SECRET OF THE ICON (Donavan Chronicles Book 3)

by Tom Haase

"Nothing is beyond monetary value," Bridget said. "In other words, it could be worth millions?"

  "I suppose it could be." Jonathan decided he really needed to stop talking about the icon and see if he could get some information from Bridget. He felt as if he gave some information and now he wanted to receive some. "Tell me, why do you have an interest in this particular icon?"

  Bridget then relayed to him the events of the raid near Roanoke, and the subsequent attempts on Matt's life and perhaps hers. She insisted she wanted to help him and for that reason she wanted to know about the icon. Jonathan suspected something more in her motives.

  "So from what you’re saying, I have a feeling that you and Mr. Higgins are forming some type of team, arrangement, or company to find out about this. I understand Mr. Higgins is no longer an FBI agent," Jonathan said.

  "How did you know that? That only happened yesterday. Have you been spying on him?" Bridget asked.

  "I had our people here in the States do a little investigative work and found out Matt Higgins had turned in his badge," Jonathan said. He decided to wait for Bridget to talk first at this point. He didn’t have to wait long.

  "I smell a Vatican rat. You’re not telling me the real reason why you’re looking into this particular icon. There has to be more to it than simple interest in a lost artifact from the Vatican archives, one which has been missing for over seventy years. Why are you after it?" Bridget asked.

  "The Vatican sent me because the item was stolen from the Vatican Museum, and they want their property returned. Since they knew you and I shared two previous adventures together, it was logical that I come and talk to you about this particular item." Jonathan thought he delivered a successfully evasive answer that gave nothing away.

  "Bullshit," Bridget said.

  This took Jonathan back. He didn’t expect her to be so blunt and at the same time so incisive in her analysis. She obviously knew a lot more existed to this. The fact the Vatican sent him probably signaled an over play of their position. From her perspective, his quick arrival, his knowledge about Matt, and his intense interest in this icon gave her more than enough ammunition to perceive that things were not simply a retrieval of a lost artifact.

  "Okay," he said. "I propose we work together to return this icon to the Vatican."

  "No frigging way,” Bridget said. “Every time you have screwed over my brother and me in the past. I don't trust you. I think you would do everything in your power to steal it from us if we were able to find it and you were with us. Remember, we have experience in your methods, both with the Crown of Thorns and with the Bible of Constantine."

  "I'm sure we could come to some arrangement," Jonathan said. He realized he would have to negotiate but he did have some bargaining chips in reserve.

  “Why is the Vatican so interested in this icon? Why send you? There’s more to this than meets the eye. What else are you hiding? Was something else stolen at that time? What is the real value of this precious relic?”

  “It’s not a relic,” Jonathan responded. He stalled for time before she asked the same questions again. He would have to give her something to keep this negotiation going.

  “Yes,” Jonathan said, “something else was stolen. There is another icon, a sister of the one you might say, that disappeared at the same time. My superiors sent me to retrieve the one you know about.”

  “Where’s the other one?”

  “It’s in Rome.”

  “Where did you find it?”

  “Recently, in St Petersburg. That’s all I know.” He said more than he wanted to. Now the time arrived to push for an agreement so he could use their talents to recover the item. His patience at her continual reference to their past ventures wore thin, but he waited for her to speak.

  "I have some conditions if you are going to have any part in our search for this icon,” Bridget said. “If you can’t agree, then you’ll not hear from us or see us, and we’ll make sure that you have no access to anything we find." Bridget stopped and faced him with a hard, steady stare looking directly into his eyes. Determination plainly visible on her face. Without her cooperation, he knew it would be impossible on his own to find this icon.

  "What are your conditions?" Jonathan asked.

  "You’re not going to like them," Bridget said.

  "I can't like or not like something that I don't know about. Tell me," Jonathan said.

  "When, and not if, we secure the icon and return it to you, you will have the Vatican release that we discovered the Crown of Thorns and the writings of St. Peter. The Vatican will validate they are real and are not fakes as you claimed previously. That lie destroyed our professional careers. You will also admit you have the Bible of Constantine and that we were the ones who found it and returned it to the Vatican," Bridget said. She dropped her eyes and started walking back to the car.

  "Is there anything else?" Jonathan asked.

  "Yes, there is. I want five million dollars delivered to me on that day, in addition to the Vatican admitting its duplicitous connivance in the Crown of Thorns matter and also in the Bible of Constantine. These are nonnegotiable."

  Jonathan knew these would be the conditions. He didn't know the exact amount of money that she intended to demand, but he guessed for sure she wanted both of those unfortunate events reversed in order to reclaim her rightful place in the academic world, not only for her but also for her brother.

  "I’ll have to get back to you on these terms. By the way, why five million dollars?" Jonathan asked.

  "With your stalling it just went up to seven. But to answer your question, unless I deliver that much to Mr. Schultz for the fake bible I sold him, the one you switched on me, I'm a dead woman.”

  CHAPTER 23

  Alexandria, Virginia

  Bridget sat with Gerti and Scott in his living room. She relayed what had transpired in the meeting with Jonathan McGregor. When she finished, she asked what they thought would be the next thing they should do.

