The Vatican Children (World of Shadows Book 2)

by Lincoln Cole

  “And more.”

  In a monotone, Arthur said, “Elgin, if you don’t tell me what I need to know, then I’ll shoot you in the face.”

  “Come on.” Elgin groaned. “Say it like you mean it.”

  “If you don’t cut out this little song and dance, then I will mean it.”

  Elgin eyed him for a moment. “Sourpuss.”

  “You have my sincerest apologies.”

  “Stuff it. Boys.”

  Suddenly, a side door opened, and three men burst into the room. Two carried shotguns, and one had a pistol, and all held them trained on Arthur and Niccolo.

  The entire exchange had confused Niccolo, and this downright terrified him. He stumbled backward from the door and tripped over a chair, losing his balance and nearly falling to the floor.

  Elgin burst out laughing and clapped his hands. “There! At least he isn’t a spoilsport.”

  Arthur didn’t budge or take his eyes off Elgin. He stood calmly in spite of the guns aimed at his back.

  “Is this necessary?”

  “I learned my lesson the last time you came here, Arthur,” Elgin said. “I’ll not underestimate you this time.”

  “You also won’t shoot a member of the Council, or a priest.”

  “Not the priest, definitely. For you, though, I might make an exception.”

  “Is this how you want to play things?” Arthur asked. “Do you want more injuries to explain away in the emergency room?”

  “No. This isn’t how I want to play things at all, but you haven’t given me a lot of options.”

  “I shan’t leave here without Naomi’s location.”

  “I know. But I’ll not just give it to you.”

  “What do you want?”

  “I don’t know who Naomi works for now, but he’s not a pleasant chap. Whatever she got involved in, it isn’t like her normal business, and I don’t think she’s doing it willingly. I need your promise that when you find her, you will let her go.”

  “That depends on what she has involvement in.”

  “No, it doesn’t,” Elgin said. “Not if you want her location. I want your promise. Both of you, that if you catch her, you just release.”

  Arthur hesitated. “That’s all you want?”

  “That, and a future favor when I need something.”

  “This sounds like a favor to me.”

  “This sounds like a negotiation, and I’m the one with the guns. Should I make it two extra favors?”

  Arthur frowned. “Fine. We’ll let her go, no questions asked, and one favor.”

  Elgin nodded and then turned his attention to Niccolo. “Your turn.”

  “She’s a criminal. I can’t make such a promise.”

  “Sure you can. It takes just a few simple words. Here, I’ll help: I, Mr. Priest Guy, do solemnly swear ...”

  “If she is guilty of a crime against the Church, then she must receive punishment.”

  “Sure,” Elgin said. “Just not right now. You’re asking me to sell out a friend, and this is my condition.”

  Niccolo glanced at Arthur, who nodded almost imperceptibly. Niccolo didn’t like it, but he didn’t see a lot of alternatives either.

  “Fine. When we find them, we’ll let her go.”

  “Good man.”

  “The address,” Arthur said.

  “In a minute. We need to discuss one other thing.” Elgin stared pointedly at Arthur. “Alone.”

  Arthur hesitated for a long moment, and then he glanced over at Niccolo. “Mind waiting downstairs?”

  “Sure,” Niccolo said.

  He walked out of the room, and the guard holding the pistol followed him. The other two stayed in the office with Elgin and Arthur.

  The guy following Niccolo slid the pistol away, but the look he gave him made it clear that the threat hadn’t gone away with it. He gestured toward the stairwell with a look that told Niccolo to get moving. Then he followed a couple of steps behind.

  The priest walked as calmly as he could down to the ground level of the building and headed toward the exit. The guy grabbed his arm, though, and dragged him toward the bar instead.

  “Not just yet,” the guy said.

  “I’d rather wait outside.”

  “I’m sure you would.”

  Niccolo had become his prisoner, at least for the moment. He tried to pull his arm free, but the man’s grip felt like iron. The guy dragged him over to the bar, and then he leaned over the counter and whistled, getting the attention of a brunette bartender. She groaned when she saw who had whistled at her, but she still came over.

