Sign of the Cross

by Chris Kuzneski

  Rose nodded. ‘I was given another update on Benito Pelati that I thought would help. But if now’s a bad time, I can always come back.’

  ‘Nonsense. I wouldn’t think of sending you away. Besides, I’m talking to Benito right now, and he keeps bringing up something that puzzles me. The guy will barely say a word to me, but when he does, he keeps alluding to some secret. I’ve pressed him, but nothing gives.’

  ‘This secret, has he given you any hints?’

  ‘I wish. It’d make my job a helluva lot easier… Oops. Sorry about that.’

  Rose ignored the profanity. Most Texans swore, too. ‘Have you asked his family? Maybe they know something. I’ve never met the man, so I’m not sure what I can tell you.’

  ‘Actually, I think his son knew. That’s the reason Benito put two in his chest. To keep him from telling anyone else.’

  Rose made the sign of the cross for Dante. ‘Did he?’

  ‘Did he, what?’

  ‘Tell anyone else. One of the cops told me there were several witnesses to the shooting.’

  Dial nodded. ‘His bodyguards were nearby, but none of them spoke English. I get the feeling that was one of the requirements for his staff. It allowed him to conduct his business in private.’

  ‘Smart man. That’s the best way to do it. No fear of listening ears.’

  ‘Speaking of smart, why do I get the feeling that you’re aware of the secret? That’s why you’re here, isn’t it?’

  Rose shrugged. ‘Perhaps. God works in mysterious ways.’

  Glory hallelujah! Dial thought to himself. ‘Tell me, is it something about the Church? Is that what the blackmail was about? He learned something about the Church and decided to make a few bucks for himself.’

  ‘Nick, listen, my hands are tied on this one. I can’t talk about it. I really can’t.’

  Dial couldn’t keep from smiling. ‘But…’

  Rose laughed. ‘But I figure if I get him to talk about it without actually mentioning it…’

  ‘Then I’ll get everything I need, and you’ll have a clean conscience.’

  He nodded. ‘Yeah, something like that.’

  Dial looked at his watch and knew that he was running out of time. Pelati’s lawyers would arrive any minute. ‘Fine. But we’ve got to make this quick.’

  Rose put his right hand in the air. ‘Don’t worry, I will be.’

  Still smiling, Dial went in first, followed by Rose, who closed the door behind them. Rose had seen Pelati at the Vatican several times but had never spoken to him, mostly because the two had nothing in common. Rose was willing to give everything he had to the Church without expecting anything in return, whereas Pelati was the complete opposite. This mansion was proof of that. Rose was a giver. Pelati was a taker. It would stay that way until the end.

  Pelati watched the duo enter the room and seemed to come to life. His eyes focused on the man in red who was staring at him. ‘Tell me, Mr Dial, who’s your friend?’

  ‘This is Cardinal Joseph Rose from the Vatican. He came to talk to me about your case, and I decided to let him join us.’

  ‘Oh? Why is that? Wasn’t I good enough company for you?’

  ‘Actually, you have it backward. I didn’t think I was good enough company for you. You see, you kept talking about something that I knew nothing about, so I decided to bring in an expert, someone who could help me understand.’

  Pelati grinned at the thought. ‘This man is an expert? On what? Christ?’

  ‘No,’ Rose interrupted. ‘I’m an expert on secrets.’

  ‘Secrets?’ He gasped with mock fear. ‘Any secret in particular? Mine, perhaps?’

  Rose nodded, taking a step closer.

  ‘Oh good! Then this shall be fun. Please pull up a seat, Your Eminence. I’d love to hear what you know about me and my secret.’

  Rose shook his head. ‘The chair won’t be necessary. I promised Nick that I’d be brief, and I intend to keep my word.’

  ‘Suit yourself, Your Eminence… I admire a man who can keep his word.’

  Rose moved closer. ‘Actually, that’s the thing about secrets that has always bothered me. People never keep their word, meaning a secret is never a secret for very long.’

