by John Lyman
After fluffing a pillow on a wide leather seat that converted to a bed, the senior flight attendant took Leo’s suitcase and squeezed it into a tiny closet. “Can I get you anything, Cardinal?”
“No ... I mean, yes. A small glass of wine ... red please.”
“Of course, sir. I’ll bring it to you as soon as we’re in the air.”
Leaning back in his seat, Leo could hear the startup of the jet’s engines. Closing his eyes, he let the hum of power lull him to sleep, and when he awoke there was only darkness outside his windows and a full glass of wine was sitting on a tray beside his seat. Peering through the glass, he could see thousands of lights below as the big jet began a long sweeping turn for its descent into New York’s JFK International Airport. He had slept for the entire flight across the Atlantic.
CHAPTER 48
NEW YORK CITY
Inside his New York hotel room, Leo was watching television at four in the morning. After sleeping his way across the Atlantic, he was caught up in the vicious cycle of jet lag that made sleep at this hour impossible. Grabbing the new smart phone the pope had given him a few months earlier, he checked for messages one more time, but nothing appeared on the tiny blue screen. I know they’re awake in Rome by now. They must think I’m still asleep. Leo stirred restlessly. He needed to do something. Since swimming was his preferred method of exercise, he called the front desk and asked if they had a pool.
“Of course, sir. It’s on the top floor by the gym.”
“Thank you.” Hanging up the phone, Leo began rummaging through his suitcase, but he had only planned on staying one night and leaving right after the meeting. The thought of packing a swim suit had never entered his mind. Even in New York City, shopping for a swim suit at this hour would probably be hopeless in this area of town.
Dressing in a pair of jeans and a dark turtleneck shirt, he rode the elevator down to the lobby and walked out into the crisp morning air that wrapped around the towering buildings. The hotel was right across the street from Central Park, so he decided to go for a long walk before breakfast. After crossing the street, he made his way along a tree-lined pathway to a bridge that spanned a dark body of water. No one was around as he stopped to watch the spreading ripples from the ducks gliding beneath the overhead lights. The solitude was exhilarating, especially given the fact that he was surrounded by millions of people who were still sleeping soundly in artificial canyons that towered above the park. After doing a few long stretches by the railing, he turned away to continue his walk just as a cough sounded in the darkness. Peering out into the shadows he could see nothing but trees, but despite the seeming solitude it was obvious that someone was close by—someone who preferred the shadows to the light.
Without trying to appear obvious, he quickly began walking back the way he had come. Footsteps suddenly echoed behind him, and when he slowed the footsteps also slowed. Without looking back, he stopped and bent over to tie his shoelace. The footsteps behind him also stopped. Continuing on, he quickened his pace, then stopped again and jerked his head sideways to look over his shoulder. No one was behind him on the path, but he could see movement in the trees off to his right.
By now Leo was sweating in the cool air as he broke into a slow jog toward the street lights ahead. Again he heard the footsteps, and they were keeping pace. Seconds later he burst out onto the street in front of his hotel and looked back at the empty pools of light scattered inside the park. There was no one there. On the corner a half block away, he spotted a policeman and gave him a casual wave to make sure he was being watched as he crossed the street and entered a brightly lit coffee shop. Taking a seat by the window, he peered across the street into the park’s leafy darkness. The area appeared empty as the policeman walked by and tipped his hat to a pair of young women struggling home on unsteady feet following a late night out on the town.
Slapping a dog-eared menu down on the table, the waitress filled Leo’s cup to the brim with a thin brown liquid that smelled like coffee, and as she walked away, he looked back out the window and wondered about things that lay in the darkness. There was something out there— something that seemed to be draining the life force from everything around him, and it was waiting in the darkness. Waiting not just for him, but for millions, and in a few hours he would be staring that darkness right in the face.
* *
Parked in front of the United Nations building, over a hundred television trucks clogged the streets, their satellite dishes pointing skyward as reporters swarmed around the main entrance waiting to glimpse the arrival of world leaders who were flowing through the glassed entrance and into the main auditorium so they could listen to the man who had turned the power back on.
As Leo sat in a row of chairs separated by a green-carpeted aisle that sloped down to a softly lit podium below, he looked out over an audience filled with presidents, kings, queens—even a dictator or two, all waiting for a glimpse of their savior. Wiping his face with a handkerchief, he tried to keep his eyes from closing. His weariness contrasted sharply with the excitement building around him, and as he joined with those who kept glancing down at the podium for any sign of activity he felt a slight tap on his left shoulder, causing him to look up at a man in a dark suit standing over him. “Excuse me, Your Eminence, but Mr. Acerbi would like to speak with you before he addresses the assembly.”
“Mr. Acerbi?”
“Yes, sir. Mr. Adrian Acerbi.”
