Nicole did a quick mascara-saving eye dab with her index fingers, and said, “Skittle me?”

“You bet!” Liora pulled a red candy out of her pile and tossed a bull’s-eye right into Nicole’s mouth. Turning to Nir, the Millennial said, “That’s how it’s done, Bucky.”

Nir shook his head.

Nicole picked up her report. “So with the help of some of Nir’s friends in Antwerp, Alicia and I were able to put together an amazing marketing packet.” The picture changed to show the canvas envelope, sample mini-art piece, and the cover of the brochure.

“Achla, Nicole. You should be a model or something,” Yossi said. The rest of the team added their affirmation.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Anyway, we seeded the market with three free paintings given to rich guys who promised to get the word around. And they did. We sent fifty packets to owners of mega yachts, and we’ve heard back from twenty-two.”

“How many of those fifty were on our bad guy list, and how many of them responded?” Nir asked.

“Thirty bad guys. Eight have responded.”

“Not bad, not bad. In fact, pretty good.” His excitement for this operation was building. “What’s next?”

“Next is selling. I’ve had my agent hold any modeling bookings for now, and Alicia and I are making sales calls. We’ve met with six yacht owners so far, two of them bad guys, and one has purchased two paintings. The guys back in Alicia’s workshop are starting work on his order.”

“Who’s the purchaser?” asked Dafna.

“Khalid Al Kooheji, a Bahraini oil guy who’s been funneling money into Palestinian weapons for about a decade. Let me tell you, that guy was a pig. Beautiful boat, really bad manners.”

Nir felt a twinge of protectiveness and maybe a bit of jealousy. He put it out of his mind, though. Nicole had proven she could take care of herself. He had already learned the hard way what being over-protective could get him.

“Great work. What’s next?”

“Alicia is leaving Houston tomorrow for Dubai. I’ll meet her there, and then we have a few sales meetings lined up.”

“Wining and dining on yachts worth tens of millions of dollars. Sure you don’t need a short brunette to tag along?” Liora asked.

“Wish I did. I’d love to have the both of you,” Nicole said, including Dafna.

“Okay, last agenda item,” Nir said. “And it’s kind of a biggie. We’ve got the paintings. We’ve got bad guys buying the paintings. Now, how do we get explosives into the paintings before they’re shipped to their new owners?”

Like air leaving a balloon, the enthusiasm in the room died.

Yossi spoke. “Okay, so you were basing this whole idea off Natanz and the explosives planted in the building materials. What about doing the same kind of thing and putting it in the frames?”