The Book of Spies (21 page)

"How does it work?" Judd asked.

"A narrow strip of parchment or leather is wrapped around the baton from one end to the other without overlapping itself. Then the message is written lengthwise along the
scytale
. When the strip's unwrapped, the writing looks like scrambled letters, gibberish. At that point a messenger takes it to the recipient, who winds the ribbon around his own
scytale
--which obviously must have the same dimensions. Then he can read it."

"So
scytali
were used for transposition ciphers," Judd said. "Let me see it again, Angelo."

Reluctantly, Angelo handed it over. "It warms the hands. Gold does that."

Yitzhak smiled at Eva. "Charles left you a lovely gift. It's probably worth a great deal of money."

"It would be my honor to buy it from you," Angelo said instantly.

"Thanks, Angelo. But I want to keep it."

He pursed his lips, disappointed. "Is there anything more in the box? I'm still waiting for that necklace from Persia."

She took the
scytale
from Judd, laid it on the table, and dug through the carton.

"I'm wondering whether Angelo's right," Judd said. "Whether there shouldn't be something else--for instance, a strip of paper with another message from Charles that fits around the
scytale
for you to read."

Eva stared at him, then abruptly turned over the carton, spilling out the Styrofoam bubbles. As the others spread them out, she inspected the inside of the box.

"There are tiny words written on the bottom," she said, surprised. "I need something to cut open the sides."

Judd grabbed a bread knife from a magnetic holder above the counter and handed it to her. She sliced open the cardboard, and he returned the knife.

"It's Charles's writing." She read aloud:

" 'Think about the Cairo
geniza
. But the
geniza
of the world's desire has the answer.' "

"What's a
geniza
?" Judd asked.

"It's the Hebrew word for a container or hiding place," Yitzhak explained. "All the tattered books and pages--from old Haggadahs and dictionaries to business invoices and children's readers--are put in some safe place in a synagogue, perhaps inside a wall or in an attic, until they can be given a proper burial."

"Veneration of the written word is common in religion," Angelo said. "For instance, Muslims believe the Koran is too holy simply to be discarded."

"But the Jewish
geniza
is different," Yitzhak explained. "It recognizes that not a single book but the written word in general is sacred. In the rabbinical tradition, a
geniza
is a grave of written things."

"Where does Cairo fit in?" Judd asked.

Yitzhak stood back and closed his eyes, reverie on his face. "It's long, long ago--the end of the ninth century--and the Jews of what became Cairo are renovating a destroyed Coptic church to be their synagogue. They carve an opening near the top of a tall tower. Children and adults climb the ladder every day to drop inside all the books and pieces of paper we'd throw away now. Can you hear the rustle as they fall through the air? The contributions pile up for a thousand years--a thousand years!--and the desert preserves everything. Then a little more than a century ago, the rabbis finally allow investigation."

His eyes snapped open. "Voila! The
geniza
yields up its treasures. One priceless fragment belonged to
The Wisdom of Ben Sira--
Ecclesiasticus. The earliest version we'd had until then was Greek, although the original was written long before that, in Hebrew in 200
B.C.
Because of Cairo's tomb in the air, we know far more about how people from India to Russia and Spain lived, what they thought about, what they ate and bought and fought over. Scores of scholarly books resulted."

"But what does that have to do with anything?" Angelo asked. "This
is another mystery. Charles had an annoying habit of being oblique." He eyed the
scytale
shining on the table.

Judd kept them on point. "How does Charles's
scytale
relate to 'the
geniza
of the world's desire'?"

"His note indicates he didn't mean the Cairo
geniza
," Eva said. "So it's not Cairo."

"Of course you're right." Judd smiled. "But Istanbul is. That's what it's called--the City of the World's Desire."

"Every synagogue there would have a
geniza
," the professor said. "But that's a lot of
genizot
to have to dig through."

Judd looked across the table to the professor. "Charles may have left the package with you not only because he trusted you to hold it for Eva, but because you might understand what he meant for her to do next."

"My friend, you have a point," Yitzhak agreed. "Let me think. . . . Istanbul.
Geniza.
. . ." He frowned and ran a hand over his bald head. Atlast he smiled. "Charles could be such a tease. I think he must've meant Andrew Yakimovich. Yakimovich has the largest private collection of documents from the Cairo
geniza
in Istanbul. Actually the largest in the region."

"I remember him," Eva said. "He's an antiquities dealer."

She had been concentrating on Yitzhak, but now she glanced at Judd in time to see his gaze focus on Angelo, whose hand had just slipped into and out of his jacket pocket. Judd turned casually away.

"Does this Yakimovich person live in Istanbul?" The fine lines on Angelo's chiseled face deepened with curiosity.

"He's notoriously secretive and moves around a lot," she told him. "I don't remember his address there, and even if I did, it'd be no help."

"He's advised Charles and me in the past." Yitzhak took off his reading glasses and addressed Eva: "I wouldn't be a bit surprised that since Charles left the
scytale
with me, he also left what Judd calls a transposition cipher with Andrew." He added cheerfully, "Another gift, Eva. I wonder what message Charles wrote on it."

"Finding Yakimovich will be a trick--" Eva froze.

Angelo had pulled a pistol from inside the back of his waistband and quickly whipped it around to aim at them. But Judd was already moving. As Angelo's mouth opened to warn him off, Judd lowered his head, his feet flew over the floor, and his shoulder rammed into the Frenchman's chest. They landed with a thud against the kitchen wall.

"What are you doing!" Yitzhak bellowed. "Stop this!"

Eva grabbed the professor's arm and yanked him down behind the butcher-block table just as the gun exploded. The noise shook the room. A bullet blasted into the ceiling, and plaster sprayed down in a snowstorm.

