The massive semi-submersible ten-thousand-ton salvage ship slowed its engines and gradually came to a stop on the vast Atlantic Ocean. Vincent Adler had moved to a room adjacent to the bridge, where three of his trusted men were tensely listening through headphones to a peculiar-looking machine. This device, made from a fractal pattern left by Vincent's father and the notes from a music box obtained from Castle, was a passive submarine emergency signal responder. As Vincent's ship was directly above the submarine's location, the device emitted a clear signal, confirming that Vincent had indeed found the long-lost submarine.
The meticulous Germans had ensured that even after many decades, the submarine's emergency distress signal generator was still operational, greatly simplifying Vincent's search.
Seeing his men signal him with joy, Vincent finally felt a sense of relief. The most challenging task was accomplished—locating the submarine in the vast ocean. Now, all that remained was to salvage it, which for a ten-thousand-ton salvage ship was not a monumental task. After all, the submarine had been intentionally sunk at the edge of the Atlantic basin, only about sixty meters below the surface. This made it easy for the submarine crew to escape back then and reduced the difficulty of salvaging it now to an acceptable level for Vincent.
The only concern now was to avoid attracting the attention of the USA's Coast Guard. Vincent had used his connections and money to ensure there would be no interference for at least a couple of weeks. Salvaging a nearly intact WWII submarine from a depth of sixty meters was straightforward with current technology. According to Vincent's experts, once the submarine's location was precisely identified, the semi-submersible salvage ship could quietly lift it to the surface and place it in its specially designed semi-submersible cargo hold.
Having received confirmation from his technical experts and seeing the underwater camera being deployed toward the target, Vincent confidently left the control room. He planned to check on his team, who were preparing to dive and make precise positional adjustments. As he stepped onto the bustling deck, unaware that 3,500 meters above, the "Peeping Tom II" drone had switched shifts and was now hovering steadily. The live feed was transmitted back to the estate on Long Island, just over a hundred kilometers away, where Castle, Gianna, and John watched the situation unfold in real-time.
Castle had designed these drones with a strategy in mind. They were small, almost invisible to the naked eye, even in clear weather. The drones' undersides were painted to blend with the sky, making them hard to spot even with binoculars. Additionally, they employed excellent electromagnetic stealth technology, ensuring they weren't detected by Vincent's ship's radar, which lacked anti-air capabilities.
At the estate, in the small building where the chubby guy had been having a blast for the past month, Gianna, who cared for him, had sent him to the bedroom to catch up on sleep after a night shift. Moz had returned to the city, leaving only Castle and the John couple. Unlike other tense monitoring scenarios, they casually discussed children while watching Vincent's men work through the drone feed.
The salvage ship had anchored, which made Castle's job easier. The drone could hover steadily above the ship, its semi-intelligent flight control system automatically adjusting for real-time wind speeds. This stable hovering extended the drone's reconnaissance time. After positioning "Peeping Tom II" above the salvage ship and waiting for "Peeping Tom III" to return and land at the estate, Castle no longer concerned himself with the drones' maintenance and refueling, which were handled by technicians from an Italian aerospace company.
Thanks to Gianna, and Castle's laziness, he had handed over the technical rights for the drones in Europe to the company, which Gianna partly owned. This transfer included not only the semi-intelligent flight control system but also the drone designs and other functions. The drones were originally based on a military UAV design from Stark Industries in the Marvel world, repurposed by Castle. He refrained from arming them to avoid trouble with the FBI or Homeland Security, who might label him a terrorist. Keeping the drones strictly for reconnaissance allowed him to evade such accusations.
Castle knew that General Atomics had been coveting his advanced semi-intelligent flight control system. By bringing Northrop Grumman, the third-largest military contractor in the US, to his side, he had managed to protect his drones. The recent visit by Northrop Grumman's aerospace director Mark was not just to deliver outdated military reconnaissance kits but also to warn Castle of numerous covert probes. These reconnaissance kits were an experiment to see if Castle's drones could integrate military technology. The successful results pleased Northrop Grumman, leading them to consider acquiring the entire drone design, as the Italian company had.
Castle, uninterested in these business headaches, had fully authorized Gianna to handle all drone-related matters in Europe. The Italian company, upon receiving the detailed plans, was ecstatic to find they could directly manufacture compliant drones without modification. This realization made the company president profusely express his admiration to Gianna over the phone, making her understand the true value of Castle's gift, far surpassing the $20 million lion coin she had once given him.
The trio, now in the first-floor living room of the small building, watched Vincent's busy crew on the Atlantic through the drone feed while casually discussing parenting.
Gianna, who hadn't yet determined the gender of her unborn child, was torn between having a son to inherit the D'Antonio family business or a smart, lively daughter like Alexis. The once decisive mafia heiress now radiated the sweet troubles of impending motherhood, playfully chiding John for his indifferent stance on the child's gender, to Castle's amusement.
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