The Covenant of Genesis

trying to suppress knowledge. To protect your faith.’

‘My faith is strong enough not to need protection.’

‘Then why are you trying to destroy all trace of the Veteres?’

‘Because not everyone’s faith is as strong as mine.’ As Nina took in the implications of that, he continued, ‘Dr Wilde, science and faith are not mutually exclusive. The Church is not opposed to science, far from it. Astronomy, cosmology, genetics, evolutionary biology . . . the Church has embraced them all.’

‘After long battles,’ Nina pointed out.

‘Sometimes, yes. Controversial theories cannot become accepted overnight. But in the end, only a fool denies the undeniable. And that is when science and faith come together. They are two sides of the same coin - the search for truth. Through science, you can answer the question: what is this? And then through faith, you can answer the other: what does this mean? Only when you know both answers can you find the ultimate truth.’

‘The ultimate truth being . . .’

‘The purpose of the Covenant. The secret of the Veteres. And the hope . . .’ he looked away, at the ceiling - or something beyond it, ‘the hope that one day, we will understand how it fits into God’s plan.’

‘Cardinale,’ said Vogler - and this time there was a warning tone to his voice. The balance of power in the room had subtly shifted from the Covenant’s former leader to his protege. Had di Bonaventura said too much - or was he expressing another long-withheld regret over his actions?

His words at least confirmed to Nina that whatever the secret of the long-dead civilisation might be, it did indeed conflict strongly with the words of Genesis - so much so that the Covenant was afraid of the damage it could cause to all three Abrahamic religions. But what could that secret be?

One thing was clear. For now, her only chance of survival was to accept di Bonaventura’s offer - and hope she could string out the meagre amount of information she could remember from the destroyed map long enough to escape.

And there was something else. What if . . . what if she actually did discover the Garden of Eden? The cardinal was right - it would be the greatest discovery of all time. And if she were the one to make it . . .

‘All right,’ she said, standing. ‘Cardinal? I accept your offer.’ She held out her right hand.

For a moment he seemed almost surprised. But then he took her hand, shaking it. ‘Very well. Killian,’ he said, turning to Vogler, ‘it was good to see you again, and I hope I was of one last service to the Covenant.’

Vogler bowed his head. ‘You were, cardinale. Thank you. Though I suspect Zamal will not be pleased with your decision.’

‘Zamal will see the wisdom of it. In time. He always does.’

‘Yes, he does. In time.’ The two men shared the smile of a private joke, then shook hands. ‘Cardinale,’ Vogler said again; then he led Nina to the door.

‘Dr Wilde?’ di Bonaventura said as they reached it.

‘Yes?’

‘Good luck.’

Her surprise at his apparent sincerity was such that all she could think to say was, ‘Thank you.’

As Vogler had predicted, Zamal was less than pleased about the cardinal’s decision.

‘He is wrong!’ he bellowed, slamming a fist down on the table. The group had left the Vatican and gone to a large house in Rome, the dome of St Peter’s still visible in the distance through its windows. ‘I knew he would side with you!’

‘You agreed to abide by his decision,’ said Vogler. ‘And now the deadlock has been broken, we have a new objective. Dr Wilde will guide us to Eden.’

Ribbsley snorted. ‘I doubt that very much. Even if she knows its location, which is unlikely, she’ll just try to delay us to give Chase a chance to get there first.’

‘She knows the risks of wasting our time,’ said Vogler, looking to where Nina was sitting apart from the others, her face stony. ‘And surely,’ he continued, turning to Callum, ‘the intelligence resources of the United States have been able to track down Chase and Blackwood by now?’

The white-haired man sat up stiffly, bristling at the challenge - but unable to respond to it. ‘Unfortunately, not yet.’

‘Not yet?’ echoed Zamal. ‘Satellites, computers, spies, trillions of dollars - and you have nothing?’

‘No, not nothing,’ Callum said through tight lips. ‘The Southern Sun arrived at the French ice station of Dumont d’Urville about five hours ago. The surviving members of the UNARA expedition are going to be flown back to Australia from there. But Chase and Blackwood weren’t aboard - and the ship’s tilt-rotor was missing. It wouldn’t be able to reach land from off the Antarctic coast, so either the ship headed north to the limits of its range and then turned back to Dumont, or they stripped out the plane and turned it into a flying gas can. Even so, the only place it could have reached is Tasmania - but so far it hasn’t been found.’

‘Maybe they crashed in the sea,’ muttered Zamal.

‘I doubt we are that lucky,’ Vogler said. ‘But there’s been no trace of them? Nothing at all?’

Callum shook his head. ‘Either they’re still in Australia, or they’ve used false IDs to get out of the country.’ He glowered at Nina. ‘I don’t suppose you’d know anything about that.’

Nina leaned back and put her hands behind her head. ‘Lawabidin’ citizen here.’

Zamal banged his fists on the table. ‘I can make her tell us.’

‘It’s not important,’ said Vogler. ‘We have far more resources - we can still beat them.’

‘If she co-operates,’ Callum said.

‘I believe she will.’

‘You have a great deal of faith,’ rumbled Zamal.

‘Isn’t that the reason we are here?’

‘It’s not the reason I’m here,’ said Ribbsley, going to a window to gaze out at Rome. ‘And if you think I’m going to trek across the bloody deserts of Sudan, you can think again. Khartoum’s a backwater hellhole, but at least the hotels have air conditioning and room service, even if you can’t get a drink. I’ll fly myself to the site once she finds it.’ He turned, giving Nina a suspicious sneer. ‘If she can find it.’

‘I’ll find it,’ she snapped back, partly to maintain the fiction that she had both memorised and translated the map, but also out of affronted professional pride. ‘I’ve been doing better than you so far, haven’t I?’ He huffed and turned away. ‘Hah!’

‘In which case,’ said Vogler, ‘it is time you gave us a starting point. Sudan, you said, but you will need to be more specific. Since it is the largest country in Africa.’ He slid a map across the table to her. ‘So. Shall we begin, Dr Wilde?’

31

Sudan

‘So, do you actually know where you’re going?’ asked Tamara Defende, ‘TD’ to her friends, as she guided her battered Piper Twin Comanche to a landing on the dusty runway.

‘More or less,’ said Chase, taking in the landscape. The desert surrounding El Obeid in central Sudan looked as desolate as the surface of Mars. ‘Okay, maybe less than more.’

The plane touched down, wheels squawking. Chase jolted forward in his seat. ‘Sorry,’ said TD, braking. ‘I’m not exactly thrilled to be here. Hardcore fundamentalist Islamic state on one hand, independent African businesswoman on the other - not the best mix.’

‘Do you have a problem with the Sudanese?’ Sophia asked from the Piper’s second row of seats.

‘Yes, if they’re paying the Janjaweed to rape and murder African women,’ TD said with angry sarcasm. ‘Maybe you hadn’t heard in your cell, but there have been some problems here. A little place called Darfur.’