The Secret of Fatima

by Tanous, Peter J;

  The Taurus continued barreling along the road, which was turning into a gravel path. It was dark and hard to see. The height of the trees blocked the light of the crescent moon from filtering through. Kevin followed at a moderate distance, knowing that the showdown was near.

  Sure enough, the gravel road ended and the Taurus stopped. The occupants surely knew that the Toyota was about to catch up with them. Seconds later, the Taurus driver got out of the car with his machine gun.

  Toby turned to Kevin. “I can take a shot before we stop,” he said.

  “Don’t. Katie and William are in the car. We can’t risk it.”

  Kevin pulled up to within fifty feet of the Taurus, his headlights shining on the car and the tall, dark, armed man standing in front of it. Kevin instantly recognized Carlos Alameda, aka Columbo. He stood and held the machine gun prominently in front of him, his finger on the trigger. The sight of him reminded Kevin of the many combatants he’d encountered over the years, all eager and ready for a fight. Kevin knew the feeling. He was one of them.

  Through the car’s rear window, he could see the back of Katie’s head. Kevin kept his eye on the machine gun Alameda was clutching with both hands.

  “Now what?” Toby asked.

  “I’m getting out of the car.”

  “That’d be suicide, Kevin. We don’t know how crazy this guy is.”

  “I know him. I’m betting he’s rational crazy, not crazy-crazy.”

  “Well, if he does something stupid, I’m taking him down, not that at this point it’d help you much,” Toby said.

  Kevin opened the car door and got out slowly. He kept his hands by his side where Alameda could see them.

  “Turn the lights down,” Alameda ordered.

  Kevin nodded. Toby turned the brights off, leaving only the parking lights on. They were in a gravelly patch at the end of the road surrounded by tall trees.

  “Don’t do anything stupid, Father,” Alameda said. “Your friend is in the car with two unpleasant colleagues of mine.”

  “What do you want?” Kevin asked.

  Alameda smiled. “I want to leave with the child. You can have your friend back.”

  Kevin shook his head, as if to say, I don’t think so.

  “Then let’s see who’ll die first,” Alameda said.

  Standing by the car, Kevin heard the sound of the front seat window being lowered. He knew Toby had to make some decisions. He prayed they were the right ones.

  Toby pointed his pistol at Alameda. “My bet is you go first,” Toby said, drawing Alameda’s attention. Before Alameda could react, Toby fired a shot, hitting him in the arm. Alameda cried out, dropping his weapon.

  One of the men in the Taurus got out with a pistol in his hand. When he hesitated for a few seconds, deciding who to shoot first, Toby shot him in the chest. He went down.

  The third man remained in the car with Katie and the baby.

  Kevin approached Alameda, who got up slowly, clutching his wounded arm, trying to stop the blood flow. Police sirens shrilled in the background. They’d be there soon.

  As he pointed his pistol at Alameda, Kevin’s heart was racing. Should he or shouldn’t he? One shot would finish him off. Then what? The decision had to be fast. Katie and the child were still in the car with one of Alameda’s thugs.

  “Here’s your deal,” Kevin said. “You let Katie and the child come with us, and I’ll let you live. The police will deal with you.”

  Alameda hesitated, which worried Kevin. What was he planning? The answer came quickly. Alameda was a strategist; he’d recognize when retreat was his best option. Alarmed, he glanced at his wounded arm, nodded to Kevin, and called to his man in the car to get out.

  The man obeyed and got out, looking puzzled. Alameda repeated his order. The man stood by the car, next to his fallen comrade, his hands by his sides.

  “Katie!” Kevin called out. “Get out of the car!”

  Slowly, from the other side, with William in her arms, Katie exited the Taurus. Kevin could see her trembling.

  “My car, NOW!” shouted Kevin, waving to her. In a flash, she fled to the Toyota. Toby helped her and the baby into the backseat.

  Kevin looked at Alameda, holding the gun steady. “You were going to kill them, weren’t you?” Kevin hissed.

  “Calm down, Kevin,” said Toby. “Don’t do anything stupid.”

  “And you’ve already murdered a pope,” Kevin continued.

