Boris gives Theo a ticket to Amsterdam and instructs him to get as much cash as he can. The plan is to get the painting back from those who stole it by giving part of the original sum requested and writing them a bank draft for the rest. Theo gets $16,000 in cash and leaves a necklace, book, and note for Pippa, saying, “Safe trip. I love you. No kidding” (645). He goes to the airport. He and Boris take separate flights and meet up in Amsterdam with Guyuri, Boris’s driver.

The plan is to set up a meeting with Sascha’s men, who have the painting, and Theo will pose as an art dealer named Farruco Frantisek. Theo, Boris, and Guyuri drive to meet Victor Cherry, an associate of Boris’s who has set up the meeting and will drive them there. They also meet a younger associate of Cherry’s, a man nicknamed Shirley Temple. They all drive to a café called the Purple Cow.

Inside, the men meet an older man and an Indonesian man. There is “some disturbance” because the third man has not shown up (664). Just as Theo hands over the bank draft, Cherry hits the older man with his pistol.