“Yes,” said Maetrich. “And there isn’t much time.”
Dame Leonie looked at her watch again. “Give me two minutes. Then be prepared.” She would not allow herself to say for what.
“It might be better if—” Maetrich said.
“He asked me to arrange for him to speak with the Pope as soon as she arrives. I think he will come with me.” She made expression pleasant once more. “There is a sitting room on the floor below. I’ll attempt to get him there.”
“Let me assign someone to come with you,” Maetrich requested as he recovered himself.
She favored him with her most polite smile. “We both know that would not be wise.” As she walked away from Maetrich she once again realized how much her feet hurt.
Cardinal Gemme was attempting to engage Jaime, Cardinal O’Higgins in a discussion of the dramatic political changes that had just taken place in Mexico. Neither man was prepared to listen to what the other had to say, and as a result they were doing little more than trading rhetoric.
“Cardinal Gemme, I wonder if I might have a little of your time,” said Dame Leonie, pleased that her voice sounded normal to her.
He looked over at her. “Yes?”
“You made a request of me a bit earlier?” Had he not been a Cardinal, she would have slipped her arm through his, but she was sure that this was more than Cardinal Gemme would tolerate. “If you will come with me?”
Cardinal O’Higgins gave a relieved gesture. “Please. Don’t let me keep you.” He had an empty champagne flute in his left hand, and this he held up. “Another time, Cardinal Gemme.”
As he followed Dame Leonie, Cardinal Gemme spoke softly, “The Pope?”
“I have a room on the floor below where you may speak privately with her. Once she arrives here, I doubt I would be able to find a way to assure your privacy.” Does that sound reasonable? she wondered. Or would he suspect the ploy as what it was?
“I am grateful,” said Cardinal Gemme energetically. “I knew you would arrange something suitable.”
“Something suitable?” she echoed. “I hope it may be.” She chose the rear stairs as the route to the floor below, the ones used by the waiters; with luck Cardinal Gemme would pay little attention to the staff. “I have inferred that you did not want your meeting with the Pope to be noted?”
“Yes. It must be in confidence,” said Cardinal Gemme sounding more excited than before. “How well you understand.”
Dame Leonie could find no word to answer him. As they reached the corridor on the lower floor, she pointed ahead and to the left. “It’s the second door. I’ll arrange for someone to watch, so you will not be disturbed.”
There was something in Cardinal Gemme’s scarred face that belied the civility of his words. “I was expecting you to remain with us. It wouldn’t be fitting for the Pope to be unchaperoned, not at such a function.” He stood so that Dame Leonie had to enter the room ahead of him, and once she was inside, he closed the door behind them. “I’m sure you agree?”
“You indicated this was to be confidential,” said Dame Leonie, taking pride in the ordinariness of her voice; she wanted to scream. “Surely you don’t want a”—she almost said witness—“…an interloper here?”
In the distance there was the sound of sirens. Both of them turned toward the tall windows.
“She’s coming,” said Cardinal Gemme, his face brightening. “At last.”
Dame Leonie heard the madness in his voice for the first time, and her courage all but failed her. “I am expected to greet her,” she said, panting on the last word.
“There are those who will attend to that,” said Cardinal Gemme.
Dame Leonie set her jaw and tried again. “If I don’t speak to her, she will not know to come here.”
“Inform one of the staff,” said Cardinal Gemme, his voice suddenly so cold that Dame Leonie shivered. “That is what they are here for.”
It was all she could do not to tremble. “All right,” she said as if speaking to a savage dog. She went on with care, as if Cardinal Gemme might not understand English. “I will give instructions, if that is satisfactory?”
“At once.” He had gone to the windows where he could watch the street below. “Listen to that. They shriek like the damned.”
As Dame Leonie opened the door, she stared at Axel Maetrich. “Cardinal Gemme wishes to speak with Pope An before she joins the others. He and I will be waiting here.” She regarded him for several seconds, knowing he could say nothing, but suddenly desperate for some sign of reassurance.
“You and he?” said Maetrich.
