Treasure Hunt

Chapter 3

Hospital. Sunday morning. January 11, 2004.

"My plan wasn't exactly illegal," Neal had protested.

"Breaking and entering," Peter countered.

"Jeremiah has the keys."

"Permission to use those keys extends to his employees, which you are not. And you'd be tampering with evidence."

Their debate ended when Peter parked at the hospital, where they took an official statement from Jebediah Acres. Jeb admitted to using buildings belonging to his brother's clients to store loot from several crimes over the years, and said five caches still remained hidden.

Peter handed a camera to Neal, to document Jeb's injuries. Neal guessed it was Peter's goal to impress on him how dangerous it was to stay involved with his old partners in crime. It was certainly sobering, especially when he recognized the name of the person who'd beaten Jeb. "Yeah, Wilkes is bad news," Neal said as he handed the camera back to Peter. "He's certainly capable of double-crossing his partners for their take, and of hurting other people in the process."

"Chances are he's already collected the jewels Jeb hid for his crew, but I've got the police checking it out, and they're on the lookout for Wilkes," Peter said. "That leaves four more locations for us to check, and we're doing this by the book."

Going by the book meant a long lunch break while they waited for approval to collect the loot. Peter filled in his boss and then called members of his team to help. Clinton Jones, Tricia Wiese, and Jorge Badillo contacted the owners of the buildings to get their permission for a team to enter their premises.

Neal recommended bringing a reporter along. It would look impressive for the FBI to be seen recovering stolen goods from multiple major thefts, and more importantly it would quickly get the word out to the public that the goods were in the hands of the Feds. That way the Acres family should be safe from criminals desperate to collect their loot when word of Jeb's impending death spread.

Peter embraced the idea, and consulted with Hughes on which reporter would be best. They settled on Fayza Al-Razi, an up-and-coming crime reporter at a local television station. She and a cameraman met them at the first location. As both Peter and Neal intended to continue undercover work, neither of them went on camera. Instead they invited Tricia Wiese to act as the face of the FBI.

Following the instructions in Jeb's log of hiding places, Tricia led them to the roof of a hotel. Jeremiah pried open one of the massive air-conditioning units. He noted that the unit wasn't connected to the wiring, and then lifted out part of the mechanism. Wearing latex gloves, Tricia retrieved what looked like a tool box, and opened it to reveal gold Krugerrands as the news team watched.

Fayza gave her cameraman a high-five. "We're going to be the lead story tonight!" she declared. "Let's get going. I want to hit all four locations and edit the footage before the five o'clock news."

Carmen Fuentes, head of the FBI's New York Evidence Response Team unit, gave instructions to two of her team members. They would document exactly what was found and where, and then take the gold back to the Federal Building, where they would look for prints on the gold pieces. That would help them corroborate the names Jeb had listed as the members of the crew who planned to retrieve the gold when they were released from prison for stealing it.

In the second location, Tricia led the way to the basement of an apartment building, where she unlocked a utility room. Directing her flashlight at a furnace that groaned like an otherworldly creature, they saw a metal box welded to the back. Jeremiah used his tools to open the box, revealing a cache of stunning diamonds. Two more of Carmen's team members took possession of the box and started to process the scene.