“It can’t be impossible,” Dane argued. “Maxie wouldn’t have wasted his time if it couldn’t be done.” Dane had the utmost confidence in their former commander. He had no doubt that Maxie had been on to something. “There’s something he knew that we don’t. When we figure it out, we’ll know how to proceed.”
“Do you have anything other than the papers you showed us?” Bones asked Kaylin.
The girl shook her head. “We’re missing something. I’ve been through Dad’s journal and Rienzi’s and I can’t find anything.” She folded her arms and set her jaw. Her eyes were fixed on some invisible spot in the distance as she thought. “It has to be there. It just has to.”
Dane thought he knew someone who could help them. He excused himself for a minute and stepped outside to make the call. When he returned to the living room, Bones and Kaylin looked at him with curious expressions.
“I’ve got a friend on the case,” he explained cryptically. He would leave them in suspense until he heard something back.
“So that’s how you’re going to play it?” Bones asked, grinning suspiciously.
“Yep,” Dane said. He did not want to get their hopes up until he found out what kind of results his contact could get. That, and he enjoyed keeping them in suspense. At any rate, there was more that they could do in the meantime.
“Kaylin,” he said, turning to the blonde, “What do you say we check out your dad’s library?”
CHAPTER 4
The books in Maxwell’s library were arranged in meticulous fashion by subject, author and date of publication. The precise rows were totally in keeping with the commander’s personality. Everything in the room, from the painting of the shipwreck on the wall above the computer, to the single, framed family portrait, reminded Dane of his mentor and friend. A pang of sadness welled up inside, but was immediately overwhelmed by a wave of bitterness. He wanted to find whoever it was who had done Maxie in. He wanted them bad. He clenched his fist, imagining the murderer’s throat.
”I wonder what bible Father Wright was talking about.” Kaylin asked. She stood next to him, looking over the books. “I know what Dad had in his library, and I never saw an old bible.”
“I didn’t know Catholics even read the bible,” Bones said, “at least not in English.”
“He didn’t read it, genius. It was in French,” Dane shot back. “You don’t see it anywhere? Maybe whoever broke in took it.” He didn’t know why someone would steal a bible. He scanned the shelves but saw no obvious empty spaces where a book might be missing.
He set about the task of examining the library, pulling books off the shelves at random and thumbing through, looking for notations, papers, anything that might give a clue as to what they were looking for. Kaylin searched through the file cabinets, while Bones sat popping Maxie’s CD-ROMs into his laptop one at a time, scanning their contents.
His cell phone vibrated against his chest. Dane withdrew it from his jacket pocket and flipped it open. It was the call he had been waiting for.
“Hey Jimmy, what you got for me?” Jimmy Letson was a writer for the Washington Post. He had access, legally, to a myriad of internet databases. He was also a hacker who had access, illegally, to resources Dane didn’t even want to know about. The two had been friends in the service, remaining in contact even after Jimmy had rung out of SEAL training, and left the service when his tour ended.
“What’s that? No, ‘Wow, Jimmy, that was fast!’ or ‘Hey Jimmy, thanks for dropping everything to check on this for me,’ or ‘Gee Jimmy, thanks for risking your job…’ “
“I get the point,” Dane said, laughing. “Fine, I declare you the Pope of Cyberspace. Now what did you find out?”
“Funny you should mention the Pontiff. This guy, Rienzi, he came back from his world travels sounding off to anyone who would listen about all the great treasures he had lost.”
“We knew that much already. Did he ever say what, exactly, he had lost?”
“He must have, because within several months, he had managed to tick off all of the scholars in his field, or at least the ones we have any writings from. Unfortunately for you, they all talk about his ‘ridiculous’ claims, but they never say what specifically those claims were. A year after his return, he pretty much shuts up, and goes back to being a run-of-the-mill writer.”
“Do you think the ridicule got to him?” Dane asked.
“I think it was bigger than that.” Jimmy paused. He loved drama. “NAILS turned up a letter from the bishop in Paris to a cardinal back at the Vatican, written nine months after Rienzi’s return to France.”
NAILS was an acronym for “National Archive and Informational Linkage System,” an amazing connection of informational resources used by the CIA. Jimmy had somehow found a way to clandestinely link up to the system. Dane had told his friend on more than one occasion that he did not want to be around when Jimmy was finally busted. Jimmy just laughed and boasted that he was much too smart to be caught by those bozos. His cockiness made even Bones appear humble.
“I’m waiting for you to tell me why I should care,” Dane said, feigning disinterest.
“The cardinal wanted Rienzi excommunicated. That interest you?”
Dane reflected on this new bit of information. Could they be connected in some way? The timing was certainly right.
“Thanks, Jim, that’s great. Anything else?”
“Probably nothing you don’t already know. I’ll shoot a summary over to you. Anything else you need?
“Actually, would you see what you can find out about the Dourado?”
“I suppose you’re in a big hurry on this one too,” Jimmy groaned.
“No, last night will be soon enough.” Dane ignored Jimmy’s profane reply. “Thanks again. I’ll stand you to a bottle of Wild Turkey next time I’m in DC.” Maxie had taught him long ago how helpful it could be to know a man’s weakness.
“You’ve got a deal,” Jimmy replied, and broke the connection.
Dane hung up the phone and shared this new information with Bones and Kaylin.
“So Rienzi comes back from his trip and starts ruffling feathers,” Bones said. He stood with his chin cupped in his hand. His brown eyes stared vacantly out the window. “Whatever claims he’s making, they’re enough to get somebody in the church all riled up. They threaten him with excommunication, and he clams up.”
“With the kind of clout the church carried, it wouldn’t be out of the question for the Vatican to find a way to get rid of any written record of Rienzi’s claims, whatever they were,” Kaylin added. “What could he have found that would upset the church that much?”
A flicker of movement at the corner of his eye caught Dane’s attention. “Did you see something out there?” he asked Bones, pointing toward the window.
His friend shook his head. “Sorry, man. Lost in space.” He tapped his temple with a deeply tanned finger.
“Thought I saw something.” Dane drew his pistol, a German-made Walther P-99, and moved to the windowsill, carefully peering out over the narrow backyard that ran down to the shore of the Cooper River. It was a calm, sunny afternoon. Nothing seemed amiss in the quiet neighborhood. Bones appeared at his side, Glock drawn.
A knock at the front door broke the silence, causing the two of them to jump. Kaylin looked at him questioningly. Dane nodded, and walked with her to the door. She opened it to reveal an elderly black woman in a neatly pressed dress.
“Bernie!” Kaylin cried, crushing the woman in a tight embrace. The old woman smiled and hugged her back.