One day on the job, and he’d been given a ticket to the greatest treasure hunt of all time.
It was an opportunity that changed his life forever.
Dante was one of Benito Pelati’s top assistants, a no-nonsense disciple who went out of his way to please the old man. He arrived on time and greeted Benito with a kiss on both cheeks. No words were said, no pleasantries exchanged. This was a business meeting, not a social call. They would save the chitchat for another day. If ever.
Dante was much larger than Benito and half his age. Yet their features were similar, especially the way their noses sloped away from their sunken eyes. Romans referred to it as the look of the emperor, though Dante didn’t care about his face or his clothes or the make of his car. He didn’t give a damn about those things because the only thing that mattered to him was his work. It was an addiction that ruled his life.
Minutes passed as Dante sat there, quiet, patiently waiting for Benito to speak because that was the way it was done in the Old Country. The old man had called the meeting, so he controlled the agenda, just like every time the two of them got together. Someday Benito would die, and Dante would move up in the organization. But until then Dante would sit there like a loyal dog, studying the people who poured past them on the busy street. Waiting to be briefed.
Eventually, the old man said, ‘It’s been a bad day for the Church.’
Dante remained silent, realizing details would come in short bursts, every statement measured before it left the old man’s lips. As if Benito didn’t know how to talk to him.
‘A priest was found crucified… A warning was issued… The Council needs our help.’
In the power structure of the Vatican, the Supreme Council was second in command to the holy father. At least on paper. In reality, the seven cardinals who made up the Council – led by Cardinal Vercelli, the man who replaced Cardinal Bandolfo when he died less than a year before – were the most powerful men in the Catholic Church. They decided what the pope knew and what he didn’t, protecting the papal throne from the bureaucratic issues of the day. To put it simply, their job was to keep the pope squeaky clean while they made the tough choices behind closed doors. The type of decisions that could soil the papacy and the Church.
And when these issues came up, Benito Pelati was usually part of the solution.
Finally, after several more seconds of silence, Benito turned toward Dante. ‘I need you to go to Vienna… There’s an excavation I need you to oversee… Something quite important.’
‘In Austria?’ Dante asked. ‘Do we have permission to dig there?’
Benito stared at him until Dante lowered his head in shame. He should’ve known better than to question Benito’s orders. ‘Everything is ready… All you’ll do is supervise… Once you’re done, bring what you find back to me.’
12
Curiosity had a way of consuming Dr Boyd. Although he should’ve been focused on the bronze cylinder, he was more interested in the sound. The deafening roar of the outside world was too intriguing for him to ignore. ‘Hello!’ he called in his English accent. ‘Is anybody out there?’
The rotor blades of the helicopter continued to reverberate like thunder just outside the entrance to the Catacombs.
‘Goodness gracious! What is causing that tumult?’ Boyd continued to ponder the question as he made his way to the mouth of the cave. ‘People should have more consideration when –’
The sight of the massive machine, coupled with the overpowering roar of the turbines and the hurricane-like wind that enveloped him, was enough to take Boyd’s breath away. He’d assumed the noise was probably a piece of equipment working on the plateau above but never expected to see a helicopter staring him in the face from more than 700 feet in the air.
The man in the passenger seat grinned, then ordered the pilot to rotate to the left. A split second later, the man’s M501 sniper rifle was out the side window, and Boyd was in its crosshairs.
‘Gentlemen,’ he whispered into his headset, ‘the Lord works in mysterious ways.’
The two soldiers stopped their ascent up the plateau and looked skyward, though their angle prevented them from seeing anything of value. ‘What’s going on, sir? Is everything all right?’
The man squinted as he adjusted his scope. ‘It will be in a moment. One shot, and our biggest problem is history.’
They nodded in understanding. ‘What should we do?’
He shoved the rifle’s recoil pad against his shoulder and tried to compensate for the chopper’s sway. ‘Keep on climbing. I’ll need you to deal with the girl and seal the site.’