While Castle, Gianna, John, and the others were basking in the December sunlight on the lawn of the Long Island estate, just five kilometers away, a large group of FBI agents led by Peter Burke, head of the White Collar Crime Unit at the FBI's New York office, forcefully entered the mansion that a congressman had lent to the recently returned Vincent Adler as a hideout.
Peter was seething with anger, looking for someone to unleash his fury on. They had been so close to capturing Vincent Adler, a fugitive who had been on the run for ten years, and securing the treasure supposedly hidden in a World War II-era submarine that Adler had secretly salvaged off the coast of New York. But something had gone terribly wrong. Despite Peter personally witnessing his former partner Neal open the submarine, it was empty. To make matters worse, Adler, who had already been handcuffed by Peter's team, was assassinated by a high-caliber sniper right before their eyes as he was being escorted to a car. The sniper's bullets, unmistakably designed to send a message, indicated that powerful and dangerous forces were still at play.
Peter was puzzled by how his superior, Hughes, had so quickly identified the owner of the mansion as someone involved with Adler, less than ten minutes after Adler was shot dead in front of the warehouse. (What Peter didn't know was that Hughes had received this information from an anonymous tip, which Castle had arranged through Harry.) Before arriving at the mansion, Peter had already been informed by his tech experts that the signals from the surveillance cameras found in the warehouse had been traced directly to this estate, further implicating the congressman who owned it.
This congressman, Gavin, had now become the prime suspect, and neither the FBI nor the Department of Justice could afford to overlook him, especially with the treasure still unaccounted for. Peter's team had learned from interrogations of Adler's men that on the night Adler retrieved the submarine, he hadn't stayed at the warehouse but had instead gone to spend the night at this very mansion. Given the timeline, it was plausible that the congressman had the means, motive, and opportunity to transfer the treasure out of the submarine.
Moreover, the fact that Adler was assassinated so soon after being captured suggested that someone wanted to silence him quickly. The congressman seemed the most likely candidate, especially with the surveillance signals leading back to his estate. Peter was increasingly convinced that the congressman had been involved in a longstanding conspiracy with Adler, helping him evade capture for a decade in exchange for funding his campaigns and providing protection.
Gavin wasn't a senator with supreme authority, but as a congressman, his influence and connections were not to be underestimated. Such a politician, with access to various sources of information and intelligence, could easily have formed a corrupt alliance with someone like Adler, who had plenty of dirty money. In exchange for campaign funds, Gavin could have provided Adler with crucial information and cover. The fact that Adler felt bold enough to openly use a massive semi-submersible salvage vessel near New York's coast without fearing the Coast Guard strongly pointed to Gavin's involvement.
For Peter, this scenario was all too clear. Without the congressman's support, Adler wouldn't have dared to return to New York so boldly, let alone launch a salvage operation so close to the city. The fact that Adler was killed the moment the FBI captured him, coupled with the mysterious disappearance of the treasure, left Peter with no choice but to suspect that this was Gavin's doing—a desperate attempt to cover his tracks by eliminating Adler.
Given the FBI's authority and the presence of representatives from the Department of Justice during the operation, Peter had no hesitation in surrounding Gavin's mansion with heavily armed federal agents and storming the estate. Gavin was out of luck—he had dismissed all his staff to prevent them from discovering his association with Adler, leaving no one to alert him when the FBI arrived. Thus, Peter and his team encountered no resistance as they swept through the mansion.
Castle had ensured that the incriminating "evidence" was hidden but not too well concealed. Peter's experienced team of federal agents quickly discovered the surveillance receivers that Gianna's people had deliberately planted in a secluded room of the mansion. Although Peter felt something was slightly off about how easily they found the evidence, Hughes, who was eager to claim credit for the operation and worried about another potential failure, didn't give Peter the time to dwell on it.
Hughes had been desperate for a big win. After learning from Peter the previous day that Vincent Adler was not only back in New York but had also salvaged a treasure-laden submarine, Hughes had pulled every string he could to get the FBI to agree to offer Neal a pardon in exchange for his cooperation. He even went so far as to inform the Attorney General, the only person who could sign off on Neal's pardon, about the treasure.
Everything had been going according to plan. That morning, Neal received his pardon, and in return, he provided full details about Adler's activities, leading Peter and the FBI to the submarine. The FBI agents, with no losses, captured Adler, who had been evading them for ten years. But when Hughes and the DOJ representative arrived, ready to examine the treasure in the submarine, things started to go horribly wrong…
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