'How exactly were you helping him, Father?' asks Vito.
'Tom asked me to search the Vatican Library for information on the Tablets of Atmanta. You know about the artefact? Did he mention this to you?'
Vito looks to Valentina, who seems surprised and shakes her head. 'No,' says Vito, 'he didn't. What is it?'
'Three silver tablets that date back to Etruscan times. If you put all three together they form an incredibly valuable piece of art that is about the size of a sheet of A4 paper.'
Valentina finds herself sketching an oblong identical to the rectangular symbol they've been finding in Venice.
'On their own,' continues Alfredo, 'each tablet depicts a separate scene, supposedly the vision of a young Etruscan priest. When the tablets are joined together, they make one big scene, originally called the Gates of Destiny, though over the years it has also come to be known within the Catholic Church as the Gates of Hell.'
Francesca Totti prompts him: 'Father, please tell my colleagues what you told me about the importance of the tablets.'
'Si, si.' Alfie's voice becomes lower and more confidential. 'The tablets show many snakes – six hundred and sixty-six, to be precise – crawling over each other to form the bars of the gates. There is also an image of a very powerful god guarding them. That deity was not part of the recognised Etruscan pantheon, and this is the only artefact depicting him. I have found documents in the secret archives of the Holy See confirming that this is now recognised by the Catholic Church to be the first recorded image of Satan.'
No one around Vito's desk says anything – they're all trying to imagine exactly what the face and body of the demon look like.
'I'm not sure you quite understand the significance of this,' Alfie's tone grows even more serious. 'This drawing of Satan predates any made of Christ. Catholicism wasn't even a concept back in those days.'
'Exactly which days are those days?' asks Vito. 'When are we talking about?'
'Six hundred years before Christ was born,' says Alfie. 'The year 666 BC, to be precise. The Church believes the Tablets of Atmanta are essentially the birth certificate of Satan, a registration of the day he first came to earth in human form, and the reason why the number 666 has become so powerful and symbolically evil.'
CHAPTER 59
Venice Tom would like to try to escape, put up a fight, but he's been shot so full of sedatives that it's impossible for him to even move.
His skin feels strangely numb, almost as though it's humming, a sensation that makes him guess he's been spiked with something like Propofol or Diprivan.
He's made enough care visits to hospital wards and palliative clinics to understand he's going to be physically useless for some time. Weak as a kitten. Maybe even unconscious at times. He'll also be vulnerable to hypnotism and possibly suffer hallucinations.
He uses what senses he still has to work out where he is. There's no freshness to the air. If he can pick up anything, it's a musty feel. His eyes are still burning from the pepper spray and he can't see. There's some form of bandage over them, but he can tell they haven't cleaned his eyelids properly and the pepper has soaked painfully through the pores.
Someone knocks against him, or at least against the stretcher or bed that he's lying on.
He can hear mumblings a few feet away and knows it will now only be seconds before he slips into a world of sleep.
A blessing.
Given the agenda of whoever has kidnapped him, sleep seems a merciful manner of restraint.
Unless.
In the remaining seconds of consciousness, Tom's mind spins out a thousand reasons why someone would want to sedate him.
To prevent him escaping.
To ensure he doesn't make noises or attack them.
To abuse him.
To kill him.
Sacrifice him.
Perhaps whoever has abducted him is planning to cut out his liver and pin it to some famous Venetian altar.
Thoughts to drive you crazy. Thank God for the sedative.
Tom considers all the options, as calmly as a kid with a box of chocolates, torn between picking a nougat or caramel cream.
The voices around him grow fuzzy. He can no longer discern male from female, let alone figure out who's in charge and what they might have in mind.
Blackness reaches out and pulls him into its sticky depths. Tom's last fleeting hope is that it's not going to be for ever. They still need him alive. For now.
CHAPTER 60
The Vatican, Rome With every passing minute, Alfredo Giordano grows increasingly nervous about talking on the phone to the Carabinieri. Bent over the receiver, in an office closed for renovation, he speaks in a hushed and fearful voice.
Valentina and Rocco scribble notes while Vito continues to ask questions. 'Are there any special markings or symbols on the tablets, Father?'
Alfie answers with one eye permanently on the closed door, stopping whenever he hears a noise outside – feet in the corridor; footsteps coming his way; a door opening and banging shut. Each time he falls silent until he feels safe to continue. 'There are many interpretations – some Vatican scholars see the drawings as representative of priests who turn away from the church because of their own doubts. Satanists see them as signifying the fall of Catholicism…'
Valentina and Rocco scribble notes as Alfie tells them everything he's learned. 'The final tablet, the one on the far right of the artefact, shows Teucer and Tetia lying dead together with a newborn baby beside them. Again, this image is open to interpretation. Death in childbirth was, of course, very common and sceptics say the scene simply reflects that fact and represents a sad ending to the story of a young family struggling in ancient times.' More movements in the corridor make Alfie stop again. He covers the receiver so no noise spills out, and waits until the sound of people walking and closing doors recedes. 'However, there are documents in the secret archive that describe how Satan demonically possessed the body of a man who raped Tetia, the priest's wife. If you believe that, then the child in the last tablet is the son of Satan.' There's silence at the other end of the line and Alfie can tell they're struggling to understand the full breadth of what he's telling them. 'The theological notion is that Satan has spread evil into the DNA of future generations of Man, infecting the gene pool in perpetuity. The Catholic Church has for centuries studied rape and some scholars strongly believed that rapists sowed the seed of Satan.'
Valentina can't help but interrupt. 'So female rape victims are to be branded as the mothers of Satan's children?' She can hardly hide her anger. 'Father, you have no idea how a raped woman feels – and how much worse they would feel if this nonsense ever got listened to. It's ridiculous-'
'Valentina!' Vito glares at her. 'Father, please continue.'
'Signorina, I agree,' says Alfie. 'I am only telling you what some in the Church believed. Remember there was a time when you could have been tortured to death for following any religion other than Catholicism. We are an august body,' he adds sarcastically, 'well used to persecuting women, preventing them taking holy orders and even falsely labelling them as witches, then drowning them to prove their innocence. '
He lets these points of mitigation sink in. 'So: that leaves the first tablet – the one that shows a horned demon believed to be Satan in front of the gate of serpents. This piece is said to be the most important of the trio. When it is placed in its original position on the left of the trinity, it establishes Satan – not God – as the creator of all things. Thus when we pass through the gates of this life into the next, it is Satan we will have to face. The tablets also suggest that it is Satan who created man and woman and gave everyone free will to indulge themselves – not God. The middle tablet is interpreted as recognising that some people started believing in false gods – hence the netsvis impaled upon the staff of doubts. Then the final piece shows Satan's wrath. He was so angered that he sent his own spirit to earth to take human form and punish the priest by raping and impregnating his wife.'