The Crypts of Eden

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Pope Leo was sitting in his chamber behind his ornate desk. Across from him sat the assistant director of the Servizio Informazione del Vaticano; a short man with doughy features and balding pate. His eyes were naturally hooded, giving him the look of someone between wakefulness and sleep. He was, however, a man with an astute mind, who was very omniscient about everything going on around him, a man with all the latest spyware at his fingertips. Stenciled on the pocket of Father Gacobelli’s shirt were the initials SIV.

“I was able to confirm that Savage entered the Göbekli Tepe dig site and spoke with Ms. Moore two days ago.”

“And?”

Gacobelli opened a manila folder that was sitting on his lap. Inside was the tracking data regarding Savage’s run into Turkey. “Everything’s minimal at this point,” he said. “But I believe Savage to be with the woman.”

“To be with the woman was not the goal of the Church.”

“I understand that, Your Holiness. But it is what it is.”

The pontiff tented his hands and bounced the tips against his chin in thought. “Are they still at Göbekli Tepe?” The ADD lifted a single sheet of paper and slid it across the pontiff’s desk. Pope Leo picked it up. “What am I looking at?”

“Coordinates to where they may be,” he said. “It appears that they have taken a course to the eastern part of Turkey.”

The pontiff looked at the sheet again, at the coordinates. “These numbers — are you telling me these are the coordinates to…” His words trailed one word shy of saying “Eden.”

“They’re numbers, yes. But to what we don’t know. They may mean something. Or they may mean nothing at all. All we know is that Savage left with the woman and her team two days ago for the southeast part of Turkey… The entire team disappeared at that specific location.”

The pontiff looked at the sheet.

“As you know, Your Holiness, we often dispatch the Knights of the Holy Order to global hotspots to save the lives of those within our citizenry who are in danger. Mr. Savage’s mission was to protect the interest of the Church. Although he was equipped with his own weaponry, he needed a special accessory form the KHO armory. He took one thing,” he said. “He took a suppressor embedded with a state-of-the-art chip in the cylinder used for tracking. By attaching the device to the weapon, it summarily activates the system and generates a GPS read. Since he did attach the suppressor, I can only assume that he intended to use it. But why I don’t know.”

GPS chips embedded within weaponry were becoming the norm, more notably with US troops fighting the Afghan War. Insurgents often took weapons from deceased US military and added them to their arsenal, not knowing that the embedded chip served as a beacon that gave away their guerilla encampment and set them up for future sorties.

“And this is where you lost him? At these set of coordinates?” The pope pointed at the numbers.

“That’s where the GPS signal ended, yes.”

“Why would it disappear?”

“It could have been a number of things,” he answered. “It could have been interference, like weather, causing the signal to fade in and out, to go dead. I just don’t have enough to go on to figure out why.”

“I assume you used aerial to these set of numbers?”

“Better,” said the ADD. He lifted a grouping of photos and handed them over. “These are satellite images zeroing on the given point.”

“It’s nothing but desert.”

“This is true, yes. But there’s a geographical anomaly, if you look closer.”

The pontiff leaned forward and saw nothing out of the ordinary. “I guess your eyes are better than mine,” he said. “I’m not seeing anything.”

“Here, let me show you.” The ADD took up next to the pope and began to trace his finger along the photos. “You can barely see it,” he started, running his fingertip on one image. “But there’s a geometrical figure here, a square. Can you see it?”

It was barely perceptible, but it was there. “Somewhat. Yes.”

“So we took more pictures, more images. And no matter which angle we took them from, the anomaly remained. There’s something beneath that desert floor. Whatever it is, John Savage is believed to be somewhere underneath, which is why we lost the signal. Most likely the surface is blocking the frequency.”

Without question… it had to be Eden! After all these years, it was hidden in plain sight.

The ADD waited as the pontiff pored over the photos. And then: “Notify the Knights of the Holy Order and ready them for assignment,” he said with firm measure. “I want the KHO sent to this location to implode this structure immediately.”

The ADD hesitated, puzzled. “But those inside?” he asked desperately. “What about John Savage?”

The pontiff fell back in his seat with the deeply sad expression of a man warring with his conscience, between his sense of duty and faith, of right and wrong. “I know,” he said sadly. “But as Pope, I must preserve the interest of the Church. And sometimes I can only pray that God will forgive and understand my reasoning over such matters.”

Father Gacobelli looked down at the pontiff with a puzzled look. “What’s in there?” he asked dryly. “What is it that you keep so secret?”

The pontiff was too ashamed to look Gacobelli in the eyes, but looked at his doughy chin instead, at his collar, at the SIV stitching on his shirt pocket, anywhere but his eyes. “Ask me no more questions. Give them the coordinates for the demolition. And tell them that no one will be hurt.”

“But that’s not true. You’re condemning some to die.”

This time he did look Gacobelli square in his eyes. “That’s if they're not dead already,” he said.

After Father Gacobelli left the papal chamber, Pope Leo went to the balcony that overlooked St. Peter’s Square and viewed the Colonnades and the Egyptian obelisk, and at the people milling about as he stood there questioning his sense of morality.

With great power comes great responsibility; this was clear. But did it also sanction the right to determine who lived or died? Such as the decision made by Pope Clement V when he ordered the burning at the stake of Jacques de Molay and the Knights Templar for the good of the Church? Did he have that same right?

Can I justify my actions in the eyes of God?

Feeling a great weight in his heart and at the core of his soul, Pope Leo XIV returned to his chamber.