Donoher clasped his hands together and bowed his head to offer a brief prayer of thanks.
‘Cardinal?’ a young nun called from the doorway.
‘Yes, Sister?’ Donoher replied, still smiling from Kilkenny’s message.
‘I was hoping to catch you before you returned to the conclave. We’re setting up a video link with the United States. It’s Jackson Barnett, and he’d like to speak with you both.’
‘Would you please put it through in here?’
Grin cleared the largest of his displays, and a moment later Jackson Barnett appeared on the screen.
‘Your Eminence,’ Barnett said with respect for both the man and his title, ‘Mister Grinelli. I am pleased to have reached you both. I am certain you have been monitoring the situation in China.’
‘Like a cable news network on a political sex scandal,’ Grin replied.
‘We’ve noted a significant increase in activity within the Autonomous Region of Inner Mongolia,’ Barnett said, ‘specifically around the city of Chifeng and along a rather large stretch of the nearby Sino-Mongolian border. I take this to mean that our mutual friends were successful in extracting Bishop Yin from the laogai.’
‘That is our sense of the situation as well,’ Donoher concurred. ‘Nolan’s subterfuge was apparently discovered by prison officials, but he and his team managed to escape with Bishop Yin despite this setback.’
‘I see.’ Barnett paused, carefully considering his next words. ‘Cardinal, may I be blunt?’
‘Please.’
‘A source within the Chinese Foreign Ministry reports that around four in the morning of October twenty-ninth, Beijing received a coded message from its embassy in Rome. The message informed Beijing of Yin’s status as an unnamed cardinal and papal candidate, and of a Vatican effort to liberate him. Cardinal, you have a leak.’
Donoher felt his body tighten, a sickening wave of nausea washing over him. He slumped into a chair like a boxer staggered by a series of body blows, trying to regain his senses.
‘Somebody ratted out Nolan and Roxanne?’ Grin asked.
‘Yes,’ Barnett replied. ‘Our source only had access to the sanitized version of the message that provided no clues as to its provenance. As soon as this information came to light, I felt it important to alert you.’
‘Thank you, Jackson,’ Donoher said solemnly. ‘I assure you we will act on this in order to bring all of our people home safely.’
‘A goal we both share. Perhaps we should talk again later today?’
‘The conclave reconvenes this afternoon, and I expect there will be a meeting afterward to discuss matters of state.’ Donoher checked his watch. ‘Will two o’clock, your time, be convenient?’
‘Fine. Good day, gentlemen.’
Barnett signed off, and the screen went blank.
‘Hellfire and damnation!’ Donoher growled. ‘A Judas Iscariot in our midst. Only those present in the Sistine Chapel heard the Pope’s message. So how in bloody blazes did the son of a — How’d he do it? How did the traitor get word to the Chinese?’
Grin scratched his goatee. ‘Let’s think about this a second. Of the hundred-odd people who now know our little secret, only you and I have access to the outside world. Everyone else is basically incommunicado, right?’
‘That is correct.’
‘What about Cardinal Gagliardi? He was at the opening session.’
Donoher shook his head. ‘The man has just suffered a massive heart attack.’
‘I’ll check his hospital phone records anyway, just to make sure. Whipping out my Occam’s razor,’ Grin continued, ‘I see that the rest of the cardinals have neither the means, motive, nor opportunity to betray us. And if they didn’t do it, and you and I didn’t do it, then either there’s a bug in the chapel, or someone else saw what was on the Pope’s DVD.’
‘The chapel has been swept for bugs, and we have devices installed at each of the windows to interfere with any laser microphones that might be trained on the building from outside.’
‘You need to sweep the chapel again, just to make sure,’ Grin advised.
‘There won’t be time before this afternoon’s session. If we’re still without a new Pope, I’ll have it done tonight. But now that I think of it, there is someone outside the conclave who may have had prior knowledge of the Pope’s message. As much as it pains me, I think we should have a chat with him.’
36
Peng Shi arrived at Chifeng Prison shortly after sunset. The driver brought the sedan to a stop at what was left of the main gate and submitted their papers for inspection. Peng’s eyes lingered on the blackened hulk that sat off to the side and wondered about the men who had been trapped inside as the vehicle burned. His thoughts drifted back to August of last year when he was aboard the destroyer Hangzhou. There, he had observed the recovery of a charred space capsule containing the remains of three murdered yuhangyuans — remains that Nolan Kilkenny located for China.
With the visitors cleared for entry, the guard directed Peng’s driver to the administration building where they would be met. Metal halide lights bathed the prison grounds and buildings with an artificial glow devoid of the warmer visible wavelengths, causing the red sedan to appear a deep maroon. The placement of the lights around the prison all but eliminated shadows, a security measure that reinforced the unnaturalness of the scene.
The driver guided the sedan into a visitor’s parking space in front of the administration building. A uniformed guard and a middle-aged man in a gray suit stood waiting for them by the entry. As Peng got out of the car and collected his briefcase, the man approached him.
‘Welcome, Mister Peng. I am Tang, manager of the Chifeng Brickyard.’
‘Good evening,’ Peng replied. ‘Where can I find Mister Liu?’
‘Mister Liu was unavoidably detained,’ Tang replied. ‘He is expected back at any time. You may wait for him in the warden’s office.’
‘I prefer to make better use of my time. Tell me, Mister Tang, is the officer who received the foreign prisoner last night available? I have some questions for him.’
‘Lieutenant Kwan is right here,’ Tang replied.
‘There was also a report of a guard detailed to observe the executions who survived the attack. Is he also available?’
‘Neither man may leave the prison grounds without the permission of Mister Liu.’
‘Good. I would like Kwan to escort me to the yard where the executions took place. Have the other guard meet us there.’
‘I will see to it.’
‘Thank you, Mister Tang. Lieutenant Kwan, take me along the path used by the escaping truck.’
‘This way, sir,’ Kwan replied.
Through the glare of the prison’s lights, Peng found it difficult to see the terrain much beyond the perimeter fence. Last night, those who attacked the prison watched from beyond the halo, exploiting the prison’s nocturnal blind spot.
‘Have you located the firing positions yet?’ Peng asked.
‘Yes. We found four used PF-89 launch tubes within two hundred meters of both gates.’
‘Serial numbers?’
‘Unreadable. The tubes have been sent on to an army lab for further analysis.’
‘Describe the foreigner who was brought in last night.’
Kwan collected his thoughts for a moment. ‘A little taller than me, about two meters in height, eighty kilos. He had red hair and many freckles on his face and hands. There were deep bruises on his face, neck, and hands, but I’ve seen men arrive looking worse. He was dressed in a standard prison uniform.’