The Complete 8-Book Guardians Adventure Saga

by Summer Lee

  The priest said, “It is 4.37 meters by 1.11 meters, as you can see.”

  “Look Daniel, it has the full frontal and dorsal imprints of a supine man. Do you see the purplish-red color in certain spots?”

  “Yes.” Daniel narrowed his eyes to get a better look, as she continued.

  “It corresponds to where the blood would have been according to the Biblical accounts of the crucifixion and beatings.” She folded her hands under her chin in reverence. “It is a linen cloth with a fish bone weave.” She looked closer as she ran her hands along the display case.

  The priest said, “The case is airtight, but then it has to be. It’s under laminated bulletproof glass.”

  “Who would want to shoot it?” asked Daniel, who obviously was missing the point.

  Magena ignored him. “The case has to be temperature and humidity controlled, which is why it’s filled with mostly argon and a very small amount of oxygen.”

  Magena heard footsteps. She then backed away with a puzzled look. “Wait. Something’s not...”

  She couldn’t finish her statement. At that precise moment, several men entered the room with automatic weapons. There were four of them and they were dressed in American camouflage fatigues with U.S. issue army boots. They had tan-colored ski masks on as well. A fifth man entered with what looked to be an ambulance gurney.

  Daniel and Magena pressed their backs up against the closest wall with their hands up. Daniel looked over the intruders and tried to find some kind of identifier.

  Three of the men kept their weapons trained on the priest and the two Americans, while the other two moved the gurney close to the shroud and pushed it on to it. They then secured the shroud case with several straps.

  Daniel couldn’t help but notice how the case was rolled easily through the opened doorway.

  “Blasphemers!” cried the priest, as he rushed toward one of the men.

  Automatic gunfire rang out and echoed throughout the room. Daniel and Magena put their hands over their ears and closed their eyes, as they fell to their knees.

  Their ears were still ringing several moments later, as fear coursed through both of them.

  Daniel opened one eye and saw that he and Magena were alone. Magena’s breathing was erratic, as she seemed in shock. The priest was lying still on the ground where he’d stood not too long before. There was blood on the ground coming from underneath his body.

  Daniel got up slowly and looked outside the open door. There was no trace of anyone, anywhere. He looked around the floor and noticed that one of the guns was placed a few feet away from the body of the priest. He walked over and tried to find a pulse, but the priest was dead.

  “Are you okay, Magena?”

  “Yes.”

  “We have to get out of here,” he said, as calmly as he could, while shaking at the same time. “We need to leave... now.”

  “What about him?” She began to cry. The tears that flowed were for the fallen man. “We can’t just leave him here!”

  “We have to.” He pointed at the gun. “Do you see that? That means that someone’s trying to pin this on us! Let’s include the fact that the Shroud of Turin has just been stolen! We’re going to get credit for that too! We have to get out of here!”

  She sobbed, not able to hold her emotions back. There was too much going on to remain calm. She said, “No! We did nothing wrong, Daniel! If we flee, then we look guilty! We must stay and let the authorities know what really happened!”

  Just then, the sounds of sirens broke the silence. Daniel looked around at the room they were in. “This is some kind of secret room and from the looks of it, I doubt anyone could have heard the gunshots because of how far underground we are. I’m also sure that the walls are really thick.”

  “What are you trying to say?” she asked, her voice quivering.

  A cold chill ran up his spine. He had a serious look on his face, for the first time in the brief time that they had known each other.

  “I’m scared,” she said. “I’ve always been the kind of person who was in charge of my emotions, but this situation is something that I could have never prepared myself for. I... still say we need to talk with the authorities. If we run, we might as well admit that we did it.”

  “I’m going. If you are coming, let’s go now.” Daniel narrowed his eyes at her and then ran out of the basement as fast as he could.

  Magena did nothing but look shocked as she sank to the floor. She was still there when she was arrested.

  SEVEN

  Magena sat quietly in the interrogation room.

  She couldn’t help but wonder if Daniel got away and what he would do with his freedom. She felt good about her decision to stay, but thought about what might have happened if she fled the scene.

  An older Italian officer walked into the room with a smile on his face. He was heavy set and wore more of a military uniform than a police one. He had a large handlebar mustache and a scar cutting diagonally through his left eyebrow. His hands were short and pudgy, but he had kind eyes.

  “Buona sera signorina. MI Capitano Andellini del Carabenieri Comando Legione e Valle D’Acosta Forze di Polizia.” His voice was coarse and he wheezed when he breathed.

  She looked at him and tried to understand what he just said to her. “I’m... sorry, Captain. My Italian is not very good at all.”

  He nodded. “Not a problem, miss.” He spoke broken English, but at least it was English. “I will talk slowly. It is mainly for my benefit to pronounce the words correctly.”

  “You’re doing really well,” she said, with some amazement.

  He looked as if he was looking for the right words. “If you please... give me your full name.”

  Magena cleared her throat and sat up straight. The fact that they had not put her in handcuffs made her want to work with them to get the answers they needed. She knew the truth was always the right way to go. “My name is Magena Night-cloud.”