  Alameda walked toward his car, still clutching his bleeding arm. “Listen to me, you poor excuse for a priest,” Alameda hissed. “What other vows have you broken? So, now you’re reneging on the bargain we made? You’re going to kill me? God will personally escort you to hell.”

  “Maybe I just changed my mind,” Kevin said.

  “Kevin, let him go,” said Toby. “It’s not worth it.” The sirens were louder—getting closer.

  “You don’t know what I know, Toby. We can’t let this guy go.”

  “Let the police deal with him.”

  “He’ll get off and do it again,” Kevin said.

  Recognizing the freedom deal was turning sour, the second man by the Taurus reached into his pocket. Just as his pistol came out, Toby aimed and fired, hitting him in the chest. He slumped forward, hitting the ground.

  Suddenly aware of the rage mounting in Kevin, Alameda’s expression turned to fear.

  Kevin’s moral compass, his internal voices, were struggling with the dilemma facing him. The right and wrong of eliminating this monster, justice and retribution, the future of Christianity. He wanted to quell the danger, but how would he justify murder? And he knew the consequence of letting Alameda run free, of letting him live. The stakes were very, very high.

  “You were the one who tried to kill Sister Mary Catherine,” Kevin said, his voice now strained. “And you also killed the pope. You don’t deserve to live.”

  “Whatever I deserve, Father Thrall, matters not. You’re an ordained priest. You cannot, you will not, assassinate me in cold blood. If you must, turn me over to the police.”

  “Sure, and thanks to your friends in high places, you’ll walk, and we’ll be starting up with you where we left off.”

  The police vehicles were in sight now, entering the park. Their sirens blared, their lights flashed red and blue on the trees and on the ground. Paramedics trailed behind them in an ambulance.

  “Calm down, buddy,” Toby said.

  Kevin turned to face Toby. Just as he did, Alameda reached into his pocket and pulled out a throwing knife, hurling it at Kevin.

  “Kevin, MOVE!” Toby yelled.

  Just as the knife ripped into his jacket, slicing him in the side, Kevin jerked to the right. Kevin winced, then glowed. Thank you, Lord, for easing the burden of my decision. Ignoring the pain in his gut, he raised his gun.

  “Remember, who you are, Father Thrall! You’re a priest!” Alameda cried out, raising his arm to shield his face.

  “I’m taking a short leave of absence,” Kevin said calmly. He fired two shots. One entered Alameda’s head just above his right eye. The other pierced his heart. Alameda collapsed into a heap on the ground. Good riddance, you holier-than-thou piece of shit, was all Kevin could think.

  The first police car stopped a few feet away. The police chief got out and went to Kevin.

  “Give me the gun, padre. The medic will see to your wound.” He looked at the three lifeless men on the ground. “Hmph … nice job.”

  Kevin handed over the pistol. “I’ve got a permit,” he said, reaching into his wallet and pulling out a card.

  “That’s for the District of Columbia,” the chief said. “This is the Commonwealth of Virginia. We don’t issue carry permits easily.”

  “It was self-defense, chief,” Toby piped in.

  The chief shook his head, handing Kevin’s gun back to him. “These bastards killed two of my helicopter pilots,” he said.

  The chief walked around and saw the two other casualties, Alameda’s thugs, lying o
n the ground. Then he looked at Toby and Kevin and said, “I need your IDs!”

  The chief checked Kevin’s Vatican ID, hesitated a moment, looked at Kevin again, then back to the ID. He shook his head, scribbled a few notes in his pad, and returned the documents to the two men.

  “Let the paramedics take a look at you,” the Chief said, “then you two get out of here.”

  Kevin looked at the bodies splayed grotesquely on the grass. He ignored the flashing lights and wailing sirens. He felt nothing but a deep satisfaction for what had just happened. Who am I? he thought. Then he looked over at the Toyota with Katie and William in the backseat. Mother and child.

  I have the answer. I know who I am.

  Chapter Fifty-Three

  Washington, D.C.

  As Toby drove the car, Kevin was sitting next to him in the front seat. Kevin wasn’t in any shape to operate anything. The paramedics had wrapped him in bandages. The knife had penetrated deep into his abdomen. Fortunately, it’d missed vital arteries. The bleeding had slowed to a trickle and Kevin had been given painkillers, which were making him woozy. Katie was sobbing in the backseat.

