The Lost Treasure of the Templars
Page 44
That was nothing like what had actually happened, but as a spur-of-the-moment improvization, he thought it was quite inventive, and almost believable.
The interpreter stared across the table, his eyes moving from one man to the other; then he nodded, turned and disappeared behind the screens at the far end of the room. The sound of muffled voices could be heard. After about half a minute, he returned.
“We applaud your quick thinking, though my employer does not believe you for a moment. You took the other two objects, intending to keep them for yourselves. However, that is not important because you did recover what you were paid to find. Now we have one other question for you.” The interpreter pointed at the single sheet of parchment lying by itself on the table. “What is that?” he asked.
The two men stared at the object.
“I’ve no idea,” Dragan replied. “I’ve never seen it before. We picked up the two sets of manuscripts from the display case and took nothing else from that room.”
“That was at the back of the Tasso collection, but it is obviously not a part of it.”
Dragan shrugged. “Sorry. I’ve no idea.”
“Very well. You have already received half of the agreed fee, and later today we will pay you the remainder, once you have completed one further task for us.”
“That was not a part of our arrangement,” Dragan replied. “We were to carry out the theft, deliver the goods to you and then we were to be paid.”
“But you’ve already broken your part of the agreement by stealing these two other items. My employer is a fair man, and he has agreed you may retain the enamel box and the additional sheet of parchment and try to sell them if you wish. Call it a bonus. And the additional task we want you to perform is very, very simple, but we will be watching you to make sure that you complete it exactly as we order. You are to take the crown and the two manuscripts, place them in a secure metal container we will provide and then throw them away at the precise time and place that we tell you.”
“What? I don’t understand.”
“You don’t need to. You just need to do what we ask.”
* * *
Five days later, the man who had organized and paid for the apparently pointless burglary in the Vatican left Italy in his chauffeur-driven car. Hidden in a secret pocket in one of his sets of matching suitcases were the two original manuscripts, handwritten by Petrarch and Tasso, which he would store securely in his extensive collection of ancient relics as soon as he got back home.
In the meantime, from what he’d been able to gather from the newspaper reports in Italy, Vatican officials appeared quite satisfied that the first-class forgeries he’d commissioned the previous year were actually the real thing, dumped by amateur burglars who got cold feet. All in all, and despite the somewhat unexpected greed of the two burglars he’d employed, it had been one of his most successful collecting expeditions.
About the Author
James Becker spent more than twenty years in the Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm and served during the Falklands War. Throughout his military career he was involved in covert operations and numerous classified projects. He is an accomplished combat pistol shot and has an abiding interest in ancient and medieval history. His previous novels are The First Apostle, The Moses Stone, The Messiah Secret, The Nosferatu Scroll, Echo of the Reich and The Lost Testament.
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