‘The church trusts you?’
‘Let’s say it trusts me distrustfully,’ Sarah said sincerely. She wasn’t going to hide anything from Ben Isaac. ‘You know perfectly well how these things are. Today’s enemies are tomorrow’s friends. You never know how the world will turn, only that it will.’
‘What do you have that they want?’
The Jew knew what questions to ask.
‘It’s complicated,’ Sarah argued.
‘I don’t consider myself too stupid,’ argued the other with a half smile, the first she had seen. He emanated grief, a life of work and caution.
‘Have you ever heard of JC?’
Ben searched his memory. ‘Jesus Christ?’
Sarah smiled. She wanted to tell him he was right. JC sometimes seemed supernatural, not in terms of love or mercy, but being omnipresent. He knew everything at all times.
‘It could be, but no,’ she answered. ‘JC was a mercenary, responsible for the murder of John Paul the First.’
‘Don’t tell me he was actually assassinated?’ Ben Isaac was truly shocked.
‘I remember that day well,’ Myriam put in. ‘I cried all day long. It was never satisfactorily explained. There were always doubts.’
The day of September 29, 1978, of unhappy memory, dawned with the death of Albino Luciani, the ‘Smiling Pope,’ thirty-three days after he’d been elected by the College of Cardinals. Officially, the death was attributed to a massive heart attack. But many strange things came to light, though the official version was never disproved or changed.
‘He was murdered,’ Sarah confirmed. ‘JC is a very powerful man.’
‘I never heard a thing about this,’ Ben Isaac said, trying to remember any situation involving such a man.
‘Few people know about it. I found out about it without wanting to, by chance.’
‘Life is chance.’
‘Well, yes,’ Sarah agreed. ‘Anyway, the Vatican needs him, and I’m the only contact.’
‘Why do they need him?’ Ben Isaac didn’t understand.
‘I don’t know. But it looks like he’s important in helping to resolve everything that is happening lately.’
‘I can’t see what JC has to do with the kidnapping of my son.’
‘He doesn’t. He has something to do with the death of three of the Five Gentlemen.’
Ben Isaac turned red. Sarah and Myriam looked at him anxiously, fearing he was having some kind of attack.
‘What’s the matter, Ben?’ Myriam asked him in alarm. What a night. ‘Tell me, honey.’
They tore his jacket off and unbuttoned his shirt. He seemed to be having difficulty breathing. He coughed weakly. Myriam tried to get him to sip the rest of her sweetened water. A few moments later Ben calmed down, regained control, and breathed more easily.
Myriam placed herself in front of him and looked him directly in the eyes.
‘Ben Isaac, tell us everything you’re holding back. Don’t hide anything from me or from Sarah.’ She stared even harder. ‘It’s an order.’
Ben Isaac wet his lips and lowered his eyes. He felt destroyed.
‘Do you know their names?’ he asked Sarah.
‘Who?’
‘The ones who died.’
Sarah took out her notebook. ‘Um… Yaman Zafer, Sigfried Hammal, and Ernesto Aragones.’
Each name was like an arrow in Ben Isaac’s chest. A tear ran down his face. He was in pain.
‘The Five Gentlemen are… They were experts who validated the discoveries of 1947 in the Qumran valley. At first there were only three. Later we recruited two more. We demanded a vow of silence, which was never broken,’ Ben Isaac explained. ‘This silence was essential for guarding the discoveries and for…’ He hesitated.
‘For what, Ben?’ Myriam insisted seriously.
‘To maintain the Status Quo,’ he confessed.
‘And what does that mean?’ Myriam sounded irritated.
‘The Status Quo. Things as they are.’
‘Why did these documents always remain in your possession?’ Sarah asked.
Ben Isaac didn’t answer at once. He wanted to find the right words. He didn’t want to be imprecise. He looked at Myriam fearfully. ‘Because it was my team that found them. Whoever finds them is the owner.’
‘I know you gave some to the church and other institutions. You sold others.’ Sarah was not convinced.
‘Because they had less importance.’ Ben Isaac’s words came out irritated. There was something else there.
‘It seems strange the church didn’t insist, since one of them is the Gospel of Jesus.’ Sarah wanted to show him that she knew what they were talking about.
‘The Gospel… the what?’ Myriam couldn’t believe it. ‘It can’t be.’
Ben looked like a mischievous boy whose pranks had been discovered. Head lowered, fearful expression, absorbed.
‘Was it written by Jesus Himself?’ Myriam wanted to know.
Ben agreed silently.
‘And the other document?’ Sarah reminded him.
Ben hesitated.
‘There’s more?’ Myriam was at the same time intimidated and intrigued.
Once more, Ben nodded silently. He took his time answering. When he did, his voice sounded hoarse. ‘The other places Yeshua ben Joseph in Rome in the era of Claudius.’
Sarah and Myriam didn’t know why this would be so strange, but neither was an expert in history.
‘And what’s the problem? Who’s Yeshua ben Joseph?’ Myriam asked.
‘Jesus, the son of Joseph,’ the Israeli explained.
‘Okay, Jesus was in Rome. What’s the problem?’ Myriam still didn’t see.
‘Jesus was in Rome in the fourth year of Claudius.’ Ben Isaac’s voice was firmer.
The women still didn’t see what was wrong with that. What was so bad about Jesus being in Rome at that time?
Ben Isaac sighed. They still didn’t understand. ‘The fourth year of Claudius’s reign is the year 45 A.D.’
The two women looked at each other. This certainly was a surprising revelation. Jesus in Rome in the year 45. That was incredible.
‘What about the Crucifixion, then?’ Sarah asked, her heart beating fast. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer.
Ben looked at her this time. ‘It never happened,’ he said, as if throwing a bomb.
Sarah never realized she’d made the sign of the cross when Ben Isaac said that. ‘What?’
He looked at the journalist piously, as if he wanted to ask forgiveness.
Sarah wasn’t able to say anything else. It was incredible.
‘That is very serious,’ Myriam said finally. ‘Extremely serious.’
‘I know. I didn’t want anyone to know in any way. We guarded this secret for fifty years and wanted to continue doing so,’ Ben Isaac said ashamed.
‘And this is why they kidnapped my Ben?’
Ben nodded.
‘Who are these people?’ she asked angrily.
‘I don’t know, Myr. I have no idea.’ He looked at Sarah, who still seemed half stupefied. ‘Do you know how to contact this JC?’
Sarah had never contacted him. From the beginning it was a one-sided relationship. He contacted her. She suspected that her position at the paper was through his influence, but she also thought it could have been Rafael. In those moments of success, which during the time she’d worked there had been considerable, she liked to think it was purely her merit. And, ultimately, it was. From time to time she received a file in the mailbox about something that deserved attention. Normally these were overrated scandals, not all about the Vatican, for which the journalistic community called her the pope’s lover. She knew JC watched over her, she preferred to think only to a certain extent, and was always alert. She was sure this would call his attention. More than sure.
‘I do.’ Was this a half lie or completely false? In any case she was sure she’d succeed in doing so.
‘What was it the kidnappers said?’ Myriam asked, remembering the phone call Ben Isaac received at the Fiumicino airport.
The plane began its descent. The flight attendant approached them.
‘We’re landing at Gatwick, Doctor. I’d appreciate it if you’d fasten your seat belts.’
Ben Isaac grabbed the belt quickly, while Myriam continued to stare at him, awaiting a reply.