The pontiff looked at Kimball; the man’s face was blotchy and scabbed, like a bad case of shingles. The rest of his body didn’t fare well either. It was completely bandaged. Nor was he alone. All the dignitaries suffered from the same maladies but were guaranteed that they would be going home shortly, since there would be no lingering effects.
Kimball leaned forward. “The SIV has learned that al-Ghazi was assassinated in Tehran,” he told him. “They believe by Iranian Intelligence. But nothing is confirmed. Sakharov remains missing but presumed dead, which wipes out any connection or ties to al-Qaeda. We believe that Iran maintains Sakharov’s findings, which, in the long run, could prove costly to the safety and welfare of nations across the world.”
The pontiff focused his sight to the ceiling. “Not a good scenario,” he commented.
Kimball sat back into his seat.
And Bonasero sighed. “It was a good notion,” he finally said, “to have the Ark serve in a capacity to bring us all together, only to cause doubts in the end. A shame. The imam, the rabbis in attendance, all the political dignitaries wanted to believe that it was something magical, when the magic was in their hearts all along. And now it’s gone.”
“Perhaps not,” said Kimball.
But the pontiff knew better as he lay there, staring.
“The new secretary of state,” he finally began, “how is he doing during my absence?”
“Cardinal Estanzio is performing quite well,” said Kimball. “But he’s no Bonasero Vessucci.”
This drew a genuine smile from the pontiff’s face.
“And tell me, what ever happened to Cardinal Angullo?”
The pontiff’s smile broadened. He just couldn’t help himself. “Let’s just say that he’s probably enjoying a dish of Dim Sum right about now.”
Kimball didn’t know what he was talking about.
Cardinal Giuseppe Angullo, now Cardinal Bishop Angullo, was given the vacant position to serve as leader of the Beijing Diocese. Although he served a Catholic citizenry of 2.8 % of the city’s population, it still amounted to more than 30,000 people.
He sat in a spartan office overlooking the city. Some days it was beautiful. On others it was dirty and smog-ridden, the masses of people intolerable. Worse, he found it difficult to learn the language, his mind unwilling to focus or care.
He then came to the bitter conclusion that he had lost his ambition, and with it his faith.
And that Bonasero Vessucci, he considered, was right after alclass="underline" He had lost his way.
Staring out the window with the city of Beijing in view, with a blanket of smog descending upon the masses, he sighed, resigning himself to his fate of a man who had paved a road closer to Hell than to Heaven.
EPILOGUE
While Kimball stayed behind with the pontiff, Leviticus and Isaiah acted on behalf of the Vatican working as emissaries, making sure that the Ark of the Covenant was properly situated according to the Imam’s agreement.
After the debacle inside the Basilica, the Ark was immediately transported back to the Micron Laboratory where the false bottom was located and the composite removed. The Ark then went through more rigorous examinations, the results negative. But in order to be accepted by the Museum of the arts d'Extrême-Orient, certain precautions had to be taken.
The Ark was hermetically sealed in a thick Plexiglas container, which meant that oxygen was pumped out and argon gas pumped in. Once the lab gave the clearance that the Ark no longer posed a threat and was thoroughly sealed, only then was it accepted.
The trip was by plane. And the Ark had been placed in a grand-size showroom as the focal point of all the ancient pieces exhibited.
In its casing it showed magnificently, its gold aura expanding in its purest form. And despite what happened in the Basilica, people from all over the world visited the museum and swore that they could feel enlightenment within its presence, an uplifting, a sense of goodness that overshadowed anything else.
Others felt nothing at all, saying that those who experienced anything at all did so only because they wanted to believe that the Ark was something mythical, and provided solace when solace was nothing more than a state of mind to begin with.
But Leviticus and Isaiah knew better as they stood there in suit and tie, feeling something over and above solace. It was absolute peace.
Once the Ark was in place, after they had been shown the state-of-the-art security system that was unsurpassable, they left Switzerland and returned to the Vatican, knowing that Kimball would be standing on the tarmac ready to brief them on their next mission.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Nobody fulfills a dream without a superb support staff behind him. So here are mine, a roll call of names that made it happen:
Sean Ellis, who has no idea how valuable he’s been to me lately. You can find his wonderful line of books here.
To the three exemplary authors who got it all going:
1) Jeremy Robinson 2) Richard Doetsch 3) David Sakmyster
Kent Holloway, whose never-ending kindness is keeping me afloat. You can find his great line of books/eBooks here.
Cheryl Dalton, Queen of the BookClub; and to all the members of this wonderful organization.
The 36 members of the Wingmen Group, you know who you are.
And finally, to the Hive Collective