Shrouded In Silence

39





Rome still buzzed with disquieting rumblings in the streets. Bombings and shootings hadn't ever been the order of the day and the locals worried about what might happen next. In his day, Benito Mussolini had once strutted around town, but no one fired at him. Pickpockets and petty adolescents pulling off heists on tourists were run-of-the-mill, but that was about it except for an occasional crime of passion. These expectations changed with the explosion and persistent assaults on the Townsends that had given them a near celebrity status with the tabloids. Newspapers picked up from somewhere photos of Jack in bed in the hospital with Michelle at his bedside and splashed the scene across the front pages. Paparazzi hovered around their apartment, making it increasingly difficult to complete their work in private. The attacks had turned into a circus with onlookers hovering nearby for a peek at whatever went by when the parade came marching through.

Guido had started entering the Townsends' apartment through the alley, which kept him out of the line of view of the gawkers and allowed him to enter their flat unobserved. A freshly grown beard had changed his appearance enough that he wasn't immediately recognizable.

On this morning, Michelle opened the back door to the apartment and let Guido in. "I see you've escaped the procession rolling down the street this morning."

"How could something so conventional as scholarly research in a library have turned into such a freak show?"

"Bizarre," Michelle said. "Come in and take a look at what's waiting in the living room."

Guido flinched. "I'm almost afraid to ask what's in there."

"I think you'll like this one," she said.

Jack Townsend sat on the couch with his feet propped on a small stool. The plaster cast had vanished, and his arm hung leisurely in a cloth sling. "Well, our ol' exploration buddy is here."

"Good heavens!" Guido said. "You've escaped the jail."

"Getting out of immobilization in plaster was a gift from heaven. I can get around like a normal human being again."

"You have to keep the arm in a sling?"

"For probably another week," Jack said. "But I'm back on my feet and ready to work. Still got a few blind spots, but most of my memory is working again. Unfortunately, I don't remember a thing about what happened the day of the explosion and much of what Dov and I discussed. Outside of those important areas, I think that I'm back in the saddle. We'll have to see."

"Excellent," Guido said. "Do you feel safe talking this morning?"

"I thought we might push the small kitchen table onto the balcony and let the sunlight shine on us," Michelle said. "Traffic noise in the street ought to cover us even if some eavesdropping device is around here, but the police checked every room. We're covered."

"I'll help pull the table over to the open area," Guido said. "Then we can get down to business."

Michelle and Guido carried the table toward the small balcony. She placed steaming coffee mugs before them and the threesome let the morning sun settle over them.

"Feels so good to sit in the sun," Jack said. "I had a hard time getting adjusted to the hospital. Not an easy place to like. For the last month, I've been inside for such long hours that this morning feels like a stroll down the beach."

"The police almost drove me crazy questioning me over and over about the shooting in the crypt," Michelle said. "They hinted that we might be in some nefarious activity we weren't admitting. It was hard for them to believe we were only scholars trying to go about our business without bothering anyone. Then, these maniacs with cameras started popping up." She pointed to two men standing next to a light pole in front of the apartment building. "Those guys are part of the shutterbug club that now meets on our doorstep."

"Rome has an inordinate taste for the sensational," Guido said. "I'm afraid they won't go away until this struggle subsides."

"What does that mean for our search?" Jack said.

"I've given that considerable thought," Guido said. "On one hand, we could stop everything that we are doing and let the ruckus fade away. The option of retreating into solitude sounds highly inviting. On the other hand, I don't believe your enemies will stop trying to assault you. Whether it's the Vatican or terrorists with dynamite, I think they'll be after you until this project is finished. Moreover, this Scorpion group doesn't seem to be in a mood to retrieve their stinger either. So, who are the bad boys?"

Jack rubbed his chin and stared down into the street. "It's simply beyond me to figure out who these scumbags actually are. I don't know how to answer your question."

"Me either," Michelle said.

Guido took a long sip of coffee. "Therefore, I must answer my own query. We don't know who the culprits are. Therefore, I believe we must act at once to protect you as well as the fragment ending to the Gospel of Mark."

"Excellent! If nothing else, I'm in better shape to be of some value in a hunt than I was a week ago." Jack shook the sling. "Let's go get 'em."

"Before we start down the trail, let me tell you more about the Laterani family history," Guido said. "The period of the Crusades that began in 1067 came in the midst of a time of economic peril. Between 970 and 1040, there were forty-eight years of famine. From l085 to 1095, the problem became even worse. These troubled times produced a deepening of religious feeling. It was a combination of economic struggle with the adventurous call to purify the Holy Land that started the Crusades."

"Agreed," Michelle said. "We've studied the popes from Hildebrand through the Latin Patriarch of Constantinople. We know a considerable amount about the battle with the Muslims during those times of struggle. Jack and I studied this period in history."

"What few people know was that the Laterani family was a major force during the Crusades. Much like the Templars, they were entrusted as depositors of treasure captured during these holy wars. We kept the treasures here in Rome, and much of it was stored around the Church of San Giovanni in Laterano. Because these treasures amounted to a vast amount of wealth, it was important that their security be ensured. During this period, my family changed their name to De Lateran as a protection against attack."

"Fascinating," Jack said. "So your ancestors accumulated a highly significant amount of wealth during this period."

"To put it mildly! We became one of the wealthiest families in Italy. Of course, the Laterani family already had accrued considerable affluence before this period. However, it was during this time of concealing the treasures taken in the Crusades, that they hid the ending of Mark's Gospel in its present location and it became our family's most precious secret."

"It's been there all these years?" Michelle asked.

"Never touched."

"Do you think the document has deteriorated?" Jack ask.

"I honestly don't know. When we take it out of hiding, we'll be the first to find out in a thousand years."

"I'm ready!" Jack shook his good fist in the air. "Let's go get it!"

"Easy there, Superman," Michelle said. "We don't want to have to put you back in a cast again."

"And that is exactly why we must deal with this matter in complete secrecy," Guido said. "I don't want anyone getting killed. Even with possible danger, I believe this is the hour for us to strike. I think tomorrow morning would be a good time to start out."

"Oh, man!" Jack exclaimed. "This adventure is beyond my wildest dreams!"

"In the morning, I will show up with an old Jeep to make us look obscure, and we will drive to the location I mentioned. Only then will I tell you where we are going."

"I am overwhelmed." Michelle slumped back in her chair. "We are standing on the threshold of one of those great historical moments that could change everything."

"Everything." Guido looked pensively out over the street. "Absolutely everything."



Klaus Burchel slid back from the top of the building directly across the thoroughfare from the Townsends' apartment. The International MicroPower WM-1 had been modified to pick up what was discussed across the street with great precision. Klaus wore a small earphone to monitor the transmission going straight to Stein's van.

When the windows were closed, Burchel picked up nothing, but on a bright day when the Townsends opened the shutters, he picked up enough bits and pieces to get the drift of a conversation. Today's exchange on the balcony had been extraordinary. Every piece of their chatting with Valentino came through like going to the movies.

"Did you get all that?" Burchel said into a cell phone.

"Absolutely," Albert Stein said.

"I think tomorrow we'll be waiting out front for the Jeep to show up," Burchel said.

"Without question," Stein answered.