  “Yeah?”

  “Two whiskeys,” the guy said. “Make them doubles.”

  “You got doubles money?”

  “The boss will pay for it.”

  She stared at him skeptically, then glanced at Niccolo. “He with you?”

  “The boss said his rounds are on the house. Mine too.”

  “Who is he?”

  “Friend of Arthur’s. Shut up and pour.”

  She glared at him, but she did set two shot glasses on the counter. Then she filled them with amber liquid from a bottle.

  When she’d finished, she attempted to put the bottle away, but the guy snatched it out of her hand and set it on the counter. The brunette stared at him for a second, and then disappeared to help more patrons.

  The guy picked up the two glasses and handed one to Niccolo.

  “You just wanted free drinks?”

  “Shut up and drink.”

  “You can have mine, too.”

  “I wasn’t asking,” the guy said, pushing the drink forward again. Niccolo thought to refuse, but changed his mind almost immediately. It didn’t seem like a good idea to turn the drink down at the moment.

  “Salut.”

  They clinked the shot glasses. The guy took his down in one swallow. Niccolo tried to sip his, but the guy grabbed his hand and tilted the glass up. Some poured out of his mouth, and he coughed and sputtered when it went down his throat.

  Strong stuff, it burned all the way down. Not much of a whiskey drinker back home, Niccolo preferred wine. Often, he had a glass with his meal, though this proved considerably stronger whiskey than he had grown used to. It tasted like cheap stuff with almost no flavor and a lot of kick.

  It hit him instantly, making him feel fuzzy.

  “What’s your deal?” the guy asked when Niccolo finished sputtering. “You friends with Arthur?”

  “No,” Niccolo said, shaking his head. “Not exactly. Just sort of stuck working with him for now.”

  The guy took the shot glass back and poured out two more drinks.

  “You a hunter, too?”

  “No,” Niccolo said. “I’m a ...”

  He almost said ‘priest’ and then stopped himself. As part of an effort to try and blend in, he hadn’t worn his collar, and giving away the fact that he worked for the Catholic Church didn’t seem like a great idea right now. He had told Carmen out front, and Elgin knew, but this was different. The guy might have overheard, and he might not have; whichever, Niccolo wouldn’t spell it out for him. “... just a friend,” he finished unconvincingly.

  The guy didn’t seem to notice, or at the very least, he didn’t seem to care. He handed the second full shot glass to Niccolo.

  Niccolo tried again, “No, thanks.”

  The guy threw him a look, and Niccolo decided that one more couldn’t hurt.

  They downed the shots just as Arthur walked down the steps from Elgin’s office. He looked amused when he spotted Niccolo standing at the counter, and then beckoned for him to head toward the exit.

  The guy nodded over at him. “No explosions upstairs. Guess you’re good to go.”

  Niccolo didn’t wait a second longer. Clumsily, he dropped the shot glass onto the counter and rushed to follow Arthur. He stumbled a little from the drink and almost fell a few times, but finally, he made it to the exit and into the cool night air.

  “WHAT NOW?” NICCOLO asked
as they made their way back to Arthur’s car. He hiccupped and tried to cover it with a cough.

  “I have a location,” Arthur said. “Elgin told me a little more about the new benefactor for whom Naomi works. He doesn’t know much about the guy and never met him face-to-face, but to me, it sounds an awful lot like Bishop Glasser.”

  A sudden burst of excitement hit Niccolo while he tried to climb into the car. The lead had paid off, and they had come another step closer to finding the bishop and making him pay for his crimes.

  His body felt heavy and awkward when the alcohol took control. He moved slowly, hoping to mask his buzz. “That’s good news.”

  “It gets better. Apparently, he got spotted with her recently and shares her hideout.”

  “You mean, you think we might find him there as well, wherever she has hidden out? We might actually find him with Naomi?”

