Julia Navarro - The Brotherhood Of The Holy Shroud

Zafarin clenched his teeth. A brother had died, he himself had risked his life, and this stupid man was rebuking him for having failed. What did he know of the danger he and his comrades had faced! Of the sacrifices they had made!

There were more and more cars and trucks on the road as they went on. The E-24 was one of Turkey's busiest highways, since it led into Iraq and the Iraqi oil fields. There were also many military trucks and cars patrolling the Syrian-Turkish border, watching especially for the Kurdish militias that operated in the area.

In less than an hour he would be home, and that was the only thing that mattered.

"Zafarin! Zafarin!"

His mother's voice, choked with emotion, was like the music of heaven. There she was, small and lean, her hair covered by a hijab, the ever-present head scarf worn by Near Eastern women. Despite her small stature, Zafarin's mother ruled the family-his father, his brothers and sisters, him, and of course his wife, Ayat, and his daughter. None of them dared go against her wishes.

Ayat's eyes were filled with tears. She had begged him not to go, not to accept the mission. Not to allow himself to be mutilated forever. But how could he refuse an order by Addaio and the most sacred calling of their community, a calling his brother had answered before him? His family's shame would have been unbearable.

He got down out of the truck and in a second felt Ayat's arms around his neck, while his mother also grappled to embrace him. His daughter, frightened, began to cry.

His father looked on with emotion, waiting for the women to stop pulling and pushing him with their shows of affection. At last the two men could embrace, and Zafarin, feeling the strength of his peasant father's arms around him, was overcome and began to weep, to weep as he had as a young boy in his father's arms, bearing the marks of some fight he'd had on the street or at school. His father had always given him that sense of security, the security that he could count on him, that whatever happened, he would be there to protect him. Zafarin knew he would need all his father's strength when they stood before Addaio.

THE LAWN AND GARDEN OF THE GEORGIAN-style mansion were awash in light. A breeze off the bay cooled the exclusive Boston neighborhood, as local police and Secret Service agents competed to guarantee the security of the guests at the dinner party. The President of the United States and his wife were among those invited, as were the Secretaries of Treasury and Defense, a number of influential senators and representatives from across the political spectrum, the CEOs of various American and European multinationals, a dozen or so bankers, and a sprinkling of doctors, scientists, white-shoe lawyers, and stars from the academic world.

The occasion for the gathering was Mary Stuart's fiftieth birthday, which her husband, James, had wanted to celebrate with all their friends. The truth was, thought Mary, there were more acquaintances than friends present that evening. She would never hurt James by telling him that she would have preferred that he surprise her with a trip to Italy, with no fixed itinerary, no social engagements. Just the two of them, wandering through Tuscany, as they had done on their honeymoon thirty years ago. But that would never have occurred to James. They were, in fact, traveling to Rome the week after next, but that was primarily for business, with a few days of tightly scheduled social and cultural engagements shoehorned in.

A tall man skillfully maneuvered his way toward her through the crowd. She smiled with genuine pleasure. "Umberto!"

"Mary, my love, happy birthday."

"I'm so glad to see you and honored that you came!"

"I'm the one who's honored to be invited. Here, something for you. I hope you like it."

He held out a small box wrapped in shiny white paper.

"Oh, Umberto, you shouldn't have… May I open it?"

"Of course. You must open it immediately," he said, smiling.

Mary was transfixed by the figure that nestled within the tissue paper inside the box.

"It's a figure from the second century b.c. A lady as beautiful and charming as you."

"Umberto, it's beautiful. Thank you, thank you so much. I'm overwhelmed." Mary felt an arm slip around her waist as her husband joined them, and she held up the box for him to see. The two men shook hands warmly.

"What incredible surprise have you brought my wife this time, Umberto? Oh, how wonderful! But not fair-now my humble offering pales into insignificance!"

"James, stop this second. You know I adore these. He gave me this ring and these earrings, Umberto. They're the most perfect pearls I've ever seen."

"They're the most perfect pearls there are, my dear. All right, go put this glorious lady somewhere safe while I get Umberto a drink."

Steel-fabricating plants, pharmaceutical laboratories, technology interests, and a vast range of other businesses made James Stuart, at sixty-two, one of the wealthiest and most influential men in the world. He and D'Alaqua continued to chat as they moved together back into the throng.

Ten minutes later, James Stuart had left Umberto D'Alaqua with the President and other guests while he himself went from group to group, making sure conversations, drinks, and hors d'oeuvres all continued to flow smoothly.

As the evening progressed and glittering groups drifted together and swirled apart, no one paid much attention to the seven men talking together off to one side, changing the subject whenever someone else approached, to the crisis in Iraq, the latest summit at Davos, any of the multitude of other issues that naturally would be of concern to such men. For the moment, though, they were undisturbed.

"Marco Valoni has asked the Minister of Culture to let the prisoner in Turin out of jail," said one of the men in impeccable English, despite the fact that his native language was Italian. 'And the Minister of Culture has taken the matter to the Minister of the Interior, who has agreed to the idea. The idea came from one of Valoni's colleagues, Dottoressa Galloni, an art history expert, who finally came to the obvious conclusion that only he can lead them to anything worthwhile. She's also convinced Valoni that they should investigate COCSA, from top to bottom."

"That's unfortunate. Is there any way to have her removed from the case?" a tall, thin man, the oldest among them, asked.

"We could always exert pressure. Or COCSA could protest to the Vatican and let the Church press the Italian government to keep hands off. Or we could act direcdy through the Minister of Finance, who is surely none too happy that one of the country's most important corporations is being dragged into this and put under a microscope, all because of a fire that had no major consequences. We've arranged to replace the damaged artworks with pieces of equal or greater significance. But in my opinion we should hold off on doing anything about the dottoressa just yet."

The older man's eyes were fixed on the speaker. He had made his points impassively, but there was a subde quality in his tone of voice that sharpened his senior's attention. He decided to press harder, to see the reaction.

"We could also make her simply disappear. We can't afford a talented investigator on this case digging too deep."

Another in the group spoke up, his accent French-inflected.

"No, that seems unnecessary. An overreaction. We shouldn't do anything for the moment. Let her proceed. We can always head her off later or get rid of her one way or the other."

"I agree," seconded the Italian. "It would be a mistake to move too fast or to interfere with her work-or her. That would just inflame Valoni and confirm that there 15 something more to be found, and that would mean that he and the rest of his team would never give up on the case, even if they were ordered to. Dottoressa Galloni is somewhat of a risk; she's intelligent, perhaps exceptionally so. But we have to run that risk. Let's not forget that we have a major advantage- we know exactly what they're doing and thinking."