the Source (2008)

by Cordy, Michael

  'I don't think the weapons were meant for us,' said Ross, thinking of the Voynich and what had killed the conquistadors in the tunnel of blood.

  'You okay? How's your head?' Zeb asked him.

  'Fine.' Ross almost missed the pain. It had helped focus his rage and, right now, rage would have felt a hell of a lot better than despair.

  'This place is amazing. Your swelling and bruising's already gone.' She cocked her head. 'There's Osvaldo - or whoever the hell the son-of-a-bitch really is. You sure he was the guy who hurt Lauren?'

  Ross shifted as Mendoza stepped out of one of three tents by the lake. He felt his fury return. 'Positive.'

  'The priest called him Marco - Marco Bazin,' said Hackett. 'The bastard's going through our backpacks now.'

  As Ross lay on the ground, he thought of Lauren, helpless on her hospital bed. God, he missed her. He yearned to call his father and ask how she and the baby were. He had come so close to saving them; he had held their salvation in his hand. He no longer cared about the source or the caves. He only wanted Lauren back. As he watched Bazin retrieve the rock crystal and Father Orlando's damaged notebook, he stoked the rage burning within him. He still found it hard to believe Torino's duplicity: a so-called man of God offering him sympathy and requesting his wife's notes - in a hospital chapel of all places - after he had ordered the burglary responsible for Lauren's injuries. There was no way Ross was leaving this garden without the one thing he had come for: the means to save his family. If Torino wanted war, then so be it.

  Bazin turned towards them, stepped over Hackett and pulled a knife from his belt.

  'Come to stab us in the back again, have you?' said Hackett.

  Bazin ignored him and turned to the soldiers. 'Gag them. The Father General doesn't want them communicating.' He knelt down and cut the plastic ties on Ross's and Sister Chantal's ankles. 'He wants you two to talk, though.' He grabbed their wrists and pulled them to their feet. 'Come.'

  Chapter 61.

  'Tell me something, Osvaldo,' Kelly demanded, as Bazin led them to Torino.

  'My name is Marco.'

  'Okay, Marco, my loyal and trustworthy friend, tell me how much Torino's paying you. How much does a lowlife bag of shit like you cost?'

  The other man's tone infuriated Bazin. The scientist, an atheist who believed in nothing, had no right to assume he was superior to him. 'The Father General's paying me nothing. I'm doing this to cleanse my soul. This is God's work.'

  'No,' said Sister Chantal. 'This may be the Father General's work but it is not God's.'

  'What would you, a traitor to the Church, know about God's work?' said Bazin.

  Kelly stared at him. 'You're doing this because you think it's right?' Bazin pushed him on, but Kelly hadn't finished. 'Remember our chat about deeds being everything? You said that only God and the Church can judge if a man's deeds are good or bad. Tell me one thing. How the fuck does your God justify you putting my wife into a coma?' He clenched his teeth so hard that his jaw muscles bunched. 'I can't believe Juarez died saving your life. His was worth infinitely more than yours. Christ, I can't believe I saved your fucking life. Instead of pulling you out of the bat shit I should have left you to your fellow cockroaches.'

  Bazin burnt to make the geologist understand the righteousness of his deeds. 'You weren't supposed to be in the house, and I didn't mean to hurt your wife but the Superior General needed her files. She got in the way.'

  'Really? And those men you killed on the boat? The ones you set up to join our gang, to spy on us? Did you intend to kill them?'

  'No.'

  'Christ,' said Kelly. 'In that case, I hope you do intend to kill me.'

  Bazin sighed. 'No, my friend, you don't. I was once paid to kill. I was good at it, too. Some said I was the best. I've lost count of how many men I intended to kill but I know they're all dead.'

  'Is that you speaking now, Marco, or the Scourge of God? It's getting hard to tell the difference.'

  The geologist's refusal to understand him, and his arrogant assumption that only he was right, incensed Bazin. He had been justified in betraying Kelly and the others. Having seen the garden, and experienced its power, he knew it was too important to be left in the hands of men like him. Or those who had betrayed Rome, like Sister Chantal. Even Hackett would let the drug companies exploit it for money. Only the Holy Mother Church could and should channel its power. Only his half-brother, the Black Pope, was qualified to know how best to use it. Bazin reassured himself that he had served the Church well, and that his redemption was certain.

