Julia Navarro - The Brotherhood Of The Holy Shroud

She saw two young men, similar in appearance to the one who'd looked hurt, heading in that same direction, and instinctively she followed them.

The two men from Urfa saw the woman lingering behind them, so they began to slow, and then to backtrack. She was probably a cop. They could watch for Mendib to emerge from a distance and keep an eye on her as well. If necessary, they would kill her too.

Yves de Charny had been back in his office for a while. His handsome features were shadowed with worry.

His secretary entered the office. "Padre, those two friends of yours, the priests Padre Joseph and Padre David, are here. I told them you had just come in and I wasn't sure you could see them."

"Yes, yes, have them come in. His Eminence doesn't need me anymore, he's going to Rome, and the work for today is almost done. If you want, take the rest of the afternoon off."

"Have you heard that there was a murder just around the corner, at the Porta Palazzo?"

"Yes, I heard it on the radio. My God, such violence!"

"Heavens, yes, padre… Well, if you don't mind my leaving, I can use the time-I've been wanting to have my hair done; tomorrow I'm having dinner at my daughter's house."

"Go, go-don't worry."

Padre Joseph and Padre David looked grim as they entered Padre Yves's office. The three men waited for the sounds of the secretary leaving.

"You heard what's happened," Padre David finally said, as they heard the outer door closing behind her.

"Yes. Where is he?"

"He's hidden himself near here. Our people are watching him, but it wouldn't be smart to go in after him. The reporter is hanging around too."

"The reporter! Why?"

"Bad luck. She was sitting on the terrace having a soft drink, probably waiting for you. If she shows up here again, we'll have to do it," said Padre Joseph.

"Not here-too dangerous."

"There's nobody here," Padre Joseph insisted.

"You never know. What about Galloni?"

'Any moment now, as soon as she leaves carabinieri headquarters. Everything is ready," Padre David reported.

"Sometimes…"

"Sometimes you doubt, as we do, but we are soldiers, and we follow orders," said Joseph.

"This isn't necessary." Yves stared hard at him.

"We have no choice but to obey," David said quietly.

"Yes. But that doesn't mean we can't speak up against our orders, even as we obey them. We have been taught to think for ourselves."

Finally luck seemed to be turning Marco's way. Giuseppe had just walkie-talkied that he'd spotted one of the Turkish tails near the cathedral, and Marco raced over there. When he arrived in the piazza he slowed his pace to that of the other pedestrians, who were still buzzing about the earlier incident.

"Where is he?" he asked as he joined Giuseppe.

"Over there-they're both there, on the terrace. The same ones as yesterday."

'Attention all units-stay down. Repeat: Stay down. You're all invisible. Pietro, get over here; the rest of you, surround the piazza, but keep your distance. These tails have already shown us they can lose us. But they're our best bet at this point."

It was late afternoon, and Ana Jimenez decided to try Padre Yves again. The men who had caught her attention earlier had vanished. No one answered the bell for the cathedral offices, but the door opened when she tried it. Everyone seemed to have gone home for the night, but the porter hadn't yet locked up. She stepped toward Padre Yves's office and was about to knock when she heard voices inside.

She didn't recognize the voice of the man talking, but what he was saying froze her in her tracks.

"Most of them are coming in through the tunnel. They want them off the street with all the carabinieri swarming all over the place. What about the others?… All right, we're on our way. If he makes it out, he'll try to hide here; it's the safest place."

In the office, Padre Joseph closed up his cell phone and turned to the others.

"Two of Addaio's men are waiting out in the piazza, and Mendib is still in his closet. They must not know exactly where he is, but I imagine he'll be on the move again; he's not too secure there."

"Where's Valoni?" asked Padre David.

"They say he's furious-the operation has gotten away from him," Padre Joseph answered.

"That's closer to the truth than even he thinks," Padre Yves said wryly.

"No, you're wrong," said David firmly. "He doesn't know anything; he just had a good idea-use Mendib to get to the bigger quarry. But he doesn't actually know anything about the community, much less about us."

"Don't delude yourself," Padre Yves insisted. "He's getting dangerously close to Addaio and his people. They've uncovered the Urfa connection with the shroud. Dottoressa Galloni is pointing them straight in that direction. It's a shame a woman like that has to-"

'All right," Padre Joseph interrupted. "They want us in the tunnel. Let's hope Turgut and his nephew are already down there. Our men are at the cemetery."

Ana crouched behind a filing cabinet in the outer office, trembling, as the three men headed for the door. Was Padre Yves a Templar, or did he belong to another organization? And what about the two with him? Their voices were those of young men.

She held her breath as they hurried across the room and through the main office door. She waited a few moments and then, gathering her courage, glided silently behind them, following the muffled sounds of their progress not far ahead of her.

They reached a small door leading to the cathedral porter's apartment. Padre Yves knocked at the door, but there was no response. A few seconds later, he pulled a key from within his cassock and opened the door. They vanished inside.

Clinging to the wall, Ana crept to the entrance to the porter's apartment and listened. Nothing. She stepped inside, praying that the three men wouldn't surprise her.

MENDIB HEARD A NOISE AND HE JUMPED, startled. He had regained consciousness not long ago, brought to by the shooting pain in his side. At least the bleeding had stopped. His dirty shirt was stiff with a dry, dark stain. He didn't know whether he could stand up, but he had to try.

He thought about the strange death of his father's uncle. Could Addaio have sent someone to kill his great-uncle because he knew he was going to help him? But the old man had done this to him. He couldn't be wrong about that.

He trusted no one, much less anyone connected with Addaio. The pastor was a saintly man but unbending, capable of doing anything to save the community. Mendib knew that he himself, without intending to, could reveal its existence to the authorities and lead them to his brothers. He wanted to avoid that; he had been trying to avoid it since he was released. But Addaio no doubt knew things that he himself did not, and so he could not discard the possibility that he had been targeted for death by the pastor. He had known that all along.

The door to the janitor's closet opened. A middle-aged woman carrying a bag of trash stepped inside before she saw him and gave a little scream. Mendib, making a superhuman effort, shoved himself upright and clamped his hand over her mouth.

Either the woman had to calm down or he would have to beat her unconscious. He had never struck a woman-God forbid!-but now it was a question of saving his own life.

For the first time since his tongue had been cut out, he was filled with anguish at his inability to speak. He pushed the woman against the wall, as she struggled and tried to pull his hand away. He gave her a quick blow on the back of the neck and she crumpled, dazed.

Lying on the floor, she was breathing with difficulty. Mendib fumbled inside her purse and found a pen and a date book, tore out a page, and wrote hurriedly. When she began to recover, he covered her mouth with his hand again and showed her the piece of paper.