  Pelati nodded, all too familiar with the subject. ‘Cardinal Rose, if I may be so bold, why are you telling me this? Are you trying to convince me that you know my family’s secret? Is that what you’re trying to do?’

  ‘On the contrary, I wanted you to know that the exact opposite is true. You are alone in this. No one knows your entire secret but you. Do you hear me? Not a single soul.’

  Pelati frowned. It wasn’t what he was expecting. ‘And you came here to tell me that?’

  Rose smiled in the face of evil. He’d been sent here by the Supreme Council to protect the Church, and he intended to finish the job. ‘No, I came here because I wanted to see the look in your eyes when I told you this…’ Pulling a pistol from the folds of his robe, he said, ‘Your secret dies today.’

  Before Dial could react, Rose shoved the gun against Pelati’s head and fired. A thunderous roar filled the room, followed by the splash of blood and brains against the wall.

  Instinctively, Dial lunged for Rose’s weapon, but the Cardinal was too quick to be stopped. Backing away to the far corner of the room, Rose pushed the hot barrel against his own temple and ordered Dial to stay put.

  ‘Don’t do it!’ Dial screamed. ‘Please don’t!’

  ‘I have to, Nick. It has to end this way.’

  ‘Why?’ he demanded as a wave of cops burst through the door. ‘Tell me why!’

  Rose smiled knowingly and tightened his grip on the trigger. ‘Because Christ is my savior.’

  75

  Payne and Jones never heard the gunshots. They were out by the pool, discussing the week’s events when Cardinal Rose opened fire. The sound was drowned out by a hovering chopper and all the police sirens that were migrating to the area.

  Later, when they found out what happened, Payne was disappointed that he didn’t get to see Benito’s execution. That might sound morbid, but when you’ve seen as many good men die as he had, sometimes it helps to see the death of a devil. Somehow that helps balance the equation. At least for a little while.

  Then again, Payne realized if he’d been inside for all the fireworks, he would’ve missed the biggest surprise of all. Something so unexpected that he still didn’t know what to think of it.

  Sitting between Jones and Dr Boyd, Payne was staring at the twinkling blue water, thinking about religion. He had learned more about Christianity during the past few days than he had during the rest of his years combined. Yet he was thirsting for more. For every question that had been answered, ten new ones had popped into his head. And each of them was more complicated than the last. Payne mentioned this to Dr Boyd, who claimed that was the paradox of religion. Boyd said, the more you learn, the less you know.

  Joking, Payne said, ‘Damn! Then I guess you don’t know shit compared to me.’

  Surprisingly, Boyd laughed louder than anyone.

  Payne turned toward Jones, expecting a smile on his face, too. Instead he noticed a dazed look in his eyes that said he was still trying to piece everything together. The Catacombs, the scroll, the Pelati family secret. To him, they were pieces in a jigsaw puzzle that still didn’t fit.

  ‘You all right?’ Payne asked.

  He nodded, even though Payne knew he wasn’t. Something was bothering him. Something big. Finally, Jones said, ‘Doc, out of curiosity, what do you think happened to him?’

  Boyd grimaced. ‘Him? Who do you mean?’

  ‘Jesus,’ he answered. ‘If Jesus didn’t die on the cross, what happened to him?’

  ‘Ahhh.’ The sound suggested that Boyd had been expecting that question all week. ‘I guess that depends on who you ask. Different experts have different opinions, though some of them are a little daft. The most popular theory is that Christ was a married man who shipped his family to Marseilles
right after his trial in Judea. I’ve read many French manuscripts that refer to Christ’s royal blood still living in France today.’

  They had heard that theory, too. Payne knew some experts believed that Christ’s wife was Mary Magdalene. Of course he had no idea if that was true or a brilliant piece of fiction. ‘So you think Christ went to France?’

  Boyd shrugged. ‘That’s what some believe. Others feel the risk would’ve been too great. The truth is, if Christ had been discovered, his whole family would’ve been slaughtered on the spot.’

  Jones winced. ‘Then where did he go?’