  As he pushed Kelly and the nun through the entrance to the forbidden caves, he saw his half-brother emerge from the dark recesses of the antechamber. The Superior General held a folder in his right hand and was smiling.

  'Look,' Torino said, as he walked closer. 'No limp. This place is truly miraculous. I want you both to tell me all about it.' He waved the folder towards the glowing tunnel. 'I especially want to know what's up there.'

  'Why should we tell you anything?' Kelly asked.

  Bazin frowned at him, unwrapped the crystal and handed it to Torino. 'Ross, the Superior General holds the fate of your wife in his hands. If I were you I'd tell him whatever he wants to know.'

  Torino studied the shard. 'Have you the notebook?'

  Bazin passed it to him. 'It's damaged, but most of it's still legible. The part you asked about is at the end.'

  'Thank you, Marco. Please wait outside. I'll call if I need you.'

  Chapter 62.

  Torino had never felt so empowered and sure of his destiny. When he had woken this morning, cured of his limp, it was as if God's own blood flowed in his veins. And now, when he opened Father Orlando's notebook and scanned the last section, he knew he was close to exceeding even his most lofty ambitions.

  'When did the Catholic Church start employing thieving, deceitful murderers?' said Kelly.

  Torino glanced up from the notebook and watched his half-brother leave the cave. 'Marco has proved himself a loyal servant of the Church.' He smiled. 'Please, Dr Kelly, let us put any unpleasantness behind us. It was never my intention to harm your wife and unborn child, and if this crystal is as powerful as Sister Chantal believes, the damage can be reversed. There's no reason for any more animosity between us.'

  'No reason for any animosity?' Kelly held up his bound wrists. 'You're holding us captive.'

  'That's a precaution. To make sure we all understand each other before I let you return home.' Torino turned to Sister Chantal. 'Sister, you need feel no anger either. Father Orlando Falcon's original intention was to tell the pope of his discovery. He believed only the Holy Mother Church could be trusted with his garden.' He frowned. 'Regretfully, Rome didn't appreciate his discovery then, but now the Holy Father himself wants to embrace it within the bosom of the Church.'

  'He's sanctioned all you've done?' she said incredulously.

  Torino ignored her question. 'Sister, Father Orlando wanted the garden to be in safe hands, and now it will be. You should be satisfied.'

  'What the hell are you going to do with it?' demanded Kelly. 'Turn it into a miraculous theme park? A Lourdes that genuinely cures people? Grant admission to people if they convert to Catholicism?'

  'He won't do that,' said Sister Chantal. She spat the words. 'He can't let the world know about this place. It doesn't fit with Rome's doctrine.'

  Torino's eyes narrowed. 'What do you know or care about Rome's doctrine, Sister? You betrayed the Holy Mother Church.'

  'I betrayed no one,' she replied, with venom. 'If I've learnt anything over my long life it's that the Church should serve faith, not be its rigid master. I don't need this miraculous garden to fit with doctrine to know it's a place of God. Everything here contradicts the biblical Garden of Eden and the scriptures. Not only is it thousands of miles away from the Holy Land but it's also nowhere near the geographical origins of any major religion. The creatures and plants here prove that miraculous life can be created and evolve in parall
el with humanity, independent of mankind and God's Church.

  'And yet there are miracles in this godless place. How can that be? Are there perhaps alternative ways to interpret God's word, which go against the pope's infallible doctrine? Father Orlando thought so. And I do, too. I don't fear the strange creatures here, or the questions they raise about creation and evolution. Nothing here challenges my faith, only my understanding of it. This place might even be the Garden of Eden for all I know.' She laughed bitterly. 'But you, Father General, are a slave to your infallible doctrine. You put it before everything. You'd rather change the truth to fit what you believe than change what you believe to fit the truth.'

