Setting sail with a ten-thousand-ton ship is a complex process involving fresh water, supplies, equipment tuning, and personnel arrangements. It's nothing like a road trip where you can just grab a travel bag and drive off. Especially for someone like Vincent Adler, a billionaire secretly preparing to salvage a submarine off the coast of New York. Choosing to depart stealthily at night was the best option. Despite the USA's Coast Guard patrolling the area, New York's coastal patrols are less frequent compared to high-traffic smuggling areas like Miami or California. Not far from New York Harbor lies the Atlantic Ocean Basin, with a dramatic drop into deep waters. According to Castle's estimation, the submarine shouldn't be too far from the continental shelf; otherwise, salvaging it from the deep Atlantic would be impossible.
What mattered was that Castle and the chubby guy, through the drone hovering over the harbor, noticed that the Panamanian-registered salvage ship was brightly lit. Using the newly installed military reconnaissance equipment, Castle immediately realized that Vincent was making final preparations for the salvage operation.
Seeing this, Castle abandoned his initial plan to discuss future work arrangements with the chubby guy after dinner. With Gianna ready to rest due to her pregnancy, Castle quickly informed Alexis that he might not be coming home tonight. He and the chubby guy, whose eyes gleamed with excitement at Vincent's unusual activities, began focusing on the ship.
Under the cover of darkness, the chubby guy boldly lowered the drone's altitude, getting closer to the Panamanian salvage ship. Through the sophisticated reconnaissance equipment, they easily spotted Vincent Adler in the ship's bridge, looking proud.
Vincent, a medium-built, brown-haired middle-aged white man, appeared much younger than his actual age. His German heritage lent his face a stern look, making him seem trustworthy at first glance. It's no wonder he managed to deceive Wall Street with a massive Ponzi scheme ten years ago, amassing a fortune of one billion dollars.
Vincent's relentless pursuit of his dreams was notable. According to Castle's memory of the original series, Vincent's lifelong goal was to find the submarine his father had sunk off the coast of New York, filled with treasure looted by German forces during World War II. In 1945, as Germany faced defeat, several submarines were tasked with escaping with the Reich's treasures. The U-845, the submarine Vincent was searching for, held special significance because Vincent's father was aboard. He grew up hearing stories about the submarine from his father.
Instead of enjoying a carefree life in Argentina with his ill-gotten gains, Vincent returned to New York after ten years, risking capture by the persistent FBI. Driven by his childhood dream, he had spent years secretly gathering clues about the submarine. Recently, he discovered that one of the radio operators who left the submarine with his father had recorded its exact coordinates in a music box. This operator, Alex's grandfather, had converted the coordinates into musical notes, hiding them in the music box. Vincent traced this lead to Neil Caffrey, his former assistant and a renowned art thief. Believing the music box was in Neil's possession, Vincent's henchman, an FBI agent named Fowler, kidnapped Neil's girlfriend Kate, hoping to force Neil to reveal the box's location. This led to Neil's dramatic prison break and Castle's intervention to help his friend.
Enraged by Vincent's actions, Castle resolved to give him a taste of his own medicine, leading to the current plan. Watching the crew on the brightly lit ship prepare for departure, Castle couldn't contain his excitement. Ignoring the time, he called Neil and Mozzie. Neil, restricted by an ankle monitor to Manhattan, summoned Mozzie to join them.
Poor Mozzie had been driven to the brink of madness by Castle's relentless demands. A month ago, he had agreed to negotiate the transfer of semi-intelligent flight control systems for two drones with Northrop Grumman. He had been buried in preparations and studying drone technology. That afternoon, Mark, the technical director from Grumman, expressed interest in the drones' design, complicating matters further. When Castle called to inform him of Vincent's impending departure, Mozzie had no choice but to abandon his thick stack of documents and rush to their location.
Neil, confined to Manhattan, could only rely on Mozzie. Castle cared little about the treasure's monetary value, having millions of hidden dollars in his possession. His primary goal was to retaliate against Vincent, proving that success in finance didn't translate to other domains.
Vincent made a common mistake among successful people: assuming mastery in one field guaranteed success in others. This arrogance led him to underestimate Castle. After Castle helped Neil rescue Kate and killed Vincent's assassin, Larsen, Vincent realized his grave error. John Wick had even offered to eliminate Vincent in Argentina, but Castle, preferring to avoid unnecessary effort, decided to let Vincent live.
Vincent should be grateful for Castle's pragmatism. It was this opportunistic approach that allowed the once mighty Vincent Adler to survive this long.
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