The Venice Conspiracy (20 page)

CHAPTER 38

Present Day
Carabinieri HQ, Venice

The last part of the media conference is a blur. Tom struggles to keep to his script and at the end, has to walk quickly to escape a posse of photographers.

The press officer covers for him, handing out new pictures of Monica Vidic, along with written appeals for the public’s help, penned not only by Major Carvalho but also by the teenager’s father.

As soon as they’re clear of the main hall, Rocco Baldoni shoves Tom’s coat in his hands. ‘We’re going straight to the Salute
.
The major and Valentina are already on their way. Professore Montesano, too.’

Tom’s confused. ‘The Salute? What’s happened? Another body?’

‘Not quite. I’ll tell you en route.’

A Carabinieri patrol boat is standing by, pumping fumes in its mooring. The bow kicks up and breaks white waves as they throttle their way along the S-bend of the Canal Grande
,
under the Ponte dell’Accademia and out to the final promontory of the Sestiere di Dorsoduro
.

The Basilica is already closed and guarded by Carabinieri officers. Baldoni flashes his ID and they are admitted through its grand entrance.

This was not how Tom had wanted to visit the Salute, the famous church depicted on the postcard Rosanna Romano had given him. The card that has drawn him to Venice.

Instinctively he makes the sign of the cross. It is strange to smell church air again, the unique aroma created by candle flame and cold stone. He sees Carvalho, Montesano and Morassi kneeling at the high altar between its giant twin pillars. They look as though they’re praying. Were it not for their white Tyvek coveralls, protective boots and latex gloves, they could be mistaken for devoted church-goers.

Tom’s footsteps echo like bats flapping in the vast dome overhead. He knows each step is bringing him closer and closer to something more evil than anything he’s ever experienced.

A forensic officer with a clipboard stops them. Baldoni signs them through another log point. He explains to Tom that he must suit up to enter the protected area.

As he dresses he sees the gloriously Baroque altar arrangement, designed by Venetian architect Baldassare Longhena. It’s more beautiful than the pictures he’d seen on the internet. It shelters a stunning Byzantine Madonna and Child, and at any other time he’s sure the setting would radiate a near perfect spiritual atmosphere. But not today.

Tom finishes dressing and walks closer.

Now he sees it.

Driven into the very centre of the sacred stone on the front elevation of the altar is a human organ.

It’s pinned to the marble by a massive masonry nail.

Ironmongery as horrible as any hammered into the body of Christ.

Tom crosses himself again, and whispers softly, ‘
In nomine patris, et filii et spiritus sancti
.’ He can hear carabinieri officers nearby, talking in Italian. Soft voices. Sombre tones. Baldoni joins them.

There’s something else.

Red paint smeared all over the floor of the altar.

Not paint.

Blood.

Valentina is the first to spot Tom. She stands and walks over. ‘Thanks for coming.’ She sees his stare is hooked on the nailed organ. ‘Montesano thinks it’s a human liver. Isabella Lombardelli - the scientist from RaCIS - is on her way over, she’ll do tissue matches with the bodies we’ve already got.’

He points to the smeared lines of blood on the floor near the altar. ‘What’s that?’

‘We don’t know. Major Carvalho thought maybe you would have an idea.’

Tom nervously approaches the daubed blood.

The major looks up from where he’s kneeling, gets to his feet and moves towards him. ‘It’s not been done by accident, it’s not spillage or spatter.’

Tom swallows and tries to stay calm. The tension he’s experiencing is familiar. He’s had it at exorcisms. Had it when he visited prisoners on Death Row. Had it during the fateful street fight in LA.

It’s the closeness of evil.

‘It looks like a book,’ says Tom, aware his voice sounds stretched. He stoops a little to study the strange marks on the floor. ‘If we were in LA, I’d be thinking about gang tags, graffiti signatures, stuff like that.’ His mind flashes back to the fight - the kicks and punches he delivered that killed the young men - the battered face of the girl he couldn’t save from being raped. His head feels as if someone’s squeezing it in a vice. There’s a sharp pain across his heart. He feels hot and dizzy. He forces himself slowly to keep blowing out the air and sucking it in again, calm and slow.

Valentina moves towards him but Vito grabs her arm and pulls her back.

Tom can see now that the blood marking is not the outline of a book.

It’s a rectangle.

Divided into three perfectly equal sections.

The smears of blood ripple across it, like a river of red demon snakes.

CAPITOLO XXXVII

26 dicembre 1777
Venezia

Amun Badawi has almost bled to death.

Louisa ties another tourniquet. Smiles as she leaves him dangling, dripping blood. The other acolytes undo his gag and force the end of his severed penis into his mouth before re-gagging him.

Swallow or choke. The choice is his.

Ave Satanus

The congregation dip their fingers in bowls of his blood, anoint themselves and smear it over each other.

