1635: The Papal Stakes

CHAPTER THIRTY

Cardinal Gaspar de Borja y Velasco actually clapped his hands once in sharp, exultant glee. “Senor Dolor, this is excellent news. And we owe our victory, it seems, to your excellent stratagems. Which you must explain to me: how were you able to defeat the Wrecking Crew when no one else in Europe seemed capable of doing so?”

Dolor shrugged. “By giving them what they expected to see. In every particular.”

Borja frowned. “More detail, please, senor: I am not a military man.”

Truer words were never spoken-particularly by you, red hat. “Your Eminence, you may use simple traps to catch simple beasts; a bit of food left dangling over a pit will capture most unwary predators. But Lefferts and his Crew were not unwary predators; like foxes, they were inherently wary of traps and ploys-having used so many themselves.

“So, in setting this trap, I was mindful that we had to create the illusion of a reasonable defense, but with a few subtle flaws that they could exploit.”

“Such as?”

“Such as their belief that we had only a third of the troops that we actually had stationed in the insula Mattei. To create that illusion, we had to mimic-in every detail-what an undermanned garrison would do. In this case, that involved denying casual access to the interior of the insula, thereby concealing our supposedly scant numbers. But careful observers would detect other hints of insufficient forces: our victualing from sutlers was sufficient for only one-third of our men. To make that possible, we had to stock the insula weeks beforehand with enough food and drink to supply the other two-thirds of our men for three months. So the Wrecking Crew drastically underestimated our true strength.”

“Also, the second story of the courtyard of the Palazzo Giacomo Mattei was the only site in the entire insula where it would be reasonable to house prisoners, and yet have them visible to the outside. Had Lefferts not been able to see his targets ahead of time, he would either have had to cancel or mount a general assault.”

“Which we would have crushed,” Borja asserted with chin raised.

“Yes, but with much greater cost to us, Your Eminence. It was essential to make Lefferts confident that he would be able to succeed with finesse, rather than brute strength. I do not think a brute strength approach would have worked in any event, but we could be sure of this: if the Wrecking Crew had resolved themselves to the idea that they could only succeed through direct, massive destruction, they would have been far more dangerous to us. Look what they did to the Tower of London. So I gave them a scenario in which it seemed reasonable-quite reasonable, in fact-to believe that they could achieve their objective by finesse. This is particularly attractive to the up-timers, who show marked concern with the amount of peripheral damage-and therefore, civilian casualties-they might inflict.”

“They are contemptibly stupid,” put in Borja.

They are excessively moral-a distinction you will certainly not perceive, Borja. “Whatever the reason, preventing unnecessary casualties is a routine component of their modus operandi, Your Eminence. And we counted upon it here. Sure enough, perhaps a week before Lefferts’ attack, we began to notice careful movement within and around the belvedere. We set up long-barreled wheel-lock rifles in the shuttered rooms of the courtyard’s loggia, each weapon mounted in weighted braces and held fast by vises. This ensured that their aim points remained constant unless we changed them.”

“You used them almost as if they were artillery pieces.”

“Your Eminence understands perfectly. From prior tests, we knew exactly the elevation and charge required to hit the belvedere, and had some reasonable wind indicators that the enemy would not notice. Unfortunately, one of our snipers was also killed.”

“Truly?”

Dolor shrugged. “Every gun flashes when fired-and if you are looking straight down the barrel when it flashes, it is only logical that its operator’s head is leaned over that barrel. So, if one aims a bit above the muzzle flash-” Dolor saw a shudder move through the cardinal. “As I said, the up-time tools are not to be underestimated. Nor are their operators; they are superbly trained and very disciplined.”

“It sounds as though you admire them, Senor Dolor. I hope I do not need to remind you that-”

What could be more tiresome than the pious indignation of a hypocritical cleric? “I am not a man much given to admiration of anyone or anything, Your Eminence. But I recognize capability when I see it. And I acknowledge it freely. That same clarity of perception, of understanding all the strengths and weaknesses of my enemy, was what delivered them into your hands last night, Cardinal Borja.”

