regions were composed of earth, air, fire, water and the Quintessence-the essence of life itself. I always assumed that the Quintessence was a myth, like alchemy and turning water into wine.'
'It's quite real, I assure you,' Rule said.
'But what exactly is it? Can you see it, feel it, taste it, or is it beyond man's ability to observe and to quantify?'
'In His Testament, Jesus describes it as an 'oil,' but that term may or may not bear a resemblance to what we think of as oil.' Rule leaned in, lowered his voice. 'What makes the fragment of the Testament so explosive, so potentially dangerous to the Church, is that in it Jesus writes that it is by means of the Quintessence that he resurrected Lazarus and the others.'
'But that goes against Church doctrine. The scriptures say that Jesus resurrected Lazarus by His divine power.'
'Indeed, that has been the accepted interpretation since time immemorial,' Rule said. 'But the Testament of Jesus Christ clearly states that it is the Quintessence that brings Lazarus back to life. Christ makes no mention of a divine power.'
Bravo was stunned. 'Wait a minute-'
'Yes, yes, you see the mind-boggling implications. If it was the Quintessence that resurrected Lazarus and not Jesus's divine power, then the stories of him being a healer, the stories that the Church has systematically repressed, are true. And it might also be true that when he died his disciples resurrected him using the Quintessence.'
Bravo's mind was reeling. At last he understood. 'The entire structure of the Catholic faith would crumble because it would call into question whether Jesus was, in fact, the son of God.'
'This is why over the centuries kings have been assassinated, regimes have been toppled, countless lives have been lost, blood has been spilled.' Periodically, Rule tried to decode the shadows beyond the columns. 'Your father told me he read the Testament, authenticated it. There is no doubt it's a fragment of the Testament of Jesus Christ, none at all.'
Bravo stood absolutely immobile. To someone with his training, the idea of finding even a fragment of the Testament of Christ was akin to suddenly unearthing the Holy Grail. And, on top of that, to have the Quintessence, as well! The very possibility that Uncle Tony was right took his breath away.
'If the Order has had the Quintessence for all this time, if it actually exists,' Bravo said, 'then why didn't you use it to heal the sick and infirm?'
'That precise point was the subject of much heated debate in the twelve hundreds between Fra Leoni, the Keeper, and Fra Prospero, the Order's Magister Regens.' Rule kept shifting his gaze to areas of the interior. 'Two reasons for keeping the Quintessence secret prevailed over all the others: One, man was not meant to be immortal, or even to have his lifetime unnaturally extended. Two, news of the Quintessence would bring out the worst in people. What do you suppose would happen? A stampede, a panic in the general populace. But it would never get that far, because the rich and the powerful would contrive to steal it, to keep the secret for their own benefit, to extend their own lives. By applying the Quintessence at intervals they would live virtually forever.'
Bravo's mind was moving at lightning speed. This was why the Knights were in a sudden lather to find the cache-the Vatican was pushing them to find the Quintessence. The pope was gravely ill. Was he ready to die? If so, the Quintessence was his only hope. The closer the pope came to death, the more pressure the Vatican would put on the Knights, the more of their power would be wielded. He'd have to remember that. Even in this day and age, the Vatican's power was a net flung far and wide across the globe wherever Christ had been introduced.
'And so power, already concentrated, would become ever more so,' Rule continued. 'And then there would be governments, rogue individuals, terrorists who would wish to use the Quintessence for their own ends, rather than for the betterment of mankind. Unmitigated disaster.' He shook his head sadly. 'No, the Quintessence is too powerful for mankind-it only seems like a gift, but that's the nature of all corrupting influences.'
'If you feel that way, then why not destroy it?'
'It's not up to me, is it? But any archeologist will tell you-I'm sure you know this and are testing me-it would be criminal to willfully destroy such a miraculous artifact from the time of Christ. Jesus himself held the Quintessence in his-'
Some movement Rule had been looking for must have occurred because he said, 'Come now, quickly, quickly!' and with his arms he guided them deeper into the shadows of the chapel. Groping along the plaster of the rear wall, he found a small glass knob and, pulling on it, opened a small door.
Pushing them into the dark doorway, he said, 'This passageway will take you to a side entrance. There are a number of turns, but the door to the outside will be at the far end, not along either wall.'
'Who did you see?' Jenny said.
'It doesn't matter,' Bravo said. 'Come on, Uncle Tony.'
'I'm not going with you.' Rule put the set of keys the young man had given him into Jenny's hand.
'Oh, no you don't,' Jenny said. 'I'm not going to let you-'
'You'll do your job,' Rule said shortly, 'which is to protect Bravo with your life. Leave these people to me. Besides, you have a plane to catch, and if I don't provide a diversion you're never going to make it.'
'I won't leave you,' Bravo said. 'You taught me never to run from a fight, and I sure as hell am not going to start now.'
Rule put his hands on Bravo's shoulders. 'I appreciate the sentiment, Bravo, really I do, but sentiment has no place in the Voire Dei.'
'I don't believe that.'
'You'll learn soon enough that I'm right.' He gripped Bravo all the harder. 'In any case, we all have our roles to play in this war, and yours is safeguarding the Testament and the Quintessence. You're the Keeper: at all costs, you must remember that.'
Rule stared into Bravo's eyes. He had the knack of making you feel as if you and he were the only two people in the world. 'Since Dex's murder and the deaths of the other members of the Haute Cour, we've been virtually leaderless and terribly vulnerable. If you fail to find the cache or-worse-if the Knights of St. Clement should wrest it from you, we'll be undone. They'll have in their possession all the secret knowledge we have acquired. With the promise of the immortality the Quintessence provides, they could create unprecedented havoc- they will have the wherewithal to entice key personnel within governments, economic combines or even terrorist organizations to do their bidding. They could become an unstoppable force, subverting world policy on every level.'
Jenny closed her fist over the keys.
Rule nodded to her gratefully. 'The car's a black Audi cabriolet-very sporty, good cover.' He told them where it was parked. 'Now go!'
He fairly pushed them into the darkness. Then he closed the door and, turning, prepared to meet the Knights he'd seen entering the church.
'The man with the gold teardrop stud in his left ear.'
'I see him,' Bravo said.
He and Jenny were standing in the dimness of the church's side doorway. Late afternoon sunlight, thick as honey, laid down long shadows. Across the street, leaning against the front fender of the white Mercedes, was the Knight with the gold teardrop stud in his ear. He was trying to look nonchalant, but his eyes were hard and flinty as they scanned each individual that came into range.
'Go to the car as if nothing's the matter.' Jenny was all business now. 'The important thing is to walk at a normal pace-not too fast, not too slow-and don't look for him.'
'He'll see me, and he'll come for me.'
'I'm counting on it,' she said. And then as Bravo was about to walk away, she added, 'As long as he doesn't suspect you're on to him we're okay, understand?'
He nodded and left the protection of the recessed doorway, striding out into the white glare and the deep blue shadows that lapped at his ankles. His heart thumped hard and there was a buzzing in his ears that caused him to walk stiff-legged and a bit too fast. He caught himself and, with an effort, he relaxed, slowed down.
There was movement all around him, and he found the most difficult part was not to look in the Knight's direction. He thought of the essential mystery of film or TV actors that had fascinated him when he was a child: how they had trained themselves to ignore the camera completely. Now he was in the same situation, forced to
