“Unfortunately, the success at Natanz has ensured we can never pull off another Natanz. The frames will most certainly be checked by the yacht owners’ security teams well before they’re ever allowed on the boat.”

“What about the paint?” Dafna asked. “I know we’ve done work with liquid explosives.”

Nicole answered this time. “Another good thought. But like a lot of artists, Alicia mixes her own paints. And she’s not in on this.”

The minutes went by as one idea after another was presented and shot down.

Then a smile spread across Liora’s face. “How much does one of Alicia’s paintings weigh?”

“I have no idea,” Nicole said, then turning to Nir, “Do you?”

“No. But she uses cement along with other substances, so I’m sure they’re heavy.”

“So you’ve both seen the paintings up close. Still, you have no idea what they weigh. What about how thick they are?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Nicole said, using her hands to demonstrate a range of width.

Liora was almost bouncing in her seat. “But you have no idea exactly, do you? Okay, here it is. On the back of each painting we lay a sheet of explosives. We can do sheets of explosives, right?”

She looked at Nir, who nodded his affirmation.

“Achla! So, then, over the explosives we lay a false back made out of the same material as the rest of the painting.”

“Sababa,” Dafna said. “No one will notice the extra weight, because no one knows how much one of her paintings is supposed to weigh.”

“What about the detonator?” Yossi had a handful of Skittles, and he tossed one at each of the three women, who all caught them in their mouths.

Liora chewed, then said, “We make the false back thick enough to allow a small cutout for the detonator, but still thin enough to only add minimal variable in the weight. Because of the type of materials, I would guess that there is no standard weight for the paintings. You can get all sneaky and make sure of that, Nicole.”

“Definitely, but it makes sense,” Nicole answered. “Alicia has said to me that it’s not a science. ‘I’m an artist, not a physicist’ is the way she puts it.”

“What about a seam?” Nir asked. “Like on the edge that will show the layers.”

Again, it was Nicole who answered. “There won’t be a seam. Alicia told me she’s had problems with deterioration on the edges. Also, a couple of times corners have been chipped in moving the paintings. So now she has her team put a thick epoxy around the rim.”