Chapter 3: On the Prowl

Henry had dreamed about what working for Klaus had been like ever since he found out Neal had been a member of the Leopard's crew. Finally he was getting a taste of it.

They were staying in an upscale furnished apartment in Prague because some things never changed. No matter what the job entailed, Neal and Klaus both liked a certain degree of comfort. In Neal's case, Henry suspected it was a reaction to the cheap dives they'd frequented during their years on the road. Neal countered that it was the prudent solution. They brought their meals in and minimized their time outside. The apartment had an office that Klaus had converted into a studio. Basic art supplies were in place. To maintain the cover, Neal purchased pigments and brushes at an art supply store.

Henry had expected Klaus to assume the leadership role, but Neal told him this was a kinder, gentler version of the man who'd mentored him in Geneva. Klaus was relaxed and congenial. He also acted younger with a barely contained exuberance at running a heist once more.

Henry admitted freely he was lost for many of the discussions. Neal and Klaus lived and breathed art. Movements, artist critiques, new trends—all were on the table. They spent so much time debating one abstract painting that Henry began to wonder if it was a deliberate head fake.

But that was all right. He could sit back and wait for the appropriate moment to lob his shots. Like the time over Czech chocolate cake—and who knew pureed beets were the secret to such a deliciously fudgy cake—he asked Klaus, "During your years on the prowl, were you doing it for the challenge? You didn't need the money."

He caught Klaus off-guard. Neal kept silent, keeping a neutral expression on his face.

"You're right about that," Klaus said. "Although selling stolen paintings isn't as lucrative as you might imagine. The underground price is usually a pittance of a work's true value. But the intellectual challenge is similar to a game of chess, something I'm told you excel at. What Neal and Marcel are helping me learn is that thwarting a heist or recovering stolen paintings can be equally if not more appealing."

A pat answer but hopefully an honest one.

"I didn't make a fortune from my years as the Leopard," Klaus added. "But I had a steady income as a financial advisor for my family's business. Now I use those investing skills for Chantal and myself." He turned to Neal. "The profits I made in Geneva I gave to Chantal as part of the divorce settlement."

"I suspected as much," Neal said, looking at him with sympathy. "That was a wise investment."

She owned the building where her bistro was located. The site alone—on a narrow side street on the Left Bank close to the Seine and Notre Dame—meant that it must have cost millions. Neal lost the money he'd made during his years with Klaus in Adler's Ponzi scheme.

"As for my years with Ydrus"—Klaus shrugged—"Anya paid me a salary. She retained the profits from art sales."

"How about Rolf?" Neal asked. Henry was glad to hear the question. Far better that it came from Neal. This conversation was developing exactly as he'd hoped.

"I don't know anything about his finances." Klaus winced. "That sounds like a hedge, but it's the truth."

He seemed so sincere Henry wanted to believe him. "He probably has homes in several cities," he prompted, interested in how Klaus would respond.

"Safe houses? As you know, Rolf was extremely private. I don't even know where he lived during our years in Geneva. For all I know, he lived in hotel rooms," he added bitterly and fell silent for a moment. "I remember once after we sold a Rubens, he said he'd put the money to good use, but he didn't elaborate."

"What was his connection to Vermeer?" Neal asked unprompted. It was another question on Henry's list. Rolf's association with Vermeer was well documented. He'd commissioned Wilkes to steal a Vermeer from the Frick Collection. Neal had also confided that during the years he was a member of Klaus's crew, they planned to steal a Vermeer from the Louvre but they hadn't gotten around to it.

"I've wondered about that too. I think more than anything else it's the puzzle aspect of his paintings that fascinated him. Henry, Vermeer's works are packed with symbolism, layers of meaning, and the cryptic use of objects."

"Was he the one who requested you steal The Woman in Blue?" Henry asked.

"Yes, and The Astronomer as well," Klaus replied. "As Neal knows I prefer nineteenth-century works and contemporary art."

