Daniel Travers breaks into the exhibition hall of the New York
Manhattan Museum of Art, sliding down through a skylight. He steals a
painting of Saint Marcos by Montoya, on loan from the Republic of San
Marcos, and uses his sword cane to cut the painting loose from its
frame, bypassing the laser grid. As Travers starts to slide the painting
out, a guard comes by and Travers kills him with his cane. Once he has
the painting, Travers removes his stealth suit, revealing a tuxedo
beneath. He then joins the party in the main hall of the museum and
tells San Marcos' Minister of Public Affairs, Raphael Ocha, that he has
the painting.
Jim picks up his briefing from a ballet school
piano and is informed that Travers, an art thief and hotelier, stole the
painting, national treasure of San Marcos. Ocha hired Travers to commit
the theft so that San Marcos could discredit the U.S. The IMF must find
the stolen painting and recover it along with all of the other
paintings that Travers has stolen and bring the thief to justice.
The
team meets in New York at a penthouse apartment and review their
information. Travers is on the museum board and arranged the exhibition
after a trip to San Marcos. They have the plans to Travers' penthouse
apartment in his New York hotel and they plan to start their search
there for the stolen paintings. Grant has created a new high-tech
device, a painting assimilator, and just needs to know which artist
Travers prefers. Shannon's job will be to find out who it is and has
already gotten an invitation to the Danmeer Auction House where Travers
buys many of his paintings. Shannon is posing as a consultant for
Nicholas, a business investor, and they plan to convince Travers that
Shannon is a fence.
While Shannon and Nicholas go to the auction
house, Max and Grant break into Travers' penthouse. They check in with
Jim, who warns them that Travers will head back as soon as he's won the
painting. Meanwhile, Shannon drives the bidding up on the painting that
Travers wants. He wins after spending an additional $700,000 and asks
the auctioneer, Brian Danmeer, if Shannon is working for him. Brian
confirms Shannon's credentials, explaining that she works for
businessmen obtaining rare art to use as investments. Travers, clearly
attracted to Shannon, watches her leave the room.
Grant checks
Travers' safe and confirms that the paintings aren't there, while Max
taps the hotelier's phone. They download the fax machine's memory and
report to Jim that they haven't found anything.
Shannon
intercepts Travers as he leaves the auction house and suggests that they
work together. She hints that she procures stolen paintings and says
that she has a Montoya Travers isn't interested even after Shannon hints
that it was the one Travers stole, and she tells him that they'll meet
again. Shannon returns to the apartment and meets the rest of the team.
Grant has printed out the fax machine memory and confirmed that Ocha is
returning to New York for a meeting with Travers. They figure that
Travers is asking for more money to hand over the painting and plan to
go to the press conference concerning the theft.
The next day at
the conference, Travers makes a brief statement and then haves Ocha step
up. The hotelier sees Shannon entering the museum and follows her,
while Max follows Travers. Travers chats with Shannon and expresses his
admiration for a Degas painting, and Shannon immediately offers him a
missing Degas. She assures him that even though there are no known Degas
paintings at large, she knows the location of an unknown one. Ocha
arrives and Travers goes with him, and Shannon secretly follows them.
Travers wants five miles of San Marcos coastal land and tax-free
exclusive hotel rights there, and threatens to return the Montoya if he
doesn't get it. As he haggles with Ocha, he sees Shannon's reflection in
a sculpture.
Once Ocha leaves to check with his superiors,
Travers grabs Shannon and threatens her with his sword cane. Max warns
Jim, who tells him to hold his position and maintain Shannon's cover.
Meanwhile, Shannon tell Travers that she's a fence, and he demands that
she prove it by bringing him the missing Degas. He leaves with Shannon
for his penthouse while Grant takes photos of the Degas on display and
sends it to Grant.
When they get to the penthouse, Travers has
Shannon call Jim to bring the Degas. Jim agrees to meet with her at
central Park at 5 that afternoon and Travers offers Shannon a drink once
she hang sup. Meanwhile, Grant feeds the photos of the Degas into his
computer and has it generate a "new" Degas painting. Jim then takes it
to Central Park and shows it to Travers, and demands $18 million for it.
Travers is satisfied but wants his evaluator to confirm its
authenticity. They take it to Brian at the auction house and he signs
off on the painting as well. However, Jim refuses to negotiate and
Travers refuses to pay the $18 million, so Jim leaves with the painting.