“Cardinal Gemme very sensibly doesn’t wish to make it appear that he is meeting Pope An in a clandestine manner.” She caught her lower lip between her teeth. “He’s asked me to…stay here.”
“Very good, Madame,” said Maetrich, and started away from the door.
Dame Leonie raised her voice a little. “You will deliver the message to Pope An?”
“The moment she arrives,” Maetrich assured her.
“That young priest is a very good coordinator,” said Cardinal Gemme unexpectedly. “You’re fortunate to have his services.”
“Yes,” said Dame Leonie, her attention distracted by the first sounds of the arrival of Pope An. Three motorcycles provided the advance escort, and as they fell silent the sounds of deeper sirens grew louder.
“Her humility does not extend to travel,” Cardinal Gemme observed in a flat tone. “But Jesus said little about modern transportation. I suppose she can decide what’s best to do without going back to the Gospels.” He turned away abruptly and directed his baleful gaze to Dame Leonie. “You approve of her, don’t you? You’re mesmerized along with the rest.”
“It doesn’t matter what I think, since I am not Catholic,” said Dame Leonie.
“The whole world is deceived,” said Cardinal Gemme. “I was deceived with them, but I have been saved from myself, through Grace.” His hand strayed to the ugly weal running from his cheek to his jaw; only after he had touched his scar did he cross himself. “God demands sacrifice where there is sin. The greater the sin, the greater the sacrifice.”
“Cardinal Gemme,” said Dame Leonie with an effort, “perhaps it would be better to arrange another time for your discussion with Pope An. You have much on your mind, and it could be that you require—”
He rounded on her without warning. “Be silent,” he said very softly. “You are in a sacred place.”
Her mouth was dry and she was cold to the bone. She stepped back from him, no longer able to maintain her pretense that there was nothing strange about Cardinal Gemme’s behavior. “Eminence, please,” she whispered.
“There is no more Eminence. The Pope has ended Eminences.” He took up his post at the windows again. “Ah. There is the limousine. Six more motorcycles for escort. Who is deceived? She is a warlord surrounded by soldiers. They must bring their own light to find their way in the darkness,” he added contemptuously as the four stands of bright security lights were set up at regular intervals along the street.
“Perhaps she has reason to protect herself,” said Dame Leonie, chiding herself for her folly as she spoke.
“God will not be denied His vengeance. If she surrounded herself with tanks and warheads, she would not escape her pride.” He slipped his hand under his jacket. “It is a glorious thing to gain a martyr’s crown.”
She needed every bit of her will to keep from throwing herself on Cardinal Gemme. Dame Leonie knotted her hands in her skirt and ground her teeth, but still the desire to bash in Cardinal Gemme’s skull remained. As if from a great distance she heard herself say, “Give it up, Eminence. Don’t do this.”
Cardinal Gemme did not laugh, and for that Dame Leonie was thankful; his smile was ghastly enough. He stood at the windows, watching the limousine pull to the entrance, watching the men of her escort open the passenger door. “We will be delivered from evil, as God promised, but we will have to show that it is our desire to be de
livered.”
Pope An was on the narrow sidewalk now, her simple black silk clothing as familiar as her serene features. She spoke briefly to her chauffeur, then looked toward the entry arch.
“What do you think?” asked Cardinal Gemme with detached curiosity. “Does she know she is the agent of Satan?”
Dame Leonie was unable to speak.
Dionigi Stelo and four of his assistants came through the archway and took up the task of escorting Pope An.
“Not much longer, Dame Leonie,” said Cardinal Gemme. “God will forgive you for helping her; you are an ignorant woman, and it is not your fault that you believed what you were told. Women are always prey to attractive deception, and Satan uses this weakness even as God forgives it.”
This slighting remark goaded Dame Leonie out of her fear. She prepared herself for action, aware that there would be one chance and one chance only to save herself. She stepped out of her torturous shoes, prepared to run when she could, then bent down to retrieve one of them.
Cardinal Gemme swung around toward her. “What are you doing?” he demanded.
“My feet hurt,” she said honestly. “I’m taking off my shoes. I want to see if there is anything wrong inside them.” She indicated the high-heeled dress pump in her hand. “Do I have your permission?”