Throughout their time in Prague, Henry didn't find any red flags in Klaus's behavior. As for the heist, it was a virtuoso performance for the pride's debut. They planted bugs on every car that stopped at Melkin's house in Old Town. From the safety of a rented cargo van, they were able to monitor the routes thanks to Travis's software. And after a few days, a clear pattern emerged—a warehouse in eastern Prague. The park appeared to be a hub for trucks to unload and pick up containers. Tight security was provided by a combination of guards and camera surveillance.

The only entrance to the warehouse was a cavernous door for trucks—not the best option for a stealth entry. So they planned to enter from above, sneaking through a utility access point on an adjoining building and then snaking through a crawlspace.

The best approach for such a brazen maneuver was to conduct it in broad daylight. They "borrowed" a utility van and the appropriate coveralls from the outfit that serviced the premises.

Neal could grouse—and he did— that he'd much rather skip over the colorful orange tile roofs of Old Town Prague, but the modern industrial park presented unique challenges.

According to the log reports, Melkin's trucks always arrived in the evening, so they'd break in early in the morning.

Their undercover identities had been supplied by Interpol. John Hobhouse was on standby. As soon as the heist was concluded, he'd contact Czech authorities about an anonymous tip.

Henry parked the van next to the ladder leading to the roof. The sheet metal facade would conceal them from anyone on the ground. The surveillance cameras were topnotch, but they'd neglected to provide blanket coverage for the roofs.

And sure, crawling through the dark for thirty minutes wasn't the most pleasurable experience in the world. But after Klaus and Neal crept through a maintenance opening onto the ground, rigged the cameras with still photos, and cracked the elaborate lock guarding the containers, Henry was on a high that could have kept him going for days.

The containers were mainly filled with cocaine, but one had the paintings they'd hoped to find. In addition to the original of the Rembrandt Neal had forged, there were fifteen other paintings. Many of them were ones Neal had heard of. The most surprising were three Rembrandts that had been part of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist in 1990. Hobhouse had plenty to be excited about, and the Czechs wouldn't miss that Rembrandt's Portrait of a Bearded Man wasn't among the recovered artworks.

Winston-Winslow. Thursday, July 19, 2007.

Jones gave a low whistle. "Paintings from the Gardner Museum heist? That's quite a coup for both Interpol and us."

Peter had gone to Jones's office after speaking with Neal. "Sara's thrilled. Sterling-Bosch is Gardner's insurer. The Czechs hope Melkin will provide information about the other stolen items from the museum. Thirteen works were taken. Still missing are paintings by Vermeer, Degas, and Manet."

"What about the other paintings in Melkin's possession?"

"They're from museums in Europe. A few of them weren't known to have been stolen. They'll be checked to see if they were replaced with pinprick forgeries."

"Did our guys manage to stay out of the spotlight?" Jones asked.

Peter nodded. "Henry coordinated the details with Hobhouse. Interpol claimed they'd gotten a tip on the cocaine. As far as the Czechs are concerned, the art was an unexpected bonus." Peter was relieved that the first phase was complete, but the second would be much more difficult with no friendly police to provide support.

"You won't see anything about the recovered art in the news," Peter cautioned. "Hobhouse has asked the Czechs to keep a lid on it until his team has had a chance to recover additional works from the Gardner heist."

"And he also doesn't want to alert Phoenix."

"That too." One of the best parts of working with Jones is that he sensed the underlying dynamics better than almost anyone he knew. Jones probably suspected that Klaus fingered Melkin but he hadn't been told about the Rembrandt in play.

"Will we have access to Melkin's bank accounts?" Jones asked. "I'd love to see if there are the same discrepancies in them that we've found with other mobsters."

"Hobhouse will ask for copies," Peter said. "We should have them in a day or two."

"Good. I got an update from Aidan. He believes he's tracked the source of the malware used in the jewelry heists to Geneva. This makes yet another connection to Geneva. We know that was Klaus's home base when Neal worked for him." He shrugged. "Could be evidence of either Klaus or Rolf or both working with Phoenix."

"Klaus could be acting as an agent for his brother," Peter speculated. They'd always factored in the possibility, but he'd hoped they'd be able to eliminate it.

"Or taking his place. It also could be where Marta Kolar is hiding out. Geneva looks like a good bet for a safe house for Rolf, but with Klaus claiming not to know where he had one, I don't know how we'll find it."

