"Where exactly are we going?" Mutt asked, trying to follow her furious pace.
"The Vatican first, but I have a funny feeling we're going to be headed to the airport soon," she answered.
Molly stopped suddenly, causing Mutt to almost run into her headlong. Spinning around she smiled at Isay. "Isay," she began lightly, "do you think there is any way you could get back to the hotel and collect our things. I am almost certain we will have to be going to another country after our trip to the Vatican."
Isay regarded her for a moment. "If you try get away, I vill find you and kill you." He said everything very simply and eloquently. Molly nodded her head vociferously. The two regarded one another for a moment.
"Here," Molly said, reaching into her shirt and producing a passport. "There," she mentioned, "I can't leave the country without it. Call it collateral."
Isay smiled and took the passport from the outstretched hand. "Okay dorogoya moya, I trust you."
"Not me, eh?" Mutt said good naturedly, but Isay just frowned at him.
Molly grabbed her boss' forearm and pulled him along the sidewalk. "C'mon," she admonished. "I'm glad I was able to get him off our backs for a few hours."
"Now can you tell me exactly where we're going?" Mutt asked.
Molly picked up the pace as she saw the Bridge of Angels in the sight. "The Vatican Museum. We have to find the Sarcophagus of St. Helen."
"Why exactly?" he asked.
"You're supposed to take after your father, aren't you? Why do I have to be the brains of the operation?"
Mutt prickled at the comment, "Hey! I was the one who did all the background on this 'operation', all right Little Miss Harvard?"
Molly turned around to glare at him quickly. Luckily the Vatican lay in front of them and quelled any argument that may have arisen. The crowds shuffled around them excitedly and the pair promptly purchased tickets to the museum.
"What does the sarcophagus look like?" Mutt asked as they entered the museum.
"Purple marble... It's actually quite remarkable."
"How do you know this is what we need?"
"The sarcophagus is very detailed and incised. If St. Helen really did ask for the spear head back, then shouldn't we be able to see something pertaining to it?" Molly asked, slightly absent-mindedly. She glanced around at the high halls and detailed decor of the museum.
Mutt whistled lowly, "I'd love to see what they've got hidden around here."
"There it is!" Molly whispered excitedly. She pointed a finger at a large, imposing marble casket, composed of smooth and delicate purple marble. The two pushed their way through the crowds until they reached the sarcophagus.
"Okay," Mutt breathed, trying to get a handle on the carvings which covered the entire piece. Feeling the hair prickle on the back of his neck he noticed two dark figures from the corner of his eye.
"Uh, Molly..." he began. The guards began to close in on them.
She was on her hands and knees, hardly inconspicuous. Mutt dropped to the ground beside her. "We've got company," he muttered, nodding his head behind him.
"Damn!" she swore. Mutt raised his eyebrows, but something caught his eye.
"What's this?" he gestured to a section of the carved sarcophagus which showed Jesus on the cross, a Roman soldier about to prick his side.
Molly's eyes widened. "The tip of the spear is missing!" she said hurriedly.
Everything clicked for Mutt. "Look for the spearhead, it has to be on the sarcophagus somewhere!"
He was hardly able to finish his sentence when he felt a pair of hands hauling him to his feet. Spinning around, he saw that the two guards had finally reached them. Molly stood up beside him, a blanched look on her face. Not knowing what to do, Mutt shoved his hands in his pockets, and was poked by a small object. Instantly, he felt relieved.
"Found it!" Mutt said, holding up an earring. Turning to Molly, he smiled. "Here sweetheart." She masked her fear with a tight smile.
Turning back to the guards he threw them a lopsided grin. "They're her mother's, family heirloom."
The guards, intimidating in their black suits, started at him for a moment longer. One grumbled something in Italian and then they slowly went away. "What did he say?" Molly whispered as she turned back to St. Helen's final resting place.
"I dunno, something having to do with women and their jewelry."
"Where did you manage to produce an earring so quickly?" Molly asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Did you find the spearhead?" Mutt asked, deflecting the question. Molly just shook her head. He had just answered it for her.
"There!" she said, pointing to a small, triangular looking object tangled in vines.