  For a moment Torino said nothing. He had only contempt for the nun. She spoke of vows, but she had broken hers to the Church. 'You're right,' he said eventually. 'The Church does need to treat a discovery like this carefully. There are those who could misinterpret the garden and its creatures.' He gestured to the nymphs in the shadows. 'They might see them as contradicting the scriptures and the pope's recent decrees denying evolution. And, yes, I can't allow anything here to play into the hands of those who would destroy the Holy Mother Church, which embodies the hopes and dreams of millions of believers worldwide. I make no apologies for protecting their faith. But the truth is, I don't care about this miraculous so-called Garden of God or its exotic creatures.' He pointed up the tunnel. 'Not nearly as much as what's up there.'

  He turned to Kelly and smiled at his surprise. 'And I suspect you don't either, Dr Kelly. As an atheist and a scientist, how do you explain this miraculous garden? Is it the cradle of evolution, the origin of life on Earth, a scientific Eden? Or are the garden and its creatures merely a sideshow to the main attraction?'

  Kelly said nothing.

  'Come on, Dr Kelly. We both know that the garden and its creatures are an irrelevant aberration, a distraction.' He raised the shard of crystal. 'Even this is a peripheral by-product of the real power behind this place.' He gestured to the glowing tunnel and tapped the notebook. 'Father Orlando wrote about it in the section of the Voynich your wife couldn't translate. He called it el origen.' He opened his manila folder and showed Kelly the relevant passage. 'His testimony in the Inquisition Archives records it by its Latin name: radix. Both mean "the source". Neither document explains what it is, instead describing it in philosophical and spiritual terms. In his notebook he mentions El Arbol de la Vida y de la Muerte, the Tree of Life and Death, which in the Inquisition testimony the Latin scribes record as vita quod mors arbor. Was this a reference to the Tree of Knowledge in Genesis? Was it meant to be taken literally or figuratively? What do you think the source is, Dr Kelly? What do you think we'll find up that tunnel? The source of all miracles?'

  'Just one,' said Kelly. 'The planet's greatest miracle: life. And it's got nothing to do with God or religion.'

  Torino smiled. 'We'll have to agree to disagree on who or what's behind it. The point is, we both want to discover what it is.' He turned to Sister Chantal. 'Sister, is whatever butchered the conquistadors in the Voynich still in the tunnel?'

  'I've never been up there. No one has and lived. Except Father Orlando.'

  'That's not strictly true. Is it, Dr Kelly? Marco saw you coming out of the tunnel when I arrived with the soldiers.'

  Sister Chantal glared at Kelly. 'You went up it?'

  Torino smiled. 'Dr Kelly told Marco he wouldn't believe what he'd seen up there. What did you see, Dr Kelly? Tell me, and after you sign a confidentiality agreement, I'll let you all leave here with the blessing of the Church.' He held out the crystal. 'I'll even let you take this with you. You can save your family, Dr Kelly. Isn't that what you came here for?'

  'Whatever you saw, tell him nothing,' said Sister Chantal. 'He won't let you go, whatever legal forms he makes you sign. He can't risk anyone else knowing about this place. It raises too many questions.'

  'Ignore her, Dr Kelly. I've already told you I don't care about the garden or its creatures. Just radix, the source. We both want to uncover this mystery. Tell me what you know and save your family.'

  Kelly sighed. 'I turned back when I heard your soldiers shooting so I didn't reach the end. I got close, though, and there's definitely something of great power up there.' To Torino's surprise, he suddenly dropped to his knees, only his open palms breaking his fall on the rocky floor. He raised his bound hands, clasped as if in prayer. 'I beg you, Father General. Let me save my wife. She's a believer. I've nothing against your religion. I don't care how you interpret this garden. I don't even care about the source any more. I only care about saving my wife.'

  'Save her, then. Tell me all you know and you'll be out of here today. You could be back in the States within the week, if not sooner.' He held the crystal tantalizingly close to Kelly's bound hands. 'What did you see? Before I go up there with the soldiers I need to know if there was any sign of what killed the conquistadors. Did you see or learn anything that could help us?'

  Kelly hesitated for only a second, staring at the crystal. 'I'll tell you,' he said. 'I'll tell you everything.'

  Chapter 63.

  'I can't believe you helped him, Ross,' hissed Sister Chantal, as Bazin led them back to the others. 'I warned you against going up the tunnel. I warned you against telling the Superior General what you'd seen. And you ignored me. How could you be so stupid?'

