‘Okay, it’s not outright proof,’ Wesley said, still grinning. ‘But it’s near as dammit, when you place the sword in its historical context.’
‘Has this thing been verified?’ Ben asked after a few moments’ stunned silence. It was becoming harder to deny the possibility that Wesley was right.
Wesley’s grin fell away. ‘That’s been a sticking point from the beginning,’ he admitted. ‘I’ve spent almost three years trying to persuade any number of university historians and other academics to see what’s in front of them, but they won’t open their goddamn eyes. The problem is that the sword is technically unprovenanced. In other words, it wasn’t personally excavated by archaeologists who would’ve placed it on official record, dated it, certified it, and so on. As things stand, nobody will accept that it was a legitimate discovery from the excavation of Masada, and so the matter of its origin falls into question. It’s frustrating, but I believe the truth will out one day. Fabrice and Simeon believed it too.’
‘So this was what my dad was writing his book about?’ Jude said. ‘The sword of Jesus?’
Wesley nodded. ‘I first met your father at a construction site near Millau in France, where I was overseeing the restoration of a ruined medieval church. He’d turned up hoping to learn something of how it was done. Fabrice was the local minister, and the three of us kind of hooked up and hit it off as friends. At that time I was still so dizzy about the discovery of the sword, I was bursting to tell someone about it. So I confided in them. They took a little persuading, at first, but before long they were as excited as I was. That’s where it began, our little fellowship. I flew them over to the Whitworth Mansion to see the sword, and sometime later we all travelled together to Israel to meet Hillel and see for themselves where he’d found it.’
Wesley gazed into space and was silent for a few moments, remembering his lost friends. ‘I’m not a religious man,’ he went on. ‘I don’t know if there’s a heaven, or a hell, or if there’s anyone up there watching over us. But one thing I know for sure is that I’d hate to see the churches crumble into dust along with the old traditions. I’m glad I’ll be dead and gone before that day comes. That’s why I was worried about the sword at first. I told Simeon and Fabrice my concerns, that going public with the idea of Christ as a freedom fighter, a kind of Che Guevara or Robin Hood figure of ancient times, might do more harm than good. Next thing the pro-atheist lobby would be using it to their advantage — “See, folks? He wasn’t the son of God after all”.
‘But Simeon turned me around on that one. He believed it was time for the church to stand up strong against the rising tide of secularism. Talked about the responsibility of modern clergymen to move on from the old ways and bring Christ more into line with the cultural heroes of today, for a younger and more modern audience. He said the modern Christian faith was fighting a battle for its survival, and the sword of Jesus would give it the power to unite and withstand its enemies. He was so impassioned — you should have heard him talk.’
Jude gazed sadly down at the table. ‘I miss him,’ he murmured.
‘I miss him too, son,’ Wesley said. ‘He was quite a man. People loved him. Because he was young and dynamic and already had a following with his TV appearances, radio and internet presence, we agreed that it would be his name on the book and he’d be the frontman for the whole show once we felt ready to go public with it. Before I knew it, he was leading the way. And I didn’t mind a bit. Meanwhile, I was chipping away in the background, trying to find a university department that’d listen to me and back us up. I’d just come back from Buffalo the day the attackers came to the house.’
Ben had been listening quietly for a while, struggling with his doubts and trying to beat his jumbled thoughts into shape. ‘All right,’ he said to Wesley. ‘Let’s just say for the sake of argument that what you’re telling us is true, and that no matter how wild and crazy it might sound to me, I have to accept that Simeon Arundel wouldn’t have fallen for a pile of bullshit. Even if this really was the sword of Jesus Christ, it doesn’t get us any closer to knowing who’s behind all this.’
‘Maybe it does, though,’ Jude said. ‘Wouldn’t a lot of Christian groups be seriously against something like this? I mean, it would change everything about the way people saw Jesus, wouldn’t it? Maybe some folks would be so pissed off about it that they’d do anything to keep the secret from getting out there. If they found out someone from the clergy was planning to write a book about it… ’
‘It wouldn’t be the first time the church has conspired against its own, that’s for sure,’ Ben admitted.
‘Okay,’ Jude said. ‘So that could be the answer. Perhaps we’re dealing with some kind of crazy Christian group or fundamentalist sect or something like that. Dad often used to complain about some of the bishops, said they were a bunch of hardline old bastards who’d happily torch heretics at the stake if they could get away with it — maybe it’s one of them. Or maybe there’s some secret society out there, that’s known about the sword all along and is determined to suppress the truth.’
Wesley looked doubtful. ‘I thought about that too, but you’d have to be talking about one hell of a seriously organised and influential Christian sect. What kind of organisation has the power and contacts to cover up murders and track people from their credit cards? That’s more like the kind of muscle that a government agency has, and I don’t see any western government agency supporting a religious group right now, covertly or otherwise. Not in this day and age.’
‘Then who?’ Jude said.
‘I have no idea, son. I’ve racked my brains and I can’t figure it out. Nor can I understand how anyone could have known what we were up to. We were so damned careful to keep this quiet. Your father wouldn’t even tell your mother about it, and I know how much it hurt him to keep secrets from her.’
‘Your hired consultants might have leaked it to someone,’ Ben said. ‘That was a security risk, for a start.’
‘Sure, I knew it was a potential risk. That’s why I never gave any of them more information than they strictly needed, so they couldn’t guess its history.’
‘But you told the universities everything,’ Ben said.
‘What choice did I have? I was trying to persuade them, so of course I didn’t hold anything back. But these guys are reputable academics. It’s crazy to suggest they could be behind this. In any case, they all thought I was just some hare-brained eccentric. No, it’s got to be something bigger.’
Ben reflected for a moment. ‘I think you’re right,’ he said. ‘Whoever these people are, we know that they have a lot of power and influence. The resources and connections to monitor all your landlines, for a start. That’s got to be the main reason they knew so much.’
Jude frowned. ‘Hold on. I don’t get that. Did they tap the phones because they already knew about the sword, or was it by tapping phones that they found out about it in the first place?’
‘I can’t say,’ Ben said.
‘And that’s another weird thing,’ Wesley said. ‘If the sonsofbitches were onto us from the beginning because they were listening into phone calls, how come they never went after Hillel? For which I’m very thankful, I might add.’
‘I don’t know that either,’ Ben said. ‘I’d have to hazard a guess that the phone surveillance only began more recently, when Hillel was no longer in the picture.’
But it really was just a guess, and Ben was getting that nasty sinking feeling that they’d reached another impasse. They were floundering.
A silence fell across the table as each man wrestled with his own thoughts and nobody seemed able to come up with anything useful. Wesley poured out the last of the wine.
They’d been talking a long time. It was getting late.
‘These people are still out there,’ Jude said. ‘And we still have no idea who they are.’
‘Maybe the only thing we can do is sit tight and wait for them to make their next move,’ Wesley said.
‘You mean all of us, here?’ Jude asked.
‘Sure, if you feel like sticking around Martha’s Vineyard for a while. That’d be fine with me. Or if you want to go back to England, no problem. We can protect ourselves wherever we are. All it takes is money, and money’s not an issue. I’ll do what I offered to do for your father, and hire a goddamn army of bodyguards to take care of you around the clock until this thing’s over. We can outlast the bastards. And if they dare show their faces, we’ll bury ’em.’
Chapter Fifty-Seven