Mutt squinted his eyes to see better. "I see it," he said, his heart beating wildly and his breath flying out of his chest. The tiny spearhead was nestled in a group of vines. Beside it were tiny etchings.
"There's a message," Molly whispered. "I think its in Greek. I can't read it."
"Well, well Ivy League. I guess it's my time to shine," Mutt said, leaning in closer and trying to read the symbols. He clicked his tongue. "This looks recent. It could just be graffiti."
"It might say something anyway," she mentioned.
Mutt's heart pounded as he tried to make out the words. "Its a Bible passage. Genesis 26:3."
"Um, Henry," Molly said, an uneasy note in her voice.
Mutt whipped around to see two men approaching. The same two they had just shaken off a few minutes ago. Mutt grabbed Molly's upper arm. "Okay, let's go."
They pushed their way through the crowd, trying to separate themselves from the men. The pushing tourists were making the job easy. Without much fuss, they slipped into the jumble of cameras and flashes. Molly was slowly finding her heart returning to its normal pace. She looked over at Mutt, who wore a handsome grin on his face. He was clearly pleased with himself.
"You'd better learn to check that ego of yours," she murmured to him, "it'll get you in trouble."
The grin only widened. "Promise?"
At the sound of a sharp yell, the duo turned around in tandem. A guard had knocked over a housewife admiring a statue of Venus… and was heading straight for them.
"Oh I promise!" Molly growled as she took off into a run.
Mutt was right behind her as they forced their way through the throngs of people, into the Vatican gardens. The crowds protested loudly at both the pursuers and the pursued. Molly was about two strides in front of him and gaining speed. He wondered, annoyed, at how she could keep up such a pace when they had almost no sleep and no food.
He also immediately felt naked as he remembered he left his gun and knife back at the hotel. "Shit," he muttered under his breath and he tripped on a loose flagstone and tumbled head first into the short hedge Molly had cleared a few seconds before.
He felt someone haul him up by the scruff of his shirt, and he kicked out his legs, flailing. They dragged him into more brambles and some got caught on his clothes, scratching his skin.
The person abruptly let him go, and scrambling up on his hands and knees, he was embarrassed to find it only being Molly, who helped drag him into a company of rose bushes. She scratched her cheek he noticed, but her big blue eyes were wide with nervousness as she placed a single finger to her lips.
Be quiet. Yeah, that much he could gather, Little Miss Harvard.
There were the low sounds of two people talking. Peering through some of the thorns he noticed that it was the guards. Closing his eyes, Mutt tried to calm the heavy pulse of his heart. Molly leaned on him, and he could feel her heart hammering against her breast.
The two calmed their breaths and strained their ears. Mutt's Italian was very rusty, but he could gather a few short sentences.
"On to something… won't be pleased…"
It appeared that more than one person had a vested interest in what they were looking for. Especially the Vatican.
Isay was waiting for them at the Rome airport. His hulking figure was slightly welcoming, steady against the quivering crowds of the city. He raised his hand to them in greeting. Mutt hooked his thumbs into the loops of his trousers, pushing his hat further up his head as he wiped sweat from his brow.
"So," Isay began, "where are we to next?"
Molly and Mutt looked over at one another.
"Well," she began, "we found the sarcophagus and on it there was an inscription from the book of Genesis."
"Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father," Mutt quoted.
Isay raised his eyebrows. Mutt shrugged, "Sunday school."
Molly continued on, unimpressed. "So we have-"
Mutt's stomach protested loudly. He put a hand to his belly, trying to calm his roiling gut. "Can we find a taverna? I'm so hungry I'm seeing spots."
Isay nodded in agreement, but Molly stared at the two of them disbelievingly. "There are people tailing us, we are one the verge of a major breakthrough, we are in a race to save your mother and father… and all you can think about is your stomach! Do you have any idea what that inscription means?"
"Of course I do sweetheart," Mutt quipped indignantly, winking charmingly, "it means that we're going out for a massive Italian lunch and then heading to Israel."
Molly flushed red with anger as she spun on her heel and headed off in the direction of the nearest vendor hawking a five course 'authentic' Roman meal. Mutt sat back on his heels and dug an elbow into Isay's side good-naturedly. "She likes me," he mentioned, admiring her calves under the hem of her skirt as she put as much distance between them as she could manage.
