Sara needed a few moments to regain her composure. Eventually, she was calm enough to brief Peter on the course of events that led to disaster. "It's complicated. Everything started with the Virgin Rainbow..."
The 'Virgin Rainbow' was one of the world's rarest and most expensive opals. This opal exhibited incredible fluorescence with a rainbow of different colors that made the opal so distinctly unique. It was worth over $1 million and now owned by a museum in Australia.
The opal seemed to glow in the dark - the darker the light, the more color came out of it. It was unbelievable. It imparted a rainbow of colors, from milky white, to red, orange, yellow, green, blue, pink, black.
The opal was found in 2003 but it came to fame almost overnight. Based on its beauty and value, media featured many stories about the gem.
The museum of Adelaide has agreed to send the Virgin Rainbow to New York for an exhibition that was hosted by the Australian Gem Trading Association. The exhibition was part of a marketing campaign in order to capture the US market.
Many valuable and astonishing gemstones would be shown for 2 weeks in May this year. Entrance to the exhibition would only be granted by invite. Jewelers all over the country were pulling strings to get one of the highly coveted invites.
The total value of the gemstones on display was somewhere around $50 million. The Virgin Rainbow was the stone with the highest single value, though.
Preparations were all underway to set up everything. The exhibition would be hosted in the Australian Consulate. Security means had to be upgraded and a lot of precautions be taken to protect the valuable items.
The exhibits were insured by Sterling Bosch. This is where Sara came in. While chatting to Neal on the phone she mentioned the exhibition. As soon as he heard about it, he got excited like a child on Christmas morning. "The Virgin Rainbow? That's incredible! It's supposed to be literally glowing in the dark with colors sparkling like a rainbow. A very expensive rainbow, of course. Shouldn't you check the security installation up front? Imagine, if the gems get stolen... So many unprocessed gems at one place are most certainly attracting some unwanted attention."
Actually, Sara had already planned to send someone from her team to look into the security set-up. She had no intentions, though, to get her old friend involved because he wasn't supposed to come over to New York again, ever.
While talking to him on the phone, however, she came up with the idea that he could actually probe into the security processes from a different angle. Rather than running a standard security check, he should work on a plan to steal the exhibits. If he'd find a feasible way to obtain the gems, a real criminal could do the same.
Caffrey would only be in the city for a few days. It'd be fun meeting Neal again and mitigate the insurance risk at the same time. Killing two birds with one stone.
Only after they ended the call, she started to wonder if she really came up with the idea or if Caffrey had planted it in her mind. Whatever! She liked the idea anyhow.
Three weeks prior to the opening of the exhibition, he came to New York disguised as Josh Gardener, consultant of the GAA, Gemmological Association of Australia.
The ex-con has spent two weeks in Australia, looking into the gemstone business in general, gathering a bit of local information to support his alias background and polishing up his Australian accent.
Of course, he also visited the South Australian Museum in Adelaide to inspect the precious gem. Measuring an amazing 2.5 by 0.56 inches, the Virgin Rainbow Black Opal weighed 72.65 karats and displayed brilliant rolling flash pattern featuring all spectral colors from orange through to violet.
His professional interest was aroused. There was an undeniable temptation to take the centerpiece of the exhibition. He has always been attracted by beautiful objects, all the more when they were spectacular, valuable, and out of reach. However, nowadays he was able to leave the town without stealing the opal – even though, he had spotted at least 3 flaws in the security installation.
He refreshed his knowledge to appraise gemstones, including the latest testing techniques and instruments used. After all, he needed to be a convincing gemmological consultant. Doing anything half-heartedly has never been his cup of tea.
Neal discarded the thought of taking a direct flight to JFK. He had promised Peter that he wouldn't travel to New York and had no intentions of breaking the promise. Landing in Newark meant he traveled to New Jersey. Going from there to Manhattan was commuting, not traveling. So, he flew in from Sydney to Newark with a stopover in Dallas.
When visiting the headquarter of the GAA in Adelaide, he got an idea about the dress code for their employees. Accordingly, Josh Gardener was sporting a scholarly look, ready-made suit, plaid shirt, cheap tie. The hair was a bit longer than usual, slightly tousled. Rimmed glasses completed the outfit.
He hated the feel of the mediocre clothes on this skin and cringed every time he looked into a mirror. Sara, on the contrary, regarded his look as pretty hot. "Caffrey, sandy colors look good on you. Besides, I like your hair!" She couldn't stop ruffling it.
It took all of his skills to get access to the organization committee of the gem exhibition. He has built his cover story with meticulous precision, started weeks in advance to fake emails announcing his visit, forging personal references as well as online profiles on professional platforms.
The con man loved the challenge of this assignment. He entered the consulate with a sense of achievement. As part of the exhibition team, he had access to all the information about the gemstones as well as the organizational details.
Technical insight into security means was not part of his GAA consultancy services as such. Therefore, Neal used his social skills to convince the project manager it would be a good idea for him to set up his desk in her office. Even though she fell for his charms almost immediately, she was keeping all the necessary privacy precautions. He needed a whole day to find out her computer password.
Next, he browsed the security processes and looked into all security-related plans. Caffrey was impressed by the level of security in place. The Australian Gem Trading Association has saved no expenses in getting top-notch equipment with the best experts in preparing the installation.
It took him another three days to find a loophole that was good enough to lay the foundation of a plan to steal the Virgin Rainbow. The only viable option to get access to the exhibits was by becoming part of the inner circle of the team.
A night out at an Australian bar, having a few beers and watching cricket made him one of the mates. Apparently, Josh Gardener went to the same school as the brother-in-law of one of the guys working for the gem trade association. What a coincidence.
Soon, when they had another planning meeting, they decided to increase Josh's level of security clearance in order to enable him helping with the organizational details.
A couple of days later, he was pleased with his own achievements. The day has gone well. Actually, he made a breakthrough discovery he couldn't wait to share with Sara.
He noticed one of the janitors taking an interested look at the content of the paper waste bins - but didn't ascribe much importance to this observation. The con man made a mental note to ask for details about the guy the next day, though.
This proved to be a fundamental misjudgment, putting his life at risk. Neal's gut instinct was usually flawless. Normally, he sensed danger like a cat. He has underestimated a hazard only a couple of times so far. No such luck this time.
His last coffee that evening tasted slightly bitter. But then, what do you expect from cheap office coffee that was kept on the burner for hours?