Shrouded In Silence

by Robert L. Wise

  Shrouded in Silence

  Other books by Robert Wise

  The Son Rises: Resurrecting the Resurrection

  Crossing the Threshold of Eternity

  The Narrow Door at Colditz

  The Bitter Road to Dachau

  The Secret Road Home

  Be Not Afraid

  Crazymakers

  Quest for the Soul

  Windows of the Soul

  Tagged

  Wired

  Deleted

  The Dead Detective

  The Empty Coffin

  The Tail of the Dragon

  The Secret Code

  Fear Less for Life

  When There Is No Miracle

  When the Night Is Too Long

  The Third Millennium

  The Fourth Millennium

  Mega-Millennium

  The Dawning

  The Exiles

  The Fall of Jerusalem

  SHROUDED IN

  SILENCE

  Robert L. Wise

  Nashville, Tennessee

  Shrouded in Silence

  Copyright © 2011 by Robert L. Wise

  ISBN-13: 978-1-4267-0868-8

  Published by Abingdon Press, P.O. Box 801, Nashville, TN 37202

  www.abingdonpress.com

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form,

  stored in any retrieval system, posted on any website,

  or transmitted in any form or by any means—digital,

  electronic, scanning, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without

  written permission from the publisher, except for brief

  quotations in printed reviews and articles.

  All characters in this book have no existence outside

  of the imagination of the author and have no relationship

  to anyone bearing the same name. They are not even distantly

  inspired by any individual known or unknown

  to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

  Cover design by Anderson Design Group, Nashville, TN

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  TO COME

  Printed in the United States of America

  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 / 16 15 14 13 12 11

  The author appreciates the reading and responses of Donna

  Sisson, who assisted with the final development

  of the manuscript.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  San Giovanni in Laterano Church does exit in Rome's Piazza de San Govanni in Laterano with a baptistery adjacent to the basilica. One can find the Scala Santa, the holy staircase, in the church. In addition, Santa Maria della Concezione sits sedately at Via Vittorio Veneto 27. However, liberties have been taken with the structure of both churches to facilitate the story. Special thanks to Stephano Pace, Rome's finest guide, for leading me through the backside of the amazing sights in Rome.

  The theme of this story reflects months of work in deciphering the original Koine Greek collection of New Testament Gospels and Epistles in addressing the problem posed by the missing correct ending to Mark. Multitudes of books and articles were consulted in researching this project. However, the names, characters, and incidents are purely the product of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons—living or dead—businesses, or companies is entirely coincidental. Shrouded in Silence is a work of fiction composed for the reader's enjoyment.

  Heartfelt thanks to Barbara Scott and Ramona Richards as well as the publishing team of Abingdon Press for their gracious help in editing the final manuscript. As always, my friend and agent, Greg Johnson, remains the essence of professionalism and the motivation to go the second mile. Thanks Greg.

  Prologue

  A.D. 68

  Fog hung in the air, making the blackness of night difficult to penetrate. Still, the irregular outline of the Seven Hills of Rome stood silhouetted against the opaque sky and remained barely visible. The cold dampness made Plautius Laterani shiver, but he worried more about fulfilling his assignment. Plautius trotted briskly down the stone stairs from the legislative assembly and walked toward the soldiers standing at attention by their horses. It would not be a good night for any of them. His friend Scipio Livius's hand rested nervously on his sword as he swiftly walked beside Plautius.

  "You've heard the bizarre accounts murmured among senators gathering on the Palatine and Esquiline hills?" Scipio Livius asked. "Along Via Sacra, soldiers tell stories, claiming that the Christianios have a remarkable ability to pray for the sick and break the spells demons cast on people. These strange stories of eating flesh and drinking blood circulate among the Praetorians. You know about these tales?"

  Plautius nodded. "I don't spread rumors. The legislators handle that nonsense. I leave it to them."

  But Plautius knew all about the Christianios who kept their meetings secret while openly sharing their conviction that the Christ had been resurrected from the dead. Plebs chattered that this strange sect believed there was only one god, but of course, such ideas were preposterous. The assembly had just told him the Christianios were compiling a scroll with the full story of this Christ and his teachings and had given Plautius the task of finding the document—not an easy job.

  Scipio Livius gripped his sword. "Makes me nervous to hear a new cult has sprung up in Rome. We grow these fanatics like weeds."

  Taking all the chitchat with a grain of salt, Plautius still listened with interest. The Laterani family had lost two sons during military incursions in Gaul, and Plautius's mother continued to grieve profoundly over the loss of her children. The reports that Christianios did not fear death and believed they would live beyond this world intrigued him.

  "We must ride fast to capitalize on the element of surprise," Plautius told his friend. "No one must lag behind."

  "I'll keep the men moving," Scipio said.

  The two soldiers marched directly to their horses and mounted. Without uttering a word, Plautius kicked his horse and headed for the gate. The Praetorian guard followed.

  "Hurry!" Plautius called to the soldiers riding behind him. "We must attack before anyone discovers we are coming."

