Shrouded In Silence

35





The early morning November sun rose with a warm, pleasant glow. By the time Guido Valentino had arrived at the Townsend's apartment, the magazine and newspaper vendors were hard at work on the streets. Children filed by on their way to school and a few privileged women walked their well-groomed dogs down the sidewalk. A gentle wind whistled down the streets, sending scraps of paper swirling along the curbs. As has been the daily fare for three thousand years, another day had begun in Rome.

The threesome sat around the small coffee table in the Townsend's apartment. Michelle handed Guido a cup of coffee and set another cup in front of Jack.

"After your jarring revelation, I don't know what to call you," Michelle said. "Is it Guido or should we call you Jonas De Lateran?"

"Let me first establish an important fact. Do you know that your apartment isn't bugged?"

"The police told us that they did a thorough electronic search of everything around here and assured us that nothing is wired," Jack said. "They are maintaining surveillance of this apartment. I hope we can trust their judgment."

"Good. Please keep calling me Guido Valentino. It is important that I keep my identity a secret. Since we do not know who is behind these attempts on your lives, we must assume something sinister is afoot and some scoundrel could slip by us. I have to protect my own family."

"Of course," Jack said. "We will honor your wishes."

"You have a pack of crazies out there with an intense interest in what you are doing," Guido said. "We can't discount any of them."

Jack nodded his head solemnly.

"The Vatican has a most checkered history of intrigue," Guido said. "Lately we have the sexual abuse scandals in the United States coupled with financial malfeasance from massive bank deals. Of course, we always have the Inquisition lurking in the background with Pope Sixtus IV sending King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella on a rampage chasing the Jews out of Spain. We still have scholars claiming Pope Pius XII did nothing to stop the World War II persecution of the Jews. The latest hot stories connect the mafia with the Vatican and include the claims of murder in the death of Pope Paul VI in 1978. There's a Vatican that you see; there's a Vatican that you don't see."

"I am highly aware of these contradictions," Jack said. "You're suggesting that someone in a robe is coming after us?"

"I'm only laying out the facts. It's not impossible that the Vatican has someone who's highly upset about your man Dov Sharon searching for The Prologue of James as I've heard you call it. It's enough to send someone after you."

"I still can't remember what Dov told me about where documents are hidden, but I think he did. I get your point, Guido."

"We still got that sweetheart of a gorilla named Albert Stein whom I caught walking through the ruins of your wrecked offices," Guido said. "Think he's incapable of chasing you?"

"Got your point," Michelle said nervously. "I don't like running through the catalog of creeps. Your point is that we keep your name under wraps."

"Yes," Guido said. "I'll go on being no more than your assistant Guido Valentino."

"The issue is settled," Jack said lowering his voice. "Let's start discussing what it means that your family had the original ending to Mark's Gospel. You didn't finish the story."

Guido took a sip of coffee and leaned back in his chair. "Saint John in Lateran is the oldest and ranks first among the four great patriarchal basilicas of Rome. The Laterani family occupied the site in ancient times. Sextius Laterani was the first plebian to attain the rank of consul. However, during the reign of Nero, Plautius Laterani was accused of conspiracy against the emperor and his goods were confiscated. We believe it had to do with Plautius hiding the lost portion of the Gospel of Mark, but we can't be for sure. We do know the Laterani family never gave up the document."

"Fascinating," Michelle said. "That fits with why the Laterani name kept popping up in our research to find the original ending to Mark."

"The original church that Constantine built carried the name Basilica Salvatorius, which was later changed to St. John because of a Benedictine monastery of St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist which adjoined the basilica," Guido explained. "Through the centuries donations by popes and benefactors turned the church into a place of splendor, and it was called for a time Basilica Aurea or the Golden Church. Consequently, when the Vandals attacked Rome, they stripped the church of its splendor. The church had to be rebuilt several times through subsequent centuries. The current edifice has a somewhat tasteless appearance. It was rebuilt by Innocent X after the Avignon captivity of the papacy in France. When the pope returned, the city was nearly deserted and the church left in ruins. Nevertheless, the ancient apse with fourth-century mosaics survived all those assaults until late 1878 when the apse was destroyed to enlarge the area around it. However, the mosaics remained and are still in the church."

"That's amazing," Michelle said. "You've carried this extraordinary history with you for all these years."

"It's part of my family's story. We have a unique relationship to that church."

"Indeed you do." Jack carefully shifted the weight of his heavy arm cast around. "How does this mesh with what happened to the ending of Mark's Gospel?"

"When the story started in the first century, my family were not Christians. Apparently, with time, this changed. They came to treasure the fragment in their possession without realizing how priceless it was. Only after several centuries did they fully recognize what they had. By then, political intrigue had entered the church and touched its leadership. Revealing what they had kept hidden might have had dangerous repercussions for my ancestors. Consequently, they concealed the parchment in an unusual place and told no one except family members."

"Only your family knew?" Michelle asked.

"Only the inner circle of our family. It became our guarded secret carefully handed down from generation to generation through the centuries."

"And now you have brought this information to us," Jack said.

"I have come to the conclusion that it is time to release this treasure to the world. From all that I have learned about the two of you, I believe you will deal with this revelation in a manner that honors our family and its diligence through the many centuries."

"We are profoundly honored," Jack said. "Can you tell us now where this fragment can be found?"

Guido shook his head. "If for some reason we are wire tapped or someone overheard what we have just said, all chaos would break loose. We must take this journey a step at a time. Only as I know each piece in the puzzle is safe will I reveal where the next piece can be found. This will protect you as well. No one can come after you because you won't know."

"My, my," Michelle said. "We're in on a mystery scavenger hunt."

"I'm afraid so," Guido said. "I don't see any other way to keep us safe."

"I guess that puts you in the driver's seat," Jack said. "I'm still on the lame side, but Michelle is already back at work."

"They've moved our offices inside Santa Maria Church in a back room," Michelle said. "The new priest was gracious enough to allow us to work inside. We had a significant amount of material destroyed in the blast, but the books and papers that remained have been stacked in the new offices. I am still trying to get everything back in order, and it'll take a while to do so."

"OK," Guido said. "I will start work in those offices."

Michelle smiled. "You bet. We're ready for that next big step."