  "I think Scott and I should be on the next plane to St. Petersburg," Gerti said.

  "Why?" Scott asked. “I don’t want to go to Russia. It’s cold there. Besides, why not go directly to Rome if that‘s where the other one is?”

  "We need to follow the trail of the icon that was found in St. Petersburg,” Gerti said. “We need to find when they had it, why they had it, who had it. That way we'll be able to delve beneath the cloak the Vatican is putting over its entire operation. There is more to this than a simple retrieval, I can smell it."

  "I agree with Gerti. We need to track it from as far back as possible to determine exactly why the Vatican is so adamant on its retrieval. Do you think your father's connections can help you in this matter?" Bridget asked.

  “I have the same connections he does, I think. We can employ them to help us follow the trail of the icon in St. Petersburg and maybe to the Vatican,” Gerti said.

  “I suggest that Scott and you follow this line of investigation while Matt and I pursue the icon here in the States. You will be after one icon and we after another, but Matt will also be after the men who tried to kill him. Something tells me they may be directly connected,” Bridget said.

  “Sounds like a plan,” Scott said. “It would be great to find out more about this twin icon. That might give us what we are missing on why the Vatican is investing assets on its reacquisition. We need to find out what’s behind this so Jonathan won’t be able to double-cross us again. We require some kind of trump card to be in our hands.”

  “When will you leave?”

  “In the morning. We’ll stop in New York to visit with my father for a few hours before continuing on,” Gerti said.

  “Is there a reason for that?” Scott asked.

  “Remember, I told father I would keep him in the loop. I think a face-to-face would garner us more than a simple phone call. Besides, he likes you.” Gerti said this with a twinkle in her eyes, then bent over and kissed him. “The sources we’ll use will undoubtedly contact him, so I want to
be up front and show him we are doing everything to get his money back.”

  “By the way, Matt called while you were with McGregor,” Scott said. “He didn’t want to interrupt anything but asked if you could join him at the safe house.”

  “Okay. I’m heading off now and if I don’t see you before you leave, good luck and keep me posted.” Bridget gave both of them a hug and left for the safe house. She felt like they were making progress. They formulated a plan and were moving ahead to find the story behind both icons. The Vatican didn’t want something discovered. She felt it in her bones.

  She also wondered what could have happened that Matt wanted her to come to the safe house.

  CHAPTER 24

  Arlington, Virginia

  Safe House

  Matt greeted Bridget at the door before leading her down to the interrogation room. He opened the door to the room while carefully observing her reaction. She turned and he followed her gaze to the man who sat at the center of a table and he smiled. “What did you do?" Bridget asked while turning to face Matt.

  She turned again to face back toward the inside of the room. The man sipped his coffee, his restraints removed. The seated man looked at them and again smiled. He attempted to get up, but Matt raised his hand indicating he should stay seated.

  “What the hell is going on?" Bridget asked.

  "I want you to meet Karim. He is going to be our new best friend," Matt said.

  "This guy just tried to kill you. He is not your new best friend. What are you trying to do?" Bridget asked.

  "Karim, tell my partner, Bridget, your story.”

  “My name is Karim Pahlavi. I was born in Iran twenty-nine years ago. That is ten years after the great revolution under the Grand Ayatollah Khomeini. My grandparents were arrested and executed, because of their wealth, by the revolutionary guards of Khomeini and also because of their Western education and contacts. My parents survived by going underground. They taught me the ways of the West but ensured I did all the right things to avoid the fate of their parents. When I was ten, my parents were caught by the authorities because of an old warrant for their arrest.”

  “Were they killed?” Bridget interjected.

  “Yes. They suffered the fate of their parents. I attended a religious school to study the Koran and become a good Muslim. The days of the brutality of the revolution were past and I was deemed no threat after two generations. I played along and became a good follower. I became an asset to them because I spoke good English, from my parents teaching me from birth in that language, and because I had an aptitude for what they called spy craft.”

  “Wait a minute,” Bridget interrupted. “You expect us to believe you are on our side? Are you nuts?” She turned to Matt. “This guy is a piece of shit. You can’t trust him.”

  Matt nodded to her but at the same time gave her a raised eyebrow. “Wait a second. Listen to the rest. Go on.” He pointed at Karim to continue.

  “They recruited me for a mission that needed a person who spoke English. It entailed arms procurement and training of jihadists in America. I indicated I would be interested. It could be my way to freedom. I’ already received the training they required on the weapons specified and with a few weeks of intense learning I had the skill required to deal with the arms trading and procurement.”

  “So why were you trying to kill Matt?” Bridget demanded.

  “As you know, I didn’t. I fired over his head. I ran, hoping to get away clean so I could report his death to my superiors. They might believe me even without a corpse but I didn’t have any other choice at the time. They wanted justice for the men he killed in Roanoke. That night I drove the truck that got us out of the kill zone.”

  “Let’s stop there for a minute,” Matt said. “Do you see any way we can use this man?” He waited for Bridget to respond.

  She took her time before answering. Then a smile began to appear on her face. Matt realized her mind schemed on a different frequency than his.

