Raiders

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

Thirty minutes later, everyone was gathered around Milo’s laptop staring at a jumble of terracotta roofs and winding cobblestone streets.

“You’re looking at an aerial image of Vatican City,” Milo began coolly.

Virgil spoke next. “And this is the Vatican Secret Archives. It’s located to the north of the Apostolic Palace — that’s the large building right here.”

Mason quietly scanned the faces of his team and felt a surge of pride as he saw them studying the screen in front of them. This was why they were the best, the fastest and the safest pair of hands.

Virgil continued. “A significant amount of storage space was added to the Secret Archives in 1980 when a new underground facility was built beneath the original building, and this is where we believe Napoleon’s chest is being stored, along with the codex. To say they’re not very keen on visitors is an understatement. Postgraduate students and academics researching specific and relevant subjects to the archives may apply for a special entry permit, but undergraduate students aren’t allowed anywhere near the place, and no one at all outside of the higher reaches of the church is allowed to see anything dated after 1939.”

“No one?”

“Zero exceptions, and in some cases only the Pope himself.”

“And the Raiders,” Zara said.

Mason’s smile widened. “Of course, the Raiders.”

Eva rolled her eyes, but then gave Mason a reluctant, affectionate smile.

“Our first job is to get inside the Vatican itself,” Milo said. “This isn’t difficult as we can pose as tourists, but we’ll look suspicious if we go in together mob-handed, so we’re going to need to split up and stay in contact via earpieces.”

“After this is gets harder,” Virgil said, and nodded at Milo to change the image. “The main building that houses the archives is guarded twenty-four seven by the Pontifical Swiss Guard.”

Zara raised her hand. “Question.”

“Shoot.”

“Are those the guys that look like clowns?”

Mason sighed and gave her a look. “Clowns, really?”

Virgil spoke up. “The Swiss Guard is basically a military unit within the Holy See and pretty much ceremonial. They guard the place ceremonially, but if you get any trouble when you’re in there it will be from the Gendarmerie Corps — they’re the main security force.”

“I see,” Zara said. “I never knew that. I’d hoped we’d be fighting the clowns.”

“Sorry,” Virgil said deadpan. “No clowns, but inside the archives themselves are over fifty miles of shelving packed with top secret papers going back well over a thousand years.”

“In other words,” Zara said. “It’s hiding more dirty secrets than a politician’s cell phone.”

“Exactly, but we’re only interested in one thing, and that’s the codex.”

“And that’s on the lowest level of the archives inside old Boneparte’s little treasure chest,” Milo said, flicking the next image onto the screen. “And this is where it gets really hard, so I’ll take over, thanks Virgil.”

“Asshat.”

“You’re too kind.”

“Step on it, Milo,” Caleb said gruffly.

“Sorry. After we’ve got past the Swiss Guard,” Milo continued, “we still have another major obstacle before we reach the asset. The section of the archives that we want to access is reached via a small elevator and then a set of bomb-proof doors. They can’t be blown up or blasted open. The only way to open them is with a highly sophisticated vocal recognition function.”

Zara sighed. “If we get caught, we’re going down until Doomsday.”

Ella shifted in her seat. “So, it’s basically a bunker with steel doors that weigh tons and you need the Pope to ask the doors to open. More than that, if we get caught we cause a major diplomatic crisis and go to prison for the rest of our lives. Am I right?”

“You’re not wrong,” Milo said.

The team shared a few seconds of silence before a ripple of subdued laughter emanated around the cabin.

“It’s the toughest job we’ve ever had,” Mason said. “If we pull it off, we’ll know we can do anything after this.”

“That’s a big if right there, Jed,” Caleb said. “Sure, we’ve broken into some pretty tough places in the past.”

Eva raised an eyebrow. “Care to elaborate?”

Caleb scratched his chin pensively. “I was thinking of the casino in Atlantic City.”

“Then there was the monastery for the Misko job,” Ella said. “That was hard work climbing up those cliffs.”

Ella’s reminiscence was broken by Mason. “This is nothing like any of those. This is more securely guarded and intensely political. There is absolutely zero margin of error on this job. When we light the touchpaper on this one we’re on the ride to the very end, whatever that may bring. Are we all clear on that?”

Their faces said yes.

“Good. Anything else, guys?”

“Sure,” Milo said. “Even the floors and walls are both dust-proof and fire-proof and every single item that’s catalogued in there is fitted with a special computer chip that can be used to trace its location.”

“This is a nightmare,” Eva said. “I know you’re good but no one’s that good. Tyring to break into this place is suicide.”

“The Raiders have never failed a job yet,” Mason said. “We’re not starting now. Give me some good news, Milo.”

“The whole place was recently given a total security overhaul and now just about everywhere is covered by CCTV coverage as well. That will have to be cut when we make our move inside the archives.”

“I said good news.”

“I’m coming to that. A tower in the famous Belvedere Courtyard is used to transport documents they want moved from the bomb-proof bunker underground up to the various consultation rooms. I think this could be our way in.”

“Break in via an elevator, huh?” Zara said, a smirk forming on her lips. “That’s wrong on so many levels.”

“Droll,” said Ben. “Very droll.”

“Just walk into the elevator leading down to the archives?” Ella said. “I think not.”

“Of course not,” Milo said. “According to the schematics I downloaded, we’re dealing with a roped elevator, and that means the steel cables on both the elevator car and counterweight are connected to an electric motor at the top of the elevator shaft. This is where the shiv, or pulley, raises or lowers the car depending on which way you turn the motor.”

Zara smiled approvingly. “Gotta hand it you, Miles — you sure do know how to get your nose in other people’s business.”

“The point is, the schematics show that there’s a door behind the elevator housing which leads to the motor room, and from here there’s a service panel where we can access the elevator shaft via a hatch in the top of the car.”

“I thought that was an urban legend?” Ben said.

Milo shook his head. “The urban legend is right to an extent — you can’t usually open the hatch from inside the car, but you can open it from the top of the car. If we can get into the motor room then we can get through the hatch and into the elevator car. After that we just have to get to the vault doors and break them open.”

“Good work, Milo,” Mason said. “That’s a great start.”

Caleb leaned back and stretched his arms. “You said there was a voice recognition system.”

Milo nodded.

“Whose voice?”

“His name is Bishop Zurla,” Virgil said. “He’s the Prefect of the Vatican Archives, and don’t worry about it,” he added with a mischievous smirk. “I’ve got a great idea.”

“I bloody hope so,” Mason said, looking at his watch. “Because we touch down in Rome in less than ten minutes.”