by J C Ryan
“Son, if you call me ‘ma’am’ one more time, I’m gonna show you how much life this old gal still has in her.”
“Yes, m… uh… okay, Conn… ah… Constance.”
She beamed at him. “That’s better. Now, let’s go over this again. I’ll need to know it backwards and forwards when I talk to the Italians.”
***
In Matera, Dylan had given his team instructions to pack their backpacks and by turns go wandering around the ravine and walkways surrounding the Crypt of Original Sin. The idea was to observe and record anyone who went in there and how long they stayed, whether they carried anything in or out, and whatever other observations seemed prudent. Each man would be relieved every twelve hours until the Italian government made alternate arrangements.
At least, he hoped the government would step in to protect the precious contents of the cave.
***
Upon landing, Sean and Constance got a taxi to Matera and went straight to their hotel, the Palazzo Gattini. They dropped their bags in their rooms and waited in Sean’s room. Before long, there was a knock at the door. Dylan’s smiling face was behind it.
He took them to Carter and Mackenzie’s suite, which he explained they’d been sweeping for bugs since their arrival, every time they returned from a trip or let someone in to clean. They also had counter surveillance measures deployed against the possibility of anyone attempting to listen in on their conversations. Sean approved, and Constance was impressed.
Dylan introduced Constance to the Devereuxs and the security team, along with their pilot and Piero. Her eyes were drawn to the dressing on Piero’s face. “What happened, sugar?”
Piero’s eyes brightened; he liked her immediately—that scar didn’t put the ladies off. Dylan was the one who spoke. He brought the Secretary and Sean up to speed on everything that had happened since they’d left on May 1, including the assassination attempt and the previous night’s discovery of the library.
Sean was outraged at Dylan for not getting the Devereuxs out when he recognized the German assassin. Before he could dress Dylan down for it, Carter and Mackenzie jumped in, explaining they’d given him no choice.
“As you can see,” Carter concluded, “it worked out well. A dangerous assassin, or possibly two, are off the streets, and unless you want us to undiscover the Nabatean library, I suggest we move past the incident in the Sassi.”
Constance hooted at the suggestion they’d be willing to “undiscover” the library. Everything she’d learned about Carter in the past ten hours or so led her to believe he’d find another way if she didn’t cooperate with him. “Okay, so what exactly would you like me to do about this?”
Sean stared at her in amazement. Where had her Texas accent gone? She winked at him. Damn, I wish she’d quit doing that!
“At the moment, ma’am, all we want is for the Italian government to take responsibility for securing the hiding place of the library and agree to let us take a closer look as soon as we’re free to do so.
“And speaking of free, we’re under detention here because of the gunfight in the Sassi. But we’re due in DC. So, if they’d agree to let us return home on the stipulation we’ll return for questioning if we’re needed, that would be helpful, too.”
Sean held his breath, waiting for Constance to do something crazy to follow through on her threat. Apparently, Carter got a pass for calling her ma’am.
“All right. I’ll need you to act as my top hand,” she said, gesturing at Sean. “Get hold of my office and have ‘em get me a meeting with Enrico Fellini. In secret, if possible. That’s the Italian Prime Minister, if you didn’t know,” she added. “Then talk to my Chief Deputy and have him handle getting the local police to lift the travel ban on these folks. I don’t care what he tells ‘em. Tell ‘em we’re extraditing them if he has to. Just get these folks back to DC so they can clear up the crap that’s going on there.”
Now the rest of them were staring at her while Sean grinned. There it is. She can switch from smooth DC politician back to her Texas ranch owner persona at will. Nice trick!
“Well, hop to it!” she snapped, causing Sean to stop musing and literally jump.
Chapter 73 - Ciao tesoro
May 9
Within two hours, the meeting with Fellini was set up, the Secretary of State had obtained appropriate clothing with Mackenzie’s help, and Sean was at the wheel of a rental car Piero had found in the nearest town. Carter was with them as they tore up the highway to Rome. He could only hope the Prime Minister would step in if the Materan police caused trouble because he’d left town without permission.
For the next almost five hours, Sean experienced Italian driving first hand, especially the closer they got to Rome. He quickly concluded the tales he’d heard were all true— as the Italians lived up to their reputation as the worst drivers in the world, bar none.
Fellini had agreed to a secret meeting, provided it take place that evening. The fact that it would be after ten p.m. by the time they could reach Rome, despite the speed at which Italians drove, helped. No one would question his movements at that time of night. He’d directed them to come straight to his residence and his security detail to let them in.
Constance strode into Fellini’s elegant entry with both hands outstretched. “Enrico, ciao tesoro.”
Fellini pulled her forward and kissed her on each cheek. “My dear friend! What in the world brings you here at this hour, and in secret!”
“It’s a long story, Enrico. May we sit?”
“Of course, of course!” He clapped his hands, and a manservant appeared. “Bring refreshment for my guests.” He then led them to a cozy study and bade them to make themselves comfortable.
“Enrico, I’m afraid this is a very long story. You may not sleep tonight. But my friend, Carter Devereux, is the best person to tell it.”