  “It’s okay. Katie …” Kevin tried to console her.

  “Why would they come after me, Kevin? What’s this all about?”

  “I’m going to Rome tomorrow for a couple of days. When I come back, I’ll have some answers.”

  “Include me in that little lecture, pal,” Toby added. “I think I’ve earned it.”

  Though sore and needing pain meds, Kevin left for Rome the following evening. He sent word ahead arranging for an immediate audience with Pope Linus II. Meanwhile, Max Drotti had arranged for him to stay in his old apartment at Villa Dominica in the Vatican.

  On the night flight to Rome, Kevin’s self-recriminations about what he’d done were haunting him. When the cabin lights dimmed, he ordered a second Scotch, and prayed. He spoke to God and the Blessed Mother, asking forgiveness. On reflection, he wasn’t certain he’d made the right decisions, but he was prepared to live with the consequences, whatever they were. He was dreading this visit to Italy. During his flight, he napped fitfully, but it wasn’t restful.

  On arrival, Kevin took a taxi to the Vatican, then stopped by the administration building and picked up his keys. Strolling along the stone path up the hill to his apartment, pulling his suitcase behind him, it felt good, comforting, to be back at the Vatican. The early morning sun was warm and beautiful to behold. Was the light and warmth of the early morning sun an auspicious sign?

  Entering his apartment, he wasn’t surprised to see Max sitting in his living room. He sat there listlessly, slumped in the armchair. His eyes were vacant, his face pale and drawn. Kevin knew this meeting had to happen. It was inevitable.

  “Hello, Max,” Kevin said.

  “I’ve been dreading this, Kevin,” Max said without getting up. “I assume you’ve figured some things out.”

  “A lot of things, Max,” Kevin replied. “But only one that concerns you.”

  “I had to do it, Kevin. You weren’t supposed to find out. I prayed you wouldn’t.”

  “When I knew Jimmy Stein wasn’t working for OM, there was only one other person who knew enough about Katie to tip them off.”

  Max nodded. His face looked old and sad. “I don’t work for them, Kevin. I hate them, in fact. But when they threatened me, I was left without a choice.”

  “What could they possibly have done to you, Max, to make you betray everything you stand for?”

  “I come from a humble Italian family, Kevin. And they’re proud of my priesthood, especially when I rose to a monsignor in meteoric time.” There was great sadness in Max’s eyes which Kevin hadn’t seen before. Here was a pathetic, broken man.

  “Kevin, have you ever stopped to consider how one with as few intellectual gifts as I might have become a monsignor so quickly?” Max looked down at his hands.

  Kevin remained silent. His heart was sinking as he watched his poor friend dissolve and dissemble before him.

  “You surprise me, Kevin,” Max continued. “Father Kevin Thrall, the gifted, brilliant man who so fearlessly does everything and anything!”

  “Max, I trusted you. I didn’t know much about your past. I trusted you intuitively.” Kevin reached into his pocket and withdrew one of the photos he’d taken from Cardinal Marini’s album. He handed it to Max, who glanced at it quickly and then tossed it to the ground, like a puritan shaking off the devil.

  “Yes, that’s me … He ruined me, among dozens of others. But you don’t know the worst part! Marini made me recruit for him. I rounded up teenage seminarian candidates, brought them to his flat, and initiated them in Marini’s ways to advance in the Church. I hated what I was becoming. I hated everything Opus Mundi stood for. But once it was underway, there was no way out. I was trapped.”

  “I’m sorry for you, Max. I really am. I won’t judge you, but I’m having trouble getting past what happened to Katie and William.”

  “I don’t want or expect your forgiveness.”

  “We were friends, Max. There had to be another way to handle this.”

  “I wish I knew what it was. I made bad decisions. Katie is safe now, and that’s some consolation. All’s well that ends well, right?”

  “It might have gone the other way.”

  “I’m so sorry.” Max smothered his face in his hands.

  “Marini is in custody, and sooner or later, the whole sordid mess will come out,” Kevin said. “I think you’d better go.”

