Chapter 6 - The Seizure at Lake Michigan
At 3:00 AM, the frozen surface of Lake Michigan off the coast of Montrose Harbor was bathed in the floodlights of three massive commercial crane barges.
The wind off the water was razor-sharp, driving temperatures down to fifteen below zero, but the harbor was alive with activity. Four of my heavy tugboats held the barges in position, while a team of specialized underwater salvage divers prepared to hook heavy steel cables to the sunken shipping container forty feet below the surface.
I stood on the primary barge deck wearing a heavy wool coat, flanked by Leo and twenty of my best-armed men.
Beside me stood Assistant United States Attorney Sarah Reyes, a formidable federal prosecutor who had worked secretly with my organization for six years to clean up municipal corruption in Cook County.
"If that locket contains what you claim it contains, Vincent," Reyes said, her teeth chattering slightly against the freezing wind, "we're looking at the largest federal asset seizure in Illinois history. Senator Thomas Sterling will be in handcuffs before sunrise."
"The locket contains the full transaction ledger, Sarah," I said, watching the heavy steel cables hum as the crane winches began to turn. "Every bribe, every offshore transfer, every thermite order Sterling placed through Blackwood Security over the last fifteen years."
With a loud, metallic screech that echoed across the frozen water, the massive steel container broke the surface of Lake Michigan, water cascading off its rusted iron sides like a waterfall.
The crane crew lowered the container gently onto the barge deck.
Leo stepped forward with an industrial hydraulic cutter, snapping the heavy steel padlocks on the double doors. He threw the doors open.
Inside, lit by the bright halogen floodlights, sat forty heavy iron crates, stamped with the historic crest of the Chicago Port Authority.
Reyes walked inside, pulling a crowbar from a tool rack, and pried open the top of the nearest crate.
Inside, gleaming under the bright lights, lay stacked rows of solid gold bullion bars, untouched by seventeen years beneath the dark water.
Reyes let out a long, breathless gasp, turning to look at me. "My God, Vincent... it's really here."
"Eighty million dollars in federal reserve gold," I said softly, stepping into the container. "Stolen by Thomas Sterling, hidden by murderers, and brought back to the light by an eight-year-old girl who refused to freeze in an alley."
Reyes pulled out her encrypted satellite phone. "I'm calling the Federal Reserve Guard and the United States Marshals. We're locking down this harbor."
"Make sure you make one thing clear to the federal judge, Sarah," I said, stepping up beside her and looking her dead in the eye.
"What's that?"
"Under maritime salvage law and federal victim restitution statutes," I declared, "fifty percent of this gold belongs to the sole surviving heir of Arthur Vance. Clara Vance is going to grow up as one of the wealthiest young women in this country."
Reyes smiled—a rare, genuine smile that warmed her sharp face. "I'll draft the restitution order myself, Vincent."
Before she could press dial, my phone chimed with an emergency alert from my Gold Coast tower security team.
I pulled it out.
The screen displayed a live camera feed from the forty-fifth-floor hallway outside my penthouse.
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Two men wearing police tactical uniforms were standing outside my private elevator door, holding a signed municipal search warrant, while four state troopers stood behind them with weapons drawn.
At the head of the group stood Senator Thomas Sterling himself.
