Timeline
Trace the history, operations and consequences of 201 Seconds, from wartime Europe to 2028.
Major spoilers for all three volumes, including the ending.
New to the story? Start with Chapter One.
Drag or scroll to explore. On a phone, swipe in either direction. Use + / − to zoom, Fit for the whole illustration, or Read as text for full descriptions and chapter references. Events are arranged in story order; spacing is not proportional to elapsed time.
Origins
1940–2012 · The history behind the operations
July 20, 1940 · Paris
The missing inventory card
Friedrich Keller inventories the Beauchamp collection and removes the Raphael’s original card from the official record.
Volume II · Chapter 4
April 28, 1945 · Near Altaussee, Austria
Eighty-eight paintings disappear
Keller diverts eighty-eight paintings to a barn cellar and falsifies the manifests. The official trail points investigators toward the salt mine.
Volume II · Chapter 9
Summer 1997 · Bad Aussee, Austria
Alton meets Josef
Alton’s research into wartime art brings him to Josef Keller and the problem of paintings that cannot safely return to the world.
Volume II · Chapter 13
September 1998 · Middlebury College, Vermont
Alton meets Tatum
An art-history class brings Alton and Tatum together. The friendships at the heart of the trilogy begin taking shape.
Volume III · Chapter 4
Summer 2007 · Bad Aussee, Austria
An incentive-based solution
Alton returns with a proposal built around compensation and voluntary cooperation. Josef reveals the scale of the six hidden collections: 433 paintings.
Volume II · Chapter 16
May 2, 2010 · Bad Aussee, Austria
The promise
The custodians hear Alton’s long-term plan for recovering the paintings and compensating the families who have protected them.
Volume II · Chapter 19
May 2, 2010 · 10:45 p.m. · Bad Aussee, Austria
The betrayal
Victor Keller takes the Raphael and murders Josef, changing the stakes of Alton’s promise.
Volume II · Chapter 23
June 16, 2012 · Geneva, Switzerland
The Pictet operation
The group carries out the Éléonore Pictet operation, taking jewelry and paintings. The next morning brings the human consequences of the theft into focus.
Volume III · Chapters 21 and 26
Between the cases
2012–2025 · The undocumented years
Between Geneva in 2012 and the Atlanta case in 2025, the group carried out other operations. Not every crime appears in the three volumes.
2016 · Los Angeles, California
The Movie That Never Existed
A film that was never made becomes the foundation of a carefully constructed operation. Read the complete, free website-exclusive bonus crime. Read the bonus crime.
Website-exclusive bonus crime
Autumn 2018 · Bad Aussee, Austria
Tatum visits the custodians
Tatum sees the hidden-art dilemma for herself and insists that Alton’s mission must not harm innocent people.
Volume II · Chapter 28
Volume I
2025–2026 · The Mystery
November 15, 2025 · Lenox Mall, Atlanta
Claire Keller is kidnapped
Claire Keller is abducted. Her father, Victor, is forced to surrender cash and a hidden painting. This operation takes 189 seconds; 201 seconds is the group’s average.
Chapter 1
November 16, 2025 · Miami → Atlanta
Tatum takes the case
Tatum is notified of the Keller kidnapping and robbery. The missing painting becomes a question the insurance claim cannot answer.
Chapter 2
January 5, 2026 · Midtown Manhattan
A six-month deadline
Gordon gives Tatum six months to produce an arrest or a recovery, placing her professional future alongside the investigation.
Chapter 6
January 8, 2026 · Miami
The Maravilla operation
The tower’s elevators stop for exactly 201 seconds during the gala. The operation adds another carefully controlled incident to the growing pattern.
Chapter 7
January 20, 2026 · Geneva
Investigators compare cases
International agencies and insurers gather to compare crimes that once appeared unrelated.
Chapter 9
April 30, 2026 · Above the Atlantic Ocean
The diamond shipment
An aircraft substitution diverts a major diamond shipment while a decoy continues toward Miami.
Chapter 12
May 18, 2026 · Atlanta
The raid
The FBI searches Beauchamp Atelier as suspicion focuses on Alton and the people around him.
Chapter 16
June 20, 2026 · Lake Glenville, North Carolina
The Lake Glenville operation
A wealthy man is abducted during an early-morning waterskiing trip on Lake Glenville.
Chapter 17
July 28, 2026 · Nagoya
Another target
Financier Kaito Mori becomes the focus of an operation, extending the investigation’s international reach.
Chapter 24
August 5, 2026 · Washington, D.C.
Three paintings and a director
The discovery connected to Étienne Moreau’s home brings down the FBI Director. Calvin Reddick assumes leadership.
Chapters 29–30
August 7, 2026 · Atlanta
Victor is arrested
Victor Keller is arrested over his possession of the stolen Raphael. His bond is set at $500 million.