Borja fell silent, eyes bright but not friendly. Dolor wondered: had he let some of his carefully controlled impatience edge into his tone? Or had the insufferable red hat simply bristled at being interrupted, even if only to reassure him?

“It seems your dispassionate methods are effective,” was Borja’s only response. “And yet it was still not enough to kill Lefferts. Are you sure it was he in the belvedere?”

Dolor shrugged. “It is hard to be sure of anything one does not personally witness, Your Eminence. But all conjecture points towards it. From the neighboring Jews we have already subjected to questioning, they had agreed to rent the roof of this tower to a man answering Lefferts’ description, although they were originally approached by lefferti — ”

“Verminous traitors,” supplied Borja.

Dolor did not understand how Romans working against the occupiers of their own city could reasonably be branded as “traitors,” but he pressed on. “However, even without those confessions, the belvedere was a logical location for Lefferts. From there he was able to send the signals that started the attack, initiated supporting fire from other persons with up-time rifles, and indicated it was time to withdraw.”

Borja waited a moment before his next comment, which sounded more like an accusation. “So, Lefferts escaped, although he is probably wounded. Indeed, I find it hard to understand why any of them escaped at all, Senor Dolor. Why did your wonderful plans not succeed in this particular?”

Dolor shrugged. “Because the attackers were smart enough not to depend upon any local resources when they infiltrated back into Rome. According to our informers, the Wrecking Crew did not inform Duke Taddeo Barberini’s court at Palestrina of their return, much less request assistance from that quarter. Nor did they depend upon lefferti to get them into Rome, for even if the lefferti are loyal, they would have had to make arrangements with other Romans, some of whom would surely have been on our payroll. Instead, Lefferts entered Rome in such a way that he did not need to inform anyone else ahead of time, and his group immediately went into hiding with the lefferti. This meant we had no information as to their whereabouts beforehand, nor any way to determine how they planned to exit the city after the attack. I surmised it would be by boat, but that did not help us very much. Without more precise information, we would have had to have set far more pickets along the Tiber-which would have shown the Wrecking Crew that we were expecting them.

“They also had a force armed with up-time weapons covering their withdrawal over the Ponte Fabricio, as well as diversionary explosions in Trastevere. Taken together, this significantly delayed and confused our pursuing forces. As I said, Your Eminence, even in defeat, the up-timers and their handpicked allies are not to be underestimated: they are far more accustomed to this style of warfare.”

“Warfare? This is not warfare; it is simply sophisticated raiding. They are highly evolved bandits, no more.”

“So it might appear to us, who associate war with serried ranks and massed musketry. But, as chaotic as their ‘small unit tactics’ might seem, they are informed by an even more complicated military science than that which underlies our tercios. There is extraordinary order and planning behind the seemingly frenetic activity of their operations.”

Borja emitted an unconvinced harrumpf. “Skilled or no, I hear you have some trophies to show me.”

Dolor nodded and crooked a finger at the tall doors, which were slightly ajar. The doors opened fully in response to Dolor’s gesture, and Dakis led two of his largest men into the room. The pair of them were burdened with heavy canvas sacks.

Borja’s eyes were bright again. “Show me,” he commanded.

At a nod from Dolor, they lifted the heads out of the bags one at a time. Ferrigno, scribbling down the record of this meeting, made a faint retching noise.

Dolor pointed. “This is the one named Gerd; we do not have a last name for him. He was apparently the member of the Wrecking Crew who emplaced the explosive charge to breach the roof, as well as set a diversionary fire. This next one is the female operative named Juliet Sutherland.”

“She is most disfigured.”

“She was ridden under by our cavalry.”

“She deserved no less. And the very young one?”

“He is a lefferto. One of the many we killed. But his death is particularly significant.”