"Keep digging," Peter urged. "That reference Klaus made to Rolf saying he had a good use for the money makes me think somewhere we'll find breadcrumbs leading to it."

Jones nodded absently as he turned his head to look at a poster of a Lovecraft video game. After a moment, he said, "I think we already found one. Do you remember that board game we played at a speakeasy party at June's a couple of years ago?"

"Arkham Horror?" Peter snapped his fingers. "I remember now. We wondered about a connection to Azathoth."

"We discovered the game developers received a last-minute injection of funds just when they were about to cancel the project. After some digging, we discovered that Rolf provided the funds through an alias. The bank account he used was in Geneva. Not that much of a surprise, but this could indicate how he likes to spend his money. He provided the funds before Klaus approached Neal in 2004, so I don't think he had an ulterior motive."

Peter sat back, mulling over the possibilities. "He could have invested in other projects interesting him." But identifying them would be a daunting task.

More than ever he appreciated the freedom Win-Win gave them. Hobhouse was funding the research into Rolf. With the art recoveries in Prague, both Interpol and Win-Win would receive substantial bonuses, more than enough to fund additional research.

Neal had warned Peter not to expect any calls till after Cyprus. Prague was a cakewalk compared to what lay ahead. In the past, Peter had wondered what it would be like to have Neal and Henry as rogue agents. Adding Klaus to their pride as they called themselves added an extra layer of risk.

They were staying a few days longer in Prague to convey the impression Neal was preparing the Rembrandt forgery. How would they spend those four days? Peter's gut told him it wouldn't just be playing chess. Henry was there too. Was that supposed to be reassuring? If so, it wasn't working.

#

"I look like a beatnik," Henry grumbled as he studied his goatee in the mirror.

"Yeah, you do," Neal agreed, chuckling at the effect.

"I would have looked much better in your disguise," Henry complained.

"Tough. As the probationary member of the pride, you always draw the short straw."

Neal kept his smile to himself when Henry praised their slick execution in Prague. That was simply the warm-up act. For Russia, Neal summoned one of his old aliases. He was using a fake passport and disguise from his years in Geneva where his cover was a German art historian. He had a brown wig with curly hair that he coupled with a mustache. Henry would travel under another of Neal's aliases—a Swiss musician with grizzled dark hair and a goatee.

Joshing each other about their disguises was a good way to keep them relaxed. Much as Neal appreciated Henry being along, this was by far the riskiest op Henry had ever been on—even breaking into Adler's hideaway in Argentina didn't compare.

Neal had spoken to Hobhouse on the morning of their departure. From then on, they were on radio silence with the outside world. Henry was in charge of the sophisticated electronics concealed within their toiletries and shoes. Neal's mission was to ensure they didn't get caught. While they were gone, Klaus would remain in Prague, maintaining their cover.

Henry was playing it cool, waxing enthusiastic about the master class version of art heist boot camp. But for Neal, this experience made him realize how much he'd changed. Or maybe it was just this particular job. Whatever. He couldn't wait till he was on the other side, looking back at the successful completion, and the original Rembrandt was safely returned to where it belonged.

They'd planned a lightning-speed execution. The clock would start once they boarded the plane for Saint Petersburg. They'd stay in modest accommodations near the State Institute of Culture. The university was located close to the Hermitage Museum on the banks of the Neva.

Their goal was to spend only one night in Saint Petersburg. As soon as they arrived, Neal's first task was to change the dates stamped on their passports. Leaving after such a short stay would raise too many questions. He'd take along his arts and crafts supplies to backdate the stamps.

He'd been lucky he hadn't needed to touch up the Rembrandt. He was grateful Melkin had taken such excellent care of it. Neal had stolen the painting five years ago. He was counting on the Russians not having changed the frame in the interim, but he had the necessary supplies in his toolkit if that wasn't the case. This wasn't the same reckless kid who'd prowled the museum five years ago. And, as if he needed a reminder, Henry's presence reinforced the necessity of zero mistakes.

