slip. He cared too much about that blasted FBI agent. Even if he did not slip up to Burke there was every chance that Mozzie might because Neal told Moz everything.
It was all up to her – arranging their pilot, quietly working around Fowler to acquire the passports and documents they would need, everything. She could make a new life for them – a happy one, away from all of the pain they had been through since Adler left them with nothing.
It was exhilarating in its own way. Kate had always thought of herself as a good girl until she had found out that Nick was really Neal and Neal was a conman. He might not have taught her everything he knew, but if she was good enough to hide from him, then she could do this. She could fake their deaths and set them up for a new life where they would never have to look back.
She liked the idea of never looking back. She liked the idea of never having to lie or steal or get caught again. They could go to Paris like they had always talked about. They could see the world – they could do anything. Neal Caffrey and Kate Moreau just had to die to be free.
It was a manageable situation – all she needed was a pilot and parachutes and Neal. It was also easy to put into motion. Everything was completely legal because of Project Mentor. They had a fresh start waiting for them; they had a way out.
Everything fell into place. It had to – she made sure of it. The moment she saw Neal in the hanger, Kate's heart sang. It sank again a moment later when Burke came up behind him and Neal hesitated. He had a foot in both worlds and Peter Burke was the only person in the world who could take Neal away from her.
She cursed him and prayed that Neal would not listen to the man holding his leash. If he did, he would never be free.