“And why is that?”

“Because, if the lefferti we captured are correct, this lefferto ’s name is Fabrizio Marcoli.”

Borja waited. “So?”

Quite a mind for details, red hat. “Marcoli is Giovanna Stone’s maiden name; this is her brother.”

Borja’s eyes positively sparkled; his smile was wide, ravenous. “This is the most delicious sign of divine justice, yet. Go on; show me the last one.”

Dolor complied. “This last head is evidently that of an Irish mercenary, working for the up-timers.” Dolor watched Borja closely for his reaction.

There wasn’t much to see. “Irish? Working for the up-timers? Although I suppose anything is possible with such uncivilized sell-swords, it seems odd.”

It is indeed odd, you buffoon, thought Dolor, glad for Borja’s lack of perspicacity. And because you show no greater interest in his head, I will be able to leave the greater mystery attached to this fellow unremarked-for now. Which was not the course that Dakis had wanted to take in the matter of the Irish corpses: not at all.

When they first walked among the bodies marking the site of the see-saw battle for control of the Palazzo Giacomo’s courtyard, Dakis spied the different armor, swords, and unusual pistols found upon three of the enemy dead. Their cuirasses and sabers bore signs of Spanish manufacture, but not in the local style; it was more akin to the fashion employed by the armorers who equipped the tercios in the Low Countries. And although the revolvers were not up-time devices, they were clearly up-time inspired. Were these three fellows-who looked anything but Spanish-mercenaries, or was the relationship something else, Dolor wondered. However, it was when they finally extricated the third fellow, the one who had been trapped beneath the horse, that Pedro Dolor’s perceptions altered-and he saw, with strange certainty, how this corpse would change his life.

This corpse was the key he had been waiting for, the tool of vengeance that fate always provides to those who are only patient enough. This man’s armor was chased with designs, his clothes of unusually good quality, and his sword set with several jewels. He wore a fine tartan sash with a coat of arms, prominently featuring a red hand, raised as if to command the beholder to halt. Dolor frowned; where had he seen this symbol? He tried every memory trick he knew to tease the connection up out of the gray void of uncertainty, but the answer would not come to him as he stood over the bullet-riddled corpse.

“What have we here?” Dakis wondered as he came to stand alongside his commander.

“A great prize, Dakis. Check his right hand.”

“For what?”

“A signet ring.”

Dakis did, looked up surprised. “There is one. Shall I-?”

“No. Leave it just as is. We will need to preserve this body-or at least the head and hands-as best we may.”

Dakis stood. “Why? Does Borja have some particular interest in this-?”

“Borja is not to learn anything about this body, other than that we found it with the other two who were similarly equipped. But he is to be told nothing of how this body’s equipment and accoutrements differed from the others’.”

Dakis blinked. “Is that wise, Pedro?”

“It is essential, Dakis. Now, make quiet inquiries among the wounded lefferti; promise them clemency if they speak true and quickly as to the origin of these men. I need to know if they are Scottish or Irish.”

“Does it really matter, Pedro?”

“It most certainly does, Dakis; it most certainly does.”

Dolor forced himself to forget those first twilit moments when he realized that the bullet-ridden corpse might provide him with the political leverage he had long sought, might put his greatest ambition within his grasp. Standing before Borja now, he had to continue before the cardinal noticed any distraction in his demeanor. “There were two more of these Irishmen, Your Eminence. Do you wish to inspect either of the other bodies? Also, there are many lefferti and no small number of common townsfolk who were-”

“No, I have seen enough.” The cardinal reclined like a cat after a belly-filling meal. “So, your success buys you full discretionary powers, Senor Dolor: what next?”

“Now, we move the prisoners again.”

Borja sat up; he clearly had not expected this response. “We move them again? After Lefferts’ rescue has been successfully repulsed? Surely we can now resort to normal methods of imprisonment.”

