Chapter 29

The Apostolic Nunciature of the Holy See
3339 Massachusetts Avenue
Washington DC

Rossi

"Dave! Good to see you!"

Rossi opened his arms for his old friend. Cardinal Pete Lerica was built along the same lines, stocky, not too tall, a little wrinkly and more than a little grey. But behind the glasses was still Ol' Petey, best shortstop on the block. "Pete! You look older."

"And you look ancient. Come on." Pete led them back to the desk in the office he was using while in town. "So is this business or personal?"

"Both." When Pete looked up Rossi sighed, "An unofficial discussion of official matters."

"Oh, that kind of thing; please tell me there aren't children involved."

"No, thank God." Rossi lay a file down on Pete's desk. "Did you hear of that convent bombing upstate of here?"

"Where one of the sisters went crazy during an abuse investigation, took out half the sheriff's department and her entire convent? Yes, I heard of it, why?" Pete picked up the file as he spoke and was looking through what Rossi had decided to share, stopping when he came to the picture of Mother Marion/ Pauline Dutor's Dominican file, "Oh hell."

"You know her?"

Pete sat and sighed. "Look, just between you and me…"

"If no one gets hurt," Rossi replied.

Pete nodded. It was as good as he was going to get and he knew it. "You ever hear the legends of the Holy Grail?"

"The cup or the person?"

"Person, my predecessor was obsessed with finding her. He sorted through the ranks until he found the ones with Special Ops training, worked with them until they couldn't tell if they were coming or going, then divided them into strike teams. He would toss one nun into the mix, just in case they needed a woman's touch."

Wait, his predecessor? "You mean the…?" Rossi almost couldn't believe it.

Paul held a finger to his lips. "Shush, in every other way the man is perfect for his job, brilliant theologian, deeply faithful, all of it. He just has this little obsession. Or at least it was little until the bomb went off. Anyway, he sent strike teams out looking for her. Are you telling me they found her?"

Rossi looked at him steadily. "Do you believe the myth?"

Paul took a deep breath. "No," he answered honestly. "Christ lived, He preached, He died, He was reborn, He ascended. No where along the line did He knock anyone up."

"What if I told you they found someone whose familial history fit the myth."

"Oh good crap," Paul sank into his chair and shuddered. "And Pauline was holding her in the convent, wasn't she?"

"How do you know?"

"It was a good guess. My predecessor was obsessed with the idea that the end of the world might be coming, and if Christ came back the same way He did last time then he wanted to be the one to raise and teach Him so he'd be on our side in whatever war developed. He honestly believes that if he doesn't it will be the Antichrist instead, and then where will we all be? If you got this woman away before they could get a baby, that would explain the bomb. Get to heaven before the end, avoid the rush."

"And she had to take the other Sisters with her?"

"In her mind it would have been an act of compassion, avoid the misery they would suffer at the hands of the Antichrist. I assume you have her someplace safe, but don't tell me, I do not want to know."

Good. Rossi wasn't going to. "You said he sent out teams?"

"Yes, I'll have my office send over the files. This insanity stops now."

Rossi settled back and looked at his friend. "And what are you going to do if we find them?"

Paul looked over. "What do you mean?"

"We already had to deal with one case of Diplomatic Immunity out of the Vatican."

Now it was Paul's turn to settle back. "Look, we have been drowning in negative press over the past few years. We don't need a story that makes the Pope look not only completely off his nut but also accuses him of misusing his position, or his previous position, to harass some woman because she had the right sort of family tree. If it's at all possible, I'd like this to go away quietly."

"I like quietly." Rossi agreed. "Which means you won't get in our way, Even though they technically work for you?"

"Who works for us, a group of priests that have gone rogue, chasing fairy tales? We disavow any connection, full stop."

"And what about your boss?"

"Like I said, magnificent theologian; sometimes doesn't understand how the real world works. I will do my utmost to insulate him from this mess."

And in the meantime cut the strike team loose. "You're a good man, Pete."

"Nah, the Big Guy just gave me good friends."

Sheriff's Department
Rural Maryland

Emily

It didn't take much before Rossi was able to get the files on Mother Marion's accomplices. Three Priests from all corners of the globe, all with military training, all completely off the grid. Now she and JJ had to check an assumption. "Deputy Rogers?"

"Agent Prentiss," the older man came over to the counter. "Good to see you again. What can I do for you?"

"We're following up on a lead in the convent bombing. Do you recognize any of these men?" She held out her tablet, showing pictures of eight men, all about Morgan's size, all darker.

Deputy Rogers only needed a moment. "That one," he pointed to one of the pictures. "That's the man who drove away from the Owens's car wreck."

Emily and JJ looked. Father Lumusi Alakija, originally from Ghana, a former member of the military; now a Dominican priest currently assigned to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Bingo.

Fairfax Cryobank
Washington DC

Rossi

Rossi sighed as he had to deal with an officious little… "Yes, Ma'am, I understand that your records are confidential. We have a warrant."

"A warrant? Whatever for?" She asked.

"We believe samples from your facility were used on a woman without her consent."

"The FBI investigates accidents?" She asked.

"Please." He replied.

"All right," she dug around in her flies and pulled out a folder. "Everything was done online. I'm sorry I can't help you more."

"No, this is enough."

FedEx Express Ship Center
260 Greenbag Rd
Morgantown, WV 26508

Morgan

Nothing like crossing state lines to give the FBI a good excuse. Morgan was glad that the nearest place that would accept a shipment involving liquid nitrogen was actually in West Virginia. Morgan smiled without humor at the store manager. "You recognize any of these guys?"

"Yep," he pointed to the other two Priests. "We don't see a lot of liquid nitrogen tanks come through here. It kind of sticks in your mind."

"Great. Thank you."

The Ponce de Leon Co-Op
4514 Connecticut Ave NW
Washington DC
#512

Spencer

It was official. It was officially a conspiracy. The Inquisition, of all things, was after her family and they had nearly gotten to her. They killed her parents and found her in the safe place her Grandfather had made for her, and had wanted a baby….

Spencer sighed. Now he just had to tell Helena.

As he predicted, it did not go entirely well.

By the time he was finished explaining she was curled up in the corner of his sofa, clutching her mug of tea like a teddy bear, hoping to keep the boogeyman away. After a long moment she looked up at him.

"I can't do that again." She told him, very quietly.

"You can't do what again?"

She was silent a long moment, "That."

That. It only took him a moment to realize that she meant what Mother Marion did to her. "It won't happen again."

"You don't know that,"

"It won't happen again."

"Spencer…"

"It won't…"

"You don't know that! You can't promise that until they're caught!"

Spencer stopped. For one, she was only growing more upset. And for another, "You're right. At this point I can't give you a one hundred percent guarantee. I can tell you that it's highly unlikely, and that we're doing all we can, but I can't promise. I'm sorry."

"You don't have to be sorry." She moved to curl up beside him, to pull his arm around her shoulders. But she hadn't fully relaxed, she was still too tense.

"And I know one thing." He said, trying to find a way to ease that tension. "Even in the unlikely chance that something does happen, it won't change how I feel about you."

"I know." She murmured. "It won't change how I feel about you either. But what if…" She closed her eyes, clearly could not look at the moment.

"What if?"

"What if they really break something this time?"

Oh. That's what had been driving this, perhaps. Well, it was understandable. "Then we'll get it fixed. There isn't anything they can do that you cannot heal from."

"Promise?"

"I do. So don't be afraid, you can't live your life afraid."

She sighed and relaxed against him, "Fair enough."