The Death Mask Murders
Page 43
‘Pity we couldn’t get Alessandro,’ said Cesaria. ‘I have no doubt that he was behind that botched assassination in Venice that cost Lorenza her life, yet he’s still swanning around on his yacht in Monaco—’
‘Not anymore,’ interrupted Grimaldi, smiling.
‘What do you mean?’ said Cesaria.
‘I just received word from Port de Fontvieille. There was a huge explosion on board Nike, the Giordano yacht, in Fontvieille harbour last night. The yacht was obliterated. There are no survivors.’
‘Was Alessandro on board?’
‘Yes. There’s a rumour that the Lombardos were behind it. Payback for the drug supply fiasco last year that cost them their business, and a lot more.’
Cesaria looked at Grimaldi, stunned. ‘How did they know that Alessandro was responsible for that?’
‘In the end, justice always finds a way …’
‘You told them!’ said Samartini.
Grimaldi shrugged. ‘Tristan would call it destiny.’
* * *
Built entirely of stone, El Cuarto del Rescate was an empty rectangular chamber lit by hundreds of candles. It reminded Jack of an underground burial vault somewhere in the catacombs in Rome.
The Villaq Umm stood in silence as the four men entered, carefully put down what they were carrying on the stone floor and stood aside.
Tristan kept staring at what looked like someone sitting on the floor under a blanket. The shape suggested that. For some reason he couldn’t explain, it was as if something was reaching out to him, trying to tell him something he couldn’t quite understand. Then the Villaq Umm stepped forward, put his hands on the exquisite blanket and looked at Jack.
‘Those of us who know what happened, stand here and remember a great wrong that was committed not far from here a long time ago.’ The Villaq Umm began to slowly lift the blanket to expose what was hidden under it. ‘And you, Mr Rogan, have the power to set it right. You can allow a lost soul who has been wandering in the wilderness all these years, to finally enter the afterlife.’ With that, the Villaq Umm quickly lifted the blanket and knelt down. The four bearers did the same.
‘Behold, Atahualpa, the Sapa Inca, last king of Cusco and Emperor of the Tahuantinsuyo,’ he said.
Holding his breath, Jack was staring at what looked like a well-preserved mummy sitting on the ground. Only the face and a full head of hair were visible. The eyes were closed, the expression on the face serene. The elongated earlobes had heavy gold earplugs inserted, but the rest of the body was tightly wrapped in coloured textiles. However, the most striking object by far was a stunning chaplet on top of the mummy’s head, made of layers of coloured braid and gold – the Mascaipacha – the imperial symbol worn only by the Sapa Inca.
Tristan too, kept staring at the mummy when suddenly, he could understand the whispers and hear some strange noises in the background. It was the sound of battle and the desperate cries of the maimed and dying, pleading for mercy.
Isis turned to the Villaq Umm kneeling on the ground in front of her. ‘Are you telling us that these are the remains of Atahualpa, who was killed here almost five hundred years ago?’
‘Yes. After his murder, Atahualpa was taken from here to a sacred cave high up in the mountains, where his body was prepared for his journey into the afterlife. But one important item was missing: his sacred burial mask, which had been stolen by Pizarro.’ The Villaq Umm paused and looked at Jack. ‘But which thanks to you, has now found its way back here to where it belongs. There has only ever been one such sacred burial mask in the empire that contained a piece of the sun god Inti, which had fallen from heaven. It belonged to the Sapa Inca and would ensure his entry into the afterlife.’ The Villaq Umm turned around on his knees and looked at Jack.
‘On behalf of my people, I plead with you to return the sacred mask to where it belongs, and place it on the face of Atahualpa, so that he may finally join his ancestors and become one with the sun god.’
Deeply moved, Jack reached into his shoulder bag and, holding it with both hands, lifted the piece of the burial mask found on Heart Island out of the bag. Then he bent down – his hands shaking – and placed it carefully on the upturned face of the mummy in front of him.
For an instant Tristan thought he saw Atahualpa’s lips move ever so slightly, and something drift out of his mouth. Was it his restless spirit finally escaping with the help of his burial mask, to find peace in the afterlife? Tristan wondered. Or was it merely a shadow reaching out from the distant past?
The Villaq Umm stood up and began to chant. Then he reached for the blanket and covered the mummy. The four bearers stood up as well, lifted up the mummy and slowly carried it outside. The Villaq Umm followed and together, they disappeared into the night.
* * *
The old house just outside Minsk in Belarus was shrouded in mist. It was just before sunrise.
O’Hara wasn’t used to losing. He had just watched the Cajamarca ceremony and turned off the TV. Then he looked pensively at his precious Llanganates collection spread out on the table in front of him. Beginning with The Navarro Chronicles, he let his fingertips glide from one item to the next, each one having cost a man’s life. When he came to the last one, the iridium piece handed over by the police in Paris, he remembered the white knight on his imaginary chessboard. Never underestimate a knight, he thought. He can defeat you. Slowly, he pushed the piece to the edge of the table until it overbalanced and fell to the floor. This doesn’t belong here. I will never make that mistake again.
