Innocent Blood(110)
As he tried to lift this portrait, he found it was actually hinged to the wall.
Jordan’s smile matched the one worn by Judas in the painting.
He pulled it back to reveal the face of a modern safe with a digital lock.
“Erin!”
She glanced up, her eyes widening. “That’s gotta be it!”
“Let’s see if I can get this open.”
“I don’t think blasting it with a rifle will help this time.”
Jordan rubbed the tips of his fingers and blew on them. “Just needs a little safecracking.”
She looked doubtfully at him.
“Ever the skeptic, Dr. Granger.” Jordan took the flashlight out of his pocket and played the beam across the numbers on the white numerical keypad, tilting it back and forth to illuminate them from different angles. “I can get this one open in six tries.”
“Really? How?”
“Science,” he said. “Breaking into this safe will be all about science.”
She raised an eyebrow.
“Look closely at the numbers.” He shone the flashlight on the digital keypad again. “Do you see the colored dust on a few of the keys?”
She leaned forward. “What is it?”
He held up his free hand, which was coated with the same glittering flakes. “Guy has a hobby he dotes on. Likely tinkers and handles his creations often. Forgets to wash his hands when he is in a hurry.”
“Makes sense,” Erin said.
“The guy is full of himself, grown confident in his security. Punches the same numbers over and over. But he’s also plainly paranoid. I doubt he lets his maid clean his hidden safe.”
Jordan pointed to the number seven. “That button has got the most dust on it, so I’m betting it’s the first number.”
“And the other three?”
“If you look close enough, you can see dust on the numbers nine, three, and five.”
She bent to look. He liked having her close, and he liked looking intelligent for a change, too.
“So.” Here he needed a bit of good fortune. “If there are no repeated numbers and the code is four digits long, starting with the number seven, that leaves me only six possible variations.”
“Clever,” Erin said.
He tapped his head with a finger. “Logic.”
And hopefully luck.
He tapped out the various combinations, starting with 7935. Nope. On his third attempt, the light on the front of the safe blinked from red to green.
He stepped back and let Erin do the honors.
She grabbed the handle, turned it, and swung the door open.
Jordan stared over her shoulder. “More paper.”
A stack filled the space, held down by a blocky glass paperweight.
Erin picked it up, lifting the block toward his flashlight. Hanging in the center of the crystal was a brown leaf.
“There’s writing on it,” she said. “Herodian Aramaic.”
“Can you translate it?”
She nodded, squinting a bit, turning the block this way and that. Finally, she sighed and spoke the words written there. “ ‘After His words, written in blood, are lifted from their prison of stone, the one who took Him from this world will serve in bringing Him back, sparking an era of fire and bloodshed, casting a pall over the earth and all its creatures.’ ”
Erin turned her face to Jordan, her voice dry and breathless with fear. “This is where Judas came upon his purpose. He wasn’t pulling this plan out of thin air. It’s a prophecy.”
“Why do you say that?”
“The leaf. It’s plainly old, preserved to protect it. The ancient seers of the past were often known to write their predictions upon leaves.”
“So what does that mean? It’s destined to happen? We can’t do anything about it?”
“No, it’s why the seers wrote them on leaves. A reminder that destiny is not written on stone. But Judas—as guilt-ridden as he was—would surely have latched firmly upon this prophecy as his ultimate destiny.”
“But we still don’t know what he’s planning,” Jordan reminded her.
She nodded and slipped the first sheet of paper from the pile.
Jordan noted the old sheet was also stained with flakes of emeralds, purples, and crimsons, proving it was often handled, likely recently.
Erin stiffened, unable to speak.
“What is it?” he asked.
As answer, she held out the page toward him, revealing what was drawn there.
42
December 20, 6:48 A.M. CET
Cumae, Italy
Tommy stopped at the dark tunnel in the cliff face, balking at entering. The soft stink of rotten eggs flowed out of the darkness like a foul breath. Behind him stretched the soft sugary sand of the beach. Overhead, the sky was dark, shining with stars and a few pale silver clouds, lit with the promise of morning.