sitting in the far corner of the room, but it was the look on his face that told Payne everything he needed to know.
Somehow, some way, their mission had suffered a major setback. He just didn’t know how.
Since Ulster had sent for Payne, he decided to start with him. ‘Franz said you wanted to see me. Is everything all right?’
‘Metaphorically speaking, I’d say we hit an iceberg.’ He pointed to a scroll that sat on the table before him. ‘This was one of the documents in my grandfather’s collection. It was sent to Tiberius by an injured centurion right after a war in the Britains. If you look closely, you can see where the soldier gripped it, for his blood stained the papyrus as he wrote his message.’
Payne saw the stain yet had little interest in two-thousand-year-old plasma. ‘What did it say?’
‘He apologized for writing, which was an unspeakable breach of protocol for a centurion, then informed Tiberius that a hostile Silurian tribe had attacked his unit while they slept, slaughtering hundreds of Romans in the dead of night.’
‘And that’s important?’
‘Not by itself, but the next part is. You see, the soldier mentioned that General Paccius was one of the earliest victims of the raid, stabbed in his heart as he slept.’
‘And that’s bad, right?’
‘Bad?’ Boyd growled from across the room. ‘It’s bloody
‘I guess not, although I don’t understand why that’s so horrible. Didn’t you just clear the name of Christ? As a Christian, I figured you’d be happy about that. You, too, Maria.’
She flinched at the mention of her name, surprised that a man was actually asking for her opinion. ‘I wish that were the case. The only thing we cleared up was Paccius’s disappearance. After all of these years, we finally know why he was never glorified in Roman history books. He died without dignity, slain while sleeping on the battlefield.’
‘But isn’t that good for you? I mean, shouldn’t that end your speculation about Jesus?’
Maria shook her head. ‘Now that Paccius is no longer a suspect, we have no idea who Tiberius would’ve turned to next.’
‘But that’s kind of what I’m getting at. How do you know he turned to
She said, ‘Because the artwork in the Catacombs tells us as much. Remember the carvings that illustrated the crucifixion of Christ? The keystone figure is laughing at Christ, actually mocking his death. Why would it be there — in a vault that Tiberius built — if the plot hadn’t succeeded? The carvings were historically accurate, so they were obviously created
The light finally clicked in Payne’s head. ‘Oh, I get it. See, I interpreted the artwork differently than you. You’re saying Tiberius was so thrilled with the outcome he decided to honor his accomplice in stone, chiseling his face up there as appreciation for a job well done.’
‘Exactly. Only we don’t know who helped Tiberius or what he did to convince everybody that Jesus was the Messiah. According to the scroll, Tiberius wanted to stage something so amazing that people would talk about it for years. But we don’t know what that was.’
‘You don’t?’
‘No,’ she assured Payne. ‘If we did, we’d have something to pursue. But as it stands now, we don’t know where to look next. Paccius’s death has knocked the wind from our sails.’
Payne leaned back, astonished. How could four of the smartest people he’d ever met be so blind to the obvious? ‘I don’t want to step on any toes, but I think I might be able to help.’
‘Oh?’ she said in a less-than-confident tone. ‘How is that?’
‘By telling you how the Romans amazed Jerusalem.’
‘Jon,’ Jones whispered, ‘this isn’t the time to be joking around.’
‘Who’s joking? The truth is, I have a theory about Tiberius. In fact, I’m surprised you guys haven’t figured it out by now. It’s actually kind of obvious.’
‘Obvious?’ Boyd snarled. ‘We’ve been thinking about this for two days now, researching day and night, trying to grasp this bloody thing, and you mock us by calling it obvious?’
‘Just a second. I wasn’t trying to insult you. The truth is, sometimes a person can become so immersed in things that he loses sight of the obvious. And I think that’s what’s happening here, because I’m pretty sure I know what the Romans did to fool the masses. Remember when I said I’d interpreted the archway differently than you? Well, if you don’t mind, I’d like to fill you in on my theory. I think it could be the key to everything.’
‘Your theory is the key?’ Boyd laughed. ‘Oh, this ought to be rich.’
‘
Payne looked at Maria and thanked her, glad to see at least one person was taking him seriously. ‘Now, I admit I don’t know a whole lot about first-century Jerusalem, but if I remember correctly, you’re searching for an event in Christ’s life that would’ve amazed everyone.’
‘Let me cut you off right there,’ Boyd snapped. ‘We examined each of Christ’s miracles — turning water into wine at Cana, feeding the hungry of Bethsaida, and so on — but didn’t feel any of them were miraculous enough to influence the masses. Furthermore, Tiberius claimed that his event needed to be staged in Jerusalem, and Christ’s miracles were performed elsewhere.’
‘Doc, if I’m not mistaken, Tiberius talked about staging a single event, an act so magical that people couldn’t possibly ignore it, no matter how hard they tried?’
‘Or words to that effect, yes.’
‘But only one event, not two or three?’
Boyd nodded. ‘That’s correct. The scroll refers to a
Suddenly, Payne was more confident than ever. ‘If that’s the case, then there’s only one event in Jesus’s life that can fit your criteria… And trust me, people are still talking about it.’
50
Henri Toulon had a history of showing up late and going home early. So Nick Dial was far from surprised when he called Interpol and Toulon was nowhere to be found. It wouldn’t be the first time that they butted heads — partially because Dial got the position that Toulon had coveted and partially because Toulon was an agitator who loved picking fights with everyone. Yet Dial put up with all the bullshit because Toulon did his job better than anyone he’d ever worked with.
After leaving a message, Dial focused on the bulletin board in his Boston hotel room. He looked at the crime photos from all three cases and tried to figure out a connection. A priest from Finland who was kidnapped in Italy yet was killed in Denmark. A prince from Nepal who was kidnapped in Thailand but murdered in Libya. A ballplayer from Brazil who was kidnapped in New York, then crucified in Boston. What was the thread?
Jansen, Narayan, and Pope were healthy men under the age of forty. None of them were married, had children, or had significant others of any kind. In fact, all of them went out of their way to avoid relationships. Jansen had taken a vow of celibacy, Narayan preferred prostitutes, and Pope was a borderline recluse. On the other hand, their list of differences was twice as long. They practiced different religions, had different ethnic backgrounds, and came from opposite ends of the globe. They spoke different languages, had different jobs, and had no connections other than the way they died.
To Dial it was clear this case wasn’t about the victims. It was about the message.
While sipping coffee, he shifted his focus to the crime scenes themselves. Normally he would’ve worked with a single map because his cases were usually contained in a limited area. In this case, though, he had to look at the entire world because his victims and their locations were so scattered.
To keep track of things, he used a series of pushpins, each color representing something different. He marked the hometowns of all three men with white pins, placing one in Lokka, Finland, one in Katmandu, Nepal, and one in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Next he located their abduction points with blue pins: Rome, Bangkok, and New York. Finally he