A prickling sensation tugged beneath the cardinal’s collar when he heard the name Adrian Acerbi coming from the lips of an unidentified man in a dark suit. He was here! Even though all of the previous signs had been unmistakable, it was not the dark star, or the Bible code, or the findings in Patmos that had pointed to this moment, it was the fact that he was here, and the leaders of the world had come to hear him speak. It was really happening. Leo began to feel as if his body was floating over his chair, and for some unexplained reason all he could think of at this moment was Adrian’s father—Eduardo Acerbi. Had the old man lived he would never have been able to forgive himself for failing to stop Adrian’s transition, even though in truth there would have been nothing he could have done to prevent it. Maybe the intelligence analysts in Gibraltar had been right all along. Adrian’s coming had already been foretold, so why bother trying to stop it.
Bracing himself on the armrests of his seat, Leo slowly lifted himself to his feet. Bowing slightly from the waist, the dark-suited man held his hand to his earpiece and spoke into a microphone concealed in his sleeve before leading Leo down the aisle as people nearby pointed and whispered. Looking back over his shoulder at Leo, the man followed an aisle that led off to the right and ended at a heavily-guarded door at the side of the soaring auditorium. Holding the door, the man ushered the cardinal into a wide hallway filled with armed men dressed in khaki-colored uniforms.
Pushing their way through the phalanx of security personnel, Leo could feel the hostile stares as they entered a comfortably-furnished room filled with well-dressed men and women who were either talking or texting on their smart phones. Except for the armed men standing outside the door, the entire scene had the aura of a corporate boardroom, and instead of the diplomatic type’s one would expect to find in a place like the U.N., it looked to Leo like he was surrounded by a group of Wall Street bankers. Feeling out of place in his long red cassock, Leo avoided the black-tied waiters carrying trays filled with caviar and flutes of bubbly champagne, and as he scanned the room, his eyes finally settled on the back of a man sitting in a barber’s chair and talking on a satellite phone. It was Adrian Acerbi.
Approaching Acerbi from behind, the dark-suited man bent over and whispered into his ear. Adrian’s head quickly snapped backward as he switched off his phone and twirled around in an effort to greet Leo with a big smile. Leo was shocked by his appearance. According to Eduardo, his son Adrian had been a slightly-built teenager whose main hobby in life had been playing computer games in his room, but Leo could tell right away that th
e man he was now looking at was much older. His hair was black and streaked with gray, and even though he was sitting, the Cardinal estimated that he was at least six feet tall and probably weighed in excess of two hundred pounds. But it was his eyes that really set him apart. They were black, and they seemed to look right through those who caught his attention with a gaze that was frightening in its intensity.
“Ah, Cardinal.” Adrian jumped from the barber’s chair and extended his hand. “It is so good to finally meet you. I know you and my father were close.”
Leo remained rigid in his stance. As a Jesuit warrior and a Prince of the Church, he was well aware that he was assaulted on a daily basis by evil influences. They circled around him like vultures drifting on warm currents above an odiferous carcass, and Leo was now standing in the presence of one of the most evil and ruthless vultures Satan had ever unleashed against the world.
“You know about your father’s death?” Leo asked.
Adrian’s black eyes narrowed slightly. “Of course ... very sad, but not totally unexpected ... considering his age. I understand he’ll be buried in Foix.”
“Yes. We had his body transported there yesterday, but I’m sure you’re already aware of that as well.” Leo kept his eyes locked on Adrian. “What do you want from me, Mr. Acerbi?”
“I would think the answer to that would be obvious to an intelligent man like yourself, Cardinal.” Adrian’s eyes blinked twice when he used Leo’s’s title. He seemed sure of himself, yet guarded at the same time as he tried to put on his biggest smile. “We have much to discuss but very little time before I must address the assembly outside. Frankly, Cardinal, I need your help.”
“Help? Why in God’s name would I help you?” Leo kept his hands folded together in case Adrian tried to shake his hand. “Let’s not play games, Mr. Acerbi. You and I both know what you are.”
The black eyes flashed with anger but the smile remained. “And just what would that be, Cardinal? A businessman perhaps? Or am I just a man with a vision ... someone who wants only to do what’s best for the world? What is it you see that others do not?”
“I see the black soul of the devil!”
The buzz of voices in the room suddenly stopped. “Is that what you see, Cardinal ... the devil?” Adrian slapped his knee and laughed out loud as he stood. “I can assure you I am no devil, Cardinal, but I can see that convincing you of that fact will take much longer than the few minutes we have before I must go. Please, allow me to be brief. I need the Catholic Church on my side. As you know, the Church is much more than just a church. It is also a sovereign state, and as such it falls under the plan I’m about to present to the assembly. I would like to see you remain in your present position as the Vatican’s Secretary of State. Together we can do great things for mankind. Why don’t you reserve your judgment of me until after you hear my speech? Then maybe we can talk again.”
Leo’s Jesuit eyes flashed in anger. “It is not up to you to decide matters involving the Church. My position is decided through the hand of God and dictated by the pope, and I can promise you that dealing with him will be a lot tougher than dealing with me.”
Adrian leaned close, his smile twisting into a barely perceptible snarl. “Did God speak to you himself when he handed you those red robes, Your Eminence? Is it God’s hand you see at work, or is it just a man who decides your fate. No one lives forever, and that includes the pope. It would be better for your flock if you align yourself with me, for without you they will be much worse off. Of that I can assure you.”