  Max stayed in the armchair. He looked up. All of a sudden, something changed. The tone in his voice became harsh. “You forget. I still have the pistol you gave me, Kevin.” Max took it from the inside of his jacket and pointed it in Kevin’s direction.

  What the hell? Kevin stepped back. “You think that’ll solve the problem?”

  “I’ve run out of options, I’m afraid. With you out of the way, I can disappear somewhere before they find out.”

  “So this is what you want, Max? To kill me?” Kevin was stalling for time, trying to get a handle on how he’d escape. It didn’t look promising. No matter how fast he moved, he’d take one bullet, maybe two.

  “Kevin, if you were in my place, what would you do? Oh, but you’ve killed before, so it’d probably be much easier for you, wouldn’t it?”

  “Don’t do this, Max. This isn’t who you are. Don’t let it end this way.”

  “Not quite that way, Kevin.” Max Drotti pointed the gun and stared blankly at him. His eyes were moist, a sure sign of despair. Kevin could see his lips were quivering. Kevin knew he was at the mercy of a man who was distraught and deranged, a man no longer in control of his faculties.

  Max raised the pistol, his hand shaking. Then, in a jerky motion, he shifted the direction of the barrel of the pistol toward his temple.

  “Max, NO!”

  Before Kevin could react, with an eerie grimace, Max smiled, pulling the pistol’s trigger. The shot reverberated around the room. It was a shot that’d haunt Kevin for years to come.

  Max slumped over in the chair, a fountain of deep scarlet blood gushing from the hole in his head.

  Oh, God, no!

  Kevin called security, requesting an ambulance. But he knew it was too late.

  For the first time in a long while, Kevin wept inconsolably.

  Chapter Fifty-Four

  Rome, Italy

  The audience with His Holiness, Pope Linus II, was granted immediately. Before presenting himself at the Apostolic Palace for the meeting, Kevin took his time dressing appropriately in his priest’s clothing. He was admitted at once and soon found himself in the pope’s library awaiting the presence of the leader of the Catholic Church.

  Pope Linus II, wearing full papal white, entered the library unceremoniously, a leather folio case under his arm. He greeted Kevin with a handshake and a warm embrace.

  “I heard about Monsignor Drotti,” His Holiness began. “I’m very sorry. I know you’d become friends. Go
d bless him. I pray for him.”

  “Thank you, Holiness,” Kevin said. “This has been difficult for me.”

  “I understand, son.” The pontiff invited Kevin to sit in his library, at the round table. The windows overlooking St. Peter’s Square were open, a soft breeze blowing in. The hum of the crowd below was echoing upward.

  “I have important news to discuss with you, Holiness. It’s about the secret of Fatima.”

  “I have it here with me, Kevin,” the pope said. “It’s a copy, but here it is.” He lifted a single sheet of paper from his folio, placing it on the table. “And for both our benefits, this copy is in English.”

  “Thanks, that does make it easier.”

  Kevin looked at the page and began reading the words that the young Lucia had inscribed so many years ago, the missing two pages that had been kept secret for decades:

  Our Lady told me the most important revelation during the final vision. She said that Our Lord will grant the world a period of one hundred years to return to prayer and reverence to God. She said that angels would remain among us to monitor the progress of the people for whom He sent his only son to die for their sins. After the period of one hundred years, Our Lord will again send an emissary to live among us and once again, show the way toward a life of prayer and penance for our sins. He will come to a new part of the world and live among us until the designated time arrives for Him to be revealed to the world. I say to you, Pray! Pray! Pray! until the time has come. It shall not be a time of peace and universal love. There shall be dangers and tragedies which can only be solved by devotion to Him. This applies to all religions and all faiths who genuinely worship God in different ways. There is salvation for all. The Lord’s emissary will live among us as one of us. He shall share in human pain, for he shall be deformed in one leg as a sign of the imperfections he comes to succor. He will be in mortal danger from enemies of the Church and his mission will depend on the courage and resolve of the true believers in the Lord. I say again, Pray! Pray! Pray! Through prayer and devotion to Our Lord peace will come to those who truly believe.