  Ross said nothing.

  Sister Chantal couldn't remember feeling such dejection. Over the long years she had experienced many black moments but she had always reminded herself of her vow to Father Orlando and told herself to be patient. When she had learnt of Lauren's critical condition, she had believed that the garden could cure her. But this time the enemy wasn't time, impatience or disappointment: it was the same implacable foe that had destroyed Father Orlando. To make it worse, her ally had proved himself weak and spineless. 'I can't believe you begged him on your knees. He was never going to let you save Lauren because he can't let you leave. Don't you understand that?'

  When they reached the tarpaulin, Hackett and Zeb were lying at one end of the enclosure, gagged. Bazin pushed Ross and Sister Chantal to the other end, laid them on the ground and tied their ankles.

  Sister Chantal waited for Bazin to leave. 'I warned you against going up the tunnel, Ross, because it is dangerous. Father Orlando told me so. He saw things.'

  'I know,' whispered Ross.

  'Then why did you tell Torino--'

  'That it was safe? That I got close enough to touch whatever's up there and saw nothing dangerous? Because I don't trust the Superior General any more than you do.'

  'You lied?'

  'Of course. The only way we're going to get out of here with what we came for is on our own. And anything that distracts them up that tunnel can only help us.'

  A slow smile creased her lips. 'Perhaps you're not as stupid as I feared.'

  Ross looked back at Bazin who was standing by the stack of weapons, talking to two of the soldiers. After some discussion they selected a shotgun, two Heckler & Koch submachine-guns and a flame-thrower, then walked back to the forbidden caves.

  They're going up the tunnel, thought Ross.

  As he watched them, he noticed the yellow parcels he had seen the soldiers unpacking earlier. Most were now distributed in strategic piles around the garden. He wondered what they were, and why they were there. He glanced at Zeb and Hackett lying at the other end of the enclosure. They were staring at him. He wanted to tell them what had happened but feared raising his voice and being overheard by the remaining guard. 'I still don't understand why Torino's so dismissive of the garden and so focused on the source,' he whispered to Sister Chantal. 'I thought the whole point from a religious angle was that this was the Garden of God.'

  'He wants the miracles because the Church can exploit them. But the garden and its creatures raise too many doubts and questions about Genesis and evolution. Religion isn't like science. Science may thrive on doubt but religion demands unquestioning faith.'

  'Whatever
their faith, wouldn't most believers want to make up their own minds about the truth, however controversial?' said Ross. 'Like you told Torino, if you really believe in something nothing's going to challenge your faith, only your understanding of it. Science is constantly adapting its understanding of the natural world, based on new evidence.'

  She shook her head. 'Torino and those who wield power in Rome would rather ignore evidence than modify their beliefs. Never forget, the pope is infallible, God's envoy on Earth. He can't be wrong.'

  Bazin and the other men were almost at the caves. The smaller soldier was carrying the flame-thrower over his shoulder, the pack of fuel strapped to his back. Ross glanced at the stack of weapons and the second flame-thrower. At that moment something Zeb had said last night, about the pharmaceutical industry, entered his head, and a connection between that and the yellow parcels fired in his brain.

  Shit.

  He was now pretty sure what they were and why Torino had brought them here. 'We've got to get free,' he said.

  'I know that.' Sister Chantal raised her bound wrists. 'But how?'

  He opened his hands. In his right palm was a thin shard of crystal rock he had picked up off the cave floor while kneeling before Torino. 'It's small but sharp. I can't reach my plastic tie, but I could cut yours.'

  She smiled as a shadow loomed over them. Bazin had returned with one of the soldiers. 'Gag them,' he said. Ross closed his hands but didn't struggle as Bazin placed an oily rag over his mouth and knotted it at the back of his head.

  Bazin stepped away and pointed at them in turn, muttering under his breath, first at Hackett, then Zeb and Sister Chantal. Ross wondered why he was counting them. Then Bazin's finger skipped Ross, went back to Hackett and counted the other three again. Something hard and cold formed in Ross's stomach. Bazin wasn't counting them. He was selecting one.