The Rembrandt Affair

'The kind that can't be handled in the traditional manner,' Carter said. 'And you can guess who owns Zentrum Security.'

'Global Vision Investments.'

Carter nodded.

'Have they ever arranged any deals for a company called Keppler Werk GmbH of Magdeburg, Germany?'

'Keppler has never popped up on our radar screens,' Carter said. 'But as you know, thousands of international companies are currently doing business in Iran. Our friends in China are among the worst offenders. They'll do business with anyone, but the Germans aren't much better. Everyone wants their market share, and in times like these, they're reluctant to give it up over something as trivial as Iran's nuclear ambitions. At least seventeen hundred German firms are doing business in Iran, many of them makers of sophisticated industrial equipment. We've been pleading with the Germans for years to scale back their business ties to the Iranians, but they refuse. Some of our closest allies are in bed with Tehran for one reason and one reason only. Greed.'

'Isn't it ironic,' said Shamron. 'The country that brought us the last Holocaust is doing a brisk business with the country promising to bring us the next one.'

All four men lapsed into an uncomfortable silence. It was Gabriel who broke it.

'The question is,' he said, 'is Martin Landesmann shipping sensitive material to the Iranians through the back door? If that's the case, we need to know two things. What exactly is he selling them? And how is it getting there?'

'And how do you propose we find out?' asked Seymour.

'By getting inside his operation.'

'Good luck. Martin runs a very tight ship.'

'Not as tight as you might think.' Gabriel laid a surveillance photograph on the table. 'I assume you recognize her?'

'Who wouldn't?' Seymour tapped the photo with his forefinger. 'But where did you take this?'

'Outside Martin's apartment in Paris. She spent the night with him.'

'You're sure?'

'Would you like to see more photos?'

'God, no!' Seymour said. 'I've never cared for operations involving matters of the heart. They can be extremely messy.'

'Life is messy, Graham. That's what keeps people like you and me in business.'

'Perhaps. But if this recruitment of yours isn't handled carefully, I won't be in this business for long.' Seymour looked down at the photo and shook his head slowly. 'Why couldn't Martin fall for a waitress like every other cad?'

'He has excellent taste.'

'I'd withhold judgment on that until you meet her. She has something of a reputation. It's quite possible she'll turn you down.' Seymour paused, then added, 'And, of course, there's another possibility.'

'What's that?'

'She could be in love with him.'

'She won't be when I'm finished.'

'Don't be so sure. Women have a way of looking past the faults of the men they love.'

'Yes,' Gabriel said. 'I've heard that somewhere before.'

46 THAMES HOUSE, LONDON

Operation Masterpiece became a joint American-British-Israeli undertaking at 11:45 the following morning, when Graham Seymour emerged from No. 10 Downing Street with the last of the required ministerial authorizations tucked safely inside his secure briefcase. The speed with which the agreement was concluded was a testament to Seymour's current standing in Whitehall. It was also, Seymour would later admit, a rather astute display of good old-fashioned realpolitik. If Martin Landesmann were to go down, the mandarins reckoned, chances were good a great deal of British money would go down with him. In their calculation, it was better to be a party to Gabriel's operation than a spectator. Otherwise, there might be nothing left of Martin's financial carcass but bleached bones and a bit of loose change.

For the moment, the Americans were content to play the role of confidant and trusted adviser. Indeed, within hours of the interservice gathering at Thames House, Adrian Carter was Langley-bound aboard his Gulfstream V executive jet. Gabriel Allon had no airplane of his own, nor did he have any intention of leaving his operation solely in the hands of even a trusted friend like Graham Seymour. Gabriel had found the target and Gabriel intended to personally close the deal. This presented MI5's lawyers with a bit of a problem. Yes, they declared after much deliberation, it was permissible for an officer of a foreign intelligence service to take part in such a discussion. But only after said officer had been told, in no uncertain terms, the legal facts of life.

And so shortly after two that afternoon, Gabriel was once more seated at the preposterous table in the ninth-floor conference room, this time confronted by what appeared to be the entire legal department of MI5. After a brief review of Gabriel's past actions on British soil—their catalogue was remarkably complete—the lawyers laid down the rules of engagement for Masterpiece. Given the sensitive nature of the target's work, the recruitment would have to be handled with extreme care. There would be no coercion of any kind, nor a whiff of anything that smelled remotely of blackmail. Any Israeli surveillance of the subject on British soil was to cease forthwith. And any future surveillance of the subject on British soil, if approved, would be carried out only by MI5. 'Now sign this,' said one of the lawyers, thrusting an impressive-looking document into Gabriel's hand, along with an impressive- looking gold pen. 'And God help you if you violate a word of it.'

Gabriel had no such intentions—at least none at the time—so he scribbled something illegible on the line indicated and retreated to the anteroom. Waiting there was Nigel Whitcombe, a young MI5 field officer who had cut his operational teeth working with Gabriel against Ivan Kharkov. Whitcombe's pious appearance concealed a mind as devious as any career criminal's.

'I'm surprised you're still in one piece,' he said.

'They managed to do it without leaving any cuts or bruises.'

'They're good at that.' Whitcombe tossed aside a two-week-old copy of The Economist and stood. 'Let's head downstairs. Wouldn't want to miss the opening act.'

They rode a lift to the lowest level of the building and followed a harshly lit corridor to a secure door marked OPS CENTER. Whitcombe punched the code into the keypad and led Gabriel inside. At the front of the room was a wall of large video monitors, watched over by a select group of senior operations officers. The chair marked SEYMOUR was empty—hardly surprising, since the man who usually occupied it was at that moment preparing to make his much-anticipated return to the field. Whitcombe tapped Gabriel's arm and pointed to a CCTV image at the center of the video wall.

'Here comes your girl.'

Gabriel glanced up in time to see a rain-spattered sedan passing through a security gate outside a grim- looking modern office building. At the bottom left of the image was the location of the camera that had captured it: Wood Lane, Hammersmith. Ten minutes later, Nigel Whitcombe pointed to a new image on the video wall, a direct feed of the British Broadcasting Corporation. One of the technicians turned up the audio in time to hear the news presenter read the introduction.

'There were new allegations today...'

Whitcombe looked at Gabriel and smiled. 'Something tells me this is going to be an interesting evening.'

IT WAS fitting commentary on the deplorable state of print journalism that Zoe Reed, regarded as one of the brightest stars of the British press, spent the final hours before her recruitment bathed in the flattering glow of television lights. Ironically, her appearances that evening would prove to be a major embarrassment to Downing Street, for they involved allegations that yet another Labor MP had been caught up in the Empire Aerospace