The Key

86

Vatican City

Clementi put the phone down and tapped his password into the secure server. He had been talking to Harzan for almost an hour, learning first hand everything they had found, and though the news had made him feel elated, he had ended the conversation feeling slightly anxious. It was more urgent than ever that the thorn in his side that had been bothering him since the explosion in the Citadel must be removed. For his grand scheme to be compromised by the inopportune investigations of a few terrorists would be tragic. Pentangeli’s words kept echoing in his head:

… throw everything you have at finding these people, before they stumble on to something that could really do some damage.

During his lengthy conversation with Harzan, a new email had arrived. Clementi opened it now, eager for more good news.

It was a field report, filed by the one remaining active agent. Clementi skimmed through it. The agent confirmed what the news footage had already shown him: the girl had got away. There was no new information as to where she had gone. In the agent’s opinion, the escape effort had been coordinated by the other survivor, Gabriel Mann, and the two of them were now on the run together.

Attached to the report were several photo files showing images of items found in the girl’s luggage; her passport, the ruined Bible, and various pages from her notebook. One of the pages contained a list of place names: Ethiopia Assyria Euphrates Al-Hillah Eden????

Clementi stared at the last three names.

They were getting close, much too close for comfort. If they managed to find the compound out in the desert then…

He paused.

Then what? Two people facing down a small, private army. He smiled. Pentangeli had it the wrong way round. Clementi didn’t need to ‘throw everything he had’ at finding these people; they were clearly already on their way to find him, or the sacred spot in the desert at least.

He reached over, picked up the phone and dialled Harzan’s number from memory. There would be no need to send out a search party — all he had to do was set a trap.