An Inside Job

Soon, the lost Leonardo generates a bidding war among ultra-wealthy individuals from Arabia, China, Singapore, Sweden, and a mystery bidder represented by a French art consultant. Ingrid monitors the communications related to the painting while Gabriel creates a duplicate. His meticulous approach requires a full three weeks of work. Irene is concerned that the bidding will end before the fake Leonardo is ready. The price has now risen to $325 million.

Gabriel travels to London to meet with Sarah and her husband, Christopher Keller. Christopher works on top-secret projects for British intelligence. Gabriel shows the couple his finished copy of the Leonardo. They discuss the mysterious bidder, who turns out to be a Russian oligarch named Alexander Prokhorov. Although his assets in England have been frozen, Alexander has a French passport and a villa in Antibes.

While Gabriel intends to steal the real painting, he also plans to reroute the sum that the oligarch will pay for it. Sarah suggests sending the money to Ukraine, and her husband agrees: “Christopher smiled. ‘What a fine idea. Three hundred and twenty-five million dollars would buy a lot of badly needed bullets and antitank weapons’” (215). Such a use of the oligarch’s funds will add insult to injury.