by Rick Jones
Most were black-and-white images, and old, with some beginning to yellow around the edges. Others were old Polaroids, images of her earlier years when she was raising a family of her own. Then the more recent ones when she was taking on the wrinkles and seams of aging.
At the bottom of the shoebox were photos that were tied together with an elastic band. After removing the band, she began to look through them with awe. These were photos she had never seen before, the images having yellowed from a time long ago, when she was a young girl in Poland and then in Auschwitz.
She was young and beautiful, always peppy when posing for the camera. Then the images became darker, bleaker, the beautiful girl almost deaden in looks as she wore the striped garments of an internment camp, though her chin was raised in defiance.
In the photo she stood before a handsome young man, a Nazi by dress, who held a rifle and was smiling. When she flipped over the photo there were two words written on the backside: My Frederic!
She had no idea what it meant.
Chapter Sixty-Two
After the ceremony inside The Chamber of the Vatican Knights and Becher was laid to rest, Kimball Hayden returned to his quarters. It was a small room that was spartan in its amenities. On the left side was the sleeping area with a cot, a nightstand, and piles of military manuals to browse through. On the room’s right side was the more pious arrangement of a votive rack whose candles had never been lit, a kneeling rail that had never been knelt upon, and a podium that held the Bible which had never been opened.
In the center of the room but high on the wall was a stained-glass window that held the colorful image of Mother Mary, who extended her arms out in invitation. At a certain time of day as the sun traversed the sky, it would shine its light against the pane to create a Biblical beam that always shone inside his room, a slanting ray of incredibly warm light.
But Kimball never accepted the offer, always dangling his fingers inches away believing that he did not deserve the Light of her embrace.
Today was no different.
As he sat along the edge of his cot waiting for the light to pass through the panes of colored glass, it never came, the day overcast, which summed everything up for Kimball Hayden.
There never was a Light, he thought, for people like me or Frederic Becher. We were bred to be sinners and saints to achieve the means. But in the end and no matter what we did, it was never enough.
He looked at the Virgin Mother waiting for any measure of light, an offer. But it never came. So his fate had been written.
Getting to his feet and going to the mirror, he looked at the cleric’s collar and noted the pristine whiteness of its band. Then he reached up, pulled it free, and held what he once considered a treasure. Then he went to his cot, reached underneath to pull out a khaki-colored duffle bag, and tossed it on his bed.
He turned to the Holy Mother one last time and waited.
But no Light came.
EPILOGUE
Vatican City
Word quickly came down that Ásbjörn Bosshart had forever lost all privileges and credentials regarding The CERN. Even though he acted under forced coercion of hostile forces, it made no difference at all to the leading principals of the facility. The law, however, was a little more understanding. Since Bosshart had no criminal record and deemed a low-risk offender, he was granted six months of house arrest. The bottom-line, however, was that Ásbjörn Bosshart couldn’t have been happier. It just gave him more time to be with his daughter.
North Korea, though they denied and disavowed any knowledge regarding the rogue actions of their officers, denounced the sanctions that had been bestowed upon them by the global community. Their response to the allegations: they imprisoned every family member of those involved in the extraction effort to hard labor as an example to the world that rogue actions would not be tolerated by the regime. But the world knew it was nothing but a dog and pony show.
Frederic Becher had his burial beneath the basilica as promised. The service had been somber but wonderful, the Vatican Knight taking his rightful place inside a marvelously sculpted tomb rife with bas-relief carvings of winged-angels playing harpsicords.
And Kimball—after kissing the tomb that housed the body of Bonasero Vessucci and saying goodbye—had one more undertaking.
Inside the pontiff’s chamber, Pope John Paul II was holding counsel with Monsignor Dom Giammacio when a knock came on the door. After a Swiss Guard entered the room wearing garments of earlier centuries to announce the arrival of a guest, Kimball stepped inside the room wearing faded dungarees, a plaid shirt, and an old khaki-colored Army jacket—all of this taking the pope by surprise. Slung over his shoulder was a fully packed duffel bag.