Neal was doing all he could to protect him. During their night at the museum, Henry would be the lookout. If something went disastrously wrong, his number one job was to escape so he could report back to the others. It was a role Henry only grudgingly agreed to, but as Neal constantly reminded him, his role of probie gave him no authority to dispute Neal's decisions.

Klaus was equally unhappy with his role. From the beginning, he'd wanted to go along, and Neal wished he could go too. But the microchip Travis had designed was tamper-proof.

Neal went to see Klaus shortly before he and Henry were due to leave for the airport. Klaus reminded him of how Peter acted when he was left out of a case. Klaus considered himself to be the alpha of their pride, and his cubs were going on the prowl without him.

Neal sought to distract him by discussing their visit to the Hermitage some five years earlier. "Why did you select this particular Rembrandt for me to forge?" he asked.

"Mastering the dark tones was a fitting test. I was confident you'd succeed. I intended to tell you about Leonardo once the Berlin job was over." Klaus winced. "I was already planning the graduation celebration. It was to be a new era where you would assume Leonardo's mantle." He shrugged. "Then events intervened."

Namely the botched museum heist in Berlin. For years, Neal assumed that Klaus had killed a guard. The White Collar team later discovered in Penfold's notes that Rolf instigated the setup as a further way to control Klaus. Rolf had become jealous of Neal's closeness with Klaus and wanted to break up their friendship.

"The sadness of the man's expression in the portrait spoke to me," Klaus added. "It was as if he was asking me to liberate him from his museum prison."

"I wonder if Doc Jacob would say that was your subconscious speaking," Neal said. "You were the one longing to escape, not the painting."

"That thought occurred to me as well. I never told Jacob about your connection but we discussed Rembrandt in general. I was impressed by his knowledge of art." He looked down at his hands. "I haven't come to terms with how Rolf and Penfold were able to manipulate me. Is my character that pliable that they could have me do my brother's bidding without my being aware of it? You were able to fight back. Why couldn't I?"

"Our cases aren't the same," Neal reminded him. "Unlike you, I was rescued before Penfold finished his programming. Plus, you'd been manipulated since you were a small child. Who knows what I would have been like if I'd been similarly abused? In the Hermitage, this painting is adjacent to Rembrandt's masterpiece of the Prodigal Son. I'd wondered if there was something in the placement of the painting that made you choose the portrait."

"A secret desire to be welcomed back to the family like the Prodigal Son?" Klaus gave a dry ghost of a chuckle. "That's the case now, but I don't think it was then."

"But if it was subconscious, you wouldn't have realized it." Neal stopped. Would Henry suspect he trying to make Klaus into a better person than he was? Did Peter have the same doubts about Neal when he started working at White Collar? Peter never discussed the pressure he was under when he recruited Neal, but it must have been enormous.

"I hope you realize how unhappy I am with this," Klaus said, not appearing to have noticed his distraction. Perhaps he misinterpreted it. "I should be on the plane with you, not Henry. He shouldn't be exposed to the risk. Neither should you, for that matter. I made this mess. I should clean it up."

"Rolf was guiding you all the way," Neal pointed out. "And, yeah, I wish you were with me too. Not because I need you there, but because you wouldn't feel so guilty about it. This probably won't give you much comfort, but I'll feel like you're accompanying us." He tossed him an easy smile. "You were an expert teacher. I'm sure I'll hear you in my head every step of the way."

Klaus groaned. "Don't tell me I'm haunting you again."

Neal laughed. "Not in a bad way! I hear Peter too."

"Does he know about this?" Klaus asked hesitantly.

Neal shook his head. "I led him to believe I'd forged a Rembrandt, but he doesn't know that my forgery is in the Hermitage. Sara and Mozzie are the only others I've told."

"Rolf knows as well." Klaus's face turned somber. "Be careful. He could have planted a trap for you."

"The thought crossed my mind," Neal admitted. "But Mozzie pointed out that it's not in Rolf's nature to conceive that we'd switch paintings. After all, he bought into the notion that I'm skimming off the occasional masterpiece for personal gain. Any trap he's laid will be in Cyprus."

Klaus nodded. "And I'll be there to spring it."