  Captain Andellini’s smile faded. One brow raised and his lips puckered. “Okay. Thank you. Please state your business in Turin.”

  She tried to contain her nervousness, knowing that she had nothing to be nervous about. That still didn’t shake the feeling that she was going to be in trouble for something. “My business was to study the Shroud of Turin. I have a Master’s degree in Ancient History with a Minor in Biblical History. I had arranged by myself a meeting with the Roman Catholic Church’s representatives for a private viewing of the shroud.”

  The captain scoffed. “Really? So you must have some kind of strong connection to the church then, if you were able to get a private viewing.”

  She smiled. She was proud of herself for doing what needed to be done with what she believed to be no help from anyone. “Of course. It took quite a few months to get the information I needed to make the arrangements. Once I contacted the right people, it went fairly easy.”

  “You seem like a bright girl,” he said, with a forced smile. “Don’t you think it’s odd how easily you arranged the viewing? Not even the highest ranking officer in Italy can arrange a private viewing, without some kind of authorization from the Vatican.”

  Her heart sank again. Her mouth went dry, as she tried to put the pieces together, as to why she was given a private viewing. Especially on the day that the shroud would be stolen. She didn’t believe in coincidence. “Could I have some water, please?”

  “Yes! Yes! I will get some water!” Captain Andellini seemed too excited to get her what she needed. He exited the room and came back within moments with a bottle of water. “We keep this cold. Enjoy. Take your time.”

  Magena’s eyes never left his, as she took off the bottle cap and drank almost half of the refreshing contents. “Thank you. Like I said before, I did all of the research and have all of my contacts if you’d like to see them. I am very well organized and have all of the information I obtained to get the viewing.”

  “That would be helpful,” he said, looking somewhat relieved. “Anything tha
t could help this case would be beneficial to finding out exactly what happened.”

  She became agitated at all of the questions. She wasn’t guilty of anything but being at the wrong place at the wrong time. “I told the other man everything, before you came in. He spoke really good English.”

  The captain kept his smile on his face, even though his eyes told her something else. “I know. I was watching when he interviewed you. I am here to pick out the fine details and maybe catch something he didn’t.”

  She tilted her head to one side. “Let’s not play games, Captain. You just want to check to see if my story matches his. If I leave something out, or if I change something, then you’ll think I’m lying. One thing you don’t realize is that I’ve never been in trouble in my life and I didn’t start when I came to Turin. I know that there has been a theft, but because of my knowledge of the shroud, I can help you retrieve it.”

  That time, both brows rose. He definitely didn’t expect her to say that. “That is an interesting possibility.”

  “I do have to ask...” she added, confidently, “...am I being charged with anything, or can I leave?”

  “You are not being charged with anything, miss.” His eyes pierced right through her. “You and your boyfriend can leave anytime you’d like.”

  She wished she could have prevented the look of surprise. “My boyfriend?”

  “Yes,” he replied. “Daniel DiBenedetto? We caught him running out of the building. He obviously isn’t very good at running from the law.”

  She decided not to ask anything further about Daniel. “Thank you, Captain.”

  He nodded. “My pleasure. I just need to get you in contact with someone who will be handling this case... so you can help them out. If you still wish to help.”

  “Of course,” she responded, perhaps too quickly.

  “Give me a minute.” Captain Andellini left the room, giving Magena plenty to think about.

  When no one was looking, a nun slipped into the room. She asked, “Why are you here?”

  “I saw someone steal the shroud. Is that a crime?” Magena sighed. “Can you tell me what I am doing wrong?”

  “I doubt if that shroud was real. There are many copycats. During the Middle Ages, a practice called the sanctification of paintings permitted about 50 artists to paint replicas of the Shroud and then lay their paintings over the shroud to sanctify them. This permitted contact transfer of particles. Also, the cloth was rolled up so often when the shroud was opened for exhibit and closed again afterwards.

  “The images on it are scorch-like, yet not created by heat, and are a purely surface process limited to the crowns of the top fibers,” she continued. “The shroud is not a painting; no evidence was found. The blood was on the cloth before the image. That is an unlikely way for an artist to work. There is no evidence that paint, dye, ink, or chalk created the images, and there are no brush strokes. The images have no style that would fit into any period of art history, but show a perfect photo-negative and are three-dimensional.”

  “Thank you for the information.” The nun left as quickly as she entered. Captain Andellini returned and dismissed her.

  EIGHT

  Daniel was leaning against a light post outside the police station when Magena came out. The sun was almost gone from the Italian sky, as she looked at her traveling companion suspiciously.

  “You blame me for everything,” he said calmly.

  “How can you say that?” she asked, while not making eye contact. “There’s no proof of anything yet. That’s a great greeting, by the way. It’s obvious that running was futile. Were you cuffed?”

  “What do you think?” he replied, rubbing his wrists.

  She looked past Daniel and noticed a man in a long black robe standing across the street. He was glaring at them. He looked like a priest.