As soon as the Swiss Guard vacated the office, Pope John Paul II got to his feet along with the monsignor, their mouths dropping in awe.
“Kimball,” the pope stated, pointing to the Vatican Knight. “Please tell me that you’re going on sabbatical.”
“I’m not,” he said. “I just came by to say goodbye. I’m leaving the church and I’m not coming back.”
Pope John Paul II appeared puzzled. “Why?”
“You sent Frederic Becher to teach me a lesson, that there is always hope for people like us. But what he taught me, Your Holiness, is that there is no Light.”
“That’s not true, Kimball.”
“For me it is. That’s what I believe. There is no Light. There is no redemption. I’ve come to terms that I had made my bed long ago by killing a lot of people in the process. I had become a sinner and a saint who went against every rule mandated by the church to see the mission done, no matter the cost in lives. And in time I’ll have to pay my debt.”
“We can talk,” said the monsignor, who had been Kimball’s therapist over the years.
“There’s nothing more to talk about, Monsignor. I think we’ve talked long enough.”
The pope didn’t know what to say or how to respond. He was losing his most celebrated Knight. After a while, the pontiff asked, “Is there anything we can do—anything I can do—to change your mind?”
“I’m sorry, Your Holiness. I just don’t see the opportunity anymore. There is no Light for people like me. I’ve been a condemned man for a very long time.”
The pontiff raised his hand to offer Kimball a chance to kiss the Piscatory Ring, which was bigger than the man’s knuckle. But Kimball grabbed the pope’s hand, turned it over, and shook it, the act telling the pontiff: I don’t believe in this anymore. There will be no kiss today.
“It’s been an absolute honor to have worked on behalf of the church and for its values. And thank you for allowing me the time to seek what I believed to be my salvation. Though there was nothing to gain, the honor has been mine.”
The pontiff’s eyes appeared stupefied by this, the entire situation a sudden bolt out of the blue.
“Goodbye, Your Holiness.” As the final word left Kimball’s lips, he turned and walked out of the chamber with all the belongings he had in the world.
A few minutes later, the pontiff and the monsignor went to the glass door that led to the balcony and parted the drapes.
In the piazza of St. Peter’s Square below, a crowd was gathering for the papal address. But one man walked against the grain carrying a duffel bag, leaving the shadows of the church’s spire one last time.
“He’ll be back,” said the monsignor.
The pope shook his head. “I don’t think so,” he returned sadly. “Not this time.”
Then John Paul II thought: When everything is wrong with the world, then a man walks out of the shadows of St. Peter’s Basilica to make it right again. He is the priest who is not a priest. And he’s an angel to some and a demon to others.
The pontiff closed his eyes. But this time, he said to himself, the man who once walked out of the shadows of St. Peter’s Basilica to make the world right again…
…will return no more.
Down below, the man called Kimball Hayden disappe
ared into the crowd.
THE END
THE VATICAN KNIGHTS
AMAZON BESTSELLER: #1 IN THRILLER
#1 in Suspense
#24 in Amazon Top 100
While on a visit to the United States, Pope Pius XIII is kidnapped by a terrorist cell calling itself the Soldiers of Islam. If the United States and its allies do not meet their demands, they will execute the pope. FBI Specialist Shari Cohen is called to duty to track down the terrorist cell responsible, and she soon learns that she is not alone.
Deep behind the Vatican walls, a secret order dispatches a clandestine group of elite commandos known as the Vatican Knights. Their mission: bring the pope back alive. As Cohen and the Knights work in tandem they uncover a White House conspiracy involving high-ranking members on Capitol Hill. As Cohen begins to get too close to the truth about the pope's kidnapping, she becomes the target of indigenous forces trying to keep the conspiracy safe. However, in order to get to her they must first go through the Vatican Knights...
