Sanctuary of Sins

by Roger Kazanowski

  ✽✽✽

  Upon her arrival at the Vatican, Charlotte’s escort brought her to Cardinal Cotint’s apartment.

  “Cardinal Kotlinski, come in,” he said, holding the door open. They sat down at a small wooden table under a stained-glass window. The rooms were spartan and simply furnished, but clean and pleasant.

  Charlotte could see a weary look on the old man’s face. He looked like he hadn’t slept properly in months.

  “Thank you for having me, Cardinal Cotint.”

  “Please, call me Patrick. Are you comfortable? Would you like a tea, or coffee?”

  Charlotte shook her head. “I’m fine, thank you.”

  Cardinal Cotint cleared his throat. “I’ll get right to it, as you Americans say. When I first met you a few months ago at that final dinner with the pontiff and Cardinal Sibico, there were things I’d have loved to tell you, but due to the situation, I simply couldn’t. The pontiff invited the three of us for dinner that night because he had a motive that he knew once he passed away would have to be put in place. The pontiff asked me to be harsh with you because he didn’t want Cardinal Sibico to become suspicious. He had a very special place in his heart for you. You proved tirelessly that you have exceptional capabilities. Pope Peter Paul, Bishop Sanchez, and I have discovered a cancer festering within the very heart of the Catholic Church, and it needs to be dealt with at once—in the upcoming conclave, to be precise.”

  Charlotte shook her head. “With all the resources at your disposal, why me? I loved our pontiff. He was as genuine a person as you could ever meet. But everyone loved him, not just me. He has other supporters who can help; more powerful supporters.”

  “He did have a keen sense about people. So much in fact that he personally uncovered something he knew would be detrimental to the Church. He knew he couldn’t trust many people. But he trusted you.”

  “How so?”

  “Cardinal Sibico has headed up a conspiracy to become elected our new pontiff. He has direct relationships with terrorist groups that want to see Christianity disappear. If he gets elected, he’ll slowly change the way the scriptures are translated and eliminate the rules about female priests. The process will be slow and subtle. Over the past two years, he’s been discussing his election with many of the cardinals, who now favor him. They’re in the dark as to what he’s really up to. Our job is to make sure he doesn’t receive the 66 percent vote required for election. His people have already killed two bishops. They plan on killing others over the next two weeks to sway the vote in his favor.”

  Charlotte blinked. So it was happening again, just as she’d feared.

  “If this is true, what are we supposed to do about it?”

  “I don’t want to mince words with you: If it gets out that we’re involved here, we’ll be killed. And it won’t be in a pleasant manner. This is where your marketing skills come in. What can we put in place during the conclave that will discredit Cardinal Sibico, yet keep us unexposed? The ‘issues’ themselves are supposed to be eliminated by our resource. You may meet that person in the future. She’s very experienced—in fact, she singlehandedly saved the two female priests in Brussels.”

  Charlotte smiled a little. “You mean our outside resource is a woman?”

  “Well, I guess I slipped up there, but yes she is, and she’s very capable. We should get you out of here now. Think about what we talked about and let’s find a place to reconvene in the morning. Our time is limited. God bless you, Charlotte. We’ll need His help over the next two weeks.”

  ✽✽✽

  After Brett uncovered the identities of the six terrorists, Anne began trying to identify their locations scattered outside of Rome. Their plan was to kill the other three bishops involved in identifying any cardinals opposed to Sibico’s election. There would be no outright murder: By day’s end, the ill-fated men would simply disappear.

  CHAPTER twenty

  Peter Paul’s funeral was in full planning, Bishop Sanchez heading the effort that involved numerous departments and hundreds of people. The funeral would take place in three days with thousands attending St. Peters and millions watching from around the world. It was a logistical nightmare coordinating attendance, cardinals and security.

  Charlotte was asked to deliver a eulogy. For Peter Paul, she wanted to. But the truth was that the Vatican was the last place she wanted to be. Everywhere she turned, there was danger.

  ✽✽✽

  In the early hours of the morning, a bishop tried to scream, but he had been gagged with a thick cloth, duct tape wrapped around his mouth and neck. Two burly men dressed all in black ziptied his wrists and ankles; then they carried him outside his apartment and thrust him into the back of a windowless van.

  One of the men climbed into the driver’s seat and started the vehicle. The other took a syringe from a small bag and tapped it, testing. The bishop’s eyes grew wide with terror.

  “Don’t worry,” the man said. “It will be quick. A nice, clean death.”

  Again, the bishop tried to scream.

  As the van accelerated, the man inserted the needle into the bishop’s arm and depressed the plunger.

  ✽✽✽

  Upon entering Bishop Sanchez’s office, Charlotte was surprised and horrified to see Cardinal Sibico sitting there with him, deep in conversation.

  “Cardinal Sibico!” she said. “Nice to see you.”