  ‘According to Islamic traditions, he headed east, where he eventually died several decades later in the Indian city of Kashmir. Others believe that he went to Alexandria in Egypt, where he helped convert that city to Christianity. I even read one account that claimed he was killed at Masada in 74 AD when the Jewish fortress fell to the Romans.’

  But none of those theories sat well with Jones. Frustrated, he tossed a stone into the deep end of the pool. The splash sent ripples in every direction. ‘In other words, no one really knows.’

  Boyd shook his head. ‘I guess not.’

  ‘So all of this,’ Jones made an exaggerated hand movement that suggested everything they had done, ‘and we still don’t know for sure.’

  ‘Not conclusively, no… And the truth is, we probably never will.’

  Dr Boyd excused himself and headed to the house. His face was swollen and misshapen, and his sterile gauze was no longer doing the trick. It was time for a bag of ice and a bottle of Tylenol.

  Payne and Jones watched him go inside before their focus shifted to the helicopter that was hovering above. At first they thought it was a police chopper assigned to protect the grounds. Then they figured it was the media, possibly the paparazzi trying to get a picture of the murder scene. They continued to believe this until Jones pointed something out. The chopper was running dark. No searchlights. No taillights. No lights of any kind. For some reason it was trying to blend in with the dark sky above. Trying not to be seen. ‘You don’t think that’s…’

  Jones nodded. He knew what Payne had in mind. ‘The second chopper from Vienna.’

  Before Dante left the marble mine, he had given orders to his men to wait until the weather had cleared before they loaded his discovery from Vienna onto the next chopper. After that, they were supposed to fly to the villa where he was planning to meet his father.

  Suddenly it dawned on them that the chopper had never arrived. Or, at the very least, had never landed. If their theory was correct, the pilot was still hovering above them, wondering what to do next. Jones grinned. ‘Let’s see if he’s willing to join us.’

  Payne bowed in his direction. ‘After you, my devious friend.’

  Dante’s personal chopper was still sitting on the helipad at the back of the estate. There was plenty of room to land a second chopper in the yard. It was just a matter of convincing the pilot that it was the right thing to do. Payne suggested using a light to flash him Morse code, but Jones thought of something better. He climbed into Dante’s chopper and slipped on the headset. A couple of buttons later, he was barking orders.

  ‘What are you waiting for?’ Jones screamed in Italian. ‘Set her down now!’

  Thirty seconds passed before the pilot responded. ‘What about the police?’

  ‘They’re not here for you. There was a shooting at the house. Dante’s taking care of it.’

  The pilot considered this for a moment before he flipped on his running lights. A few minutes later he was landing in the middle of the backyard. ‘Now what?’ the pilot asked.

  ‘Unload the merchandise, then get out of here. We’ll call you when we need you.’

  Like magic, a team of six soldiers hoisted the relic out of the chopper and eased it onto the grass. Payne and Jones couldn’t risk being seen, so they stayed hidden inside the first chopper, although that probably wasn’t necessary. The men were too spooked by the cops to even look their way. A minute later, they were airborne again. Off to Rome. Or Vienna. Or wherever they were going next. Payne watched the entire scene in disbelief.

  ‘That went well,’ Jones said, laughing. ‘I hope it isn’t a bomb.’

  The two of them walked across the lawn, unsure of what they were getting into. The sky was dark, and the moon was partially hidden behind a bank of clouds. There were few lights in this part of the yard, and they weren’t about to turn any on. Not even a flashlight. But Payne almost changed his mind when he saw the sarcophagus. It was made out of white marble and was decorated with a series of carvings that reminded him of the ones on Maria’s tape. With one glance Payne knew that they told a story – he could tell that from their layout – but their meaning was impossible to interpret in the darkness.

  For an instant Payne wondered if this was the reason that Dante brought Boyd and Maria here. To help explain what this thing was. Maybe to help him figure out what he should do next. Those thoughts disappeared quickly, though. And his mind went back to the stone artifact.

  Strangely, Payne felt like a blind man reading Braille, running his fingers over the ancient designs, trying to understand the narrative. Just then the moon peeked out from behind the clouds, and he could see Christ on the cross and the laughing man standing nearby. A team of centurions was carrying a body to a cave. Then he saw a man walking out. Meanwhile, Jones was on the other side of the box, calling out images as he deciphered them.