SHEPHERD ONE
(Book #2 of the Vatican Knights series)
AMAZON BESTSELLER: #1 IN THRILLER
#1 in Suspense
Amazon Top 100
While traveling across the United States during the Papal Symposium, the papal plane, Shepherd One, is commandeered by a terrorist cell calling itself the Muslim Revolutionary Front. On board: a nuclear payload with half the yield that destroyed Hiroshima. Their demand to the U.S. government: assassinate the five leading principals of Mossad. While the American leadership is forced to follow through with a proposition that would cripple the intelligence network between the allies, Pope Pius XIII is not without his own weapon. On board Shepherd One is his personal valet, a man who is the leader of a clandestine op group of elite commandos known as the Vatican Knights. His mission: retake the plane and remove all hostile opposition. Using his very particular set of skills, Kimball Hayden must neutralize the situation before thousands of lives are lost, including that of Pope Pius XIII.
THE ISCARIOT AGENDA
(Book #3 of the Vatican Knights series)
AMAZON BESTSELLER
Kimball Hayden is the commander of an elite commando group known as the Vatican Knights, a black-op force that works for the Church to protect its sovereignty, its interests, and the welfare of its citizenry. But Kimball is being stalked by someone from the past, a soldier that is stronger, faster, and far more brutal—an assassin so deadly not even the Vatican Knights can stop him. This Alpha Assassin has set Kimball within the crosshairs and is systematically destroying his old team of elite fighters, the Force Elite. Kimball is then sent to confront this killer who leaves behind lettered clues carved into the flesh of his teammates: ISCARIOT. Not only does Kimball have to battle something far more dangerous than anything he has ever encountered, but he must destroy this Alpha Assassin before this killer brings his personal war to the Vatican.
PANDORA’S ARK
(Book #4 of the Vatican Knights series)
AMAZON BESTSELLER
Thirty years ago the world was in the exploratory stages of creating a technology capable of artificial intelligence. Thirty years later that technology has been perfected. In a lab somewhere in a remote mountain region in Iran, nanoparticles, or micro-bots, have been created to be self-sustaining and self-reproducing, each day evolving and learning from experience. They have been programmed to be the ultimate predator, devouring everything in their path and leaving nothing behind. Now in the hands of a terrorist group, the Vatican has come within the crosshairs. Using the Ark of the Covenant as a Trojan Horse, Kimball Hayden and his team of Vatican Knights must stop the promise of complete destruction of Rome by combating something unseen, and something that can kill within seconds.
BRIDGE OF BONES
(Book #5 of the Vatican Knights series)
AMAZON BESTSELLER
While vacationing in Paris, Shari Cohen’s children are kidnapped by Jadran Božanović, a Croatian kingpin who runs a human-trafficking cartel who is as deadly as the knife he wields. Few dare to challenge him. And even fewer dare to defy him. With time running out and her resources running thin, Shari calls upon the aid of Kimball Hayden and his team Vatican Knights—an elite group of commandos dedicated to protect the sovereignty, interests and citizenry of the Church—and are once again reunited. But Kimball finds that his team is quickly outmanned and outgunned, the death toll climbing against forces that are the deadliest the Knights have ever faced. With his back against the wall, Kimball is forced to choose Justice over Law by taking on Jadran Božanović in a contest that only one man can survive. But Kimball soon learns that the Croatian is as ruthless as his legend and just as powerful, if not more so, than the Vatican Knight himself.
CROSSES TO BEAR
(Book #6 of the Vatican Knights series)
AMAZON BESTSELLER
In a Galveston, Texas lab, a lethal strain has been stolen by a terrorist faction.
In New Mexico, the population of a small town is completely wiped out.
In Las Vegas, a vicious underground clan called the Community surfaces at night to prey on the weak.
In Paris, two old foes of Kimball Hayden reunite as a kill team to hunt him down.
Now considered dead by the Vatican, Kimball Hayden is leading a secretive life living on the streets of Las Vegas. But when a parish comes under the threat of a vicious mob, he finds himself thrown back into a world of violence.
Once again Kimball finds himself in the role as the ‘priest who is not a priest’ fighting to protect those who cannot protect themselves. And when Vatican City is threatened with complete annihilation, he returns to fight a battle against a foe he cannot possibly defeat.