“Surely not-not here in Rome, at any rate. As this attack shows, Rome is too comfortably within the operating envelope of the USE and Grantville. And obviously, both the Jews and lefferti helped them considerably.”

“And so, they will be chastised. Strenuously.”

“If you must, you must,” commented Dolor with a shrug, “but it would be better to merely threaten the Jews with chastisement, while offering them a better option.”

“Which is?”

“Collaboration. To work for us as double agents if they are approached by the up-timers again. If you were to take a few select hostages from the major families of the Ghetto-well-treated, of course-that should serve to ensure the loyalty of the rest.”

Borja stroked his vulpine chin. “So do you really think the up-timers might be so foolish as to strike again?”

“If the prisoners remain in Rome long enough, then yes. Which means that next time, they will need to strike at you, too.”

Borja’s response was surprisingly high-pitched for a full grown man. “They would strike at me?”

“Of course, Your Eminence. The up-timers are well aware that they no longer possess the advantage of surprise, and have seen that we are on guard for their tricks. So, failing at finesse, they will resort to brute force.”

“We have many tercios to dissuade them from such action, Senor Dolor.”

“Those tercios are less of a disincentive to up-timers than to our other adversaries, Your Eminence, owing to their style of warfare. The up-timers rely on speed and small, intensely destructive units, not set-piece field engagements. However, to mount a major rescue attempt now would require them to not only destroy or paralyze our units, but to do the same to our command centers-possibly by using immensely powerful, timed bombs. With you and the generals who assist you dead, our units might remain in their barracks, waiting for orders that never come.”

And now, it was time to play one of his trump cards in today’s game of scare the cardinal. “The agents of the USE might even be able to stir up a popular revolt to preoccupy our military assets in advance of such a strike, and so obscure their own actions. Such a plan might be welcomed by many communes of the Lazio. After all, we are not welcome here, and Duke Barberini has many friends in the hills that ring this city.”

Borja seemed alarmed. “Do you think such a disastrous course of events to be likely?”

Dolor smiled within: it was important not to overplay one’s hand. “No, I do not think it likely. However, I am less sure of our enemy’s next move, now. It was relatively easy to predict that they would employ their famed Harry Lefferts in a rescue attempt: the up-timers were as dazzled by his myth as the gullible Roman boys who emulated him.”

“So, you believe we have seen the last of Lefferts?”

“As a commander? For now, probably. But Harry Lefferts is still a dangerous weapon in service of the USE, whose leaders will now realize that in this scenario, it was not Lefferts who failed; it was his methods. Which means they will appoint a very different commander for their next rescue attempt.”

“Ah. You mean someone more like you.”

Dolor was not often surprised. But he had not yet thought through the probable nature of his next adversary, and he certainly had not expected such an insight to come from a rash pope-intendant. However, Borja’s spontaneous assertion had a certain elegant logic to it. “I suspect so, yes. At any rate, I do not expect their next captain to walk so blindly into a trap, no matter how well I lay it.”

“So our best option is-what?”

“To move Stone and his wife to a more distant location, as quickly as possible.” Seeing Borja about to sputter objections, Dolor extrapolated: “At this moment, we still hold the initiative. The up-timers are still fleeing, probably back to Venice, licking their wounds as they go. So this is the perfect time for us to move their objective. By the time they have recovered enough to begin reassessing the situation, the prisoners will be gone without a trace. We, of course, will maintain the charade that they are still being held in the insula Mattei. But I do not expect that ruse to buy us much extra time.”

Borja was still not placated. “And so now we must ship these two wretches off somewhere?” His tone became archly facetious. “Where would you propose to send them? To Madrid? Perhaps to be held in a chamber adjoining Philip’s own?”