Fellini showed his surprise. “The famous Carter Devereux! What are you doing in my country, if I may ask?”
“As Secretary Pierce has said, it’s a long story. However, if you know my name, you may already know some of it. You’re aware I’m an archaeologist?”
“Of course. Your reputation precedes you. You don’t intend to steal precious artifacts from us, I assume?”
Carter concealed his surprise that the Prime Minister knew that much. But then recalled the bad publicity he and A-Echelon had received the past two months and realized it would not have been contained to America only. That made his job tonight a bit easier.
“No, sir, I don’t. And the fact that I’ve done it before has extenuating circumstances. Let me tell you about them.” He spent the next half an hour giving a very abbreviated account of the history of the E- and A-Codices, including the actions of the nefarious group that was trying to discredit him and take the information for their use only.
Throughout the narrative, Fellini looked at each of the Americans in the room and made a few judgements based on their body language. He was the third-youngest man to ever become Prime Minister of Italy, and he’d met the Secretary of State on several occasions and admired her greatly. It was her influence that led him to appoint women to replace several heads of state-owned companies whom he’d forced to resign for corruption. More than ten years her junior, he adored her outrageous flirting and encouraged it whenever they met.
He was inclined to trust anything Constance told him, but he was a little disturbed that she’d turned up incognito and unannounced. Now he was glad he’d reserved judgment.
He was still not certain of the role of the second man, Sean Walker, but Professor Carter Devereux had impressed him with his sincerity. Honesty shone from the man’s eyes.
Carter’s recitation soon put the PM’s concerns to rest. He would have done the same thing as Constance under the circumstances. Her requests were reasonable, and given the circumstances, necessary.
Enrico gave a shudder as he considered what might have happened if Carter or his wife—or God forbid, both of them—had been killed
in the assassination attempt. Or if the dreadful Nabateans had found their library first.
It was up to him to prevent the disaster that would befall the world if he didn’t act immediately. Therefore, he risked the not inconsiderable wrath of his President to wake him at midnight. He made the call in the presence of his guests, without whom he would have known nothing of the threat.
In Italian, he explained the situation and secured the President’s agreement to send the Italian Carabinieri, the national gendarmerie, responsible for policing both military and civilian populations, independent of the other services, to protect the site of the Crypt of Original Sin.
Almost as a side thought, Fellini sent word to the police in Matera that they were to let the Americans leave any time they wished to go. He promised they’d be available for questioning in Matera if needed. Piero, being Italian, they could have at will.
All this Carter explained to the others when Fellini briefly excused himself. Fellini returned, took Pierce in his arms for the formal kiss again, and whispered to her in Italian, “If only you were Italian, my sweet, or I were American!”
Pierce gave him a smile worthy of the Mona Lisa and patted his arm. “Thank you for seeing us, caro mia.”
***
Back in Matera, they held a celebratory breakfast while waiting for the Italian troops to take over guarding the hidden library. They’d leave as soon as the troops arrived on site, except for Piero, who would hang around to make sure nothing untoward happened. If anything seemed off, he’d call in help from other CIA operatives in Italy.
On the tenth of May, the Devereux party departed Italy bound for Washington, DC, arriving two days before their deadline. The mood on the plane was jubilant, though they were all tired, and it would be a very long day as they regained the five-hour difference in time.
Carter pushed away the sobering thought that this was only one battle in the war with the Nabateans.
The victory was exhilarating, and major. But the next battle would be epic.
***
The Devereux party hadn’t even landed in Maryland yet when the Italian press got wind of the military presence in Matera. Only a little snooping brought them the understanding that the Carabinieri were guarding a previously unimportant cave near the Crypt of Original Sin, but they either didn’t know or wouldn’t say exactly what they guarded.
Understandably, the region surrounding Matera was an archaeological paradise. It was widely touted as having been continuously occupied for nine thousand years or more. Some even whispered it could have been one hundred fifty thousand years. Certainly, new discoveries would be made now and then, or one might even say often.
And of course, it was also understandable that new discoveries would be kept quiet until confirmed. But never in the memory of the oldest residents had those discoveries been guarded by the military. That this one, if in fact it was an archaeological discovery, was being guarded by the military caused an apprehensive stir among the populace.
Over the next week, the media, ever on the lookout for a sensational story, stirred the pot. Aggressive journalists would corner the soldiers and demand answers. The soldiers, having none, would push back, sometimes physically, until the rumor started that it was something dangerous in that cave.
When a military spokesman tried to calm the waters by hinting that not all WWII secrets were known yet, and it was a matter of national security, the ploy backfired. They reported a possible weapons and ammo cache left over from the war. The more daring newspapers speculated it was a secret Nazi weapon that conspiracy theorists had been hunting since the war ended in 1945.
***
The people who knew for a certainty what was actually hidden in that cave numbered less than a dozen. But among those who “knew” because they felt it in their gut were Mathieu and Graziella Nabati. They didn’t need direct, firsthand knowledge to put it together. Their hated enemy, Carter Devereux, had been in Matera until just hours before the news broke and had left with his wife and five others despite Mathieu’s assurances they were being detained in Matera.