THE LOST CATHEDRAL
(Book #7 of the Vatican Knights series)
AMAZON BESTSELLER
Three years ago the papal airliner goes down over the jungle of Brazil never to been seen again.
Three years later those considered lost on that fatal flight begin to show up at Vatican disconnected from reality.
When the pope is gunned down in an assassination attempt, Kimball Hayden and his team of Vatican Knights follow the conspiracy’s trail to a cathedral deep inside the Brazilian jungle—a place of taboo to locals who fear the Huecuvus, the Evil Spirits who protect those within the ‘Ruins of Lost Souls.’
The cathedral is a place of damnation and dark secrets—a hub of moving shadows that reach out to Pope Pius with a hand from the past, a hand that holds a dark secret: the pontiff may not be who he appears to be, but a man whose past may have been as sinful as those within the lost cathedral, a dying breed of Nazis who once called the pontiff ‘brethren.’
As Kimball Hayden and his team of Vatican Knights try to neutralize the threat against the Vatican, they find themselves fighting against overwhelming odds. Shadows and shapes converge, the weapons they yield sharp. Can the Vatican Knights defeat a sect where life has little meaning? Does the pope hold a dark secret? Was he once evil incarnate who now sits upon the papal throne? The answers lie within a temple of ancient evil called the Lost Cathedral.
DARK ADVENT
(Book #8 of the Vatican Knights series)
AMAZON BESTSELLER
Growing up with a sheltering mother and a belligerent father, Kimball Hayden’s young life goes from one of innocence to the depths of chaos.
When a vicious syndicate of murderers and extortionists begin to run the streets, Kimball soon becomes the focal point of their attention. His family is placed within the crosshairs, friends go missing or are found dead, all messages from the Gangster Prince.
But when Kimball’s world shatters and grieves a great loss, the sleeping giant within him awakens. It is dark and ugly and exists with the cold fortitude of a machine. It rises and walks a fine line between the Darkness and Light. And it will define Kimball as a dark savior for the rest of his life, choosing damnation over salvation to protect those who cannot protect themselves.
But then the Gangs
ter Prince quickly discovers that he may have overstepped his boundaries at the approach of an unstoppable force, he realizes one thing …
…Every legend has a beginning…
CABAL
(Book #9 of the Vatican Knights series)
AMAZON BESTSELLER
In an abandoned church deep inside the Syrian Desert, Father Jenkins watches over a group of children who’d been orphaned by war and unrest. Having been marked for extraction by the Vatican Knights, a cabal of ruthless killers from the Islamic State cripples all attempts of safe passage and gives chase across a desert landscape that’s completely ruled by scorpions and snakes. With little options and less hope, the Vatican Knights quickly discover that they’re in possession of a precious cargo: a young boy by the name of Farid.
As Kimball Hayden and the Vatican Knights fight to preserve the lives they protect, another ISIS team marches on the Vatican to take out the highest and most sacred seat in the land.
But as ISIS marches on Rome and Vatican City, Kimball Hayden, the fulcrum between sinner and saint, finds himself divided by saving the lives of the children and the life of the pontiff, with little chance of preserving both.
THE GOLGOTHA PURSUIT
(Book #10 of the Vatican Knights series)
AMAZON BESTSELLER
After the march on the Vatican by the Islamic State, the radical group begins its push deeper into the European and American Fronts. But when the True Cross—the wooden remnants of the cross Jesus was crucified upon and the holiest of all relics—is stolen from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre by the Islamic State, it becomes clear that the relic is to be bartered to an arms dealer for weapons so devastating that Europe and the United States could be rocked to their very foundations. So when the Vatican Knights are called to retrieve the artifact before the weapons’ exchange can take place, the team quickly finds themselves up against an elite paramilitary group. But can the Vatican Knights retrieve the True Cross in time and return it to the vault above Golgotha Hill? Or will the Islamic State finally get a stranglehold on the American and European states…and bring the continents to their knees?