  The Praetorians raced beyond the Republican Forum, across the Lapis Niger—the black marble pavement—while the moonlight glistened on their metal breastplates and plume-spiked helmets. A surge of cold night air filled his nose with the scent of Rome, and he shivered again.

  "Faster!" Plautius shouted. "Stay up with me!"

  The twenty-five men riding behind him crowded together and maintained close formation. Their destination lay at the edge of the city where the Circus of Caligula and Nero, the latest national racetrack, stood on the Ager Vaticanus. Spies said the arena had become one of the places where believers hid. It was rumored that one of their leaders called Petros, the Rock, might be there. His assistant John Mark was reported to be in the area writing a mysterious book.

  Two days earlier, the emperor had dispatched the army to halt the burning of Rome. Rumors raged that Nero had set the fires, but a few harsh reprisals should end the murmuring of the masses driven from their smoldering homes. To stop the accusations, Nero had dispatched a unit of executioners to catch the arsonists whom he claimed were Christianios.

  Plautius knew the Christianios sounded strange even by Roman standards. The great city was already filled with members of every odd group, from bizarre cults to practitioners of the Terebullium, a rite where members walked under the slit throat of a bull to allow the animal's blood to flow over their naked bodies.

  But the Christianios were different. These believers followed a crucified Jew whom the Roman army had killed in Jerusalem. Arising before the sun came up, they gath
ered in catacombs where no decent Roman dared go at night. The reports that they drank blood and ate flesh were answered with whispers that it was only wine and bread, but the stories persisted.

  In the darkness before him, Plautius recognized the outline of the stone entrance to the Circus. Huge arches ran across the front of the racetrack joined with houses that stood along the far edge and to the rear. Holding his arm up to stop the soldiers, Plautius turned in the saddle.

  "Scipio, a significant number of innocent Roman citizens lives over there. Remember, we only want the Christianios; don't let your troops get blade happy."

  Scipio nodded. "Yes, sir."

  "Charge onto the racetrack and go immediately to the far back side," Plautius shouted to the soldiers. "Grab everyone and haul them into the arena where we can interrogate them. No indiscriminate killing! Just gather the citizens together. "He pulled his sword from its sheath. "Attack!"

  With a hard kick, Plautius sent his horse racing through the archway toward the farthest end of the track where the tall Egyptian obelisk towered over them. With a leap, he slid off the stallion and ran up the stone tier that lined the race course. His intent was to be the first into the stone-walled houses and to catch one of these so-called believers.

  "Take the men to the left," he called to Scipio. "I'm going straight ahead."

  Plautius hustled toward the two-story house just a few feet back from the top of the steps. Out of the corner of his eye, he recognized a small clay marker near the bottom of the door. Two linked half circles made a sign that looked like a fish. Maybe the sign indicated the mark of a fisherman. The house could be important.

  Plautius flattened against the side of the front wall and listened. His men were making far too much noise securing the horses and climbing the bleachers. People would be awakened and investigate the racket. Pointing his sword straight ahead, Plautius rushed into a narrow entryway only to discover a short passageway led into an interior garden area with bedrooms situated around the open space. No one stirred in any of the rooms, suggesting it could be a trap. Gossips reported that the believers didn't kill—they were pacifists. Of course, rumors were rumors. Plautius exercised caution.

  He bent near the ground to make himself a smaller target. As he drew closer to a doorway, he smelled olive oil. Peeking in, he saw an oil lamp still burning in one corner. The usual low, flat Roman bed with covers thrown back suggested someone had just leaped up and disappeared into the night.

  Plautius carefully stepped into the room. A clay pitcher had been tipped over on the floor and cracked. A stylus and ink pot stood next to a wall. The terrazzo tiled floor with geometrical motifs looked normal enough. Then Plautius saw the fragment.

  A piece of papyrus with a torn edge lay on the floor near the door. It appeared to be a section of a scroll or part of a writing that had been ripped off when someone dashed out. Moving closer to the flame of the small oil lamp, Plautius recognized the writing as Greek:

  They went out and fled from the tomb; for trembling and astonishment had come upon them; and they said nothing to any one, for they were afraid. But behold Jesus of Nazareth returned on that very night and stood in their midst. The apostles were afraid and retreated from him, but Jesus raised his hand and showed them the wound on his wrist where the soldiers had driven the nail through. "Be not afraid. I bring you peace. Come and see for I have gained the victory over death and prepared for you the path that you might follow me—

  Plautius jerked his head up, startled by a racket outside, then looked back down at the document in his hand. Instantly he thought of his two brothers and their mother's grief. This testimonial was not about death but life, and he wasn't about to destroy a writing with such promise. Turning it over to his centurion would be disastrous. There was much more to be read, but other soldiers would soon overtake him. Sweeping aside the sagum, his old military cape, he rolled the document and slipped it under his metal breastplate. Hurrying back to the interior patio, he turned and strode to the front of the house.