True evil never dies, it just finds a new home.
A parting note from the author
As a writer, authenticity and accuracy are paramount. Without that, it isn’t possible to create a seamless storyline where the boundaries between fact and fiction are blurred, so that the reader is never quite sure where one ends, and the other begins. This is quite deliberate, as it creates the illusion of truth and reality in a work that is pure fiction. In my view, a successful work of fiction is a balancing act: reality must rub shoulders with imagination in a way that is both entertaining and plausible, and this can only be achieved through meticulous research and attention to detail.
Interpreting the past is never easy and is often fraught with danger. However, all the historical material dealt with in the storylines has been carefully researched and is, to the best of my knowledge, based on primary sources like original letters, court documents and accepted academic texts, articles and related source material.
In addition, I draw quite heavily on current affairs and events that have some relevance to the storylines and characters featured in the book. This gives a further dimension of ‘reality’ to my work, as these often well-known and documented events further underpin the illusion of reality in a work of fiction. To put it another way, the story must appear plausible and have the ‘ring’ of truth.
The best way to illustrate this is by way of a few examples:
Zodiac
An unnamed serial killer known only as ‘the Zodiac’, who had killed at least five people in the 1960s, sent letters to newspapers in San Francisco providing evidence of his crimes, including a code known as the 340 cipher that apparently would reveal his name. For more than fifty years some of the best cryptologists in the world had tried in vain to solve the encrypted message. This code – considered one of the holy grails of cryptography – has recently been cracked by Australian cryptologist Dr Blake, and two others, on a Melbourne supercomputer known as ‘Spartan’. While the decoded cipher revealed a lot about the killer’s state of mind, it did not reveal his name.
This fascinating story has become the inspiration for the cipher sent to Landru in prison that, once cracked, would reveal the address of that house of horrors at the beginning of the storyline and reignite the quest for the lost Llanganates treasure.
ANOM
ANOM is an encrypted messaging app developed by law enforcement agencies, which was covertly distributed by the FBI among the criminal underwo
rld via informants with links to the Mafia. So successful was this operation, which allowed police around the world to monitor conversations among senior crime figures, that it was described by Europol as the ‘biggest law enforcement operation against encrypted communication’ ever. This ingenious sting, which was made public in June 2021, involved eight thousand police officers, resulted in countless arrests in more than sixteen countries, and the confiscation of tonnes of drugs and millions of dollars in proceeds of crime.
ANOM was the inspiration for the app Omerta, used in the book by Clara Samartini and the Squadra Mobile in Florence to expose Lorenza’s killer and lead them to O’Hara. It was also instrumental in convicting Riccardo Giordano and many others at the Calabrian Mafia mega-trial that effectively wiped out the notorious ’Ndrangheta.
Italy’s largest Mafia trial
In January 2021, the largest Mafia trial in decades against members of the feared ‘Ndrangheta, involving more than 900 witnesses and 350 high-profile accused, began in Lamezia Terme in Calabria, in a purpose-built courtroom with cages to hold the defendants, and room for a thousand people and four hundred lawyers. This historic trial and its far-reaching ramifications features in the book and introduces the concept of ‘Vedo, Sento, Parlo,’ ‘I see, I hear, I speak’, a movement by Mafia women who’d had enough. This extraordinary trial has been the inspiration for such characters as Giuseppina, Riccardo Giordano’s wife, who gave evidence at his trial, and prosecutor Donizetti, who was injured in an assassination attempt at the airport in Catanzaro after Jack and Cesaria visited Giuseppina in a Calabrian safe house.
Amaro Pargo
Amaro Rodriguez-Felipe y Tejera Machado, known as Amaro Pargo, was a famous Spanish corsair who features prominently in the book. As a historical figure, a great deal is known about him, and all the historical material used in the book is, to the best of my knowledge, accurate and based on the most reliable historical records. This includes the famous winking skull and crossbones on his tombstone in the Church of Santo Domingo in San Cristóbal de la Laguna, Tenerife.
These records reveal that he was buried next to his parents and a black servant. However, in November 2013, forensic scientists and archaeologists carried out a detailed study on the notorious pirate, including DNA tests and even a reconstruction of his face. This study resulted in an exhumation, during which it was discovered that Pargo was laid to rest next to six additional people, some of them thought to be nephews of Amaro Pargo.
What is interesting to note is that the exhumation was funded by a French video game company and used to promote its famous Assassin’s Creed video game. All of this factual material served as further inspiration for various twists and layers in the storyline, and in particular O’Hara’s involvement in sophisticated video games on the dark net.
Finally, please keep in mind that I am not a historian nor an academic, but a thriller writer with a legal background, whose aim is to entertain and tease your intellect and imagination with questions, interpretations and scenarios that are both realistic and plausible, but are of course pure fiction intended for the thinking reader and culturally curious.
