At ten o'clock that night, the sky over New York was pitch black. There was no moon or stars, making it a perfect night for a covert operation. At this time, Castle was at the private dock of Gianna's estate on Long Island, preparing to board a boat.
Yes, he ultimately decided against approaching the warehouse by land. The 'Peeping Tom No. 2' drone, which had been monitoring the warehouse from above, had easily detected, thanks to the military reconnaissance equipment recently sponsored by Northrop Grumman, that there were people on every vantage point outside the warehouse watching every move. It was clear that Vincent had arranged this defensive setup. Even though Castle possessed exceptional skills, including those of Jason Bourne, the most badass CIA operative ever, thanks to the System, he was not confident he could slip into the warehouse without alerting the numerous guards around it. After all, he had Jason Bourne's skills, but he couldn't turn invisible! So, approaching the warehouse by land was out of the question.
Fortunately, through drone surveillance, Castle and Mozzie almost simultaneously discovered that the warehouse had a dock, conveniently located next to the New York Harbor. The security on the harbor side was much less stringent. After all, the dock was closed, and they had only dragged the submarine back today. Not many people knew about this, and Vincent wasn't really guarding against anyone who might want to steal the submarine. His real concern was the high-ranking officials, those with significant power, who had been secretly collaborating with him and providing many conveniences. These were the people Vincent truly wanted to guard against!
This gave Castle a relatively more convenient plan for infiltration. Although the dock was closed, if he approached the warehouse by swimming underwater and then found a way inside, it would be much more discreet. Moreover, since Miss Gianna actually owned a yacht in New York, all they needed to do was drop Castle off somewhere in the New York Harbor, and he could easily swim to the warehouse with his oxygen tank.
At this moment, Castle was at the dock, checking the diving equipment Gianna had urgently ordered her people to prepare for him. Gianna, who should have been resting due to her pregnancy, John, and Mozzie were all at the dock. John initially planned to pilot the yacht himself to take Castle to the harbor and support him, but Castle stopped him, insisting that John stay with Gianna. In the end, one of Gianna's subordinates, who could pilot the yacht, took Castle to the harbor. However, the yacht wouldn't wait for him in the harbor, which was Castle's request. He only needed the yacht to drop him off and then return. Castle assured them that he had everything under control and that there would be no problems.
Gianna and John, who misunderstood Castle's arrangements, assumed he must have backup, likely from the elder at the high table, and therefore agreed to Castle's request.
After all, this guy claimed he was going to infiltrate the warehouse, but he didn't bring any tools or even a self-defense handgun. He only asked Gianna to prepare a set of diving equipment, which further convinced Gianna and John that Castle definitely had backup, though for some reason, he was unwilling to reveal it.
As for Mozzie, being a weakling in combat, he couldn't contribute much to the action. He simply reminded Castle to ensure his safety, advising him to abandon the mission to remove the explosives from the submarine if things became too dangerous. No amount of valuable artifacts or treasures was worth more than Castle's life.
If worst came to worst, Mozzie suggested reporting Vincent's recovery of a WWII-era submarine filled with precious artifacts to the FBI. He was confident that Uncle Sam wouldn't let Vincent off the hook easily, knowing that the infamous swindler who had defrauded Wall Street of a billion dollars was back in New York and had just dredged up a submarine filled with priceless treasures.
Castle smiled at Mozzie's nagging but didn't argue. As a friend, Mozzie's concern touched him. Besides, Castle didn't believe he had any reason to fail, but there was no need to boast about it now, was there?
After bidding farewell to the three who had come to see him off, Castle left Long Island on Gianna's luxury yacht. The journey from Long Island to New York Harbor was short, and even by yacht, they could reach it by midnight. Given that Castle needed to swim at least three kilometers underwater, he estimated that he would enter the warehouse around two or three in the morning.
This timing was perfect, as it was when people were at their most exhausted. The four men guarding the submarine had hardly left the room next to it, according to surveillance footage. The room they were in couldn't directly view the submarine, so as long as Castle avoided detection by the guards outside the warehouse, he could climb onto the submarine's bridge and use the hatch as his entry point.
Thanks to the dark and windy night, despite the busy, brightly lit New York Harbor nearby, Vincent's warehouse was in a quiet, unlit corner of the harbor. Relying on his enhanced physique, Castle jumped into the water with his oxygen tank three kilometers from the warehouse and swam toward it at an unbelievable speed. Meanwhile, the yacht turned around and headed back to Long Island as soon as Castle entered the water.
This was actually Castle's first time attempting a night dive with such low visibility. However, the special agent skills from Jason Bourne, provided by the System, proved highly reliable. He felt a natural ease the moment he entered the water, a feeling honed by Jason's years of rigorous training. So, as Castle swam toward Vincent's warehouse at his maximum speed, he mentally thanked the System and Jason for providing such incredible skills.
Because of his excellent physical condition, Castle reached the side of the warehouse facing the sea much faster than expected. It was only around 1:30 a.m. after he found a hidden spot, stashed his diving suit and oxygen tank in his personal space to avoid leaving any traces, and scouted his surroundings. He discovered that this area was indeed a blind spot in Vincent's security, and not far from him was the warehouse.
After careful consideration, Castle decided on a quick operation. After all, he still needed to remove the explosives on the hatch before entering the submarine. Although he had excellent bomb disposal skills, those explosives were installed by the submarine crew when they scuttled it during the war. From what Castle remembered from the TV series, those crew members were downright insane! They not only placed explosives at the hatch but also inside the cabin. Since he arrived early, it meant he had more time to deal with the explosives.
Let's not forget, Castle's plan was to silently empty all the valuables from the submarine without alerting the guards. This meant that after completing his objective, he would need to reattach the explosives exactly as they were. Only then would Vincent believe that no one had entered the submarine since it was salvaged.
Luckily, the System had recently rewarded him with all the bomb and explosive knowledge of Farris Thago, the explosives expert from Simon's New York heist. Farris Thago had served in the Hungarian Defense Forces and was highly familiar with military explosives. The explosives on the submarine were nothing more than TNT, the most widely used explosive during World War II. For Castle, this was a piece of cake!
After thinking for a moment, Castle began his operation. Despite being nearly six feet three inches tall, he moved with an unexpected agility in the dark. He didn't choose the obvious but risky rear entrance to the warehouse. Instead, based on his earlier reconnaissance, he chose a window facing the sea. He had already determined that this was the best entry point. This side of the warehouse was not only unguarded, but it was also in a blind spot. Moreover, once inside, the location of this window was very secluded, making it difficult for anyone to notice, especially the four people still inside the warehouse. They were all on the first floor, while this window was on a corner of the second floor. Once inside, he could follow the second-floor corridor directly to the dock where the submarine was parked!
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