Dolor shook his head. “No. The chamber next to the king would not be secure enough.” Seeing Borja’s dumbfounded stare, he shrugged. “A king has courtiers. Where there are courtiers, there are debtors. And where there are debtors, there are men who can be bought, extorted, or both. No, Your Eminence. I have someplace much better in mind. A place that will hard for the USE to find, impossible to assault, and so far away from here that you need not worry about becoming a target of their next attack.”

That last trump card won Dolor the prize he had hoped to gain. Borja waved airily. “Very well. It seems there are sound reasons for moving them. But before we drop the subject of the prisoners, show me the head of the Roman again.”

Dolor nodded to the man holding the appropriate bag. The face of Giovanna Stone’s brother Fabrizio rose back up out of the blood-spattered canvas that housed it.

As Borja smiled, the color drained from Ferrigno’s face. Almost as white as the paper upon which he was scribbling, Borja’s small secretary jumped up and withdrew several steps. Dolor raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

Borja was staring at Fabrizio Marcoli’s head and sad, staring eyes. “Given young Stone’s meddling during the attack, I wonder if the head of his wife’s brother is a providential asset.”

Dolor frowned. “I am sorry, Your Eminence, but I do not understand what you mean.”

“Surely you must, Senor Dolor, being a man who understands the need for absolute discipline and obedience. Punishing Stone himself might bring edification through pain, but not so much through terror. And for a man such as Stone, the greatest terror will not be in anticipating further injury to himself, but to those he loves.” Borja’s smile became positively feral. “For instance, if we were to show this head to his wife, or better yet, present it to her in just one more covered dish brought in with breakfast-”

Dolor shook his head. “Think of the shock, Your Eminence; women have miscarried with far less provocation. Far less.” Borja was frowning, considering-but still not fully dissuaded. “And if the unborn child were lost we would have less political leverage against the USE. Also, the prisoners might become suicidally hostile instead of grudgingly cooperative. Right now, they are still concerned with protecting their unborn child. If they lose that child-particularly due to any action of ours-they might welcome death.”

Borja sighed and looked disappointed. “Yes, yes, I suppose what you say is wise. We shall not harrow the little she-devil as she deserves. But then you must take other steps to ensure that Stone has learned his lesson. Thoroughly.” The cardinal’s eyes were bright, eager.

Dolor nodded, accepting this lesser of two inadvisable evils. “It shall be as you say, Your Eminence.” He looked over at Ferrigno, who was literally trembling against the wall. Dolor gestured at him with a jerk of his head. “Your Eminence, is he a scribe or not?”

Borja followed the gesture, frowned, and snapped at Ferrigno as he might have spoken to a dog. “What are you doing over there, Ferrigno? Sit here, at my desk, and see to your duties.” He turned back to Dolor as the spare scribe shuffled toward the other chair facing Borja’s. “We are almost done, though, are we not?”

“Almost. I am grateful for the time Your Eminence has lavished on my review of what we have discovered about both the external and internal enemies who made possible the USE’s attack.”

Borja started to nod, stopped. “Internal enemies? You mean, the lefferti and the Jews?”

“No, Your Eminence. Although they are native to Rome, they are also our obvious enemies, and so, are external threats. I am speaking of traitors within our very ranks.”

Alongside Dolor, Ferrigno was scribbling furiously. Borja’s jaw swung open momentarily before he barked: “Traitors? What do you mean?”

“I mean,” said Dolor, reaching out a hand and placing it gently but firmly upon the back of Ferrigno’s wrist, “that my men observed a peculiar phenomenon shortly after every one of my meetings with you. They found that Signor Ferrigno was wont to pile scrap papers near the kitchen furnace.”

“For disposal. Secure disposal,” Ferrigno gulped out.

“Not secure enough, evidently. It seems that on each of these days, one of the boys who works in the stables invariably came into the kitchen for a snack. And being a tidy sort, he always wrapped the food in some handy paper. Oddly enough, the paper that was always handiest was that which had been discarded by Signor Ferrigno.” Dolor felt the narrow wrist beneath his hand grow very cold.