  “It is possible,” Arthur said. “But it also solidifies my concern about their alliance.”

  “I know.” Niccolo nodded. “I wonder if she went after the Vatican Children ...”

  Niccolo trailed off when he realized he had spoken out loud. His eyes went wide, and he hiccupped. The thoughts had come to him, and the words had followed before he could stop himself. He had just said way too much.

  The alcohol had numbed his ability to think straight, and he cursed himself.

  Arthur climbed into the driver’s seat of his rental car but didn’t immediately turn it on. Instead, he stared at Niccolo with a curious expression on his face. “The Vatican Children? What do you mean?”

  “Nothing, it’s nothing. Never mind.”

  “No, it isn’t. You’re keeping something from me. You have done ever since you heard Naomi’s name.”

  “No, I haven’t.”

  “Don’t lie to me, Niccolo.”

  He hiccupped again. “Look ... it isn’t ... I mean, there’s no way ...”

  “Niccolo.”

  “Arthur, I can’t tell you.” He felt dizzy, and his head spun.

  “We will not move this car until you tell me everything you know about these Vatican Children.”

  Arthur had backed Niccolo into a corner. “Fine.”

  Arthur prompted, “The Vatican Children? What are they, and how do they relate to Naomi?”

  “Special children.”

  “You mean psychic?”

  “Some of them,” Niccolo said. “Others are ... something else.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “It’s impossible to explain. No, I haven’t kept anything from you. I mean, it doesn’t make sense.”

  “I’ve never heard of them.”

  “Not many people have,” Niccolo said. “They remain extremely rare, and the Church keeps a list of them.”

  “Father Reynolds,” Arthur said, scratching his chin. “In Everett. He was one of them, wasn’t he?”

  Niccolo nodded. “Yes. I confirmed it when I returned to the Vatican last week. His name is on the list, and they consider him one of the stronger active ones. It made one of the reasons the Church recruited him so heavily, but he had no interest in becoming an exorcist during his training.”

  “You can turn it down?”

  “The path,” Niccolo said. “Not the gift. That ... is different. The gift is incredibly rare for children to have, and rarer still for them to manifest.”

  “The Vatican has an interest in them? Do they kidnap them? Do they use them?”

  “In the past, yes. They ... we used to gather them up and run experiments on them hundreds of years ago, but that was in the past. Now, we track them and keep our list, but no more punishment or torture. No more treating them like witches and warlocks.”

  “How do you find them?”

  “With difficulty, because they prove so hard to find and seem like normal children. Because of that, the Church contracts Naomi.”

  “She can sense them?”

  Niccolo nodded. “She has a gift and was one of the children, and is excellent for tracking down others.”

  “Would Bishop Glasser know about this?”

  “I don’t know,” Niccolo said. He shook his head. “I highly doubt it. It’s a closely-kept secret, known only by a handful at the Vatican. These children have such rarity that few in the Vatican even know about them. Many know about Naomi’s other exploits, however, as a thief that the Church contracts on occasion.”

  “So, it’s possible the bishop hired her for another purpose? Perhaps searching for an item of value and not these children?”

  “Yes. That would be my guess.”

  “What, then? An artifact?”

  “Possibly, but we need more information to become sure.”

  Arthur hesitated. “And, that is it?”

  “That is what?”

  “Everything that you kept from me in the cabin? You have nothing else you want to tell me?”

  “No,” Niccolo said, blinking. “God, if the Vatican knew what I had just told you ...”

  “They won’t find out,” Arthur said. “But no more secrets from me, got it?”

  He flipped on the car.

  “Got it,” Niccolo said. “I’m sorry; I didn’t think it important.”

  “Everything has importance, and any little detail could prove vital. I shouldn’t have to get you piss drunk just to get the truth out of you.”

  Niccolo nodded once, and then his eyes went wide. “Wait a second. You wanted me drunk?”

  Arthur shrugged. “Would you have told me otherwise?”

  “That’s ... that’s ...” Niccolo muttered in disbelief.

