GENESIS (GODS CHAIN) (20 page)

Francesca had been in
such
a rush this morning that she had not had time to speak with the
c
ommissionair
e
. Her mouth dropped slightly with dismay,
although
she
’d known
that
Michaelangelo
had been unhappy for a while now.
He was a
bit disgruntled by the way support staff
members were
treated by
the
glorious Holy style of management, crucifixion mandatory.
She
’d
never expected
him to up and leave, however.

‘
N
ot Michaelangelo!
’ she exclaimed.
‘
Conditions are bad here but not that bad
.
Why
did he quit
?’

Paulina shook her head mutely.

Unsettled and raw-nerved, t
he girls got on with the
ir
daily administration duties
.

**********

The Technical and Operations Manager
,
Anatolio di San Angelo, called a meeting for the department later that morning in his office
.
Francesca arrived with Paulina and Gabriella.
Massimo Rossi was not at the meeting
,
as he was on holiday for the day.
The room was located
o
n the Executive level floor, right at the top of the building
, room six
.

The girls entered a large room that was furnished with
Anatolio’s
large oak desk
,
on which his grey
-
coloured laptop sat opened
and humming quietly
.
The smell of black coffee was strong in the air.
A dark brown leather swivel chair
, its back to them,
moved in a pendulum
-
like motion
—
to the left
a little, and
then to right.

Peering out the
large
middle window towards
the
old city skyline
,
Anatolio could see the Ethiopian Seminary below and the Lourdes Gardens in the distance near the old city wall
, to the left
. The new Gardens were to the right. It was
a
dull and cold
day—
not the best time
of year
to
view
the magnificent blossoms
that would bloom
below
in warmer seasons
.
The mood of the
miserable
day was cast into the room
by the wide windows
.

Swivelling
a
round
to face
his Network Support team,
Anatolio’s
leather chair creaked a little.

‘
Buongiorno,
make yourselves comfortable
,
please. Coffee is in the pot, it is freshly made.’
He smiled lightly and surveyed his depleted ground troops.
Francesca crossed her legs comfortably
,
resting a small
notepad on her lap.
Paulina walked over to the
p
ercolator as it bubbled and hissed like a steam engine.

There was an eye catching picture of the
Night Watch
, 1642
from the
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
—
a Rembrandt
—
on the left wall near the
poorly
placed coffee pot. It was misnamed
Night Watch
because of a very dark varnish that covered it until the 1940s. It should
have
be
en
titled
The Company of Captain Frans Cocq
. It is a group portrait of a company of civil guards under the command of Cocq and his lieutenant, Willem van Ruytenburch. In this painting
,
Rembrandt solved
the
problem of the group portrait
by introducing a
dynamic
scene
,
making it so
few
artists
after him could
skillfully
sit or stand their subjects in a static line or grouping.
Night Watch
depicts
a powerful scene of Cocq and his men in motion
, t
heir lances askew and muskets primed
as they prepared for battle
. On the
opposite
wall was a picture of St Peters Basilica at night, lit up
to display
figures on top
,
looking over
the city
.

An oil lamp sat on
Anatolio’s
desk
,
casting shadows
onto
Night Watch.
A large
,
flat
-
screened
LCD
monitor glowed
light onto
the man’s
left face
, creating stark contrast to
the heavy atmosphere
of the dark room
.

‘Ok
,
’
he began,
looking stony faced at Francesca, ‘I have had a few concern
ed
calls from above.’
H
e looked
at
the ceiling above his head
,
although there
was no floor above his office
. ‘The Cardinal and a few of the Holy Order have
become
a bit agitated with our lack of commitment in this section
.
This morning
’
s system network issues have not gone
unnoticed, and they are only the latest in a series of recent problems
.’
He paused, and then
continu
ed
in a low voice
.
‘In our defence
,
I mentioned that we
a
re understaffed and
that there was
no lack
of enth
u
s
i
asm from my team.
We have the skills and the commitment with
less than adequate
resources. In fact
, I believe
we are doing a very good job under very difficult circumstances
,
’
he concluded,
prais
ing
his team
despite the massive discontent with their work throughout the organisation
.

The
administrators
nodded in appreciation of his support
.
Anatolio
was quite charming and had a persuasive manner
—everyone
except F
r
ancesca was beguiled.

D
i San Angelo
smiled
.
‘With a hail Mary I managed to convince them that
events such as what occurred
this morning are few and far between
...
.
’
A
short pause ensued as he looked at
each and every member of the
team
.
‘
But w
hen we are not online
,
guys
,
we lose our credibility
.
T
o the
big bosses,
losing credibility
has
severe
financial implications
,
and that
is all they care about. We missed the boat this morning, did we not?’

Francesca cut in
.
‘That is
completely
unfair
,
Anatolio
.
I was able to resolve the issue within minutes of arriving
.
’

‘Yes
...
and
I heard you
arrived
late
,
’
he answered
with a hint of annoyance
evident
in his reply
.
His tone deepened as he addressed the greater group.
‘The Cardinals know nothing of the departure of our
Michaelangelo
.
I have to say that I am really shocked to say the least and cannot believe this has occurred.
It is totally out of the blue.’

Anatolio t
urn
ed
again to Francesca
.
‘And do you know
,
Francesca, why our
e
scapee made such a rude departure?’
he asked
with some degree of sarcasm. Silence fell in the darkening room.