the North Koreans have taken over where the South Africans left off. They’ve invested huge amounts of money and manpower into the same kind of research. In fact, some of our people believe that North Korea is where the missing scientist fled to, so the threat is still out there.”
Leo shifted uneasily in his seat and tapped his fingers on the armrest as he looked around inside the vehicle. “Your men didn’t happen to stock any wine in the back, did they, Francois?”
Francois looked up into his rearview mirror and winked. “Of course, Cardinal. I knew who my passengers would be, so I added wine to the list of
Lev laughed out loud. “I think we could all use a drink right about now.”
“I’m afraid I’ll have to wait,” the Swiss Guard chief frowned. “I’m your designated driver.”
Lev eyed a closed gas station on the side of the highway as they drove past a seemingly deserted small town. “How much fuel do we have?”
“We’ve already used almost half a tank, but we have contingency plans.”
“Can we make it to Portofino?”
“Not without refueling.” Francois smiled. “Why do you ask?”
“Because that’s where the Carmela will be waiting for us.”
“We know.”
“What?”
“She put to sea an hour ago. We’ve been monitoring your communications with the villa. The captain just sent you a text message. They’re headed across the Mediterranean at full speed.”
“I should have known,” Lev said. “You guys are good.”
“There’s only one problem. The yacht won’t be here until tomorrow, so we’re making arrangements to secure a safe-house until she arrives. There’s bound to be more crazed mobs like the one we just encountered, and we need to avoid any more contact.”
Lev flipped his cell phone open and stared at the screen. “I just lost the signal to my cell phone.”
“They’re shutting down the cell phone towers, Professor. You can use my radio if you need to call the yacht.”
Francois was just reaching for the radio when they all noticed the reflection of flashing blue lights and heard sirens behind them. Two police motorcycles screamed past and disappeared around a bend in the road ahead.
“At least the
The pop of a wine bottle being uncorked sounded from the back seat. Leo had discovered the wine and was busy pouring some of the precious red liquid into the only thing he could find-a paper cup. He was just taking his first sip when the SUV rounded a curve in the road and came to a screeching halt. Up ahead, a traffic accident was blocking the highway. Looking closer, they could see bodies lying along the side of the road, covered in sheets.
Without giving it a second thought, Leo climbed from the SUV and approached the bodies of the dead to offer prayers for their departed souls.
“Leo!” Lev yelled from behind his closed window. “The pathogen! Get back inside the car!”
Leo stopped and turned back toward the vehicle. Holding his rosary in his hands, with a look of complete peace on his face, it was apparent to all inside the car that Cardinal Leopold Amodeo was answering a higher calling despite the threat to his own safety.
“Should we go with him?” Lev asked Morelli.
“No, wait for him. He wouldn’t want anyone else risking their life. He won’t be long.”
Both men watched as Leo walked among the dead, stopping at the head of each to raise his hand in the sign of the cross, and when he was through, he walked over and spoke briefly with the two motorcycle officers that had passed them earlier. Both officers were wearing surgical face masks.
Returning to the vehicle, Leo opened the door and climbed inside. Leaving the door open, he refilled his cup and sipped his wine in silence as he looked out at all the empty-looking houses scattered around the surrounding countryside.
“Those two motorcycle officers told me that a group of people just walked out onto the highway in front of a large truck.” Leo paused to take another sip of wine. “They said a sickness is spreading and that, as people become infected, they begin to lose their minds just before they die.”
“Sounds like a neurotoxin,” Lev said. “If it’s the same pathogen that hit New York, it’s beginning to behave differently, but that’s to be expected.”
“What do you mean … expected?”
“If this pathogen is genetically engineered, and I believe that it is, then it was probably engineered to affect a specific genome … the sixty to eighty thousand genes that make up all human DNA of any particular race. It’s natural to assume that it will affect one race differently than another, so it’s no surprise that the pathogen is manifesting itself differently on another continent. This could be devastating to Italy, because the gene pool here is strong and steeped in history. Local families marry within their small communities, making them more vulnerable because the chances of genetic variation are even less likely.”
Leo threw his empty cup onto the floorboard and closed his door. “But the police said that only about a third of the people in the villages around here seem to be affected. The rest of the population is terrified, but otherwise healthy … even those who have had close contact with the ones who have died.”
Lev pushed his hands up through his thick, curly gray hair. “Something’s not right. With a genetically engineered pathogen, especially one targeted at a specific and narrow gene pool like the one here in Italy, the rate of infection should be much higher … seventy percent at least. It could be mutating, and if that’s what’s happening we’re all in trouble.”
As the men sat trying to digest this newest bit of information, one of the police officers approached the SUV and motioned for Francois to roll down the window. “
“
For several minutes they continued up the highway until the policeman veered off to the side and waved them on. Francois waved back as they continued on the A-1 and through the spectacular Tuscan countryside. “What gives,” Leo said. “Why the VIP treatment?”
Francois increased their speed. “They were told to be on the lookout for us … I guess you could say they just paid us some professional courtesy.”
Leo usually loved traveling through this part of Italy. He rolled down his window so that he could inhale the unique combination of scents being released into the air as the sun made an appearance and the temperature outside began to climb. It was the unmistakable scent of moist clay, citrus trees, vineyards, and olive groves, all coming together in a symphony of regional aroma. Gazing out at the evocative landscape, he wondered why the magnificent beauty outside their windows contrasted so starkly with the human tragedy playing out on the same canvas.
In truth, it had always been like this. The same quiet pastoral setting they were now passing through had witnessed things that even Leo could not imagine. In all of recorded history, mankind had been plagued with continuous strife. It seemed that humanity had been doomed from the beginning to live on a planet that more closely resembled a vast genetic Petri dish filled with murderous individuals who were born without warning labels. They had no discernible markings to warn others of what they were, thus allowing them to roam freely among us, walking human bombs set to explode when an invisible fuse was lit by an unseen hand.
It was as if the rest of us were the victims of some kind of horrible cosmic mistake that had been left uncorrected by someone or something that had given up on us. Nature, it seemed, was but a delightful mask to the darkness that lay hidden within the souls of those who sought only to wreak havoc against the innocent. It acted like a barrier between order and chaos, concealing the fact that murder and mayhem lurked just beneath the surface of an otherwise idyllic setting, thus making life more bearable for those who wanted only to live in peace as they faced a fragile mortality.
Leo’s internal philosophic discussion with himself soon evaporated when he noticed they were skirting the