  “Relax,” Arthur said, as he put the car into motion. “I forgive you.”

  Chapter 6

  After only about an hour of driving, Niccolo had fallen fast asleep in the passenger seat of Arthur’s car. That sat okay with Arthur because he enjoyed the silence and solitude of the trip. It gave him time to think without interruption, and he had a lot to think about, especially where Naomi was concerned.

  An old friend, though not exactly a close one, they’d known each other for years, and he’d treated with her personally on multiple occasions. She found things for the Council, and her special knack was for finding valuable Church artifacts and helping to extricate them from their owners.

  He had always wondered how she managed to stay off the Church’s radar after all these years. Now, he supposed he had his answer.

  It stung that she would get involved in something like this. He didn’t see her as a bad person, just someone who had gotten in way over her head. A criminal, yes, but Arthur had never thought of her as evil. In fact, she liked to think of herself as a modern Robin Hood and would donate huge amounts of money to charity from her conquests.

  This case was different, though. Bishop Glasser had shown already that he had the willingness to summon demons and perform any manner of unspeakable acts to accomplish his mission. What did Naomi have to do with his plan?

  The biggest problem was that he had no idea what the bishop’s plan was. Unlike Niccolo, he didn’t have the confidence that the bishop wouldn’t know about the Vatican Children. An assumption like that heightened the danger, and he thought it more likely that such children were exactly what Leopold had gone after.

  But, why?

  IT HAD NEARED THREE in the morning by the time they closed in on the location Elgin had given them where Naomi would hang out. Arthur had grown exhausted, and Niccolo still snored. No doubt, he would feel fairly hung over when he finally awoke.

  Not that it bothered Arthur, much. Before they left the cabin, he had called ahead to ask Elgin a favor, and it had paid off. It didn’t surprise Arthur that Niccolo had tried to keep something from him, and he didn’t worry about it too much either. The only part of it that mattered was that he got the information in the end.

  Due to his extreme tiredness, his mind grew fuzzy. They should stop and take a break for a few hours before going in after Naomi, but Arthur worried that she might know he was on the way. Elgin had promi
sed not to warn her, but that didn’t mean everyone in his crew would live up to that same promise. If Naomi knew he planned to come, she would, no doubt, set a trap for him. Or, she would warn the bishop, and they would run.

  He couldn’t let that happen.

  Probably, she had countless traps ready anyway, just in case. A paranoid sort of person, she knew how to disappear when needed. He would have a hard time tracking her down if she got a head start.

  The address Elgin had given him took them to an old water treatment facility just east of northern California that had closed down years ago. It stood too close to a fault line to maintain. Occasional earthquakes made the repair and upkeep costs of the facility astronomical. The city had long since moved their plant, abandoning this one to get reclaimed by the desert.

  It offered nothing anywhere near the standard of Naomi’s regular hideouts. She preferred to live in expensive apartments and high-rises surrounded by bustling cities full of well-dressed people. This abandoned water plant boasted the opposite of that.

  The squat buildings appeared foreboding and grey. They encircled what looked like a graveyard of enormous pipes sticking out of the ground, and buildings that were at least a football field wide and half as long. One of the buildings had crumbled with wear, but the other three still stood. With no one maintaining them, the others would soon join the fate of the first.

  He turned off the car lights and parked on a dirt road a few hundred meters outside the plant. Then he sat in the darkness and watched the building. For a good ten minutes, he waited, scanning for any signs of light or movement that would signal that someone resided here.

  Nothing. No visible lights inside the complex or outside it. No patrols with flashlights or activity of any kind, but that didn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things. With a complex that big, it would prove easy to hide inside one of the buildings without ever giving away your location.

  Should he wake Niccolo before heading in to look for Naomi or not? On the one hand, letting the hung-over priest sleep it off while he scouted the place out seemed like a good idea, but it concerned him what might happen if Niccolo woke up to find him gone. Would he panic and come looking for him? That would make the situation much worse.