Focused beams of particle-filled sunlight passed through windows set high above, casting shadows onto the polished marble floor from the statues that lined the hallway in this section of the Vatican. Cardinal Marcus Lundahl was walking quickly, his black and scarlet cassock flowing behind him over the cool, smooth surface of the wide corridor. His assistant followed behind, almost running to keep pace with Lundahl’s long strides.
Arriving in front of a single elevator, the two stepped inside and faced the closing mirror-like doors. Twenty feet away, two Vatican security men dressed in black suits were running toward the elevator and waving for them to wait. Instinctively, Emilio reached his hand out to prevent the sliding doors from closing. Lundahl swatted the priest’s hand aside, never taking his gaze away from the approaching men as the doors came together before the suits arrived. Inside, Emilio cast a sideways glare at the cardinal as the two descended into the bowels of the Vatican in silence.
The elevator stopped at the very bottom level, where the cardinal exited into yet another long hallway that led off to his right. Emilio followed along behind until they reached the thick glass entrance of the security complex, the Vatican’s equivalent of a police command center.
Opening the door, an older man with a short-cropped military-style haircut stood aside for the cardinal. He was the same man Leo had seen with the cardinal the day Morelli died. The man’s name was Francois Leander. Swiss by birth, he was also the chief of security for the Vatican. “Good morning, Cardinal.”
Francois glanced down the long hallway behind the cardinal and saw the two men in suits bolt from a stairway and begin running toward them.
“We’ve had a serious security breach, Francois,” Lundahl said. He turned and watched the men running in their direction. “I want you to seal this facility immediately. Let no one in or out.”
“Yes, sir. Right away.”
Lundahl then shifted his gaze to his assistant. “Emilio, you can go now. I don’t think I’ll be needing you anymore today.”
“But… Your Excellency, I…”
Francois opened the center’s bulletproof glass door and gestured toward the hallway. Emilio looked pleadingly into the eyes of the cardinal. “We have a full schedule today, Eminence, and-”
“Thank you, Emilio, but we don’t have time to argue.” The security chief now had his hand on Emilio’s chest and literally pushed the priest back through the doorway. He slammed the heavy glass door shut just as the two security men reached the enclosure. The look on Emilio’s face changed from quizzical to pure fury. The men in suits banged on the door and shouted, demanding to be admitted. Their features were contorted in rage, knowing their shouts could not be heard behind the thick glass.
Francois smiled at the cardinal before they turned their backs on the scene outside and headed for the communications section of the complex. “I don’t know why you kept that disgusting little spy of a man around you for as long as you did, Cardinal.”
The cardinal stopped and put his hand on the chief’s shoulder. “I’ve always believed in the old saying; keep your friends close and your enemies closer.”
The entire staff stood when the cardinal entered and looked around the room. He made the sign of the cross and walked through the complex, stopping to shake each man’s hand in turn. Lundahl then took a seat in front of a console before flipping a switch that illuminated a large screen in the front of the room. The picture from a solitary hidden security camera immediately came into focus. Before them on the screen was the image of the pink-stoned wall of the hidden chapel in the catacombs below.
Drumming his fingers on the console in anticipation, he turned and looked at the man sitting beside him. Father Anthony Morelli smiled back at him. “Soon, Your Excellency, very soon.”