Graziella had seldom been in such bad temper. The worst part of it was she had no way to satisfy her need to punish someone. Her own son was the miscreant. It was such a disaster it necessitated a face-to-face meeting. She summoned him to her lair high in the Andes and paced around Mathieu, as he cowered and endeavored to keep her in front.
“Mathieu, what am I going to do with you? You have failed again. Carter Devereux’s alive, and he’s made an important discovery. I don’t have to tell you what a catastrophe it will be if that discovery is what we believe it is! And two of our best assassins are dead, one at the hands of the other!
“You actually sent three assassins, none of whom knew of the others, to kill the same people? How could you have made such an imbecilic mistake? Have you lost your mind?”
Mathieu could offer no defense. The true reason he’d made the mistake couldn’t be admitted to his mother. He’d been driven insane by Devereux’s narrow escapes. The man was like a cat with nine lives. A buzzing began in his brain as his mother continued her rant.
“From now on, I’m in charge of these operations. You are now my assistant again, and you’d better pay attention and learn. I’m not going to be around forever to hold your hand, protect you, and clean up after you. And I won’t let you destroy what we’ve built.”
The veiled threat in the last sentence was the final blow. Had he lost his mother’s love and protection? Would she have him killed, as she’d had so many before? For the moment, though, she seemed to have turned her attention to a different frustration.
“Why can we not gain direct access to information about what’s in that cave? The one thing we have in our favor here is that we have thousands of contacts. And not one of them can tell us what’s going on.”
Mathieu was all too aware this could be laid at his feet as well. Indeed, they did have thousands of contacts in the hallways of power throughout the world, including some high in the Italian government. But the President and the Prime Minister were not among them. And they were playing this discovery very close to their vests. Try as they might, through their contacts in the Italian government, they could not get answers, but they highly doubted it was anything to do with WWII.
He risked direct eye contact with his mother. She’d gone from blaming him to blaming their contacts, perhaps he was safe for now.
The burning question was how the hell Carter Devereux could have solved the puzzle that had stumped the Council for centuries? How did he find the library of legend?
His heart seized again when he met her stormy eyes, just as she hissed, “Incompetent fools!” through clenched teeth. If she numbered him among them, he faced the most precarious situation of his life.
Chapter 74 - Preparing for the hearing
May 10
On the flight from Italy, Sean brought Carter, Mackenzie, and Dylan up to speed with what had happened in DC in their absence.
They had a good chuckle over Russell McCormick’s disappearance. Sean had them rolling with his description of McCormick’s adventures so far on his brother’s alpaca ranch, which he got in reports from Jared.
“He should be grateful they aren’t llamas,” Carter quipped, remembering a few encounters with cranky llamas when he was in Peru.
“Aren’t they both just miniature camels?” Dylan asked. “I’d hate to be on a camel ranch. Nasty beasts.”
“Actually, llamas are friendlier than alpacas, but Jared isn’t interested in them as pets. The alpacas have soft fleece. He harvests it and sells it to a co-op in Colorado Springs that hand-spins it into yarn.”
“Is there money in that?” Conrad asked. “I grew up on a farm. Might be a good retirement plan.”
“Alpaca yarn can go for up to twenty dollars a skein, depending on the type of yarn,” Mackenzie offered.
Sean cleared his throat. “Can we get back to the subject? So, McCormick has disappeared for all intents and pur
poses, and the President’s people have been trying to stall the hearing with that and anything else they can think of. But Senator Davis insists on moving forward. The hearing is going ahead as scheduled, for May fifteenth, five days from now.”
“We might as well start preparing for it as soon as we land. We can’t avoid testifying, can we?” Carter asked.
“I’m afraid not. We’ll get to that in a minute. First, I want to tell you about the hint we got from McCormick on who assigned Kelly to the Patch Barracks investigation.
“Terrence Ham is her immediate supervisor. He says he got a call from General Fleming on the night of the explosion. The General told him what happened and to get a team of investigators together immediately. Then a few minutes later, he called back and said he wanted Kelly assigned as lead investigator.
“Ham told us Kelly would have been assigned to the team anyway. She was one of the best they had, and she’d gained attention from the higher ups. They were giving her every opportunity to shine in high-profile cases, preparatory to promotion. So that was a dead-end.
“Then we talked to Fleming. He said he made the first call, but not the second. He gave us permission to look at his phone records, and it checked out—he made only one call to Ham that night. However, he had no doubt Kelly was the right person for the job, so he didn’t wonder about it.”
“Another case of faked voice,” Dylan observed.
“Looks like it.”
They fell silent, each thinking his own thoughts about how they’d manage to track down the person responsible for those faked calls or the technology that made it possible. Eventually, most of them went to sleep to try to prevent jet lag.
Carter and Mackenzie were overjoyed to see Liu on the tarmac waiting for them when they landed. But it was nothing like Dylan’s joy. Not standing on protocol, he rushed down the air stairs ahead of them and caught Liu in his arms.