Juergen quickly decided that if his confidentiality was of sufficient standard to satisfy the Mafia Dons, then it was good enough for him. The dealer readily agreed to an expenses paid holiday to view the paintings and give an opinion on their authenticity. He arrived promptly the next morning.
"Thank you for coming so promptly Mister Villani" said Juergen.
"I hope I can be of assistance" said the heavily accented Mario Villani, but in truth he really meant "I hope I can make some money!"
"We have come across some artworks and we would like your expert opinion" explained Kamal.
"Of course Sir, may I see the objects?"
Kamal passed over the cardboard rolls. He had earlier wrapped some paper around them so the names on the outside of the rolls would not cloud Villani’s judgement.
The man unrolled each painting with the skill of a neurosurgeon. Kamal did pickup on a small gasp uttered by the dealer when he first saw the Da Vinci.
The dealer first spent considerable time looking at the back of the canvas. Then he waved a strange light over the front. Next he produced a large magnifying glass from his pocket and studied every inch of the paintings in detail. Then he concentrated on the signatures on the bottom right corner. After nearly an hour he was prepared to offer an opinion.
"Where did you get these?" asked the art expert.
"That is not important" replied Kamal.
"But I am afraid it is sir" said the Villani "these paintings are undoubtedly genuine. Museums in particular would be most interested. The Louvre would offer a fortune. However, to sell them via auction at Christie’s, Sotheby’s, or one of the other international auction houses, you would need to establish providence."
"What do you mean by that?" asked Kamal.
"It is the paper trail of the painting and the lineage establishing undisputed title and ownership of the work."
Juergen asked "and what would they be worth without this paperwork you mention?"
"But a fraction of their real worth, I am afraid. They would only appeal to private buyers who would then never be able to exhibit their prize."
"Do you know of any such buyers?" enquired Kamal.
"It is possible. Let me ask around."
"Please do it confidentially" said a nervous Juergen.
"That goes without saying sir. Confidentiality keeps me alive" explained Villani.
"Tell me about the small painting?" this was the one Kamal liked the most.
"Don’t you recognize it? It is the Last Supper. This is the painting that Leonardo Da Vinci did in preparation for his contract to paint a larger version on the chapel wall in Milan. It is perhaps the second most valuable painting in history behind the Mona Lisa. This is the most exquisite painting that I have ever seen. It has been missing for nearly one hundred and fifty years and it is worth a king’s ransom."
Kamal pulled out the gold ingot.
"I also have some of these Nazi ingots. Do you know anyone that may be interested in them?"
"I do have some customers in Germany. I will see what I can arrange."
When the art dealer had left, Juergen whispered to Kamal "I fear the Da Vinci is too hot to handle. It will cause us trouble in the future. I think we should destroy it."
Kamal had a better idea "I think so too Juergen. Leave it to me, I will dispose of it. In the meantime, I would like to take the submarine log and study it, is that all right with you."
"Good idea. It must be very valuable to someone, perhaps you can determine it’s significance."
Chapter 24
Juergen was terrified so he immediately called Kamal in Riyadh on his private cell phone.
"Kamal, it’s Juergen, we have a major problem" Juergen spat out in a staccato stream.
"Slow down, what is the problem Juergen?"
"A lady came to the bank today. Her mother had died recently and she was given a letter from the family lawyer. Apparently the old lady was married to a Nazi officer who was executed following the Nuremburg trials. The letter was a statement of assets and contained a key to one of our now empty boxes. What do we do?" asked Juergen with a quivering voice.
"What did you tell her?"
"I told her we would need to establish her rightful claim to the box, but she did not buy it. She threatened to contact the Swiss authorities tomorrow if we did not give her the contents of the box. She has a complete list of the contents."
"I see, was it a valuable box?"
"Absolutely, it was the Da Vinci! Do you still have it?"
"Oh, I see. Do you have the details of the woman? I will talk to her. I am sure I can sort something out."
"Of course Kamal" and Juergen gave Kamal the contact information for the woman.
"Do not worry Juergen. Carry on with business as usual. I will be able to fix the problem."
Kamal made a telephone call to his old friend Roy in Boston. Roy made some more calls to his contacts in Paris. They in turn knew someone in Switzerland.
The next day Juergen telephoned Kamal again.
"Kamal, do not worry about contacting the woman. We are so fortunate! I read about her in the newspaper this morning. It seems she was murdered in her home by a knife wielding thief. The whole apartment was burned including all her papers."
Juergen shivered when Kamal replied "Yes, I know. I told you I would fix it. Call me immediately if anything like this ever happens again."
Chapter 25
Since the chance meeting decades earlier with Osama bin Laden, unknowingly, Kamal had been groomed to take over the running of Bin Laden’s organization. Little by little, "The Sheikh" as Bin Laden preferred to be known had become more and more dependent on his young friend Kamal.
Bin Laden had of course orchestrated the chance meeting at the mosque decades earlier. He just wanted to get a hold of some of the money Kamal would inherit in the future. However Bin Laden soon recognized a brilliant young mind as well.
The transformation began slowly. Initially Kamal was tasked with relaying the odd message, but soon began helping with procurement and logistics. Later on he had even suggested targets, and was able to supply sophisticated electronics to neutralize security systems. Kamal was extremely cunning and he was able to assist with the business of terrorism while never appearing on any wanted list. His cover of an international businessman was just perfect.
Kamal was in an office at the electronics plant that his father had initially founded many years ago. It started as a very low tech venture, but was now at the forefront of global technology.
With cheap labor readily available in Russia, Kamal had rebuilt this plant nearly seven years ago. The thing that really amazed him was how good the Russian workers were. He had heard stories of communist indifference to work, but Kamal saw none of that. Those that worked in his plant realized they were lucky to have such a good job, and they worked tirelessly.
Russian Universities are first class institutions with a long history of excellence. They are particularly strong in the engineering disciplines, and Kamal was able to afford the best and brightest graduates. There were even three PhDs in his office here. One of these had previously been working with the Soviet military on ignition systems for weapons research. Kamal was able to coax him from academia with an offer he could not refuse.
This was a regular visit, Kamal spent a week there every second month ensuring that things were going well.