elrhiarhodan

Title: Pulling Strings
Author: elrhiarhodan
Fandom: White Collar
Prompt: #88 - Weapon
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairings: Mozzie
Spoilers: Judgment Day
Warnings/Enticements/Triggers: None
Word Count: 300 Exactly
Summary: There’s a reason why Vincent Adler turned out to be such an ineffectual villain – he really wasn’t the man behind the curtain.

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It always shocked Moz that Neal has never put all the pieces together. That after so many years of manipulation, he still hadn’t figured it out. Neal was far too trusting, and even though he might tell the Suit that he doesn’t trust him (and yes, he knew all about that little speech), but Neal really did. Maybe not with the location of his stash, but with everything that was truly important.

Moz took a sip of wine and laughed.

Neal trusted him with all of his hopes and dreams, and he never saw the crash coming. Not the first time, when he was finishing up his prison term and making plans for a life with Kate. Not when he was about to steal the music box. He had warned Neal that his fantasy of a little house with a white picket fence was never going to play out. Hell, didn’t he tell Neal that happily ever after wasn’t for guys like them? But Neal didn’t listen and look what happened.

Garrett Fowler might have led the Suit to Julian Larssen, who gave up Vincent Adler with just the right amount of persuasion. Julian was a crack shot and there was no reason why he should have missed his heart even by two millimeters. Unless he was paid to.

Another sip of wine, another laugh.

They all thought “Project Mentor” was instigated by Adler, who didn’t have enough juice to fill a thimble. Moz thought the name was a rather obvious tell, but Neal and the Suit never connected the dots.

Philip Kramer had been a bit of a wildcard, the éminence grise of D.C. Art Crimes wasn’t going dirty his hands without a good reason. Moz supplied the good reason and then some.

He wasn’t a Machiavellian puppet-master for nothing.

FIN