Dominus Satanus

Frenzied intercourse begins. A demonic race to climax before the sacrifice dies.

No one is to miss out. Everyone will enter - or be entered by - someone else.

Except for the high priest.

His Diabolic Holiness abstains.

Nothing must distract him from the duties he still has to perform. He ignores the writhing and groaning of his followers and raises his cloaked arms. ‘It is time, my brothers and sisters. Acolytes, attend the sacrifice.’

Bodies disentangle. Hands grab cloaks and straighten masks.

The high priest winds his way to Amun’s pale body.

‘Lord of lords, god of gods, we offer this sacrifice in glorification of you.’ He raises his left hand. In it is a small pointed blade. ‘Grant us your wisdom and divinity.’ He plunges the knife into the crown of Amun’s head.

‘Grant us vision.’ He stabs the blade into the middle of the forehead.

Amun snorts the last of his breath through his nostrils.

‘Grant us the voices of leadership.’ He digs the blade into the throat.

Amun barely feels it. His brain is shutting down.

‘Grant us love and understanding.’ The knife slides between Arum’s ribs and punctures his heart.

‘Grant us fortitude and strength of ego.’ Entrails pop through a fresh wound in his stomach.

‘Grant us self-gratification, promiscuity and fertility.’ The priest holds the remaining stump of penis and saws it off.

He shifts his grip on the knife.

Holding the blade skywards, he reaches between the dead man’s buttocks towards the end of his spine. ‘Finally, lord of all worlds, grant us salvation.’ Slowly he drags the blade in a vicious U-cut all the way to Amun’s scrotum.

Ave Satanus

The officiator moves away from the mutilated offering.

Ave Satanus

Two acolytes advance with identical ceremonial knives.

Ave Satanus

The knives are passed. The wounds counted out.

Six hundred and sixty-six in total.

The ground is sodden with blood. The corpse hangs like a butchered carcass in an abattoir.

‘Cut him down,’ shouts the high priest. ‘Place him on the altar stone.’

Amun is laid on a slab of red-veined marble stolen from the top of a sarcophagus.

‘Bring me his instruments.’

One acolyte carries a silver Etruscan casket. Another, a bucchero bowl. A third, a sculptress’s clay modelling knife. A fourth, a small oblong object, wrapped in a long roll of silk.

Even the most devoted followers in the curte grimace as he sets about the grisly task of removing Amun’s liver.

A whoosh of gas comes with the deep cut high into the right side of the abdomen. More intestines snake through the wound.

The officiator hacks away unwanted tissue, slices out the liver. He trims veins, fat and other residue and slides the organ into the casket. ‘Children, make the offering.’

Wood is thrown on the two fires, bringing them together into one giant, crackling pyre. In the orange light of the spiralling flames the fourth acolyte unfolds the silk wrap and removes a precious silver tablet.

A third of the famed
Gates of Destiny
.

The engraving of the demon stares up at the high priest.

He kisses his fingertip and slowly traces it over the horned deity and the serpents that fill the precious tablet.

He raises the artefact above his head.

‘Behold the true lord, Lucifer, etched in his own precious metal six centuries before the rocking cradle of the Christ child. Great Satan, we pay homage to you. Now for your glorification and for our salvation we dedicate this sacrifice.’

He lowers his head and extends the tablet so it points at the butchered corpse of Amun Badawi. The four acolytes grasp the dead man’s hands and feet, then swing him into the roaring flames.

CHAPTER 39

Present Day
Piazzale Roma, Venice

Although the Salute is only a short hop from his hotel, Tom Shaman needs a long walk before he’s ready to return to the solitude of his tiny room.

The blooded symbol near the altar had emanated an intensity of evil he’s never experienced outside of an exorcism. In truth, he’d been quite unprepared for it. He’d naively thought he’d left such encounters behind when he’d left the clergy.

Apparently not.

Only when his feet are aching, his thirst unbearable and his head almost clear does he drag himself back to his bedroom.

He kicks off his shoes and quickly finishes a half-empty plastic bottle of warm water. The Carabinieri have loaned him an old laptop and cheap cellphone, and he now makes good use of both. He goes online and digs back in his AOL mail account until he finds the number he wants.

Alfredo Giordano - Alfie, to those close to him - is the New York-born son of Italian immigrants and an old and trusted friend.

Tom punches in his number and waits an eternity for people to go and find him. The place where Alfie spends his long days and nights is huge. It’s more than five centuries old and is one of the most protected buildings on the planet: the Holy See - the library of the Vatican.

‘
Pronto
. Giordano.’ He juggles the phone between ear and shoulder.

‘Shouldn’t you be in bed?’

Alfie stays silent for a second - he has to be sure his ears aren’t tricking him. ‘Tom?’

