This is partly the T. Earl King VI episode. I didn't like it, but I liked the idea of an underground auction. ;)

August, 2015

Monday

Porter actually kept his word. All of a sudden, several people in high positions resigned, and Reven Wright found herself in the surprising position to take over the responsibility for the Reddington task force.

Before Tom Connolly resigned, he signed a deal granting Red full immunity as long as he was cooperating with the FBI.

"I might have an idea how we could draw Salumbides out of the shadows," Red said when they met at The Embassy. "There's an underground auction run by the Kings' family. Whatever you can't sell on the legal market, you can have auctioned there. We could offer the Red Star for sale. Obviously, Salumbides is so keen on it-no pun intended, my dear," he said to Liz and patted her back, "that he might take the bait."

"And then we arrest the whole lot," Don said.

"If you like to." Red smiled. "I've no business with them so I don't mind. You can arrest the buyers, the sellers, the Kings family, and you'll probably find objects of art missing for ages, missing persons, fake money, drugs, and many other things."

"And you won't kill Salumbides to take vengeance?" Don gave him a severe look.

"This time I'll listen to myself," Red replied. "I hope you have a very dirty, cold, uncomfortable black site where he can spend the rest of his miserable life."

Thursday & Friday

The only way to place an object at the auction was to get an invitation. They created the character Josephine Miller who was allegedly operating for a Russian patriot. They made the Kings believe that he wanted to offer the Red Star for auction.

The meeting point was a hotel. Liz checked in as Josephine Miller, and told the concierge the code word. Unfortunately, Don and Meera lost her, when she was brought to a car in the garage.

Luckily, Red had a plan B. He asked an old friend of his, Madeline Pratt, to offer him for sale. The Kings took the bait, and brought him to the facility where the auction was going to take place.

For this mission they had re-implanted the GPS chip in Red's neck, so the task force was able to follow him to the "castle" in which the Kings held their auctions.

While Liz had all luxury in her suite at the castle, Red had to endure the procedure of getting dressed for the auction.

Saturday

The day of the auction had arrived. Part of plan B was that Don was supposed to "buy" Red. Meera had a good laugh, when he dressed up as an arrogant underground king, wearing tight black leather pants, black boots, a black shirt, and a grey coat with a collar made of fur.

"And Red thinks you can only be a cop," she said. "You look pretty dangerous and incredibly hot."

It made him laugh. It was always funny when Meera simply said what she was thinking. And, of course, it was flattering.

"You should wear it for your wedding with Liz," Meera teased him. "I bet she would love it."

He felt found out. "I don't know what you are talking about. Why should I marry her?"

"Oh, come on," Meera said, "everyone on the task force knows that you two are a couple. It's obvious."

Don was embarrassed. It was against the rules, and he felt uncomfortable. "Does Cooper know it, too?"

"Sure." Meera nodded. "But I think he simply ignores it. There are worse things he has to worry about."

Red's auction took place before the Red Star would be auctioned. In the beginning, the biddings were low, but then, suddenly, Yaabari, the African warlord, started to bid higher and higher.

Where the hell is Donald? Red was in a cold sweat, and acting from necessity he started bidding on himself. "Come on, I got to be worth as much as that fake Xunade Ming vessel was. Seventeen!"

"Eighteen!" Yaabari shouted.

Red was desperate. Who the hell knows what Yaabari is up to? "Twenty!"

The Kings weren't pleased and tried to stop the auction. "Ignore that bid!"

"That hardly seems fair," Red objected.

"Get him off the stage, now!"

"Does the gentleman maintain his previous bid at 18 million dollars?" the auctioneer asked, and Yaabari nodded.

"20 million," Red heard Don's voice, and he sighed in relief. He had seldom been so scared in his life. Of course, he would have been safe the moment the FBI was going to breach the building, but he could have been dead by then.

Yaabari was furious, but he couldn't bid higher. "This is your lucky day," he said when he passed Red by. "If I had won the bidding, I would have sold your head for 20 million dollars to a man in Johannesburg."

Red was shocked. He was worried about the fact that he didn't know anyone in Johannesburg who would pay 20 million dollars just to see him dead. Was this somehow connected to Angus Younes or Salumbides?

"We'll prepare him downstairs for you," a member of the staff offered Don, and wanted to lead Red out of the room.

"No, thank you," Don replied. "He's supposed to be a slave of lust. He doesn't need special clothes."

Red looked at him in surprise, then, he had to stifle his laughter. Donald played his role well, but knowing who he really was doubled the fun.

They went over to Liz, but without speaking to her or looking at her.

Finally, the Red Star was about to be auctioned. There were several bidders, and it took a while before Red was able to identify Salumbides.

"He has changed a lot," he whispered and nodded to a tall, bald man. "He must have changed his face, and he got old."

The moment Salumbides won the auction, the doors flung open, and the SWAT-team and several FBI agents under Meera's lead came in.

It was a big day for the FBI. They were able to solve dozen of cases of missing or abducted persons, cases of stolen goods, and they could arrest about a hundred criminals, some of them wanted for serious crimes for years.

"You look beautiful tonight," Don said to Liz on their way back to D.C. "I like what you did with your hair."

"Thanks." Liz smiled. Yes, she felt beautiful tonight. The dress she had bought for this mission (the Bureau had paid it) was awesome. "And you look incredibly hot in those leather pants. You should wear them more often. Just for me."

It made him laugh because she used the same words as Meera. "I'm afraid I'll have to wear them forever because they so tight that I have the feeling they have grown on me."

She put her hand on his thigh. "I could help you with that..." She gave him a melting gaze and got a little closer.

"Do you want me to stop the car?" He asked salaciously.

"Why not?"

