Day Of Confession

39

Roscani ran along the track, Scala and Castelletti right behind him. Work lights flooded the tunnel. Uniformed police in flak jackets and carrying submachine guns were everywhere. So were Metro officials and the driver of the train that had nearly hit the fugitive.

'There were two of them. The American and a small man with crutches. Maybe a midget.'

Roscani had taken the call as he was leaving the railroad terminal on his way back to the Questura. It had come late, nearly an hour after the men had been sighted. Rush hour, the driver complained. Fearing he'd hit the men, he'd stopped the train and come back but had seen nothing. He'd reported it and gone on. It wasn't until he was taking a break and saw Harry's picture on the cover of Il Messagero that he made the connection with the man in the tunnel.

'You're certain it was him,' Roscani pressed.

'He was only for the smallest moment in the train's headlight. But yes, as sure as I can be. He had a bandage of some kind on his head.'

'Where could they have gone?' Roscani turned to a tall, mustached Metro official.

'Anywhere. In this section there are many original tunnels, for one reason or another no longer in use.'

Roscani hesitated. The stations at either end of this part of the tunnel had been shut down, passengers taken out and shifted to buses under the close eye of a phalanx of police. But it was only a matter of time before the entire Metro would begin to suffer from the closing.

'There are maps of these tunnels?'

'Yes.'

'Get them.' He looked to Scala. 'Go to Mr Addison's hotel room. Find something he has worn recently, something not laundered. Bring it back here as quickly as you can.'

Scala looked back. He understood. 'You want dogs.'

'Yes.'

Harry moved quickly along the sidewalk, already sweating with the July heat. Leaving the area of the cafe was one thing. His picture stared out from newspapers on every kiosk he passed. It was not only frightening, it was bizarre, as if he had been transported to another planet where everyone on it was looking for him. Suddenly he stopped, thunderstruck at the sound of his own voice. He was passing an electronics store. In the window was a bank of televisions. Large screen to small. And he was on every one of them, wearing dark glasses and sitting on a stool, dressed in the sport coat he had left behind with Hercules. His voice was coming from a small speaker just above the front door.

'Danny, I'm asking you to come in… To give yourself up… They know everything… Please, for me… Come in… please… Please…'

Now the picture cut to an interior of a television station. A male broadcaster sat at a news desk speaking in Italian. He heard his name and Danny's. Then there was a video clip of the murder of the cardinal vicar of Rome. Police were everywhere, ambulances, a glimpse of Farel, a brief shot of the Holy Father's Mercedes as it sped him from the scene.

Suddenly Harry was aware of other people standing on the sidewalk watching the televisions. Turning his head, he moved away. Dazed. Where had the video come from? Vaguely he remembered the business with the earphone, someone talking into it. Vaguely remembered repeating what was said, then thinking something was wrong and trying to do something about it. Then being hit and everything going black again. Now he realized what it was. He had been tortured to reveal Danny's whereabouts, and when they realized he didn't know, they'd forced him into making the video, then taken him away to kill him.

Stepping off a curb, he waited for a car to pass, then crossed the street. The photos in the newspapers had been bad enough, but now his face was on every television screen in the country. Maybe even worldwide. Thank God for the dark glasses. They had to have helped some in disguising him. At least a little.

Directly ahead was an arched portal in an ancient wall. It reminded him of a similar wall near the Vatican that Farel's driver had taken him through on the way to meet the Vatican policeman. He wondered if this was the same wall, if he was close to the Vatican itself. He didn't know Rome, he'd simply popped out of a subway station somewhere in the middle of it and started walking. It was no good; he could be going in circles for all he knew.

Abruptly he walked into the deep shade of the portal. For an instant the shade and cool were a relief from the bright sun and July heat. Then he reached the far side and stepped back into the sunlight again. As he did, and for the second time in minutes, he stopped dead.

Little more than a half block in front of him was a swarm of police vehicles. Mounted police on horseback kept a gathering crowd at bay. To one side were several ambulances and parked media cars, including two satellite trucks.

People were suddenly rushing past him toward what was happening, and he stepped back, trying to get some idea of where he was. It didn't help. All he saw was a massive intersection of converging streets. Via La Spezia. Via Sannio. Via Magna Grecia. And Via Appia Nuova, where he stood.

'What's goin' on, Father?' The accent was young and New York.

Harry started. A teenager wearing a T-shirt with the words end of the dead over a likeness of Jerry Garcia had come up next to him, his round-faced girlfriend beside him. Both were staring at the mass of activity down the block.

'I don't know, I'm sorry,' he replied. Then he turned and started back the way he had come. He knew very well what was going on. The police were looking for him.

Heart pounding, he picked up his pace as more people hurried past him. Across the street to his left was a large expanse of green and beyond it a large and apparently very old church.

Quickly he crossed the street and started across the piazza toward it. As he did, two police cars flew past, bumper to bumper, in a wail of sirens. He kept on.

Ahead was the church. Huge, ancient, beckoning. A refuge from the turmoil behind him. Numbers of people – tourists, it looked like – were on the steps. Some were turned, looking in the direction he was coming from, drawn by what was going on. Still others were more intent on the church itself. This was a city, what did he expect? People were everywhere. He had to take the chance, for a short while at least, that he could lose himself among them and not be recognized.

Crossing the cobblestones he went up the steps and into the crowd. People barely noticed as he pushed between them to enter through an enormous set of open bronze doors.

Inside, despite the people, it was all but silent. And Harry stopped with others coming in to look, a tourist priest taken in by the spectacle. The central nave in front of him was a good fifty feet wide and probably five or six times that in length. Above him, the ornately carved and gilded ceiling rose ninety feet or more over the equally ornate polished marble floor. High windows just below ceiling level allowed an inpouring of dramatic, downward rays of light. Along the walls, ornate statuettes and frescoes surrounded twelve enormous statues of the Apostles. Harry's refuge, it seemed, was not only a church but also a grand cathedral.

To his left a group of Australian tourists worked their way along the wall toward the massive altar at the far end. Quietly, he joined them, walking slowly, observing the artwork, continuing to play the out-of-towner, like any other. So far he had seen only one person look at him, and that was an elderly woman who seemed to be looking more at the bandage on his forehead than at him.

For the moment he was all right. Fearful, confused, exhausted, he let himself drift, feeling the breath of the cathedral's centuries, wondering who had passed through, and under what circumstances.

Pulling himself back he saw they had reached the altar, and several of the Australians broke from the group to cross themselves and kneel on benches in front of it, bowing their heads in prayer.

Harry did the same. As he did, emotion swept him. Tears came to his eyes, and he had to fight to hold back a sob. Never had he felt as lost or frightened or alone as he felt now. He had no idea where to go or what to do next. Irrationally, he wished to hell he had stayed with Hercules.

Still kneeling, Harry turned and looked over his shoulder. His Australian group was filing out, but other people were coming in. With them came two security guards. Watching the crowds. Making their presence known. They wore white shirts with epaulets, and dark pants. It was hard to tell from the distance, but it looked as if they carried two-way radios on their belts.

Harry turned back. Stay where you are, he told himself. They won't approach unless you give them reason.

Take your time. Think it through. Where to go next. What to do.

Think.