New Release Bonuses
Thank you so much for ordering a copy of my new book The Death Mask Murders
As promised, here are the New Release Bonuses:
Please click on the link below to access the download page:
https://gabrielfarago.com.au/new-release-bonuses-book-7/
Please enter this password when prompted: DMM122
If for any reason you couldn’t download the bonuses, please let me know and we will step in to fix the problem.
My email is: gabrielfarago16@gmail.com
Once again, a big ‘thank you’ for your support! It means a great deal to me.
Gabriel Farago
More Books by the Author
Jack Rogan Mysteries Series Starter Library
The Empress Holds the Key
The Disappearance of Anna Popov
The Hidden Genes of Professor K
Professor K: The Final Quest
The Curious Case of the Missing Head
The Lost Symphony
Jack Rogan Mysteries Series Box Set Books 1–4
Jack Rogan Mysteries Starter Library
So, what exactly is a STARTER LIBRARY? Well, it’s a way to introduce myself and what I do, to new readers, and create interest in my writing. How? By providing little insights into my world, and the creative process involved in becoming an international thriller writer.
The Starter Library consists of four short books:
1. Letters from The Attic – a delightful collection of auto-biographical short stories;
2. The Forgotten Painting – a multi-award-winning Jack Rogan novella, providing insights into Jack Rogan’s character and background;
3. The Kimberley Secret – a novella delving into Jack Rogan’s earlier life;
4. The Main Characters Profile – a glossary that provides some exciting background stories and insights into the main characters featured in the series, and acts as an aide-mémoire to place and follow the many characters featured in the series.
The Starter Library is available right now, and can be downloaded for FREE by following this link: Click Here to Get Started!
Please share this with your friends and encourage them to download the Starter Library.
In 2013, I released my first adventure thriller – The Empress Holds the Key.
The Empress Holds the Key
A disturbing, edge-of-your-seat historical mystery thriller
Jack Rogan Mysteries Book 1
Dark secrets. A holy relic. An ancient quest reignited.
Jack Rogan’s discovery of a disturbing old photograph in the ashes of a rural Australian cottage draws the journalist into a dangerous hunt with the ultimate stakes.
The tangled web of clues – including hoards of Nazi gold, hidden Swiss bank accounts, and a long-forgotten mass grave – implicate wealthy banker Sir Eric Newman and lead to a trial with shocking revelations.
A holy relic mysteriously erased from the pages of history is suddenly up for grabs to those willing to sacrifice everything to find it. Rogan and his companions must follow historical leads through ancient Egypt to the Crusades and the Knights Templar, to uncover a secret that could destroy the foundations of the Catholic Church and challenge the history of Christianity itself.
Will Rogan succeed in bringing the dark mystery into the light, or will the powers desperately working against him ensure the ancient truths remain buried forever?
The Empress Holds the Key is now available on my website at this link
https://gabrielfarago.com.au/my-books/the-empress-holds-the-key/
Encouraged by the reception of The Empress Holds the Key, I released my next thriller –The Disappearance of Anna Popov – in 2014.
The Disappearance of Anna Popov
A dark, page-turning psychological thriller
Jack Rogan Mysteries Book 2
A mysterious disappearance. An outlaw bikie gang. One dangerous investigation.
Journalist Jack Rogan cannot resist a good mystery. When he stumbles across a hidden clue about the tragic disappearance of two girls from Alice Springs years earlier, he’s determined to investigate.
Joining forces with his New York literary agent; a retired Aboriginal police officer; and Cassandra, an enigmatic psychic, Rogan enters the dark and dangerous world of an outlaw bikie gang ruled by an evil master.
Entangled in a web of violence, superstition and fear, Rogan and his friends follow the trail of the missing girls into the remote Dreamtime-wilderness of outback Australia, where they face their greatest challenge yet.
Cassandra has a secret agenda of her own and uses her occult powers to conjure up an epic showdown where the stakes are high, and the loser faces death and oblivion.
Will Rogan succeed in finding the truth, or will the forces of evil prevail, causing untold misery and destroying even more lives?
https://gabrielfarago.com.au/my-books/the-disappearance-of-anna-popov/
My next book, The Hidden Genes of Professor K, was released in 2016.
The Hidden Genes of Professor K
A dark, disturbing and nail-biting medical thriller
Jack Rogan Mysteries Book 3
A medical breakthrough. A greedy pharmaceutical magnate. A brutal double-murder. One tangled web of lies.
World-renowned scientist Professor K is close to a groundbreaking discovery. He’s also dying. With his last breath, he anoints Dr Alexandra Delacroix as his successor and pleads with her to carry on his work.
But powerful forces will stop at nothing to possess the research, unwittingly plunging Delacroix into a treacherous world of unbridled ambition and greed.
Desperate and alone, she turns to celebrated author and journalist, Jack Rogan.