‘Hello, Alfie. I’m sorry to call so late. I guess you were just heading into mass, or even turning in for the night.’

‘Not a problem. It’s good to hear from you.’ He pauses, then adds cautiously, ‘Isn’t it?’

It takes Tom almost ten minutes to bring Alfie up to speed with what’s happened since they last spoke, just after the street fight in LA. The two men had become friends while attending a semester of courses, back in the days when he’d drink too much and turn up late for half their classes, relying on Tom to bail him out.

Alfie’s still reflecting on old times as he heads back through the ornate Sistine Hall to his quarters. Tom’s request is certainly a strange one, but he’s sure he can help. He has privileged access to a library that holds more than seventy-five thousand manuscripts and close to two million books - not to mention a museum dedicated to the Etruscans - Alfie’s confident he can find what’s wanted. Unless - and the thought disturbs him - unless it’s in the secret archives. Fifty-two miles of shelving crammed with restricted information that only the holiest of eyes should see.

CAPITOLO XXXVIII

27 dicembre 1777
Venezia

Pale pink daylight floods the lagoon, and a thin graveyard mist hangs over the eerily quiet water.

The high priest walks the curte, collecting remains from the sacrificial fire.

He’s at peace with the world. He’s served his master well. Now he is keen to avoid any post-sacrifice slip-ups. Once he’s finished his grisly task, he’ll make sure his followers know how to behave. Firstly, they have a common cover story. If pushed by families about their prolonged absence, they’ll claim to have been at a dinner together, a party of sorts. If suspicions arise, then one by one they’ll admit to affairs. Each of them already has an alibi. Each is prepared to suffer minor personal consequences rather than risk being thrown into the cold cells of the Palazzo Ducale
.

The Satanist is dressed in the poor garments of a boatman. His blood-soaked vestments stand in a tub of water and will be thoroughly washed and dried by his own hands. Meticulously, he collects all the dead man’s bones in a potato sack. He counts off the parts as he deposits them - tibia, fibula, patella - he knows every bone, every muscle and nerve.

In a separate sack he collects fire-blackened wood coated in the waxy fat of the victim’s melted skin. Both bags go to the back of his boat. Later he’ll have the ground dug over. Shovelled until all sacrificial traces are gone.

The sun is still only half risen when the boat that brought Amun Badawi to his death takes him to his watery grave.

It’s too early for fishing boats or other craft to be making their way into the nexus of canals that spread south of the city, but the high priest isn’t complacent: he keeps a vigilant watch across the water.

Through the mist, he spots La Giudecca to the west and Isola di San Giorgio Maggiore to the east. It is his cue to stop. He thinks for a moment about the island - the refuge for Cosimo de’ Medici when he fled Florence and the burial place for Doge Pietro Ziani. So many famous bodies - dead and alive - have passed along the same stretch of water.

The Satanist places a heavy stone in each of the sacks and secures the tops with pre-cut lengths of rope. The boat wobbles as an unexpectedly large wave slaps the side. He quickly sits. Waits for calm to return.

As the ripples subside, he stands and heaves the first sack over the side.

A satisfying
plosh!

He crouches and watches the bubbles in the murky water. The boat rocks again. The stern is knocked round by a choppy wave. Again the high priest sits it out. He waits patiently, then drops the second sack in the lagoon. It is comforting to watch it sink. A circle of ripples fattens, thins and fades.

‘
Buongiorno!’

The voice shocks him. He glances right and left.

Nothing.

Now he sees something. Dead ahead.

A red-faced young monk. Rowing a tiny boat. Slowing his strokes as he approaches. ‘A bad mist this morning. Are you in trouble?’ The brother looks pointedly into the water, as though he’s seen something go over the side. ‘Do you need any help?’

The Satanist can’t hide his shock. He picks up his oars. ‘No.
No grazie
.’ Silently he curses to himself. He was sure there was no one around.

The monk has stopped rowing and is letting his boat drift closer.

Suspicion hangs in the air as densely as the mist.

The high priest tries to smile. ‘Are you from the monastery at San Giorgio?’

The monk nods. ‘
Si
.’ Their boats touch sides. ‘I do this every morning. After first prayers and before breakfast.’ He glances into the water. ‘Did you drop something? I thought I heard a splash in the water. I feared someone may have fallen in.’

‘No, as you can see, I am fine. Fine and dry. You must have been mistaken.’ The Satanist touches his own oar. ‘Probably the sound of the paddle on the water.’ He glances into the mist and checks the angle of the rising sun. Maybe the monk didn’t see much. He smiles. ‘I must be going.
Arrivederci.’

The young brother takes up his oars and sweeps one across the water to turn his boat. ‘
Arrivederci
.’ Within two strokes he’s vanished into the mist.

All the way back to the monastery, he wonders what was in the two large sacks he saw being dropped into the lagoon and why the stranger lied to him.