That
night, Travers breaks into the apartment to steal the painting. He
finds Shannon in the bath and stabs her with his sword cane, then leaves
out the front door. Shannon emerges from the tub, having worn an
armored blanket beneath the water, and Max and Grant follow Travers
using a bug that they planted on the painting's frame. Nicholas is in
the hotel lobby and watches as Travers takes the elevator down instead
of up. The three agents go to the parking garage and spot Travers
entering a door to the lower levels. Once he's out of sight, he goes
through a hidden panel and is gone by the time the agents catch up.
Grant's tracker can no longer pick up the signal from the frame.
Meanwhile, Travers enters an underground apartment and art gallery and
places his new Degas with the other paintings in his collection.
Since
they can't find Travers' cache of paintings, Jim comes up with a new
plan. Max takes photos of Ocha entering the San Marcos consulate and
transmit them to Nicholas, who makes a mask of the man. The team then
listens in on the tap on Travers' phone as Ocha calls the hotelier and
says that they agree to his terms. However, Travers refuses to turn over
the Montoya without everything in writing.
Jim and Max visit
Ocha posing as a police captain and Interpol agent, respectively, and
tell the minister that they've recovered the Montoya from Yakuza black
marketeers. Ocha is surprised to learn that it's being returned to the
museum. Once they leave, Ocha calls Travers and demands to know what
he's up to. Travers insists he still has the painting but Ocha refuses
to hand over the land rights without confirmation. As he leaves for the
hotel to meet with Travers, the IMF intercepts him outside. Grant is
posing as a hot dog vendor and Shannon trips Ocha while walking her
poodles. Ocha falls behind the cart and Nicholas, wearing an Ocha mask
and suit, emerges from the cart and darts Ocha unconscious and takes his
place before the minister's chauffeur realizes anything is amiss. While
Nicholas leaves in the consulate limo, Grant and Shannon dump the
unconscious Ocha into the hot dog cart.
When Nicholas gets to the
hotel, Travers takes him into the sub-basement and Nicholas photographs
everything on a hidden camera. Travers explains that he built his hotel
on the site of an old bank and secretly had the bank vault converted
into his personal gallery. They go to the painting, sealed in a
high-security vault, and Travers warns Nicholas that it's rigged to
explode. Once Nicholas is convinced that Travers has the real Montoya,
the hotelier demands the legal documents for its return.
Back at
the apartment, the team reviews Nicholas' photos and Nicholas points out
that there's no sprinkler system because the gallery isn't hooked up to
the building's system. Jim figures that's their route of attack and has
Grant make duplicates of the other paintings in Travers' private
collection. Grant warns that they won't stand up to a close examination
but Jim assures him that they won't have to. They then go to work
setting up the real Ocha.
That night, Grant and Maxwell break
into Travers' secret gallery. Grant sets up miniature hologram
projectors while Max takes the stolen paintings and replaces them with
the fakes. Meanwhile, Nicholas impersonates Ocha's voice and calls
Travers to agree to his terms. While Shannon monitors the tapped phone,
Jim and Nicholas put Ocha in a fake police car and wake him up. They
tell him that he was in an accident and was knocked out, and Ocha
demands that they take him to Travers' hotel.
Grant sets up gas
jets on the floorboards beneath the now-fake paintings and rigs the
frame of the fake Degas. While Max and Grant hide behind the entrance
door, Ocha arrives at the penthouse and demands to see the Montoya.
Travers has no idea what he's talking about. Meanwhile, Shannon listens
in on the tap and signals Jim, who has Grant set off the fire detectors.
The alarms go off while Max ignites the gas jets. Travis and Ocha run
to the gallery and are shocked to see the paintings in flames. Ocha
grabs the Degas and threatens to destroy it unless Travers gives him the
Montoya.
The hotelier has no choice but to open the vault and
hand over the Montoya. Since destroying it will suit his plans, Ocha
unwittingly throws it into the hologrammatic flames. As Ocha turns to
leave, Travers impales him with his sword cane. Max shuts off the gas
jets and the team enters the gallery. Travers stares at Shannon in shock
and Grant ignites the rig on the fake Degas, igniting it. As the
hotelier screams in anguish, calling them barbarians, Jim picks up the
discarded Montoya and Grant shuts down the projectors. As Travers stares
around at the unscathed gallery, the team leaves with the painting.
Written by Gadfly on Oct 3, 2018