Adrian D'Hage - The Omega scroll

‘Another reason for my call, Daniel.’

A few minutes later Cardinal Petroni replaced the receiver. As he had been for the story on the peace ceremony, Petroni was confident the damaging story on Donelli would also get a run. Given Donelli’s statements from Jerusalem, the story would seem quite plausible, even if it were subsequently found not to be true. Timing was everything and the information would be released just before all the cardinals were locked in the conclave to ensure any of those loyal to Donelli would not have time to offer anything by way of rebuttal. Petroni smiled. He could almost feel the Keys to Peter in his pocket.

Jerusalem

Geraldine headed back towards the news room and dialled the new mobile number she’d been given for Tom.

‘New number, Tom?’

‘The old one’s playing up,’ he said, not mentioning that the technician who had examined his mobile had found it loaded with Semtex.

‘We’re going to kick off with the usual backgrounder,’ she said, ‘then we’ll cross to you.’ The pair ran through the standard bulletin preamble and five minutes later Geraldine was on air with Tom keeping ten million viewers up to date on the bomb blast.

‘Welcome back to our live coverage of the latest bombing in Jerusalem,’ Geraldine began. ‘Shortly we’ll be crossing to our correspondent Tom Schweiker for what we understand will be a major announcement.’

The four most senior members of the new Liberal Justice Party, including the Party’s elder statesman and Deputy Prime Minister, Gideon Wiesel, filed in to the medical superintendent’s office in a sombre mood and one by one they offered their condolences. Gideon looked first at his colleagues and then at David.

‘I hope you don’t mind, David, but we have had an informal meeting and we have a proposal to put to you.’ His old eyes reflected a mixture of sadness at what had happened and hope for the future.

David nodded.

‘It falls to me, for the moment, to take over the prime minister-ship. The opposition parties are prepared to support that and will not insist that the government resign, and for the time being that will provide some stability. I agreed with everything your father stood for, but I am an old man and more accustomed to working behind the scenes than in front of the lights and cameras. We have scheduled a meeting one month from now which will allow an appropriate period for memorials and reflection, but it is our intention to put one name forward for election to replace your father as Prime Minister of Israel. Judging from the responses from those we have had a chance to talk to, it will be unanimous.’

After the delegation had left them alone in the medical superintendent’s office Allegra put her arms around David and held him for what seemed like a very long time. David quietly wept on her shoulder.

‘I’m going to miss them so much,’ he whispered.

Allegra wiped his eyes, and David smiled grimly. ‘Thank you,’ he said. ‘You do realise that your life is never going to be the same again.’

‘I’m with you all the way, David. I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life,’ she said, her own eyes misty with tears.

‘Well, the media awaits. Something that I’m afraid we’ll both have to get used to.’

Dr David Kaufmann and Dr Allegra Bassetti took their place beside Gideon Wiesel in front of the huge media contingent outside the hospital’s main entrance. It was David who spoke first, a significant moment not lost on the Israeli nation.

‘It is with great sadness that I announce the death of my father, the Prime Minister of Israel, Professor Yossi Kaufmann, and my mother, Marian, his wife of many, many years,’ David said, pausing to regain his composure.

‘I have lost a great father and a wonderful mother,’ he said, ‘and Israel has lost two of her most distinguished citizens. After an appropriate period the members of the Liberal Justice Party will meet to elect a new leader of this great nation. This is not the time for political statements, but it will be known soon enough, so I would rather you hear it from me. I have been asked to stand and I have indicated that I will. I am humbled and honoured by the faith, trust and sympathy that has been shown to me tonight and I hope that, in time, I can earn the trust of the greater Israeli people. In the meantime, a man of great integrity and wisdom, the Deputy Prime Minister Gideon Wiesel, will assume the day-to-day running of the government. He has our total loyalty and support. Finally,’ David said, ‘I would urge calm and cool deliberation before we reach any conclusions about tonight’s atrocity. I am aware, as I’m sure many of you are, that the Palestinian President’s brother has been implicated in this attack. An investigation will hopefully shed more light on that, but as far as the Palestinian President is concerned, I want you to know that I have met Ahmed Sartawi and I share my father’s regard for him as both a leader and as a man of peace. My hope is that we can put this behind us and move forward to achieve my father’s vision of peace and prosperity for two great peoples.’

David Kaufmann had more justification than any other Israeli in calling for a massive retaliatory response, yet he was urging peace. David was going to lead by example.

Allegra and David knocked on Giovanni’s room on the seventh floor of the massive hospital.

‘ Avanti! Avanti! ’ Giovanni was propped up with pillows. His tired smile of welcome quickly faded. ‘David, I am so sorry. Knowing your parents was a pleasure and a privilege.’

‘Thank you, Giovanni.’ David smiled grimly.

‘Your father never ceased to amaze me. After all he went through in the Holocaust he was still able to apply that experience in a way that would reverse the treatment of the Palestinians. He was a real hope for peace here.’

‘I hope I will be able to do the same,’ David replied. ‘He was a wonderful role model.’

‘How are you?’ Allegra asked gently, her eyes full of concern.

‘I’m fine,’ Giovanni replied sadly. ‘Clearly my time has not yet come.’

‘When they release you, you must come and stay with us,’ David insisted. ‘I promise the secret service will not be too visible. Allegra and I have something very important to show you.’

Before Giovanni could answer, the Vatican’s spokesman appeared on the television that had been playing quietly in the background.

‘The Holy Father died at 9.37 this evening in his private apartment…’

Giovanni, Allegra and David, together with millions around the world, watched with sadness as the Vatican confirmed the Pope’s passing.

‘The first General Congregation of Cardinals will be held at 10 a.m. on Monday, 4 April, in the Bologna Hall of the Apostolic Palace,’ the spokesman concluded.

Roma

‘ G ood luck, Eminence,’ Vittorio said as he handed Giovanni the small suitcase from the back of the old Fiat.

Giovanni smiled. ‘There is an old saying, my friend: “he who goes in a pope, comes out a cardinal”. Besides, there are many far better qualified than I and it is not a job I seek. We will let the Holy Spirit decide, non e vero?’

Giovanni unlocked his suite in the new priests’ accommodation that John Paul II had ordered built in the Santa Marta Hospice in the Vatican grounds and deposited his suitcase. He sat at his small desk to read his breviary and then took a stroll in the quiet of the evening. Soon enough there would be no such freedom. The cardinals would all be locked up from the outside world until a new Pontiff had been elected. As Giovanni walked in the centuries-old gardens, he fell into conversation with the Holy Spirit, asking for guidance – that he and his fellow cardinals might elect a Pope of the Spirit’s choosing, perhaps someone like John XXIII, a man of the people, a man who could turn around the misfortunes and misconceptions of a Church Giovanni loved so dearly. Change would not come easily to a Church that for centuries had been rooted in dogma by those who put their own politics and power above the truth and the real message of Christ. Once released, the truth would be a beacon that civilisation so desperately needed. When all this was over, he thought, the revelations in the Omega Scroll might possibly achieve what John XXIII had not been able to.