Leo poked his head back up through the opening. “No, my friend. We need you to stay here with Moshe and help keep a watch over this entrance and the street outside the hotel.”
Moshe held up his walkie-talkie. “I’ll lock the door at the top of the stairs and call you if there’s any trouble.”
Leo reached the floor of the tunnel and switched on his light. The illuminated group was looking around and trying to decide which way to go when, without warning from above, the figure of a man descended the ladder behind them. It was Lev.
Ariella ran to him and stretched her arms around his neck. “Father! What are you doing here? I thought you were going to stay with the boat.”
“I could say the same thing about you. I had an overpowering need to be here with the rest of you. We all started out together in the desert, and we should all be together for this.”
A feeling that something wasn’t quite right had been nagging at Leo all day, and now, with Lev’s arrival, he realized what had been bothering him. “I don’t know what we were thinking. All of us who descended into the cavern under the desert and retrieved the book should be here now. We’re all a critical part of the plan.”
Lev switched on his headlamp. “I know. We almost made a terrible mistake. I started thinking about the section of the code that said we would give it to God. That could only mean that the same chosen ones who discovered the Devil’s Bible in the desert are supposed to deliver it to the chapel under the Vatican. Once more, God is whispering to us and saying that we must follow his plan. It fills me with terror to think of what else we might have missed.”
Lev’s last sentence got everyone’s attention. They all made a mental checklist of anything they might have forgotten. Alon was the first to break the spell of self-doubt that had the team frozen in place. “Well, we’re all here now, so let’s go.”
Everyone grabbed their backpacks and let the beams from their lights guide them through the tunnel into the maze of the catacombs.
Alon looked back over his shoulder from his place in the lead. “Are we headed in the right direction, Father?”
“We’ll soon find out.” Leo could surmise from dead reckoning that the tunnel they were in now ran in the general direction of Vatican City, but they were in uncharted territory, and since only he and John had been to the chapel before, he wanted John’s opinion.
“What do you think, John?”
“This tunnel is probably very close to the one we used before, Father. We passed a lot of intersecting tunnels before we ended up in the area beneath the Basilica where we discovered the ancient chapel. This has to be one of them.”
The shaft of light from Arnolfo’s wine cellar receded in the distance as they pressed on to what would most probably be another confrontation with a force they still knew very little about. No one had to say it, but they all knew in their hearts and minds that their final battle with evil lay ahead in the darkness beyond.
Chapter 42
Alon continued leading from the front. His head was on a swivel, peering ahead and then behind as they made their way toward the jumble of chambers and tunnels. The memory of the last time they had been in a tunnel was still fresh in his mind. “Did you bring your holy water, Father?”
“I’ve got plenty. How’s everyone doing?”
“We’re fine. This can’t be any worse than the last time,” Ariella said, instantly regretting her words. Already, the dank smell of the catacombs, along with the lack of fresh air, was beginning to make them all a little lightheaded. Everyone dreaded another encounter with the demons, and for some reason, the fear they felt here was even stronger than that they had experienced in the desert.
Arriving at the end of the tunnel where it dead-ended into a larger tunnel, John pointed excitedly to the wall straight ahead. “Look, Father.”
Morelli’s yellow chalk mark was on the wall of the intersecting tunnel in front of them, pointing to the right. They turned in the direction of the arrow, picking up the pace with the anticipation of getting to their destination as quickly as possible.
The group shined their lights down every tunnel they crossed in an effort to mark their progress. They were in a gigantic ancient maze, and even though a tunnel might look familiar, they could easily get turned around and start heading in the opposite direction.
Leo was behind Alon when they rounded a corner and entered a large space where the ceiling rose almost twenty feet. Leo stopped for a moment to get his bearings and called out to the others. “I think we’re under the Basilica. The tunnel to the chapel is a little farther ahead.”
Alon was preparing to call Moshe on his radio when a bright light suddenly filled the space.
“Vatican security! Halt!”
The five shielded their eyes from the light as several uniformed and plain clothes Vatican security officers flooded out of side tunnels and surrounded them.
A short middle-aged priest with heavy eyebrows stepped forward accompanied by a young dark-haired officer with cold gray eyes. “May I ask what you are all doing down here? This area is off-limits-and you are all trespassing.”
Leo immediately recognized Emilio. He thought hard, dozens of explanations running through his mind. Why hadn’t he prepared for something like this? He uttered the first words that came to mind. “We were touring the catacombs and got turned around. These are some of my friends, Emilio.”
The diminutive priest stared at Leo with contempt. “What a coincidence that you got lost right under the Basilica, Father. I think we both know why you’re down here. Unfortunately this is now a matter for the police. You are under arrest. Please come with us.”
Leo shot Alon a glance and faced Emilio. “Since when do priests arrest people?”
“I’m not arresting you, Father; they are.” He pointed to the group of stone-faced security men surrounding them.
Alon had been given strict orders from Lev to protect Leo and the book at all costs. He moved next to Leo and felt for the nine-millimeter pistol under his shirt. Lev looked him straight in the eye and the unsaid message was immediately understood. Alon slowly moved his hand away from the hidden gun.
Several of the security men began removing handcuffs from their belts while advancing toward Leo and the others. Alon counted six of them, two holding automatic weapons pointed right at them. John and Ariella stepped back as Alon shielded Leo and gave Emilio a look that would wither most men. Sensing danger, Emilio put his hand up in front of the advancing security men. “I don’t think those handcuffs will be necessary. I hope you will all have the good sense to behave yourselves. Please follow us.”
Alon was seething at his inability to do anything. Even though he was now a Christian, his Jewish heritage was screaming out to him. Jews had gone with uniformed men without a fight in the past, and he was not about to let history repeat itself. He glared at Emilio. “Where are you taking us? We haven’t done anything wrong.”
Emilio returned the stare before catching himself and forcing a tight smile in an attempt to project a more fatherly figure. “May I remind you, sir, that you are trespassing on Vatican territory and that we have the right and duty to take you all to our police station. Hopefully, we can straighten this entire situation out in more pleasant surroundings.”
The Bible Code Team looked at one another with resignation for the moment. Their thoughts were melded together with the knowledge that they would have to sidestep this situation quickly. The book had to reach the chapel, and without knowing exactly why, they knew it had to be delivered soon.
Leo tried to think. What if they searched the backpack? The security men would be sure to search them when they reached the police station.
Alon was livid. Lev’s words ran over and over again in his mind. Guard the book with your life! No matter what happened, he would never let these men get their hands on the book. Leo could tell by looking at Alon what was going through his mind. He knew he was powerless to stop him if one of the security men tried to grab the backpack holding the book.