“Touché.”
“Then you were nothing more to him than his own personal puppet?”
Ezekiel looked away. “He tried to save me.”
“Sure he did.” Obadiah removed several photos from his jacket pocket and spread them over the tabletop. They were postmortem shots of the members from the Pieces of Eight. “I’m impressed with your handiwork,” he told him. “Our intelligence knew about the Pieces of Eight, but we could not determine who these people were or what their role was. But when we were informed that they were being terminated, our sources had to find out why ex-GI officials were being eradicated, whether the reason was political or otherwise.” He tossed another picture on top of the others, this one taken through the lens with NG capability. It was a photo of Ezekiel leaving the ranch house moments after he killed Hawk. And then another photo was laid down by Obadiah, this one showing Ezekiel on the rooftop with a sniper rifle moments before he shot one of the Hardwick brothers with pinpoint accuracy.
“And then we realized that this had no political implication behind it at all — that this was nothing more than a personal vendetta.” Obadiah tossed a third photo down, this one of Kimball Hayden from a distance. “And it was this man you wanted dead, isn’t it?”
Ezekiel stared at the photo, said nothing.
“When I saw this photo I recognized this man right away. I knew it was the man at the depository who freed the pontiff and took out my team. I never thought I’d ever see him again.” Obadiah picked up the photo and examined it. “Kimball Hayden was a member of the Pieces of Eight, and now a warrior for the Church. Talk about extremes.”
“What do you want, Obadiah?”
“My own redemption,” he quickly told him. “When I saw this photo as the man targeted by the grandson of a powerful senator now bearing very particular skills that rival my own, I saw the opportunity for my own salvation. So I waited, hoping that you would fulfill your goal of terminating this man from our lives.” He laid the photo down and sighed. “But you failed in your quest.”
“I have not forfeited my goals,” he said. “Kimball Hayden is one of the best in the world at what he does.”
Obadiah rubbed at the scar on his arm. No one knew better regarding that statement than he did.
“Now he’ll be waiting for me, which makes my agenda all the more difficult to achieve.”
Obadiah stopped rubbing the scar. “And that is why I am here,” he stated. “It appears that Kimball Hayden has become our white whale. So I offer you a proposal.”
“A proposal?”
“Work with my group,” he offered. “Kimball Hayden may become a liability in future ventures. Therefore, he must be taken out of the equation. Against one of us, the odds are even; but against two, then the odds are skewed in our favor.”
“Why would I want to join league with a man who tried to assassinate the pope?”
“What I did was purely business with political aspirations behind the motive. But in the end, when I realized the mission was over, I was the one who cut the bonds of the pontiff’s chains and set him free. I may be a fanatic in my duties to my organization, but I also recognize the fact that if the journey is over, then it’s over. There was no point in killing the pope.”
“But your team tried.”
“And they suffered the ultimate cost at the hands of Kimball Hayden and the Vatican Knights.” He held up his arm, the scar still ugly and purple. “Including myself.”
“Looks like a small price to pay considering that the others paid with their lives.”
“True. But he hampered my skills somewhat. But nevertheless, I’m still skilled.”
The men measured each other carefully from across the table for a long moment.
And then, from Obadiah, “Do we have an alliance, Mr. Cartwright?”
“I go by Ezekiel.”
Obadiah smiled, and then lifted his hand as an offering. “Fine,” he said. “Then do we have an alliance, Ezekiel? Shall we hunt the white whale together?”
Ezekiel looked at the proffered hand, then at Obadiah, noting stoicism on his face.
The former Knight lifted his hand and joined it with Obadiah’s. “Are you Mossad?” he asked.
Obadiah smiled. “Perhaps,” he said. And then with a wave of his free hand the three red dots disappeared from the center of Ezekiel’s chest.
And a new alliance was born.
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
Pope Gregory stood inside the papal chamber when a knock sounded at his door. Standing alongside him with his hands clasped together was Cardinal Angullo. They had been in discussion on many levels. Now it was time to implement new changes.
Pope Gregory rounded his desk and took a seat. “Come in.”
Cardinal Vessucci entered, leaving the door open for Cardinal Angullo who headed out of the chamber. When he passed Cardinal Vessucci he stopped and bowed his head with Vessucci reciprocating, no doubt a certain tension between them existing, and moved on. The cardinal then closed the door softly behind him, leaving Vessucci alone with the newly elected.
“Please,” said the pontiff, gesturing to an empty chair before his desk. “We’ve much to discuss.”
Vessucci took the chair. “Congratulations, Constantine. The position has been well selected by the College.”
“My understanding is that it was close. It appears that many in Cardinal Angullo’s camp amended their votes, making it closer than it was. But that is something we will never know for sure. But the fact, Bonasero, is that I am the newly elected pontiff.”
Bonasero Vessucci bowed his head in homage.
“And there are things to discuss,” the pope added. “Things that need to be clarified.”
“Of course, Your Eminence.”
“But first let me say that I’m sorry for the loss of Pope Pius. I know he was a close friend of yours. He was a good man.”
“He was a great man.”
Pope Gregory nodded. “I can’t argue with that,” he said. The pope fell back into his chair in leisure, studying the cardinal before him. And then: “A few months ago I sat in that same chair talking to Amerigo, who lobbied on your behalf. And we ended speaking about secrets should the Apostolic See become mine.”
“There are secrets, yes.”
“I know. And I informed him that secrets were kept because it was my opinion that there was something immoral attached to them. But as I found out about The Third Secret, that is not always the case. The Third Secret must be kept because of the nature of the calamity should the secret prove true.”
“I understand.”
“But there are other secrets, aren’t there? Secrets you’re privy to.”
“There will always be secrets,” he returned.
“Pius told me so. He also told me that if I should sit upon the throne of the Apostolic See, then you are obligated to tell me the secrets held by the Vatican.”
“He told me the same.”
Pope Gregory leaned forward. “It has come to my attention that you are a member of — what they call — the Society of Seven. Does such a group exist?”
The cardinal hesitated. The group had been covert for years. Their name had never been whispered to anyone outside the legislative body. But apparently it had.
“Does such a group exist?” he repeated.
And then: “It does.”
“And you are a reigning member?”
“I’m a member, yes.”
“Was Amerigo a member?”
“He was.”
“And who else is involved?”
“Besides myself, there are five others. Pope Pius served as the group administrator, as did Pope John Paul the Second, and many popes before him.”