By now Leo was visibly shaking with anger. “The pope will be the judge of what is and what isn’t good for our flock. As for you, your arrival may have been prophesized, but so too has your end. Others may not see you for what you are, but the pope and I know exactly what you represent to mankind. Your reign will be a mere speck in the history of the world, but the Church will live on forever.”
Adrian shrank back from Leo’s gaze as though he had seen something that had frightened him. “Have it your way, Cardinal. Maybe your Cathar friends will welcome you into their fold after you’ve been replaced.”
“Replaced! Replaced by who ... Acone?”
Adrian looked dazed. He hadn’t expected that. “Acone? Why yes, I suppose he would make an excellent Secretary of State. May I ask why you mentioned that particular name?”
“You can ask. It’s nice to see you still don’t know everything. God gives those who work in his name a shield against the kind of evil you represent. Good luck with your speech, Mr. Acerbi. I’m sure you’ll be a resounding hit with the crowd, but remember this—there will always be those who don’t follow the crowd.” With that, Leo swirled around and walked from the room, his red robes flowing out behind him.
Watching Leo walk out the door, Adrian shook with a hidden rage covered by a smile—the most dangerous kind of rage. Looking around the room at all the silent faces, he fought to regain control, and with a grand gesture, he spread his arms and announced to his nervous cronies that the time was at hand. He was ready to address the leaders of the world.
Returning to his seat in the auditorium, Leo watched the lights dim dramatically as all eyes focused down on the softly lit lectern. Against the background of a green marble wall, Adrian adjusted the microphone and ran his hands through his thick, gray-streaked hair before smiling out over the audience.
“Good Afternoon. For those who don’t know who I am, my name is Adrian Acerbi. My late father was Eduardo Acerbi, and my brother was Rene Acerbi, the man who murdered thousands of innocent people in a twisted attempt to take over the world. That is one of the reasons I am here, but there are other, more compelling reasons why I have asked you all to come here and share your time with me.”
Adrian took a sip of water and cleared his throat before continuing. “For many of you, or I should say most of you, what I am about to say will be shocking, but please bear with me, for the fate of the countries you represent will depend on the decisions you will make here today in the name of your people.”
A loud murmur arose in the crowded space as some of the most powerful people on the planet exchanged nervous glances.
“My presence here today signals a new era in the history of mankind, or to be more politically correct, in the history of all humanity.” Adrian smiled proudly at his inclusive rhetoric. “Since the dawn of civilization, men of good intentions preached the importance of unity and the virtues of compromise, but I ask you, where has that gotten us? Despite the fact that we have evolved into a modern, technologically-savvy and forward-thinking world ... a world that has conquered many of the ills that have plagued humanity for centuries, we are still nothing more than a grouping of tribes scattered across the globe. We are all members of tribes that have their own separate agendas ... tribes that continue to have ongoing squabbles that, no matter how petty they may seem, threaten to escalate into a global conflict of unimaginable horror when those squabbles can no longer be mediated through reasoned discussion.
“Now I ask you, is that any way for a modern and seemingly sophisticated civilization to conduct its affairs going into the next millennium? Are we to continue to deal with one another in the same mindset as primitive tribesmen when it comes to working out our differences, especially when we now possess nuclear weapons and other means of mass destruction?”
In the seats around him, Leo saw that several people were already nodding their heads in agreement.
“Let me be even more clear,” Adrian continued. “The events of the past few weeks have been a wake-up call for most of you. You saw with your own eyes what can happen to a society robbed of the necessities of life for only a short period of time. I think we can all agree that we witnessed some very primitive behavior, which brings me to my point. We can no longer exist on a planet that is this interconnected and still conduct ourselves as if we are still warring tribes running around in a primitive jungle. The tribal glue that bound us together in individual groups to protect us from the tribe that
lived over the next hill is the same kind of glue that created civilized societies ... societies that invented art and culture and built great cities, but it is also the cause behind some of the most egregious behavior in the history of the world. We have arrived at a crossroads in human history, where tribal thinking is now obsolete, so now, when I speak of tribes, I am talking about individual governments.”
The auditorium erupted in angry shouts and murmurs of protestation. Adrian stood silently and watched their reaction as he took another sip of water and smiled out at the audience. “This is the shocking part I was referring to earlier. While I was sitting backstage waiting to come out here, I was thinking of my brother Rene. I never actually met him, but I think we can all agree that he was totally insane and was responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent people in a twisted effort to take over the world. His sole motive was power over others, and he would have been successful had it not been for the courageous actions of one man ... my father.
“I learned a great deal from my father, but the one lesson that has stayed with me through the years is that any man who is gifted with great wealth should share it with the world, and that is exactly what I want to do. Unlike Rene, I am not driven by power or money, but by service to my fellow man. I want to see your children grow up in a world without crime, famine, or war. On the face of things, I realize that a sweeping statement like that sounds a bit utopian ... an impossible dream that can never really be achieved, but I am here today to tell you that it can be done, and I have a plan to do it with your help.”
Adrian paused and looked around at the assembled group of world leaders who were staring back at the podium with plastic smiles usually reserved for adults when they were listening to their child relate some fantastical, imaginary tale.