‘Just stop hurting him,’ she said, defeated. ‘Please.’
Cross was still for several seconds, then nodded. ‘That’s enough, Mr Irton. Bring him back up.’
Irton retreated. His companions hauled their prisoner upright, one securing the chair back to the floor while the other peeled away the soaking fabric. Eddie retched, blowing water from his nose.
‘Mr Irton is an expert in enhanced interrogation techniques,’ Cross told Nina. ‘He can keep a man in a state where he thinks he’s about to die for days at a time, if he has to. But he won’t have to, will he?’
Nina’s heart raced, fear and shock pumping through her. ‘No. He won’t.’
‘Good. That’ll be all for now, Mr Irton. I’ll contact you if you’re needed again.’
Irton looked up at the camera. ‘We’ll be here, Prophet.’ He regarded his slumped captive. ‘So will he.’
‘So, Dr Wilde,’ said Cross. ‘Tell me what you’ve learned so far.’
‘Give me a minute. Please.’ She raised a shaking hand to her head, trying to calm herself. It wasn’t only Eddie she was worried about; high stress levels in a mother could cause tremendous harm to a developing baby.
‘Norvin, get her something to drink,’ Cross told the other man. The bodyguard went to a cabinet, returning with a bottle of water.
Nina took it and gulped down its contents. She paused for breath, looking at the table rather than meet Cross’s gaze. Her notes were spread out before her. She took them in, her pulse slowing as her mind almost involuntarily resumed work on the challenge.
One page in particular brought an answer. She looked back at the image of her husband, then engaged in a silent debate with herself as she weighed various factors: her safety, the baby’s health, Eddie’s life, the danger that Cross posed to all of them… and made a decision.
‘Okay. I think I’ve got an idea where one of the angels is,’ she announced. ‘That’s assuming you’re absolutely one hundred per cent convinced that the three places you gave me are where they’ve been hidden. You don’t want me to look at other possibilities, just in case?’
Cross clasped his hands together. ‘I’m sure. I’ve been studying Revelation for twelve years. I know those are the places God wants me to find. The clues all point to them; the emphasis given to them in the text, the repetition of their names, makes me absolutely certain.’
‘So I’m only looking for them, nowhere else?’
‘Nowhere else. What have you found?’
Another glance at Eddie, still lolling in the chair. ‘If I help you, you won’t hurt him again?’
‘If you help me, I won’t need to.’
Nina took a deep breath. ‘All right. I’ll do what you want.’
With an expression of satisfaction, Cross shut off the screens. ‘Good. Talk.’
She sorted through her papers. ‘Okay. I read Revelation last night. It’s not an easy read, especially since you only gave me the King James Version, but I came up with a possible link to the so-called Synagogue of Satan.’
‘You know where it is?’
‘I know where it might be. In Rome.’
Cross didn’t seem surprised by her deduction. ‘That makes sense. There are several parts of Revelation that refer to Rome. The description of the Beast: “the seven heads are seven mountains” means the seven hills on which the city was built. The accepted’ — there was more than a hint of cynicism behind the word — ‘interpretation of Revelation is that John described Rome in riddles to hide that he was making a direct attack on the Romans who were persecuting the Christians.’
‘It’s not exactly the Enigma code, though,’ said Nina. ‘And the Romans weren’t dumb. They were always watching for signs of sedition or rebellion. One of the reasons John might have been exiled to Patmos in the first place was for being critical of Emperor Domitian, but if he’d been too critical, he would have been executed, not exiled. Saying that Rome was a whore and the emperor a demonic beast would have put him on the fast track to a crucifixion.’
‘Then the references to Rome in Revelation came from John’s visions of the Elders’ writings,’ said Cross thoughtfully. ‘They’re part of the code to finding the angels.’ He looked back at Nina. ‘So where in Rome?’
‘I’m not sure yet,’ she said. ‘But I think the mere fact that John made a direct association between a synagogue and Satan is significant.’ She flicked back through her notes, at the same time searching her knowledge of Roman and early Christian history. ‘Jewish Christians were a fairly major part of the Christian movement immediately following Jesus’s death, but it didn’t take long for them to be marginalised and later demonised — in John’s case literally, since he flat-out accused them of being in league with Satan — by the religion’s leadership. Both religions, actually; the Jewish leaders didn’t want them around any more than the orthodox Christians did. By the end of the first century, they’d demanded a clear split — you were either Christian or Jewish; you couldn’t be both.’
‘Understandable. You have to fully accept Christ and His teachings to be saved. There are no half-measures.’
‘But before then,’ she went on, not wanting to be dragged into a debate about the fate of her eternal soul, ‘around the time Domitian took power in AD 81, there was still a degree of crossover. The weird thing was that Rome was actually one of the safest places for Jewish Christians. Nero scapegoated Christians following the Great Fire of Rome, and from that point on they were widely persecuted by the Romans, but Jews were tolerated in the Empire. But at some point, the Christian leaders decided enough was enough, and they declared Jewish Christianity a false church. They risked coming into Rome itself to lay down the law about which version of Christianity they had to follow.’
‘The apostle Paul,’ said Cross, nodding. ‘He came to Rome after his third missionary journey. Acts chapter twenty-eight — he summons the chiefs of the Jews to try to convince them to follow Christ’s teachings. “Be it known therefore unto you that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it. And when he had said these words, the Jews departed, and had great reasoning amongst themselves.” Verses twenty-eight and twenty-nine.’
Nina raised a disbelieving eyebrow. ‘Have you memorised the entire Bible? Wait, don’t answer that. But yeah, Paul came to Rome — or was brought to Rome, since he was there to stand trial for his alleged crimes against the empire. And it didn’t go well for him, as he was executed.’
‘But he was there,’ Cross insisted. ‘And he spoke to the leaders of the Jews.’
‘Where did he speak to them? Does the Bible say anything?’
He thought for a moment. ‘Yes. “And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging.” Acts chapter twenty-eight, verse twenty-three.’
She was almost disappointed. ‘So they went to him. Damn. I’d thought that if Paul had wanted to speak to all the Jewish leaders, they would have chosen to meet him somewhere they had home advantage. A synagogue, in other words. They weren’t specifically buildings as they are now — the word just means a meeting place.’
‘The Synagogue of Satan,’ said Cross, nodding slowly — then suddenly widening his eyes. ‘No, wait! There was another meeting, before they came to Paul’s lodging. Verse seventeen: “And it came to pass, that after three days Paul called the chief of the Jews together, and when they were come together, he said unto them…” They did assemble somewhere.’
‘Where?’
‘That’s what you have to find out. You’re the archaeologist.’ Ignoring her dirty look, he addressed Norvin. ‘Take her back to her room. If she needs anything, get it for her.’