while a United 747 passed by on final descent for a landing. Next in line, she navigated the small chopper carrying Moshe and Alon to an area designated for private aircraft. Now they would wait.
In the harbor at Maratea, the yacht shuddered as the engines came to life. The Carmela slowly eased away from the dock and passed through the entrance of the harbor, picking up speed as she made her way north along the coast in a part of the Mediterranean known as the Tyrrhenian Sea. They were now destined for Fiumicino, homeport to some of the finest luxury yachts in the world. Fiumicino was a large fishing town on the central Italian coast known for its great seafood restaurants, but more importantly, it was also home to Rome’s main harbor and the busy Leonardo da Vinci Airport. This strategic location would make the port an excellent choice for their new temporary base of operations.
Shortly after noon, the yacht entered one of the most exclusive marinas in the world and was being secured alongside the dock next to the speedboat that had arrived hours earlier. Listening to the radio chatter from the teams in rental cars now heading for the harbor, Lev and Alex drank coffee and gazed out at all the other boats through the windows of the bridge. They knew that, even if the yacht had not been spotted yet, there was no longer any need for secrecy as far as the boat’s location was concerned since the Devil’s Bible was no longer onboard. All the pieces were in place, and it was now up to Leo and John to deliver the book to the chapel under the Vatican. Only the specter of the unseen forces that surrounded them stood in their way.
At the airport, it was time to go. Nava fired up the chopper, while Alon and Moshe piled into a rented minivan and headed for the train station in the center of the city. If traffic wasn’t too heavy, they would arrive at precisely the same time as Leo and John’s train from the south.
Back on the Carmella, Ariella leaned against the railing on the main deck and watched a tiny blue speck in the sky grow larger until the shape of the yacht’s helicopter loomed overhead before touching down on the top deck. Nava jumped out and waved to her before Ariella turned her attention back to the dock.
Inside the bridge, Lev sat idly watching a crewmember wash the salt spray from the windows when he noticed a bright red Ferrari speeding along the dock. It slowed and pulled to a stop next to the yacht. One of the Carmela’s crewmembers, who had supposedly gone ashore to buy supplies, jumped out of the driver’s seat and ran up the gangplank to the yacht’s main deck. Without a word, the crewman tossed the Ferrari’s keys to Ariella and stood aside while she bounded down the ramp with her backpack and jumped into the car.
Lev jumped to his feet and ran out onto the upper deck, followed by Alex. “Ariella! Where are you going?”
She paused long enough to toss her head out the window and throw him a kiss before roaring off alone toward the city.
“Damn that girl. She’s more headstrong than her mother, God rest her soul. What can she possibly be thinking? Where is she going?”
“You know where she’s going,” Alex said.
Lev hung his head and walked slowly back into the bridge. Yes, he knew where she was going.
Chapter 40
Focused beams of particle-filled sunlight passed through windows set high above, casting shadows onto the polished marble floor from the statues that lined the hallway in this section of the Vatican. Cardinal Marcus Lundahl was walking quickly, his black and scarlet cassock flowing behind him over the cool, smooth surface of the wide corridor. His assistant followed behind, almost running to keep pace with Lundahl’s long strides.
Arriving in front of a single elevator, the two stepped inside and faced the closing mirror-like doors. Twenty feet away, two Vatican security men dressed in black suits were running toward the elevator and waving for them to wait. Instinctively, Emilio reached his hand out to prevent the sliding doors from closing. Lundahl swatted the priest’s hand aside, never taking his gaze away from the approaching men as the doors came together before the suits arrived. Inside, Emilio cast a sideways glare at the cardinal as the two descended into the bowels of the Vatican in silence.
The elevator stopped at the very bottom level, where the cardinal exited into yet another long hallway that led off to his right. Emilio followed along behind until they reached the thick glass entrance of the security complex, the Vatican’s equivalent of a police command center.
Opening the door, an older man with a short-cropped military-style haircut stood aside for the cardinal. He was the same man Leo had seen with the cardinal the day Morelli died. The man’s name was Francois Leander. Swiss by birth, he was also the chief of security for the Vatican. “Good morning, Cardinal.”
Francois glanced down the long hallway behind the cardinal and saw the two men in suits bolt from a stairway and begin running toward them.
“We’ve had a serious security breach, Francois,” Lundahl said. He turned and watched the men running in their direction. “I want you to seal this facility immediately. Let no one in or out.”
“Yes, sir. Right away.”
Lundahl then shifted his gaze to his assistant. “Emilio, you can go now. I don’t think I’ll be needing you anymore today.”
“But… Your Excellency, I…”
Francois opened the center’s bulletproof glass door and gestured toward the hallway. Emilio looked pleadingly into the eyes of the cardinal. “We have a full schedule today, Eminence, and-”
“Thank you, Emilio, but we don’t have time to argue.” The security chief now had his hand on Emilio’s chest and literally pushed the priest back through the doorway. He slammed the heavy glass door shut just as the two security men reached the enclosure. The look on Emilio’s face changed from quizzical to pure fury. The men in suits banged on the door and shouted, demanding to be admitted. Their features were contorted in rage, knowing their shouts could not be heard behind the thick glass.
Francois smiled at the cardinal before they turned their backs on the scene outside and headed for the communications section of the complex. “I don’t know why you kept that disgusting little spy of a man around you for as long as you did, Cardinal.”
The cardinal stopped and put his hand on the chief’s shoulder. “I’ve always believed in the old saying;
The entire staff stood when the cardinal entered and looked around the room. He made the sign of the cross and walked through the complex, stopping to shake each man’s hand in turn. Lundahl then took a seat in front of a console before flipping a switch that illuminated a large screen in the front of the room. The picture from a solitary hidden security camera immediately came into focus. Before them on the screen was the image of the pink-stoned wall of the hidden chapel in the catacombs below.
Drumming his fingers on the console in anticipation, he turned and looked at the man sitting beside him. Father Anthony Morelli smiled back at him. “Soon, Your Excellency, very soon.”
Chapter 41
Leo was sweating. The Roman spring was turning into the hot Roman summer as the temperature soared past ninety degrees. Locals kept saying they had never seen it so hot this early in the year. The foyer of Rome’s main train station was packed. Volumes of humanity flowed in and out of the
Leo’s imposing figure, along with his knowledge of fluent Italian street slang, soon dissipated this crowd when they realized they were not dealing with a tourist.
Looking around, there was no sign of Moshe and Alon. Leo had hoped they would be waiting for them when they arrived. Knowing Rome like he did, he realized that it was unwise to linger in the area next to this station any