Chapter 32
August 8, 2026 · Paris
The Renoir operation
A Renoir disappears during an after-hours fundraiser at the Musée d’Orsay.
Chapter 35
August 24, 2026 · Atlanta
The hidden gallery
Herb confronts Alton about R. Later that day, Tatum discovers the concealed gallery at home, changing her understanding of what came before.
Chapters 43–45
Volume II
February–May 2028 · The Moral Question
February 13, 2028 · 12:42 p.m. EST · California
The architect’s appointment
Alton meets Josh D’Amaro at his future homesite. Their architectural discussion is interrupted by the first signs of the crisis.
Chapter 1
February 13 · 1:01 p.m. EST · Disney headquarters
The first demand
The attackers contact Disney with a $50 billion demand following coordinated disruptions to attractions.
Chapters 2–3
February 13 · 3:59 p.m. EST · Disney properties
Payment systems fail
Disney’s payment failures begin spreading. Minutes later, Josh orders food and water distributed to guests without charge.
Chapters 12 and 14
February 13 · 7:12 p.m. EST · Atlanta and Disney properties
The blackout
A brief blackout links Mercedes-Benz Stadium to the Disney disruption, revealing a much larger operation.
Chapter 21
February 13 · 7:15 p.m. EST · Disney headquarters → Washington
The real demand
Disney is released. The attackers redirect their demand to the United States government and raise it to $100 billion.
Chapter 24
February 13 · 8:55 p.m. EST · Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta
Look up
The Halo display turns the halftime audience’s attention to the presidential suite and deepens the perceived threat.
Chapter 30
February 13 · 10:27 p.m. EST · Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta
Thirty-eight seconds remain
The transfer is completed with thirty-eight seconds left in the game. Seattle wins, and the stadium’s spectators leave safely.
Chapter 34
February 14, 2028 · California and Atlanta
The evidence left behind
The forensic review finds deliberately limited interference. The operation relied on authorities imagining capabilities that were not actually there.
Chapters 36–37
February 15, 2028 · Austria
433 paintings
The recovered collection is revealed. The $100 billion becomes the mechanism for restitution, compensation and the return of the art.
Chapters 38–39
February 18, 2028 · Atlanta
Herb hears the truth
Alton privately acknowledges his involvement and explains the purpose behind the operation.
Chapter 40
February 19, 2028 · The Beauchamp home, Atlanta
Dinner at home
The family shares a meal as the immediate crisis recedes and Tatum considers what a future in Washington might mean.
Chapter 41
March 1, 2028 · Above Burbank, California
Back to the blueprints
Josh and Alton return to the house plans. Their conversation now carries questions that were absent from their first meeting.
Chapter 42
May 25–26, 2028 · Vienna
The paintings come home
Austria announces the permanent museum and selects Alton as its architect. The next day, families enter the repository and see works they believed lost.
Chapter 43
Volume III
June–August 2028 · The Consequences
June 9, 2028 · Atlanta
The failed kidnapping
Reese’s attempt to have Jean-Paul Marchand kidnapped fails. Eli Barak is killed, and Herb’s investigation brings Alton back into the group’s unfinished business.
Chapters 1–5
June 10, 2028 · Atlanta
Thirty-eight people
Police watch Beauchamp Atelier. The group meets, and Alton learns that operations have continued without his knowledge.
Chapters 6–9
June 12, 2028 · Sandy Springs, Georgia
Investigating the investigation
The group meets again and begins examining how the government has built its case.
Chapter 16
June 23, 2028 · 4:13 p.m. · Atlanta, Washington and other locations
201 seconds
The coordinated operation targets the government’s evidence infrastructure. Several components move together within a single 201-second window.
Chapters 32 and 35
July 2028 · Washington, D.C.
The federal case collapses
The government cannot establish the necessary provenance of its evidence. The federal indictment against Alton, Marcus and Reese is dismissed with prejudice; this does not resolve Reese’s separate Georgia case.
Chapter 40
August 1, 2028 · Atlanta
Reese accepts responsibility
Reese accepts the proposed Georgia plea terms: ten years, with two in custody and eight on probation. The agreement still requires final wording and court approval.
Chapter 46
August 2, 2028 · Geneva
Marchand’s death
Marchand learns that French police want to question him about Reese. He is later found dead.
Chapter 47
August 4, 2028 · The Beauchamp home, Atlanta
The refrigerator
Alton returns home. The secret room remains accessible, but being able to open the door is no longer the same as needing to.
Chapter 48
Los Angeles, 2016 · A website-exclusive crime.
Read The Movie That Never Existed, available free on the website.
Other story locations: New York, London, Rome and Vienna also feature in the trilogy. This list does not identify separate crimes or assign dates to them.
Selected events from Jim Beach’s fiction. February 13, 2028 times are Eastern Standard Time (EST).