“You think this map really exists?” McNiel asked.
“A good chance, considering the research the professor did at the Vatican. She no doubt knew Alessandra was inquiring into the viability of dormant plagues and viruses, since she’s the one who told us that the map was believed to lead to them. It certainly explains Adami’s interest.”
McNiel gave a sigh of resignation. “Do what you can to rescue Tex, but that map is not to fall into Adami’s hands. If it ends up a suicide mission, I want that map destroyed. Clear?”
“Yes, sir.”
“I’ll send a chopper out from Rome and have them stand by at the Naples airport.”
Griffin disconnected, knowing there was no way he could break the news to Sydney. Her world was not so black and white as his. How was he going to tell her that their mission was to destroy the map if it left their hands, even if it meant Tex’s life? Or their lives?
Her instinct would be to save Tex. He would deal with that when the time came. Now, he had to worry about what Francesca knew, what she was holding back, and if she assumed Xavier had kept all her secrets. He returned to the others, sat down across from the professor, smiled. “You didn’t forget to mention anything that might have come from Alessandra, did you?”
Her gaze darted from him to Xavier, then back. “What do you mean?”
“Say, a flash drive? Perhaps one that has information about this map on it?”
“I-I didn’t think it was important. I couldn’t access it, so I figured it had been damaged…”
“Let me make one thing
She reached into the collar of her shirt, pulled a lanyard from around her neck, one that had escaped his notice until now. Hanging from it was a flash drive, which she handed over. “You’ll see. There’s nothing on it. Just a copy of my notes on the tunnels.”
“We need a computer,” Griffin said.
Xavier hefted his backpack to the table. “I have one.”
Xavier took out his laptop, booted it up, and slid it toward Francesca, so that she could insert her flash drive into the USB port. She typed something on the keyboard, then slid the computer to Griffin. “As you can see,” she said, “there’s nothing on there but a copy of my notes on the tunnels, which I e-mailed to her. And then a photograph of di Sangro’s family crest at his chapel, which, at the time, we thought was the location of the third key. But the key is supposed to be with him, and his body is not in the crypt. In fact, it has never been found.”
“The actual crypt is supposed to contain the map,” Xavier said. “That’s what I’ve been searching for.”
Griffin clicked on the icon for the flash drive. Two icons appeared in the folder. Francesca’s documents on the tunnels, which he opened, scanned, then closed out. The other was an icon showing a photograph. He clicked on it. Nothing happened.
“As I told you,” Francesca said, “I couldn’t open it, either.”
“It’s encrypted,” Griffin replied.
“Encrypted?”
He typed in a command to have the computer open the photograph. Appearing in the very center near the bottom was a long white box, with a blinking cursor, waiting for a password to be entered.
Xavier stared at it. “Great. What the hell is the password?”
Francesca leaned over, and before Griffin could stop her, typed in a password and hit enter. Nothing happened. “This makes no sense. Where’s the information from my flash drive? My notes?”
“Actually,” Griffin said, putting his hand out to keep her from typing anything further, “it’s part of the program.”
“How would you know?” Francesca asked.
“I gave the program to Alessandra.”
A look of distrust filled Xavier’s face. “Why?”
“She wanted to embed some information and was worried about someone in her father’s household gaining access to her computer should she visit. At least that’s what she told me. What that was, I have no idea.”
Francesca leaned forward, trying to get a better view. “Then how do we access what is embedded?”
Griffin pushed his coffee cup aside, then angled the computer so they could all see it. “She didn’t give either one of you the final access code?”
“No,” Francesca said. “Clearly the code isn’t my password. Unless I made a mistake. You want me to retype it and see what happens?”
“Only if you want to chance destroying whatever information is on the flash drive,” Griffin replied. “We need to be sure. This particular program gives us three tries. First one is gratis. You already took that. Second, the cursor stops moving, indicating you are about to be locked out. Third mistake is fatal. It erases whatever information she embedded into it.”
The four of them stared at the screen, the cursor blinking, blinking, blinking in the empty box just begging for a password. Sydney sat up, looked over at Griffin. “She did pass on the final code. She said you knew it.”
“Of course,” Francesca said to Griffin. “She insisted I ask for the code, and that was how I would know you. Dumas told us the code this morning. You confirmed it. All for one and one for all.”
“That can’t be right,” Griffin said. “There has to be a combination of letters and numbers, or the program wouldn’t accept the password to begin with.”
Francesca said, “Maybe substituting the numeral one for the word one?”
Two chances left, he thought. “Try it.”
Francesca typed in the new variation, “Allfor1and1forall.” The cursor stopped blinking.
“Damn it,” Francesca said.
Not good, Griffin thought. Alessandra hadn’t counted on dying, obviously, but she’d certainly taken the precaution to protect the information if she couldn’t be there. “If not that, what code would she have used?”
“Maybe,” Xavier said, “there isn’t anything so drastic as a special code. She knew the professor and I were going to meet. Maybe we simply enter our individual codes together. They have the letter numeral combination.” Xavier angled the computer his way to look.
Griffin stopped him. “Alessandra was too meticulous to combine two known codes. We have one try left. If we don’t get it, it’s over.”
Francesca said, “Surely the government has something they can hook up to it, and figure out what the hell it should be?”
“Which,” Griffin said, “entails time and resources we don’t have at the moment. We need to think about this.” And quickly, he realized. With less than six hours to search unknown caverns for something they didn’t even know existed, the odds were not stacked in their favor.
Sydney reached for a napkin. “I’ve got it.” He certainly hoped so. “I think Francesca was on to something, replacing the words with numbers, but if Alessandra was as meticulous as you say, and as paranoid as Xavier, she’d go further if at all possible. She’d replace everything.”
Francesca said, “Like the word ‘for’ with the numeral four?”
“Even more so. Especially if she was entrusting that someone else was going to bring that code back, and there was the possibility of being overheard or intercepted. Think license plates.”
“License plates?” Griffin asked.
“Anyone have a pen?” Sydney said. Xavier pulled one from the pocket of his backpack. She wrote on the napkin, then turned it for everyone to see. L41N14L. “L equals
“Yes,” Xavier said. “I can see her doing that.”
“Well?” Sydney asked.
“Type it in,” Griffin said.
32