  Although he had no idea what had happened, something had touched him in that bedroom. Maybe these Christianios were just another cult drifting through Rome. Maybe not. He would study this piece of papyrus carefully.

  Walking out onto the street, Plautius watched the soldiers rush back and forth from house to house, carrying their torches high and herding citizens to the race track for examination. The locals would be irate at such rough treatment, and they might have a hard time proving they weren't believers. It wasn't fair, but there wasn't much in Rome that was.

  Part One

  Night Falls

  1

  September 1, 2008

  Murky shadows spread down the streets of Rome and darkened the narrow lanes winding through ancient thoroughfares. A heavyset man in a trench coat trotted down the steps of La Metropolitana, the metro system, not far from the Fontana di Trevi. When he turned the corner at the bottom of the stairs, the smell of hot pizza offered by a vendor near the metro entrance slowed him, but he didn't stop.

  The fountains always attracted a bevy of tourists with cameras flashing like machine guns. They fluttered around the statue of Neptune in his shell-shaped chariot surrounded by a court of seahorses and giant tritons. Cold had already permeated the stone. The stout man walked at a quick clip as if he could distance himself from the chill of the evening. The press of late-night tourists strolling through the quaint streets only helped cover his movements.

  A few people milled around the platform, looking indifferent. Leaning against the back wall, oblivious to the crowd, a young man stood locked in an embrace with a black-haired Italian woman. No one looked at them for more than a few seconds.

  A rush of air surged out of the murky tunnel and signaled the arrival of the train. The roar of steel wheels clattered against the rails and telegraphed that the speeding vehicle would stop in a matter of moments. Waiting until the last second, the heavyset man jumped into the coach just before the train left the station and settled into a seat at the rear.

  At this hour, there weren't many people traveling in his direction—only those who had worked hard all day. The men wore pullover long-sleeved jerseys underneath worn sport coats; tired women in wrinkled dresses paid no attention to him.

  A surge of anxiety swept over him when he realized that his hands were sweating. Beads of perspiration popped up on his forehead. Never had he done anything like he planned. His face appeared calm, but his stomach churned. He gnawed at his bottom lip.

  All the trains stopped running around 1:30 a.m., but that should give him plenty of time to set up in the tunnel just outside of the termini in the Piazza dei Cinquecento. Without moving his head, his eyes roamed around the car to make sure the police hadn't followed him.

  He thought about Rome and how it had pushed the present moment into the tiny cracks left from three thousand years of history. It was a tight fit, particularly when the objective was to destroy a portion of the city. He remembered reading a historian who called Rome a palimpsest: a piece of parchment used again and again with the present day squeezed between the lines or written over the top of the faded original. Yet, the city really wasn't so hard to decipher. Central Rome was contained in only two and a half miles from the Basilica de San Pietro to the termini station as the crow flies, but for three millennia an entire world had been crammed into the small space.

  The train suddenly lurched back and forth, jolting his body. Gingerly, he ran his hand down the side of his coat, feeling with a tender touch. Too much was at stake to risk an inadvertent disaster caused by an erratic train.

  "Got a match?" a male voice said.

  A worn young man in his late twenties appeared in front of him, wearing a black leather jacket. A cigarette dangled out of the corner of his mouth. It was illegal to smoke on the subway, but this wasn't the time for a lecture or an argument with an Elvis retread.

  "No," he said flatly and looked the other way.

  With the cigarette still hanging from hi
s lips, the youth walked on up the car, but no one else responded affirmatively either.

  The train slowed as it pulled into the next station. Signs along the wall read Piazza dei Cinquecento. Doors opened. The few remaining people filed out, leaving him alone at the rear. The crowd started up the steps toward the exit. He allowed them to move along in front of him before darting into a dim corner next to the wall. Reaching through the slit in his trench coat, he cradled the Glock 9mm pistol strapped in a holster on his hip.

  The sound of shoes trudging up the cement steps died out, and in a few moments the platform emptied. Jogging on quiet soles, he rushed to the end of the tunnel as soon as the train left. One last glance around the area revealed he was alone. With a quick hop, he leaped from the platform down to the subway floor and hurried into the tunnel. Not ten feet in, the darkness swallowed him.

  From rummaging around in the basement of the public archives, he had found the remnants of the plans for the metro system, which revealed that forty feet down this section of track there had been a storage area in the side of the tunnel. The architectural renderings indicated the area to be the size of a small room that would serve his purposes well. Feeling along the wall next to the steel tracks, he found that the plans were correct. Once inside the chamber, he pulled out a flashlight and made a quick inspection of the space. An old pickax stood against a blackened wall. Small hunks of volcanic rock covered the ground and made a slight crunching sound under his feet. With lights still beaming from the station, he could detect the subway tracks well enough to work quickly.

  Settling against the brick wall, he unzipped the lining of his trench coat and pulled out the paper-wrapped briquettes that he set in a row in front of him. The plastic explosives should not detonate until the blasting caps were ignited, but he was no expert, and the narrow clay-like bars made him anxious.