  She glanced away from the priest, without mentioning him. “There are some strange coincidences going on here and we are in the middle. We have to find out what’s going on. Were you told not to leave Turin?”

  He nodded. “Something’s not right. That’s for sure. I can’t get a break no matter what country I’m in.”

  She grabbed his arm and practically pulled him toward her. In a low voice, she said, “We need to go back to the hotel. Now! We can discuss everything there.”

  Daniel started at a hurried pace to match hers, as they rushed down the street. “You saw the monk across the street watching us?”

  “Priest,” she corrected. “There is a strong possibility that the Catholic Church may think we know something about the theft and the murder.”

  Daniel allowed his imagination to get the better of him, as he looked down each alley they passed for signs of someone following them. “We’re being set up, Mags. Everything had to be staged, because of the timing. We need to contact Alan.”

  “Dr. Cranston?” She nodded. “I will agree to that. He is the one who suggested that you come with me and he didn’t bother to tell me you were to be my new assistant. My guess is that he is mixed up somehow.”

  “Whatever.” He gave her a dirty look. “Yeah, we need to call him. That officer is supposed to meet us at the Jet Hotel. Maybe he can help us too.”

  “We’ll see,” she said. She felt a strong pain in her gut that told her the situation would get worse before it got better.

  ***

  The cab pulled up to the Jet Hotel. Magena paid the driver, as she and Daniel got out and hurried to their rooms.

  Magena used her key and was thankful that the door was still locked. She suspected that the police might have gone through her room.

  She immediately locked the door behind her and started to examine the room to see if anything was different. She looked for things pushed over and out of place.

  She was shaking with fear, as she felt some relief that her room hadn’t been ransacked. If someone did go through it, they were extremely careful not to disturb anything.

  Breathing a sigh of relief, she decided it would be best to change her clothes and take a shower before sitting down with Daniel to try to make sense of everything that had happened so far.

  ***

  Daniel stood in front of the door to his room for a few moments trying to decide whether to go in or not.

  He had his key in his hand, but after examining the door, he realized that he didn’t need it.

  The door was ajar about an inch and he assumed that it had been jimmied open. That ruled out the police in his mind. That meant someone else was involved. He didn’t think the Catholic Church would do that. He didn’t believe in much of anything, but he couldn’t imagine that they would break into his room.

  He took in a deep breath and pushed the door open slowly, while standing to one side; just in case someone opened fire on him.

  He had to be careful.

  Daniel started to nervously whistle to try to ease his nerves. When he entered, he closed the door as best as he could, and stood silent for a brief moment. He then tiptoed slowly through the living room and turned into the bedroom.

  He entered and looked carefully to either side of the doorway, before walking through to the bathroom.

  The bathroom light was on and since the sun was setting, it was starting to be hard to see anything that wasn’t illuminated by the 40-watt bulb.

  He turned on the bedroom light and didn’t move, expecting something or someone to jump out and try to knock him over the head. He shook his head while forcing a chuckle.

  Too much late night television.

  As he looked around, he felt safer than when he first entered the room. There was a knock on the door. He jumped in fear—startled. But he managed to collect his thoughts and walk back into the living room.

  He was convinced in his mind that it was Magena. He believed it was time to call Alan, but he wanted her there too, just in case she had any questions. He did wonder why she didn’t give him a harder time about running though. Maybe she wasn’t as bad as he originally thought.

&
nbsp; He smiled as he pulled open the door. “Hey Mags!” He stopped short when Magena was not the female on the other side.

  There was a short, older woman, dressed in a uniform with the Jet Motel logo on the upper right corner of her top. She had a cart with her filled with all kinds of cleaning supplies. “Housekeeping,” she said with a smile, with her broken English and strong Italian accent. “I was here earlier and cleaned your room, because you didn’t have a sign on the door knob. I hope everything is to your satisfaction.”

  Daniel managed to catch his breath, after the shock of seeing someone other than his new partner. “Yes. It looks immaculate. Thank you. Although, I find it quite strange that you would come back just to tell me that you cleaned my room. That’s some crazy good customer service.”

  She looked confused. “I’m sorry. I came back to tell you that I let in an officer of the law to your room. He showed me his badge, so I had to let him in. I was hoping that he would have left some sort of message for you that he was here.”

  Daniel could feel the cold chill all over his body. Without the safety net of his parents, he was literally all alone. That thought scared him enough, but add to it the fact that he was caught up in something unnatural and he allowed the fear to take precedence.

  “Did... you...” He cleared his throat. “...get a name of this officer?”

  “My memory’s not so good,” she said, in a disappointed tone. “He acted like more of a friend than it being on business, but since he was an officer, I had to let him in. No matter what.”

  “Do you remember anything he said?” Daniel felt a tightness in the pit of his stomach.

  She thought for a moment and then said, “He said something about being your partner and that he needed to leave you a message. Did you find his message?”

  Daniel’s eyes widened, as he glared back into the room wondering what possible message the supposed officer left for him. “Thank you,” he said, without turning toward her.