508 – The Invisible Man – The Fine Art of Diplomacy

If an invisible man stands naked in front of a work of fine art, does it spoil the view? John and Eugene discuss The Fine Art of Diplomacy. amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit0"; amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "fusionpatrol-20"; amzn_assoc_ad_mode = "search"; amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart"; amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon"; amzn_assoc_region = "US"; amzn_assoc_default_search_phrase = "invisible man david mccallum"; amzn_assoc_default_category = "All"; amzn_assoc_linkid = "3b04df41558b676760c2d13410bf37be"; amzn_assoc_design = "in_content"; amzn_assoc_title = "Invisible Man"; Synopsis: n the run-up to the American Bicentennial, Diego Devega, Ambassador to a small, strategically important country, and also brother to the ruler of the country, has arranged for priceless paintings to be stolen from the US Capitol building and replaced with fakes. He is keeping the stolen paintings in a specially-designed room in his embassy.  His plan, to get them out of the country, then ransom them back to the Americans so they can avoid the embarrassment.   When the Americans discover, by accident, that the paintings are missing, the Secretary of State calls in the Klae Resource, Dan Westin, The Invisible Man! [expand title=”More…” swaptitle=”Less” tag=”strong”] First, they must snoop around the embassy to see if the paintings are there.  Kate pretends to be a reporter doing a piece on Devega.  She visits him during a party held at the embassy, and while she flirts with him, Dan pokes around until he discovers the paintings.  Unfortunately, he gets locked in the airtight room.  In fact, the room is more than airtight, it has all the oxygen pumped out.  As Dan is about to die, he breaks the air-pumpy-outy nozzle, returning air to the room and triggering an alarm that allows him to escape when they come to investigate. Kate overhears at the party that Devega has a deal with an art dealer, Gregorio, to get the paintings out of the country in two days time. With photos of the stolen pictures and a known deadline, Dan and Kate turn the info over to the Secretary of State’s office; unfortunately, two days just isn’t enough time to get a search warrant and raid the place, and they cannot go to the ruler of the country and expose his brother’s criminal activity until after they get him to sign a deal for a NATO base. There’s only one thing for it:  Dan will have to steal the pictures and replace them the counterfeits.  It would be easy for the Invisible Man save for one thing.  If the paintings were seen floating into the embassy by themselves, it might raise suspicions. Kate must go back to an art party being held at the embassy the next day and really put the moves on Devega, then drugging him, using his unconscious body as a prop and a key to allay suspicions and then Dan, disguised as a Russian caterer will bring, swap, and remove the painting on his catering cart. The plan goes well, with the paintings swapped without Devega realizing, but not without him realizing that Kate drugged him and managed to get into the secure room.  She is held hostage.  She buys time by implicating Gregario, who was actually completely unaware of the provenance of the art he was smuggling out of the country.  But,moments before Kate and Gregario are killed, Dan Westin, the Invisible Man subdues their would-be killer and they escape. [/expand]