The Rembrandt Affair

G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS
Publishers Since 1838
Published by the Penguin Group
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    Copyright © 2010 by Daniel Silva
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Published simultaneously in Canada
    Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
    Silva, Daniel, date.
The Rembrandt affair / Daniel Silva.
p. cm.
ISBN: 1-101-18878-2
1. Allon, Gabriel (Fictitious character)—Fiction. 2. Intelligence officers—Fiction. I. Title.
    PS3619.I5443R46 2010 2010017388
813’6—dc22
    This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
    While the author has made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers and Internet addresses at the time of publication, neither the publisher nor the author assumes any responsibility for errors, or for changes that occur after publication. Further, the publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

For Jeff Zucker,
for friendship, support, and personal courage.
    And, as always, for my wife, Jamie, and
my children, Lily and Nicholas.

Behind every great fortune lies a great crime.
    — HONORÉ DE BALZAC

PROLOGUE
    PORT NAVAS, CORNWALL
    B y coincidence it was Timothy Peel who first learned that the stranger had returned to Cornwall. He made the discovery shortly before midnight on a rain-swept Wednesday in mid-September. And only because he had politely declined the persistent entreaties from the boys at work to attend the midweek bash at the Godolphin Arms up in Marazion.
    It was a mystery to Peel why they still bothered to invite him. Truth be told, he had never cared much for the company of drinkers. And these days, whenever he set foot in a pub, there was at least one intoxicated soul who would try to badger him into talking about “little Adam Hathaway.” Six months earlier, in one of the most dramatic rescues in the history of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, Peel had plucked the six-year-old boy from the treacherous surf off Sennen Cove. The newspapers had crowned Peel a national hero but were then dumbfounded when the broad-shouldered twenty-two-year-old with movie-idol looks refused to grant a single interview. Peel’s silence privately annoyed his colleagues, any one of whom would have leapt at the chance for a few moments of celebrity, even if it meant reciting the old clichés about “the importance of teamwork” and “the proud traditions of a proud service.” Nor did it sit well with the beleaguered residents of West Cornwall, who were always looking for a good reason to boast about a local boy and stick it to the English snobs from “up-country.” From Falmouth Bay to Land’s End, the mere mention of Peel’s name invariably provoked a puzzled shake of the head. A bit odd, they would say. Always was. Must have been the divorce. Never knew his real father. And that mother! Always took up with the wrong sort. Remember Derek, the whiskey-soaked playwright? Heard he used to beat the lad. At least that was the rumor in Port Navas.
    It was true about the divorce. And even the beatings. In fact, most of the idle gossip about Peel had