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Prologue: Berlin – Paris – Florence Nyima was having a bad day. Her research said that a door should be standing directly in front of her. Instead, there was a solid brick wall, an enormous guard named Rick, and a mean-looking pit bull. "Rick! Good to see you! I thought you were off on the weekends." Nyima said, trying her best to sound calm. "How are Katie and the twins?" "Um, they're good. Who – who are you again?" The guard replied as his hand slowly drifted toward his radio. "Janice King – from corporate – I'm sure Dave told you I'd be poking around." She lied, hoping her research had gotten that right at least. "Janice? Oh, sure. From corporate..." The guard lied back unconvincingly. "Can I help you carry that?" He said pointing to the painting Nyima was holding. "No, I'm good. I’m just going to switch this out with the art in the lobby. We've got an investor that flew in from Sydney this week and this artist is her favorite." Nyima said telling the truth. At least, it was the truth in the sense that she had bought a candy bar once from the company that owned this Renoir, and she had in fact come from Sydney the day before. It probably wasn't in her best interest to add that she would be walking out the front door with it because it happened to be the number one item on the International Council of Museum’s Red List. "Ok, then, have a good night, ma'am!" The guard said as he turned and continued his rounds. Nyima smiled to herself as she exited the lobby out into the fresh night air. "The old gal still has it," she said under her breath, "easy peazy." Above her a hawk floated silently on an updraft; his keen eyes focused on his prey. Gotcha. +++++++++++++++++ Hunter ran for his life across the Sorbonne University in Paris. He didn't know what was chasing him which made it even more terrifying. The ancient campus closed in around him as he struggled to find a path to safety. Behind him he could hear savage, animalistic panting – and it was getting closer every second. “See fear,” they seemed to be saying. The path ahead of him opened onto a space ringed by columns and low stone walls. Sprinting into the cloister, he glanced to his left and jumped at the sight of a robed skeleton carrying a scythe. Shaking with adrenalin he tumbled to the ground and saw with relief that it was only a gruesome statue. He didn't have time to celebrate though because he'd lost precious seconds. Frantically he looked around for an escape route. Across the cloister he could just make out a slightly opened door with a thin ribbon of light streaming out. He said a silent prayer as he made a break for it. Bursting through the door Hunter found himself in a grand auditorium with wood paneling and painted ceilings 100 feet above. Hundreds of people were seated in tuxedos and gowns, and by the looks of the costumes on the performers, he guessed it was some kind of opera. All he cared about, though, was that there were a lot of people — which had to mean he was safe from whatever was pursuing him, right? This is the Amphithéâtre Richelieu, it’s an extremely dangerous place for you, exit to the northwest he said to himself as though he'd been there before. With no time to ponder his insight, he instinctively rushed to the back of the space and then cut across to a door marked privee. As he passed through the door, he caught the attention of a nearby woman. She smiled at him but then her face changed to a look of recognition. As he closed and locked the door behind him it shook with such force that Hunter was momentarily frozen in place. Voices on the other side said, “See Fear.” After what seemed like hours, he willed himself to keep moving. Shaking and exhausted he pressed forward through the maze of stone buildings until he saw that all his routes were blocked. He searched for a path and then looked up. Looming above this part of the campus he could see the Sorbonne Astronomical Tower. Its entrance seemed to be open, but Hunter knew this would be a dead end. Still, he had no choice, so he took a deep breath and went to it. He slowly climbed the stairs of the ancient edifice. Every third or fourth step he tripped forward and by the time he reached the top he'd bloodied his right knee pretty badly. Behind him was only silence but somehow, he knew that this was bad, and that he had only seconds to live. Before him was the telescope room filled with instruments. He slammed the door and pushed a desk in front of it. Looking up he saw that the astronomy roof was open. Taking one last look behind him, Hunter began to climb while behind him a chorus rang out, “SEE FEAR!” +++++++++++++++++ Dr. Anna Maria Luisa sat behind a giant desk reading budget reports. As the director of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy, she was responsible for countless priceless artworks and thousands of staff. Her wood paneled office had a smaller room adjoining it where her secretary sat along with a pair of comfortable chairs for visitors. Sitting in one of the chairs was a man dressed in cargo pants, a polo shirt buttoned to the top, and a baseball cap. To the secretary he looked like a tourist that had wandered in from one of the many tour groups passing through the halls of the museum that day. "Director, you have a visitor," the secretary said over an intercom. "I'm a little busy now. Are they on my calendar?" asked the director. "No, they don't have an appointment, but he says he's an old friend..." "Um, OK, what's his name?" the director chuckled. "He didn't say," then whispering into the phone, "all he would say is that you knew each other in Egypt" the secretary said. "Send him right in. And go ahead and take your break." After the secretary departed and the man had taken a seat across from the director the two just sat in silence for a moment. "What brings you here?" the director asked the man politely. "I know where it is." the man answered warily. "Why didn't you bring it to me?" "I couldn't get close enough. They have...protections in place." "Well then. It looks like I'll have to arrange things myself." She said, then, casually covering her mouth, she whispered, "Eadwaa." The man undid the top button of his shirt and started to perspire, "But I can get it – I just need more time." "You've had enough time," the Director whispered. "Go back to Cairo and wait for my signal." At that, the man undid another button and started to look like he was going to be sick. He quickly got up and rushed out the door looking for a restroom. After the man left, the director walked quickly through the galleries. She greeted each staff member she passed by name and a warm smile. Looking out the windows at the Arno River below, she thought to herself, "They're all so easily fooled – and so easily corrupted." Eventually she paused at a nondescript door with an unusual number of locks on it. She inserted a key, punched a code, then swiped a card resulting in a satisfying click as the lock disengaged. Stepping through the door she entered the Vasari Corridor, created hundreds of years before for the Medici Family to travel across the Arno River without being seen. Along its walls were works of art that few ever saw, but as she walked down the corridor, she ignored the paintings on the walls and the view out the small inset windows at the streets of Florence below. She didn't need to look around because she had passed this way thousands of times over the last six centuries. At the end of the Vasari Corridor was the former residence of the Medici family called the Palazzo Pitti. Instead of entering the building, though, she exited a nearby door into a courtyard. Across the courtyard was the Buontalenti Grotto—a small artificial cave commissioned by the Medici in the 1500s. Thousands of tourists entered the Grotto each year, but nobody knew its secret. Looking over her shoulder, she ducked into the darkened back of the cave. Taking one more gaze behind her, she deftly pushed two separate hidden places on the cave wall and entered a small passageway. Closing the door behind her, she smiled to herself in the knowledge that her plan was about to unfold.