  The man eyed her warmly. “Hello, Cardinal Kotlinski, how are you today? I was just discussing the preparations for the pontiff’s funeral.”

  “I stopped by to talk about the very same thing,” Charlotte lied.

  “Please give us a few minutes and I’ll be right out,” Bishop Sanchez said.

  Charlotte waited outside. A couple of minutes passed before the door opened, and Cardinal Sibico walked over to Charlotte and took her hand tenderly in his. “We must have dinner soon,” he said. He was smiling, but his eyes looked… cold.

  “Yes Cardinal, very soon.” She felt something wrenching inside her. What a liar!

  In the bishop’s office, Charlotte was visibly shaken as she closed the door.

  “Please try and relax. If we’re going to work ourselves out of this situation we’ll have to think clearly,” Bishop Sanchez reminded her. “Now, before we get into anything else, it has just come to my attention that Bishop Peron went missing this morning. His apartment had been broken into and was in disarray; there were signs of a great struggle.”

  “They killed him?” Charlotte asked, looking away.

  Bishop Sanchez sighed deeply. “Yes. I should think they did, Charlotte. Now, any more thoughts on resolving the issues before more of these ghastly disappearances?”

  Charlotte took a while to answer, gathering her thoughts. It was a strange thing hearing that an adversary had been killed. No, she did not know the man, and he had conspired against everything she held dear. But deep down, a sense of moral sadness prevailed in her. She wanted to stop it. When she spoke, her tone was one of resolve.

  “I took the liberty of calling an old friend to ask for his help. I’ve known him my entire adult life and he was very involved in saving Pope Peter Paul all those years ago in Detroit. He has significant contacts, and after today’s… murder, we’ll need them.”

  Bishop Sanchez looked down at his hands. “Well, if we’re going to be completely open with each other then I need to tell you about that resource we talked about. She was hired directly by Peter Paul to take care of these issues, but now I’m wondering if this isn’t bigger than even her capabilities. I’d like you to meet her. It’s important we all speak openly and see if we can’t put this puzzle together.”

  “I would be happy t—”

  There was a faint knock at the door. “Come in,” Bishop Sanchez announced. Anne walked into the room, her eyes quickly scanning both the bishop and Charlotte several times. Anne wasn’t impressed by many people—she’d worked with presidents, premiers and titans of industry. But she immediately felt someth
ing special for Charlotte.

  “Cardinal Kotlinski, meet Anne Lawrence,” Bishop Sanchez announced.

  Charlotte offered her hand. As soon as Anne took it, she felt totally relaxed.

  “Bishop Sanchez has told me so much about you and your help saving the lives of our two priests in Brussels,” Charlotte said. “Thank you… from all of us. And because we’ll be working off the record, please call me Charlotte.”

  “Thank you, Charlotte. It’s quite an honor to meet you.”

  “Okay ladies, enough mutual admiration. Over the next two weeks we’ll have a pope buried and a conclave that’ll elect a new one. Let’s talk about what can be done.”

  Charlotte folded her hands on the table. “We all know Cardinal Sibico is planning to do whatever’s required to get himself elected to the papal office. There have already been murders of two bishops, sorry, three as of this morning, with two more being targeted. Those five bishops were up to no good, but we have to do something. I’ve contacted a friend back in the States who made calls on our behalf to see what can be done from their side. His contacts may include local, um, local families from Rome.”

  Anne furrowed her brow. “Wait, your contacts may be working with local families here in Rome? You don’t mean the mafia, do you?”

  Now both women looked at each other in surprise. “Well, yes I do. Why?”

  “My contacts in Washington made similar calls to similar people. Does the name Gardelli mean anything to you?”

  Charlotte was taken aback. “Without Tony Gardelli, Pope Peter Paul would’ve been killed years ago. Tony saved my life as well. Yes, he’s the very same.”

  “Ladies,” Bishop Sanchez cut in, “it seems we have a good start. Anne, if you don’t mind, who’s your contact in Washington?”

  Anne hesitated. It wasn’t in her nature to divulge such secrets… but she knew this was a highly unusual and dangerous case. They were all targets. “I used to be assigned to a department in Washington that’s unknown to all but the highest levels of the U.S. government. It’s called the ITA and—”

  Charlotte interrupted, “You don’t mean Brett Paterson, do you?”

  “How in the world are you aware of Brett and the ITA?” Anne gasped.

  “It was Brett, the ITA, Tony Gardelli and a few others that handled the problems years ago.”

  Anne shook her head. “It truly is a small world. Well, if we’re all working with the same contacts, let’s get them all on a call to figure out what we can do specifically. Bishop Sanchez?”

  “Let me see how I can coordinate a call without word getting out,” he said.

  Anne crossed her arms and nodded triumphantly. “Finally, we’re getting somewhere.”

  CHAPTER twenty-one

  While everyone waited for Bishop Sanchez to set up a private call, Anne dug deeper into some Church history. What she realized was the financial power Cardinal Sibico would inherit with his election. The Catholic Church had a dark past.