Don couldn't remember he had ever been so lightheaded in his life, but it did him good. He took life too seriously, had always been strained. He had never been careless, or had done anything just for fun. While he was her bridge over troubled water, she was able to make him laugh and to forget about his duties for a little while.

Sunday

"So, why did you do all this?" Liz began to interrogate Salumbides. She detested him even more than Braxton or Porter.

"Your mother stole the Red Star from me," Salumbides replied with a shrug. "Angus Younes was competition. I just tried to get back what belonged to me."

"And that's why you killed five people?" Don looked at him in disgust.

As if it was an excuse Salumbides said, "It just happened. It wasn't planned. I followed Helen. When I and my men came to the cabin, they were talking about something they wanted back. Helen was a clever thief. She stole a lot of things. Then, Angus said something about that the girl had it and looked at her. Later, when I saw you," he said to Liz, "I realized that he had spoken about you. Unfortunately, I had to leave, and it took me years to find you."

"I could have done without you," Liz replied in a cold tone.

"You killed that other girl and her mother, and slit them open to have a look if they had the diamond in their viscera?" Don asked in disbelief.

Salumbides shrugged. "Yes."

Don would even understand if Red wanted to slit Salumbides open. What a horrible creature! "You also killed Angus and Helen Younes. Who was the fifth body we found in the cabin?"

"One of my men," Salumbides replied. "Angus Younes shot him."

"Later, you took over Younes's empire and hired several stooges to run your business for you. I guess, Samuel Aleko is one of them?"

Salumbides nodded. "He's running the diamond business, together with Ferrent LC."

They also arrested Aleko and Michael Ferrent, Don's uncle. Aleko smuggled the diamonds in the country, and Ferrent LC sold them to "special clients". As the diamonds were allegedly from South Africa and had clean certifications no one had ever noticed anything.

"Do you know that you only got assigned to that high-level case because I told them to?" Michael Ferrent asked when he passed Don by, in handcuffs and lead by an agent.

"Yes. I was told what you did for me," Don replied sarcastically. "But you know what? Maybe I wouldn't have been assigned to such a case with only twenty-seven, but you didn't make me a good agent. I did that myself."

"Oh yeah," Ferrent canted, "the poor boy, abandoned by a father who was just interested in his own career. We paid your education, you know?"

"I worked hard for it! You didn't buy me top marks."

"Too bad, your mother died so early," Ferrent said. "Did you know that I drove the car that night?"

Don went pale. He had always wondered why his mother, who had hated races, had crashed the car because of being over speed. He took a deep breath. "Well, now that you've told me, you gonna pay for this as well. You'll join Salumbides at a nice black site. I hope you two like each other."

A week later, Monday

"Now, that we've solved all the mysteries, and I got full immunity, we could end all this," Red said when they met at The Embassy. "But there are still many names on the blacklist we could eliminate if you like." He looked at Liz.

"I would like to do what I was going to do on my first day," she said. "I would like to work in an office at headquarters. As a profiler. I might not be the best profiler this world has ever seen, but that's what I would like to do. To," she looked at Don, "have more time for the family. And to avoid discussions about relationships at the workplace."

"That would violate our arrangement," Red said, pretending he was displeased. But then, he smiled. "But I might agree speaking with Donald instead."

"That would be great." Liz felt relieved. "I would like to spend some time at home, you know?"

"I promised Sam to make you happy, Lizzie," Red said, "and I think you are happy with Donald and Alice, and a boring office job."

Liz agreed with a broad smile, "Yes, I am."

"Well, Donald," Red turned to the younger man, "let's have some fun, shall we?"

In moments like these Red sounds like an encouraging father, Don thought, amused. "You are both wrong that all mysteries have been solved. We haven't found out yet who Liz's biological father is."

Liz was glad it had turned out that Salumbides wasn't her father, either. "I guess, we'll never find out."

"Maybe I found a clue," Don said and took a file from a drawer of his desk. "Most of the things we found in Helen's deposit box were stolen. Except this one." He showed them a picture of a painting in which a teenage girl, maybe sixteen years old, was sitting at a window. "When you look closer, you'll notice that she bears a slight resemblance to Liz. I guess, it's Helen. Furthermore, you'll notice that the painting was cut. Among the things at the auction I found the second part of it."

The second half of the picture showed the rest of the room with a boy at the same age sitting on the floor, looking admiringly at the girl.

"The painting has no signature, but there is a label on the back side." On the back of Helen's picture was written, "Blackwell Anton Rosengarten", on the back of the second half was written, "Postma Beek Basar". "Now, when you put the back sides together you get this."

"Blackwell and Postma, Anton Beek, Rosengarten Basar," Liz read out loud.

"Seems that Helen's name was Blackwell before she married Angus Younes. And Postma could be your father," Don suggested, "a childhood sweetheart of your mom."

"Rosengarten Basar," Red laughed, "the strangest place I've ever been."

"Do you know what it is? Where it is?" Liz asked. Although she was unsure if she really wanted to know who her father was, it was exciting to learn more about her mother.

"It's a curiosity shop in Hamburg, Germany," Red replied. "Generations of sailors sold stuff they had brought from their trips all around the world to the shop.*) It's a collection of very strange things. I guess Anton Beek is the painter and sold the picture to the Rosengarten Basar. It's probably many years ago, but maybe you are lucky, and they are able to give you a clue about the painter or Postma." He put on a happy grin. "Seems we're going on a field trip. Shall we?"

*) This shop really exists. Due to possible copyright issues I changed the name and some circumstances. It's really the strangest place I've ever been, and I'm sure Red would know and like it. :D

I said that there would be 22 "episodes", but while I was thinking about the contents in Helen's deposit box I had an idea for a sequel. So there are going to be two more "episodes".