揂nd ones upon whom you know a great secret.?
揚recisely. Trust can be so fleeting. But, as you said, this is our problem. And I intend to solve it. I also have to know that whoever I choose to bring within my confidence will participate in the conclave with great zeal.?
He knew the right answer. 揟hat would be me.?
Fuentes smiled. 揑 thought as much. Which explains why we are here, in the middle of the night, speaking to each other. I will deal with Bernat de Foix. Together we will deal with les Vautours. And, after that, you shall become a cardinal.?
揂nd perhaps also garner a worthy appointment to the Curia, once you are pope??
Fuentes never flinched at his greed. 揑 would expect no less for you.?
Message sent. And received. The extortion ran both ways.
揑 did not ask before,?Fuentes said, 揵ut I will now. Do you still have Father Tallard抯 video that was sent to you??
He shook his head. 揇eleted.?
揂ll right. We will need to also retrieve it from de Foix. Friar Rice is an expert with computers. Get dressed, Archbishop. We are going to face your demon. Then we will face mine.?
Chapter 51
Claire kept driving, like a robot, her mind numb, her body reacting automatically to the road and traffic. She was well out of Belgium, now into northeastern France, headed south at a good pace. Hopefully, there抎 be no more police. It was important that she return to the motherhouse with Sister Rachel抯 body. She抎 stopped a few hours back for gas and a bathroom, shielding the body bag with a lot of the clothes and other stuff that littered the back seat. She抎 have to stop again along the way, but thankfully the black body bag was fairly innocuous among the litter. Still, she抎 have to be careful. Ellen had called and confirmed that Sister Deal was in their custody and had agreed to cooperate. So she抎 given the okay to provide her a laptop so the images could be compared.
They needed that expertise.
To be sure. To know if the old stories were indeed true.
If and when they dealt with the current threat, depending on the outcome, those images could present a more lasting problem. But first things first. She checked her watch: 2:25 a.m. She reached for her cell phone and tapped the screen at the top of her favorites. The call connected and the abbess answered almost immediately.
揑 should be there a little past noontime,?she reported. 揑t was not exactly what I envisioned, but Lee got the job done. Hopefully, he抣l give up and move on.?
The plan all along had been to use Lee to the point where he was no longer needed. Then ditch him. Which she抎 done.
揥hat does not exactly what I envisioned mean??
揟he police were involved, but we eluded them.?
揂re you sure? Were you identified??
揑 don抰 know.?
Silence filled the phone.
揑t抯 so easy for you,?she said. 揟here. Safe in the abbey. Judging. It抯 really different out here.?
揑 worked the field for many years, without any problems.?
揃ut did you have any challenges??
More silence.
揑 didn抰 think so,?she said. 揕ook, I realize the Dominicans have changed everything. But I抦 just a schoolteacher from Louisiana who answered the call in her head, and now finds herself at the epicenter of a storm that has raged for centuries. I抦 doing the best I can.?
揃ut you keep falling short. Focus on the task,?the prioress said. 揥e can debate all this later.?
And the call ended.
Damn that woman was obstinate.
She was hungry and made a note to stop at the first opportunity that food was available. The car needed more gas too. A road sign indicated that Reims was twenty kilometers ahead. She抎 purposefully avoided any roads through or around the snarl and blare of Paris, staying east in the French countryside, her intended route moving from Reims to Dijon to Lyon to Montpellier, then Perpignan and west into the mountains. Four-laned autoroute nearly the whole way. Another sign indicated that a service area was coming up soon. Unlike back in the States, none of the commercial establishments were off the exits. Instead, they were built between the four lanes where drivers from either direction could make use of the gas pumps, food, bathrooms, and rest areas. They came at regular intervals and she抎 make a stop at the next one parking the car off to the side, away from any bright lights. At this late hour there should not be too many people around. It seemed that everything she抎 devoted the better part of her adult life to would come down to the next day or so.
揧ou will not have died in vain,?she said to Rachel in the back seat.
And she meant it.
Women had been living in the abbey atop Mount Canigou for over a thousand years. Each was the successor to other women who抎 assumed a duty starting around AD 50. Those first few had buried the Blessed Virgin in a place only they knew, and then assumed stewardship over the tomb, passing their guardianship down from mother to daughter. They抎 survived countless wars, the Albigensian Crusade, the French Revolution, and repeated attempts by Rome to discover their presence. Eventually, they evolved into a religious order, which made their task much easier, and for over a thousand years the maidens had performed admirably.