Angelo slammed the pistol at Judd's head. Judd dodged, ripped the gun away, and pinned Angelo's throat with his forearm. He pointed the weapon at his temple.

Angelo's face was red and furious. He swore in French.

"A man who doesn't want anyone to know he's a threat shouldn't have a bulge at the back of his jacket." Judd's voice was calm. "I saw it when I followed you up the ladder. What do you have to do with the Library of Gold?"

"You will never know," Odile said from the kitchen doorway.

Eva spun around. Roberto was walking shakily in, with Odile behind him, her hand steady as she held a pistol to the back of his head.

The room turned silent.

"Judd, give the gun back to Angelo," Odile commanded. "Or I will kill Roberto."

RIDING HIS
skateboard, Bash Badawi cruised along the street opposite Yitzhak Law's home. He appeared casual in his baggy shorts, zippered hoodie jacket, and small backpack. His straight jet-black hair framed a dusky-colored face and almond-shaped brown eyes. Although he wore earphones as part of his disguise, the only sound he heard was the constant rumble of traffic and the talk of the pedestrians he passed.

As he slalomed across the intersection and turned back to retrace his route on the other side, he checked Quinn, who still sat stoically on the bench with his cloth shopping sack, and then Martina, who remained in her beach chair under the pepper tree, apparently reading the newspaper, chin tilted high. Everything was under control.

Still, he slowed his skateboard to study the area, wondering about a man who was pushing a baby carriage. Dressed in gray sweatpants and sweatshirt, he had passed by a half hour ago, returned, and was now heading off around the corner again. The man was big and bulky, with sharp features and thick black eyebrows. He could simply be taking the baby out for fresh air, circling the block.

Bash also noted a man with long brown hair and a thin face, riding a blue Vespa motor scooter. He had driven past fifteen minutes ago and perhaps earlier, too. Motor scooters were ubiquitous in Rome, and many Vespas rushed along the street. The man might be a messenger of some kind.

Passing beneath a branching maple tree, Bash again neared Yitzhak Law's old house. He could see no one through the windows. But then as he cruised past, there was a faint explosion from deep inside, the noise muffled by the stone walls. A gunshot. His chest tightened. He did an immediate
one-eighty and dug his foot into the pavement, speeding back on his skateboard toward the steps.

IN THE
kitchen, Judd held his pistol steadily against Angelo Charbonier's temple, his arm braced against his throat. With a single hard thrust, he could crush Angelo's windpipe if he tried to retake his weapon.

But now that Odile had arrived, Angelo smiled triumphantly. His eyes were as hard and black as anthracite. "Return my pistol, Judd," he ordered. "You do not want anything to happen to Roberto."

Roberto's face was pale with fear. Sweat glistened on his forehead. "I do not understand . . ." He stared helplessly at Yitzhak.

The professor had risen from his hiding place behind the table. His eyes blinked too fast as he demanded, "Put your guns away. All of you. What is this insanity?"

Odile asked her husband in French, "Have you summoned the men?"

Eva started to translate for Judd.

Judd interrupted her. "I know what Odile said. And my guess is their men are either here or soon will be. I saw Angelo reach into his pocket when he heard about Yakimovich." He said to Angelo, "You figured you'd learned all you were going to, so you signaled them, right?"

Angelo's smile widened, but he did not answer the question. "We now have, as you Yankees say, a standoff. If you do not return my weapon, Odile will shoot Roberto. And she will, believe me."

"I'm tempted to fire anyway," Judd said. "Wipe you, and by the time Odile pulls her trigger, I'll get off a clean shot at her. Then you'll both be dead."

Odile stepped farther behind Roberto so his body was a better shield against the threat of Judd. "There is another solution," she said. "You and I can put down our weapons. We can talk."

"Lower your gun, Odile," Judd said, "and I'll lower mine."

She nodded. As their gazes locked, they let their gun hands descend.

AS HE
neared the house's steps, Bash Badawi slowed his skateboard, watching again. Something besides the gunshot was wrong, but he could not quite identify it. The afternoon sunlight beat down harshly, turning
the street scene with its growling cars and low scooters and bobbing pedestrians into waves of streaming color. As his mind quickly sorted through what his eyes saw, he realized six men in shorts and T-shirts in wide bands of green, white, and red--the colors of Italy's flag--had rounded the corner in a bunch, feet light and forearms raised, hands loose, in the usual way of joggers. All apparently normal.

But it was not. The pack broke up and scattered, still jogging. Four moved across the street toward Carl and Martina, while two headed in his direction. They were janitors, hired killers, and they had targeted him and his team, which meant someone--perhaps the Vespa rider or the man in the sweatsuit, pushing the baby carriage--had already cased the area for them.

His gaze on the pair who were jogging toward him, Bash slid his hand inside his jacket, unhooked his shoulder holster, and gripped the handle of his Browning.

AS JUDD
kept his gaze on Odile, he and she lowered their pistols to their sides. No one moved or spoke, suspended in a tableau of tension. The only sound was Roberto's short, frightened breaths, which seemed to shudder against the hard surfaces of the kitchen. He ran to Yitzhak, who put his arm around him.

Appearing to give Roberto room, Eva moved closer to Odile and stopped when she was about four feet away. Judd exchanged a glance with her, remembering her expertise in karate. She narrowed her eyes and gave a slight nod.

Judd stepped back from Angelo. "Tell me about the Library of Gold."

But it was Odile who answered: "There is nothing to say. All of us have been curious about it for years, of course."

"Bullshit," Judd said. "The library's why you're here. Why Angelo pulled his gun. Why you have men outside. You want to stop us from finding it."

Angelo Charbonier straightened against the wall, smoothing his sports jacket. "What I want to know is whom you have informed about what you have learned."