He was no longer listening. He had cocked his head, intent on the first footfalls from the floor below.
Dame Leonie held the shoe in her hand, turning it over slowly. The heel was very narrow, elegant and hard to balance on. She felt it, tried bending it, and was satisfied that the core was steel. Careless of her nails she began to peel back the guard at the base of the heel, exposing the metal.
A few sharp orders were heard as more feet came up the stairs. Cardinal Gemme left the window and went to the door, standing beside it, listening.
While Dame Leonie finished her task, she thought, I cannot believe I am doing this. I cannot believe that I am preparing to attack Cardinal Gemme. But she could not believe that Cardinal Gemme was mad enough to carry explosives on his body, to plan to ambush Pope An. She pulled away the last bit of guard. Now she had to choose the moment.
Someone called out and the steady progress of footsteps was halted. The shuffle and confusion that replaced the upward march was ominous.
“Soon, very soon,” said Cardinal Gemme, his hand still under his jacket. “There will be an end to the reign of the Antichrist.”
Dame Leonie closed her eyes. She had to strike and immobilize at the same time; for as long as Cardinal Gemme could reach the trigger, he could set off his deadly package. As sensible as it might be she knew she could not bring herself to strike at his head, for she was not capable of killing him. There had to be another target.
There were footsteps in the hall now, approaching the door.
Dame Leonie rushed forward, her shoe raised. She brought the heel down with all the force she possessed, and to her horror felt, after a minor resistance, the steel sink deep into the muscle where his neck joined his shoulder.
Cardinal Gemme screamed and struck out, his clenched hand slamming into the side of Dame Leonie’s head as his blood welled over his jacket and shirt, spattering the wall and the floor as he swung his arm again. His scream turned to a howl as he fell against the doorframe.
Dame Leonie staggered, sickened and dizzied.
There were shouts and running footsteps now. The door was flung open and Axel Maetrich stumbled through, a pistol in his hand, three men crouched behind him with weapons at the ready.
More men appeared in the hall, all holding pistols or tazers. Dionigi Stelo was among them, and he rapped out orders to the Vatican Security men, insisting that they remain where they were.
Cardinal Gemme started to whoop with pain and rage.
Axel Maetrich lowered his pistol. He stood over Cardinal Gemme, ignoring the Vatican Security weapons that were suddenly trained on him. He signaled to one of his Eurocops. “Grab his arms. Don’t let him touch anything. He’s carrying a bomb.”
Dionigi Stelo could not let this go unchallenged. “This is Cardinal Gemme. He is not some anarchist, he is a Prince of the Church.”
“And he’s carrying a bomb,” said Maetrich again. “We have proof. Don’t go near him, and don’t allow him to move.” Maetrich’s second moved close enough to Cardinal Gemme to stop any attempt he might make to start the fuse of his bomb.
“Someone get a doctor,” called Stelo. “The Cardinal is bleeding.” He watched in dismay as the red stain spread. He signaled one of his men to get moving. “Keep your mouth shut about this. Just bring the doctor and leave the rest to me.”
Maetrich was beside Dame Leonie now, his arm across her back. “You’ll be all right, Madame,” he said with great formality. “When I agreed to let you handle this, I didn’t expect anything quite like.…”
Dame Leonie was queasy now, and her head had not stopped ringing. She swayed, as much from shock as from hurt. “I didn’t think…Dear God, there’s so much blood.”
“You did a fine job,” Maetrich assured her in a low voice. “You were fine.”
Looking down, Dame Leonie saw that her skirt was dappled red, and she shuddered at the sight. “I must…I’ll have to change.” Her voice faded and she wobbled on her feet.
Maetrich held her up. “Not yet, Dame Leonie. There’s a little more to take care of.” He guided her to one of the low-slung chairs and helped her into it. “Take it easy. We’ll handle everything. We’ll remove Cardinal Gemme in a moment.”
There was another flurry of excitement at the door, and then Pope An came into the room. She looked first at Cardinal Gemme, now half-conscious and pale against the wall. She muttered a few words in Chinese, which caused Dame Leonie to glance up. “What has happened here?” the Pope inquired, looking directly at Dame Leonie.