  “If you believe him, and I have serious doubts, then why don’t we turn him around and send him back to them?”

  “That is along the line that he and I have been discussing,” Matt said. “He would be an invaluable asset inside their organization. We don’t have any currently. We could be ahead of them on any operations. We could have a secure means of communication and maybe even use the old fashioned dead drops or park bench meetings.”

  “There’s a small problem,” injected Karim. “The other two sent with me are dead at the hands of Matt here and realistically I can’t go back if he is still alive. They would kill me.”

  “That’s easy to solve.” Bridget grinned at Matt.

  “How?” Matt asked her.

  She looked at him. “We kill you.”

  CHAPTER 25

  New York

  Schultz Apartment

  Benjamin Schultz waited in his luxurious penthouse overlooking Central Park for his daughter’s arrival. Gerti called him earlier and briefly relayed the plan she and Scott would follow. He liked the initiative she demonstrated and his suspicion of Bridget didn’t mar his appreciation of Scott. The young man was perfect for Gertrude in his opinion. However, the idea of them traipsing off to Russia surely not something he relished. He believed he might have to intervene by contacting an old friend who owed him a few favors. He heard the front door open and rose to greet them.

  He embraced his daughter and gave Scott a hearty handshake. Then he led them to the living room and indicated to take seats. “So tell me more about your plan.”

  “We are traveling to St. Petersburg to see if we can follow the trail of the icon that is currently in the Vatican. Somebody had to own it over there, or stole it. Jonathan McGregor revealed that a priest secured it during a gunfight. We want to find who owned it before that gunfight. In a conversation last night, McGregor informed Bridget how it arrived in Rome. Father, I think Scott and I need to go to Russia and not just have someone we know do this for us. We need to be there to follow up on any information.” Gerti stopped and looked at her father.

  Schultz listened as Gertrude detailed the outline of a sketchy picture. In his mind, he realized this would be a dangerous undertaking. Two armed groups shooting it out screamed a turf battle between two powerful warlords. He didn’t want these two youths getting caught up in that milieu. His daughter thought she knew everything about the business and all his contacts. That was not entirely true. He never revealed all of his secrets to her.

  “I want you to go to the Courtyard Vasilievsky in St. Petersburg. It is in the center of the old city and on the banks of the river Neva. A friend will contact you there. I will call you with his name later.” He paused.

  “Why not now?” Gerti asked.

  “Because I have to make some calls to people you don’t know as yet. After this, you will know another group of people you’ll have to deal with in the future.”

  “Secrets,” Gerti exploded. “More things you haven’t told me.”

  “My dear—”

  “Don’t give me that my dear stuff,” Gerti interrupted. “You told me I would run the business as an equal partner. No secrets. Remember? No secrets.”

  Schultz noticed Scott reach for her hand and squeeze it. That act seemed to calm her down. He liked what he observed. The boy possessed the ability to influence his daughter.

  “My dear,” Schultz continued, ignoring her outburst, “I am training you to take over the entire business, not just half, but I can’t do it all at once. This is another part of your training.”

  “I don’t know what good it’ll do to find out about this icon in Russia, but it might give us a clue to the mystery surrounding the one here in America,” Scott said.

  “Use the man you’ll meet there to do the leg work. My strongest advice to you is to not go out on the streets of Russia trying to discover anything yourself. Use the assets of my contact to accomplish that,” Schultz said. He rose from his chair.

  Gerti rose and went to him and k
issed him. She grabbed Scott’s hand and headed for the door.

  “Have him contact us tomorrow evening at six,” Gerti said over her shoulder just before closing the door on the way out.

  She needed to get in the last word, he realized, to pay him back for the secrets he still kept. He let a little smile form on his countenance and then slowly returned to the living room and made a phone call to St. Petersburg.

  CHAPTER 26

  Arlington, Virginia

  Safe House

  Special Agent Liz Garcia and an FBI doctor arrived thirty minutes after Matt called. The doctor patched Karim’s leg and proclaimed it a minor injury that should heal in a few days. While Matt waited for the doctor to depart, he noticed Liz’s angry red face. She wasn’t happy and her stance, hands on hips and eyes boring into him, indicated the rage she attempted to control. But he’d known that it wouldn’t be long before her Latino temper blew.

  “What the hell are you trying to do? You almost get killed twice in two days, you bring in the Donavan woman, and now you want to run a double agent operation against the arms dealer. Is that about it? Is there anything else? Oh, and you want to get killed.” Liz didn’t change her posture during this tirade.

  Matt smiled. “Yes, that’s about it, except for my death announcements. I’m sure you can take care of that.”

  “After this, I might be the one to make it real.” Liz finally let her stone face crack. A small upward turn at the corners of her lips told Matt she finished with the bluster. “Damn you, Matt. You’ve got to be nuts to think this might work. I know you from before and I don’t think you’ll let this go. So let’s plot out the entire strategy, as I’ll have to brief the director and I don’t want him to tear me apart.”

  After an hour, Matt thought they managed to engineer a desent plan.

  Matt returned to the prisoner in the basement, the new double agent. Before Liz departed, Bridget asked to speak to her. They walked outside into the brisk Virginia morning.