  He saw soldiers. A large boat. A series of mountains. The tip of a sword.

  Neither of them knew exactly what the stone was saying. And they realized they wouldn’t unless they fetched Boyd or Maria for help. But where was the fun in that?

  Instead they decided to examine the contents on their own. They figured, how much damage could the two of them do? They were only going to take a short peek inside, not even for a minute. They would push the lid aside, take a look, and then push the sucker back. No one would ever know. It would be their little secret.

  They studied the box’s construction and decided they should push it from Payne’s side. Smiling, they counted to three, then heaved with all their might. The stone lid groaned and trembled, then slid five inches to the right. A wisp of ancient air filled their nostrils but they didn’t care. Not one bit.

  They were too intoxicated by what they found within.

  76

  Monday, July 31

  Küsendorf, Switzerland

  Their helicopter hovered above the Archives for several seconds, just enough time for Payne and Jones to view the reconstruction from the air. It had been less than three weeks since the fire, but the work zone was buzzing. Bulldozers were plowing. Trucks were hauling. Workers were cutting boards and pounding nails. Things were looking great, at least to novices like them.

  Sadly, they couldn’t say the same thing about Christianity.

  Payne and Jones had spent two weeks researching the topic, more to appease their curiosity than anything else. They read books. They talked to experts. They did everything in their power to answer the questions that were bothering them. And some of the answers left them perplexed.

  For instance, they never knew that the Koran, the Islamic bible, asserts that Christ’s crucifixion was faked. Yes, faked. Muslims view Christ as a prophet, someone who should be revered in the same terms as Abraham, Moses, and Muhammad, so it stunned Payne and Jones that the Koran questioned Christ’s integrity. Yet it comes right out and says that he wasn’t crucified. The line reads:

  [4:157] And their saying: Surely we have killed the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, the apostle of Allah; and they did not kill him nor did they crucify him, but it appeared to them so…

  Amazingly, this verse wasn’t stashed away on a hidden scroll or locked in the Vatican’s basement. It is known by a billion Muslims around the world. Still, neither Payne nor Jones had ever heard about a fake crucifixion until they met up with Boyd and Pelati.

  How is that possible?

  How could somet
hing so important be ignored by the Western world?

  Whether it’s accurate or not wasn’t the point. Payne couldn’t understand why this line was never discussed in a public forum. Why no one was curious enough to investigate it. Payne joked it was too bad Oliver Stone didn’t direct The Passion of the Christ. Because he would’ve come up with a much different ending to the film – something with a conspiratorial twist.

  Oh well, maybe Mel Gibson is planning a sequel?

  Changing subjects, they also found several interesting facts about Pontius Pilate. The most surprising was Pilate’s close friendship with Joseph of Arimathea, who played a major role in the crucifixion and Christ’s final resting place. All four Gospels claim that Christ’s body was sealed in a tomb on Joseph’s personal property, even though Roman law forbade crucifixion victims from being buried. During this era, victims would be left on the cross for days where they would eventually be eaten by birds. Furthermore, the Romans were so adamant about this law that they actually posted guards to make sure that the victim’s friends or relatives didn’t touch the corpses.

  Yet Pilate was willing to go against this code and gave Jesus’s body to Joseph of Arimathea, even though he had no rightful claim to remove it. Unless, of course, something was going on behind the scenes, and Pilate and Joseph were coconspirators in the deception.

  Stranger still is the wording that was used in Mark’s Gospel. In the original Greek version, when Joseph asked Pilate for Christ’s body, he used the word soma, a word that refers to ‘a living body,’ not ptoma, a word that means ‘a corpse.’ In other words, Joseph asked Pilate for someone who was still alive. This line was eventually changed in Latin and English translations of the Bible because translators used nonspecific words that failed to explain whether Christ was living or dead when he was removed from the cross. However, in the original version, even Mark says that Christ was alive when he was turned over to Joseph.