One would think that businessmen from Germany, the country that carried out the Holocaust, would have at least some qualms about doing business with a regime that has spoken openly about wiping the State of Israel from the face of the map. One would think, too, that Switzerland, the country that profited most from the Holocaust, would have similar reservations. But apparently not. If Iran succeeds in developing nuclear weapons, other countries in the region will surely want a nuclear capability of their own. Which means there is the potential for enormous future profits for firms willing to sell sensitive, export-restricted material to the highest bidder.

The intelligence services of three countries—the United States, Israel, and Great Britain—have worked the hardest to prevent such critical material from reaching Iran. The extent to which they have been successful is an open question. A senior American intelligence official with whom I spoke in the autumn of 2009 told me in no uncertain terms that Iran had other secret enrichment plants in addition to Qom—sites that could not have been constructed without at least some Western technology. And in March 2010, as I was completing this manuscript, the New York Times reported that Iran appears to be building at least two “Qom look-alikes” in defiance of the United Nations. The story was based on interviews with intelligence officials who insisted on anonymity because the information they were disclosing was based in part on “highly classified operations.” No mention was made of a long-lost portrait by Rembrandt, a corrupt Swiss financier known to all the world as a saint, or a man of medium build with gray temples often seen hiking alone along the sea cliffs of Cornwall.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This novel, like the previous books in the Gabriel Allon series, could not have been written without the assistance of David Bull, who truly is among the finest art restorers in the world. Usually, David advises me on how to clean paintings. This time, however, he assisted me in devising a plausible method for hiding a secret inside one. The technique known as a blind canvas is rarely used by modern restorers, though it turned out to be perfect for the task at hand. Also, I will forever be indebted to the brilliant Patrick Matthiesen, who instructed me in the sometimes wicked ways of the art world and helped to inspire one of my favorite characters in the series. Rest assured Patrick has few things in common with Julian Isherwood other than his passion for art, his sense of humor, and his boundless generosity.