Sign of the Cross

his bruised and bloodied features, yet Frankie assumed that he had to be young. An officer with any seniority wouldn’t have been climbing the cliff face.

Pictures started flashing across the screen. Sometimes they lingered for an instant as the program examined distinguishing marks on each person — the slope of the man’s brow, the curve of his jaw, the length of his nose — only to be discounted a half second later. This went on for several minutes. Face after face whizzed by like passengers on a speeding train until the computer beeped, a sound that told him it had found a name.

Jean Keller, thirty-three, was born and educated in Switzerland, then moved to Rome in his early twenties to join the Guardia Svizzera, an elite fighting unit known as the Swiss Guard. According to tradition, the Guard had only one mission — to protect the pope — although Frankie couldn’t understand what that had to do with modern-day Orvieto. In fact, he was so confused by the guard’s dossier he double-checked Keller’s address and read the details of his career before he was finally convinced that Keller was a member of the Guard.

Which left Frankie with even more questions than he had started out with.

But instead of jumping to conclusions, he scanned the next picture into the computer and started a second search. The details of this photo weren’t as clear as the first one — Keller was in the sunlight, whereas this victim was in the shadows — but he still hoped to find something.

Ten minutes later Frankie found the type of data he was looking for, evidence so shocking it made him run to the phone.

The picture of the Lipizzaners had been hanging on Ulster’s wall for decades. He had passed it thousands of times and had never noticed anything other than the stallions themselves. At least not until Payne pointed out the statue of the laughing man behind the horses. A statue that decorated a famous Viennese building known as the Hofburg.

As Boyd, Maria, and Jones argued its significance, Ulster went downstairs to dig up information on the photograph. He knew his grandfather had taken the picture in the 1930s. What he didn’t know was if the statue was still in Vienna or if it had been a casualty of World War II. But even if that was the case, they still had visual evidence of the laughing man and could always contact historians at the Hofburg for additional information.

Strangely, while excitement erupted around Payne, he found himself sitting in the corner, trying to decide if he wanted to stay involved. Two weeks ago he and Jones were eating lunch in Pittsburgh. Now they were in one of Europe’s premiere research facilities looking for evidence that would obliterate the world’s most popular religion.

Did he really want to be a part of this?

And if so, which side should he be fighting for? For the Christians or the Romans?

On the surface, it seemed like a no-brainer. He should be fighting for Christ, right? Yet this issue wasn’t as black-and-white as it seemed. What if they found indisputable evidence that Tiberius had pulled this off, that he handpicked Jesus as the Messiah and managed to trick the masses of Judea? If so, what was the morally responsible thing to do? Should he allow Boyd and Maria to announce their findings? Or should he do everything in his power to suppress it? Should he call the Pentagon and ask for their advice? Or should he call a priest and ask for his?

Anyway, he was about to ask Jones for his thoughts on the topic when his cell phone started to ring. Payne checked the caller ID and saw an unfamiliar number. An international number. He showed it to Jones, and he didn’t recognize it, either.

Payne asked, ‘Are you sure your encryption program will work?’

Jones nodded. Several weeks ago he placed a microchip in Payne’s phone that prevented it from being traced — something to do with tricking the relay stations into misinterpreting his signal location. Ultimately it prevented his cell phone from being used like a homing beacon. ‘The chip should buy you a minute. Maybe more. It all depends on who’s looking for you. To be safe, hang up within forty-five seconds.’

Payne hit the timer on his watch then answered the phone. ‘Hello?’

‘Signor Payne? Is that you?’

He recognized the sound of Frankie’s voice. ‘Yes, it’s me.’

‘Oh, I so glad. I no sure you gonna answer the phone.’

‘No time for small talk, Frankie. This call can be traced.’

‘But this be important. Life or death.’

Payne glanced at his watch. ‘If I hang up, wait an hour before calling back. Got it?’

‘Si, no problem. One hour.’

‘So, are you all right?’

‘Si, signor, I be fine. It’s you and D.J. that I be worried about.’

‘Us? Why are you worried about us?’

‘I just learn something you not know.’

Twenty-five seconds left.

‘What’s that?’

‘I know why they kill your American friend.’

Payne raised an eyebrow. ‘Friend? You mean Barnes?’

‘Yes, the red-necked fat man. Is that how you say?’

Twenty seconds.

‘Frankie, I thought I told you to stay out of this. It’s not safe.’

‘Yes, and not for you either. I learn why they hide bodies.’

‘Bodies? What bodies? What are you talking about?’

‘When I look closer at film, I see them. There be two bodies at crash. One, two!’

‘Yeah, the pilot and the shooter.’

‘No, signor, not inside. Outside.’

Ten seconds.

‘Outside? What do you mean? Outside the chopper?’

‘Si! Like they fell from cliff.’

‘There were four corpses? Two inside and two outside?’

Five seconds.

‘Si! And you no believe who one of them be!’

‘Who? Tell me who!’

‘I go to police station and I — ’

‘The names!’ Payne demanded. ‘Tell me the names!’

Unfortunately, the second hand on his watch hit zero before Frankie could reply.

‘Shit!’ Payne cursed as he hung up the phone. He didn’t want to hang up, but he had to. It was either that or risk being found. ‘Why didn’t he say the damn — ’ Payne stopped his rant midstream and took a deep breath. It didn’t help that everyone was staring at him.

Jones asked, ‘What did Frankie say?’

Payne focused on Boyd and Maria, hoping to catch their reaction. ‘It turns out Dr Boyd’s toolbox was more deadly than we thought. Frankie put Barnes’s photographs under the microscope and discovered four people had died. Two in the chopper and two on the rock face.’

Maria said, ‘But that doesn’t make sense. Why were they there if they had a helicopter?’

‘They were coming to kill you, up close and personal.’

‘But the guy in the chopper had the gun.’

‘Don’t kid yourself, Maria. They all had guns.’ Payne grabbed a sheet of paper and made a simple diagram. ‘Classic two-by-two formation. The men on the cliff were the assault team. The watchdogs in the chopper were backups.’ He drew a few more lines. ‘They planned to enter the Catacombs, making sure that they silenced you. It’s a good thing that Dr Boyd heard the chopper, otherwise they would’ve picked you off and left you to rot with all the others.’

‘But how did they — ’

‘Yeah,’ Payne said. ‘If your discovery was such a secret, who told them you were there?’

Boyd looked at Payne, speechless. So did Maria.

Jones said, ‘Back in Milan, you told us that you had permission to dig in Orvieto. Yet our friend said it was