  Pope Pius XII had a close relationship with the Nazi regime, and in 1922 he accepted what would have been one billion dollars today from the Mussolini government. In 1933 the Church received a 10 percent tax from German Catholics. During the war to balance their odds, the Vatican invested in U.S. stocks and gold and British real estate, much of which it still owns. Meanwhile, investments were made with the German and Italian governments.

  The sole shareholder of the bank that would be established was the pope. The offshore bank had only one branch located in the Vatican and was operated by the pope’s personal executive, Bornardino Nogaro. Hidden money laundering cash accounts were opened to all sorts of shady organizations, completely tax-free.

  The bank now had billions of dollars in assets, all of which were under the thumb of the pope. The election of Cardinal Sibico would not only change the scriptures but also allow massive funds to be directed outside of the Vatican.

  Cardinal Sibico’s election absolutely could not happen. Whatever it took to stop the outcome, it had to be done, however grisly; however dark. This was no longer a compensated consulting position for Anne, but something much greater; a worldwide political issue. A personal crusade.

  Bishop Sanchez coordinated the call from one of the papal offices knowing that few, if anyone, would be in that area with the pope gone. It would include Bishop Sanchez, Cardinal Kotlinski, Anne Lawrence, John Adams, Tony Gardelli, Brett Paterson and a local friend of Tony’s. Brett was to host the call and pass the information on to his ITA team.

  “I’d like to begin by thanking everyone for being here,” Brett said. “Pope John Paul, back in the ‘90s, made a serious prediction that’s now becoming a horrible reality. There would be an Islamist invasion of Europe, he said. Now we’re here on this call considering an Islamist invasion of the Catholic Church. This appointment wouldn’t only affect the Church proper; it would spark political strife throughout the world. So, we’re here to find a solution to this problem. Anne Lawrence was retained by Pope Peter Paul because he was aware of Cardinal Sibico’s agenda. Her actions in Brussels that freed the two female priests are just the tip of the iceberg. We’ll need her to do something similar in the coming days.

  “Bishop Sanchez and Cardinal Kotlinski will be requested to help expose Cardinal Sibico’s agenda to the college of cardinals prior to the conclave. This’ll have to be done without people’s knowledge of your involvement, as you’d each become targets otherwise. We’ve already been developing a powerful social media strategy. That said, we haven’t been able to identify the exact location of the terrorists involved in the deaths of the three bishops. Tony and our Roman friend, we need your help to find these six. We’re not asking for anything more than location services—we can handle the issue from there.”

  Tony cleared his throat. “I’ve been in contact with our family members in Rome and feel confident the information you’re requesting will become available no later than tomorrow. John has your contact information—if you don’t mind, I’ll have him pass it along. The family said that due to the significance of the issue, their assets are also available if you think you could use them.”

  “Thanks Tony. We’ll certainly keep that in our back pocket. I’m going to request that John work with Cardinal Kotlinski on our strategy as they have a history and their communications wouldn’t be suspicious. From now on, we’ll contact each other on a one-on-one basis. Anne, can you, Bishop Sanchez and Charlotte stay on the call?”

  With that, the other participants hung up and Brett continued. “Our social media experts are developing a campaign to slowly begin disseminating over the next couple of days. It’s the truth—the story of how two innocent female priests were kidnapped. It’s the story of how a group of Turkish terrorists held the women hostage, and how it was all part of a grand plan involving inside Vatican sources to control the papal office following Peter Paul’s passing. We’ll leak this to the New York Times, then use our roster of top social media influencers to make the information go viral. Soon the story will be trending, people across the globe weighing in on the scandal.”

  “Brett,” Anne joked, “I’m astonished by your social media prowess.”

  “Save it, missy. The goal is to eventually have Cardinal Sibico caught with his pants down. Exposed enough that the media begins to ask questions and forces an inquiry. Your responsibility is to casually support the cardinal, making you both come across as supporters and eliminating any suspicion about your true involvement. Once that’s developed, your conversations with other cardinals will be important, creating more suspicions as to his true agenda. Let’s see if we can’t do the right thing for the Church.”

  CHAPTER twenty-two

  That evening, Anne received the locations of two of the terrorists. Her contacts in Rome were sure three of the six locations were just outside Vatican City, in an area known to be extremely volatile and particularly dangerous to strangers.

  The first two terrorists were working out of a small second-floor flat on the Via Germa
nico, a narrow street made up of deteriorated buildings just north of the Vatican. She’d been informed that these two assassins had dined at the Ristorante Dal Toscani the night before. The flat they were held up in was just a few blocks away, and Anne felt they’d both be there tonight. As she straightened her collar and prepared to head out, her palms went clammy. The danger of the night ahead struck her abruptly. But she had to do this—it was her mission, and hers alone.

  Little did Anne know the families from Rome were there with their assets, watching protectively. Just in case.