White Collar: An unofficial novel - part 11

A treasure for the ages

Peter watched the kid climb down the ladder into the belly of the sub in the light of Peter's tiny flashlight.

"Tools," he said, handing him a bag when he reached the bottom. He climbed down after Neal to the lights of an electrical lantern that had been in the bag.

"Two doors," the kid said.

"That one goes to the bow. The lion part of the sub it that way."

They exchanged a look, and Peter turned the wheel to open the door to the main part. It swung open, and he stepped inside, shining into the darkness with his flashlight.

"If I see jars of fetuses with little black mustaches, I'm turning around."

"I don't think this is the one carrying the Hitler clones," his pet convict said behind him. "Here, watch for trip wires."

Their flashlights shone on wooden crates stamped with the symbol of the Third Rich, the old sun symbol that forever would be connected with Hitler. And it all seemed to have been kept dry all these years, against every odds.

Eagerly Neal passed him and placed the lantern on a crate.

"Give me a hand."

They took out their crowbars and worked the crate open. It fell open. Peter stared at a painting of a child.

"Yeah. It's a Van Dyke," the kid said. "It's got to be worth millions."

Neal bent open another crate.

"Look at this!" He was like a kid on Christmas.

"It's Nazi plunder," Peter said. Taken from people they thought were not even human. "From all over Europe." He did not like the idea of from where it all came. I liked it even less that it would go to another villain. He opened another crate. "Whoa. Priam's treasure. Before it turned out to be Troy's treasure."

"Either way, it's here now," the kid grinned at him.

"This has got to be worth—"

"Billions. Billions of dollars. This has to be one of the greatest collections of art that's ever been found."

Too much money. Too much for anyone! They were in a sub, and even though they opened the crates, they had not found the greatest collection of art that had ever been found. Adler had.

"How do we get out of here?" he hissed to Neal.

"Adler, you seeing this? Not anymore." He yanked the headset off, busted the mic, and threw it away.

"That bought us some time. You got an idea?"

It took the kid only a breath to get focused.

"Adler could've only found this sub if the antenna was still working."

"Mozzie's antenna." But now they needed to be found and would not be in this sub for long.

"Obviously, Adler got his to work. I'll check over here."

"All right," Peter nodded; let's check if they could find the transmitter. "Careful. That nitro's unstable." There were packs of TNT a little all over the place.

Peter scanned the sub in the other direction. There was a metal box on the wall with a familiar image.

"That looks like our fractal." It was. "Bingo."

He flung the box open as Neal joined him.

"Germans built things to last."

Peter yanked out the transmitter and handed it to the kid.