the Allied Forces invade Normandy. German officers are not as prevalent around Paris, and Dietrich begins to worry. Adolf Hitler has requested a specific original, a Johannes Vermeer painting named The Astronomer. Dietrich agrees to trade sixty originals, with works from such artists as Picasso, for the Astronomer. Halifax and Pankratov forge what was seen as impossible to copy, and deliver the painting on the day that all chaos has broken loose in Paris. Unknown to Halifax, Dietrich killed Fleury because he thought that Halifax had lied. Dietrich runs off with the painting, which never emerged again. He left the keys to a vault in which the sixty originals were hidden. Pankratov finds the only remaining painting that he had created, which was a portrait of Valya as a little girl. He clutches it, but when Tombeau arrives with his gangsters that he had been working with, and tells Halifax and Pankratov to leave the painting and run. The paintings are stolen by the gangsters, and most are never seen again. The story ends with Halifax returning to the United States after the war, and starting a family when he becomes an art teacher. He stays in touch with Pankratov, who dies some years later. Pankratov's sole surviving masterpiece emerges in an art auction, in which Halifax wins the painting in a bidding war with an unknown party. Halifax assumes that it is Dietrich, who has survived the war. Characters David Halifax – Born in Narragansett, Rhode Island, Halifax is the protagonist and an aspiring artist in Paris during World War II. Alexander Pankratov - Born in Russia, Pankratov served in the White Army during the Russian Revolution of 1917. Once renowned for his art, Pankratov has been largely forgotten due to all but one of his works being obliterated in a fire. He teaches Halifax how to forge works of art to match the color, age, and other elements which make up originals. Dietrich - Officer of the German Army who seeks original paintings from Halifax and Fleury. He is in competition with the German Ambassador to Paris, who he later has killed. Extremely ruthless and cunning, Dietrich does not stop in his acquisition of paintings, one of which Hitler himself has requested. He is in a love affair with Valya. Valya Pankratov - Valya was given to Alexander Pankratov during the revolution since her mother was very sick