“Just a second.” Then she called out, “It’s just my agent. Give me a quick sec. What? No thanks, Heather. If I ate another shrimp, I’d grow a shell.”

A moment passed, then she spoke, her tone much more serious now. “Is there a problem?”

“Hopefully only minor. The originals aren’t here. I can’t believe I didn’t think of that.”

“I didn’t either. Um, hold on. I’ll call you back in five.” She ended the call before Nir could respond.

True to Nicole’s word, Nir’s phone rang five minutes later. “Go,” he said.

“That’s new. You been watching Criminal Minds or CSI or something?”

Nir smiled. The fact that she was joking with him meant good news. “So?”

“They’re in her office. I think I’m getting a little too good at this whole art of deception.”

“Art of deception,” he said as he walked across the workshop. “I see what you did there. And we still have a problem,” he added as he arrived at the office. A keypad was inserted above the door’s lock, and the door looked like it was made of steel.

“Oh, you mean the combination? Problem for you, but not for me.” She rattled off a ten-digit number. “When I was there, I videoed her punching it in when I was pretending to be texting.”

“Who are you? Pretty soon we’ll have you making dead drops in Gorky Park.” Nir punched in the numbers, and the door opened with a shoosh. “I’m in.” He looked around and realized Alicia wasn’t quite as lax on security as he had thought. This room was essentially a big steel vault. He began walking back toward Avigdor. “Sounds like you’re having a good time.”

“It’s always a good time on the Rock-a-Little.”

“Well, get back to your mai tais and your limbo or whatever you’re doing.”

“Watch your back, Nir.”

“I always do.” He ended the call.

The work wasn’t fast, but it was smooth. As Nir watched, the techs laid a 15-millimeter-thick sheet of rubberized, organic compound RDX, an explosive usually used for mining, on the cement back of each painting. A detonator containing a passive signal receiver was connected to the explosives using a thin cord of the chemical PETN, and then they affixed a cement false back with cutouts sized just perfectly so it could lay flush against the painting. Finally, a protective sealant was added around the edge, essentially just extending the already existing sealant applied by Alicia’s team.

When the detonator received a signal, Avigdor had explained, it would trigger the PETN cord. The smaller explosion of the PETN would set off the RDX with enough force to send any mega yacht sky-high, then down to the bottom of the sea.