Borja’s face had grown bright red; his eyes were wide. “And there is more?”

Dolor nodded. “Oddly enough, the stable boy always had work to deliver to a saddler in the Ghetto, an immense fellow named Isaac, who, it is rumored, also had the USE embassy as a client before all the recent unpleasantness. But that is ultimately not as interesting as another piece of information: Isaac has another client who invariably showed up at his shop less than twenty-four hours after the stable boy had dropped off the leather-work from this villa. Isaac’s other client is a fellow named Piero-and has been identified by several of the surviving lefferti as one of their senior and most trusted members.”

Borja could not speak; he seemed ready to burst. Ferrigno appeared to have aged ten years within the past two minutes; it seemed impossible to imagine how such a small, spare man could have become more withered and bowed, but he had.

Dolor finished. “This is why the agents of the Wrecking Crew were able to immediately discern that we had Stone and his wife at the insula Mattei: they had inside information. The insula had no outgoing servants, and we did not parade the prisoners in plain view for several weeks. How then did they already know to have us under observation? We noticed their surreptitious observers easily enough, but it took weeks to trace it back to Signor Ferrigno; he made use of routine connections between this villa and the world beyond to pass his intelligence, and he himself seemed a most unlikely candidate.”

But Borja’s wrath now seemed to focus on Dolor. “And you did not see fit to inform me at each stage? You lied to me,” he hissed. “From the start. You misinformed me about the troop strength at the insula Mattei, you-”

“Your Eminence, when I first arrived, did I not ask for your patience and trust? Here you are reaping the benefits of that trust. I spoke lies to your face, yes, but they were not intended for your ears, Your Eminence. They were intended for your scribe’s.” Ferrigno’s skin trembled beneath Dolor’s palm.

Borja acknowledged Dolor’s explanation with a testy nod, and then stared at little Ferrigno. “Execution is not enough,” he asserted after three seconds. “A man may come to grips with the fear of death, but not the fear of agony. Particularly not long, excruciating, varied, hopeless agony that will end in not merely death, but witnessing the dismemberment of one’s own body, the uncoiling and dissection of one’s own guts.”

Ferrigno gulped back vomit; Dolor’s nose told him that the scribe had soiled himself.

Borja noticed as well and sniffed in disgust. “Senor Dolor, you have much experience in this area: what would you recommend?”

Dolor shrugged; he knew he could not press too hard if he wanted to change Borja’s mind. “I do not recommend torture as punishment. Even when the objective is to gather information, torture is only advisable when there is reason to suspect it will be effective.”

Borja looked disappointed. “I would not have thought you squeamish, Senor Dolor.”

“I am not squeamish, Your Eminence; among my many faults, this one certainly cannot be reasonably attributed to me. But if one acquires a reputation for torture, it often instills desperate courage in his remaining adversaries. An enemy who knows that capture means mortal torture often chooses certain death of the battlefield. That way, we lose more men. I prefer my reputation to be one of efficiency and undefeatability; I want my adversaries to despair of besting me, but not to fear capture. That way, they may despair of hope and yet safely surrender, rather than fear torture and sell themselves dearly.”

Borja looked at Dolor strangely. “There is some wisdom in what you say,” the cardinal conceded finally, “but it is the wisdom of the streets, of your particular ‘calling.’ The wisdom of Mother Church tells us that if we spare the rod upon the back of one treacherous, homicidal child, we shall surely spoil many of the other untainted innocents. Mother Church uses the carrot when practicable-but in this case, we have only the stick.”

Dolor nodded. “What kind of stick do you instruct us to use in this case, Your Eminence?”

Ferrigno moaned slightly.

Borja considered. “The greatest terror would come from not knowing what kind of agony to expect, and in what sequence.” He stared at Ferrigno, attempted to keep a flickering grin from troubling the left corner of his mouth. “Why select just one stick, Senor Dolor? Be creative. Indulge yourself.”