“I…Cardinal Gemme…doesn’t seem himself,” Dame Leonie said weakly.
“Apparently not,” said Pope An, looking around a second time, this time turning her attention to Axel Maetrich. “What is this all about?”
Maetrich paid no heed to the angry glare Stelo shot in his direction.
“Cardinal Gemme is carrying explosives. A reinforced police van is on its way.”
“Really?” Pope An looked toward him. “How did you discover this?”
“There was…there was a timely warning,” said Maetrich.
“How very fortunate,” said Pope An dryly.
Though she had started to shake uncontrollably, Dame Leonie made herself speak. “Someone…a guest…informed me of the problem. I suggested that the Cardinal be discreetly checked, to determine if it was true. When it was established that he was carrying explosives, we selected a course of action.” She pressed her hands together, attempting to use the tension from that to stop trembling. “He was planning to kill you. And himself.”
“And you as well, it appears,” said Pope An. She moved a little nearer to Cardinal Gemme. “What an unexpected weapon.”
Maetrich stepped between Cardinal Gemme and Pope An. “Best to keep your distance,” he said.
Pope An obligingly moved back a step or two. “This is not to become another scandal,” she said to Maetrich, then motioned to Stelo. “Cardinal Gemme is to have the best protection. See to it.”
Dame Leonie started to ask a question, then thought better of it. Some other time, she thought. Some other time.
From where he lay, Cardinal Gemme began a steady, whimpering whine like the complaint of an abused puppy. His face was pasty but for the scar, which had gone raspberry bright.
“We’ll see he gets back to the Vatican without incident,” Stelo assured the Pope. “We’ll use closed vehicles and—”
“Back to the Vatican?” she repeated. “Oh, no, Stelo, I fear you have misunderstood me. I wish you to keep guard on him, so that he is not pestered by the newspeople. You cannot bring him to the Vatican unless the court allows it.” She looked around and saw Axel Maetrich in his priest’s disguise. “Sergeant
, you have jurisdiction here. You must take Cardinal Gemme in charge. Stelo will accompany you, if that is satisfactory?”
Maetrich stared at Pope An. “You will not protest?”
“I?” said Pope An. “My authority does not extend to Roman law, Sergeant. Cardinal Gemme committed his crimes in Rome, not the Vatican, and as such he must be dealt with under Roman law.” She moved toward Dame Leonie. “If you think it necessary, have our protection given to Dame Leonie. Otherwise we must permit the Eurocops to do their work.”
“Then we had best leave the room to them,” said Dionigi Stelo, his features rigid with disapproval. “Since you will not permit us to do our work.”
Pope An met his eyes directly. “I most certainly will permit you do to your work. What I will not allow is for you to do the work of Eurocops and Interpol. As a Magistrate, I respect the limits of the law.” Her attention shifted to Axel Maetrich. “Pay attention to what I say. You will not be allowed to encroach on the work of Vatican security.”
Finally Dame Leonie stopped shaking, and a profound lethargy stole upon her.
“As you say, Madame,” Maetrich agreed. He signaled to one of his men. “Accompany the Pope upstairs. And one of you, take Dame Leonie to a quiet place where she can recover. And ask her to make a preliminary report.”
Dame Leonie roused herself from this torpor that threatened to overcome her. “There is a study on this floor, if that will do,” she said, doing her best to restore a more normal tone to this most abnormal situation. As she started toward the door she was pleasantly astonished to find that her legs would support her. She also realized that she was still barefoot, and felt a rush of embarrassment that was as senseless as it was intense.
“Dame Leonie,” said Pope An as she came up to her, “I am most humbly grateful to you for your courage. Without you, I fear many of these men would be injured, and I might well be dead.” She bowed formally, adding in Chinese, “I am in your debt.”
“No, no,” said Dame Leonie, shocked that Pope An would think such a thing; she would have protested more had the physician not arrived with Eurocop escort to tend to Cardinal Gemme and the police cleared the room of everyone but Dionigi Stelo, Axel Maetrich, the physician, and the whimpering Cardinal.
Magnificat Page 55
