Harlequin's Shadow

Chapter 7: Planning Sessions

Federal Building, Lower Manhattan. Wednesday, August 17, 2005.

Peter scanned his crew at the morning briefing—Hughes, Jones, Travis, Diana, and Neal. This was probably the last time they would attend as a group. From now on, they'd need to appear to be working at cross-purposes as they conspired and spied on each other.

The significance of the session wasn't lost on any of them. Travis had swept the room in advance for listening devices.

Jones provided the first item on the agenda—an update on Kramer. "We caught a break. The National Gallery of Art had saved the security footage of the days leading up to the theft of the Raphael painting last summer. When we recovered the painting in April, they neglected to delete the file." He hooked his laptop to the projector and flashed an image on the monitor. "Neal, care to confirm the identification?"

"I'll be happy to," Neal said, a smile breaking out. "That, my esteemed colleagues, is the rare and elusive Leopard, Klaus Mansfeld."

"I've informed the assistant director about Kramer," Hughes said. "He's agreed to leave him in place for now. The only ones who know of Kramer's duplicity are us and the AD. All relevant information is being stored offsite on Travis's server and that will continue for the duration of the operation."

"Henry has spent the past two weeks sailing off the Atlantic Seaboard, ostensibly on sick leave from the shoulder wound he sustained in Argentina," Neal said. "We want our marks to believe that in reality he's been using a fractal antenna designed by Mozzie to search for the sunken U-boat."

"According to the script, Henry discovered the U-boat location off Cape May this past weekend," Diana said, picking up the thread. She plugged in her laptop to the projector and pulled up a map of the Atlantic Seaboard coastline. "Neal, Henry, Sara, and Mozzie will spend the next weekend on the sailboat. They'll convey the impression that they're investigating the wreck's condition."

"Is Cape May a plausible site?" Hughes asked. "Ilsa and I've visited the seaside resort. It's hard for me to imagine U-boats were close to shore during the war."

"But they were," Jones, the Navy and now U-boat expert pointed out. "Several U-boats were detected off the Atlantic Seaboard in World War II. In 1991 a U-boat wreck was discovered close to the New Jersey coast."

Hughes didn't look convinced. "You say the U-boat was sunk. Wouldn't the torpedoes have caused such extensive damage that any art on board would have been ruined?"

"We intend to spread the rumor that the U-boat was not torpedoed but deliberately sunk," Peter explained. "A skeleton crew placed the boat in a location where the Fuhrer could retrieve it at a later time. The crew escaped by using diving gear."

Hughes nodded slowly. "I'll buy that." He crossed his arms and turned to Neal. "You've found the U-boat. How will you retrieve the art?"

"Henry will borrow funds from Win-Win to pay for a salvage vessel," Neal replied promptly, using air quotes around the word borrow.

"At least that's what Adler will believe," Jones amended. "As for Ydrus, we'll take advantage of Adler's financial backing of Wilhelm Salvage. For the past decade, the company has operated off the Atlantic Seaboard. We believe Adler's been using it to search for the U-boat. Sir, you'll lead Kramer to believe that Neal and Henry partnered with Adler on the salvage operation."

A small smile flitted across Hughes's face. "After the horse hockey he's been shoveling about Caffrey, I'm going to enjoy this. You'll be my eyes and ears, I gather."

"Yes, sir."

"What proof do you intend to have?"

"We have several ideas in mind, but the clincher will be when Neal attempts to sell one of the paintings from the U-boat." Jones displayed a list of artworks from the shipping manifest they'd found in Huber's safe on the screen. "Which painting did you pick, Caffrey?"