The Last Odyssey (Sigma Force #15) - James Rollins Page 0,46
finery and simply wore jeans, a black buttoned shirt, and a light jacket against the morning’s chill.
Gray noted one person was missing. “How is Dr. MacNab doing?”
Maria answered, “He’s recovering. He’s being cared for at a medical ward in one of the pontifical villas. He lost a fair amount of blood, but luckily the wound was only a deep graze.”
“Any more word on Kowalski?” Seichan asked. Her well-intentioned words clearly tore open a wound in Maria.
She crossed her arms and turned slightly away. “Nothing,” she mumbled.
“Then he must be alive,” Gray concluded.
Maria glanced back to him. “Why do you think that?”
“As quickly as the attackers were chased off, if they had killed Kowalski, they would’ve left him where he fell. There would be no advantage in taking his body or hiding it. In fact, your bit of subterfuge likely saved Kowalski’s life.”
She straightened, plainly needing this reassurance. “What do you mean?”
“If those bastards had grabbed the astrolabe during the ambush—either at the highway or along that lakeside trail—they would have no need to keep any of you alive. They certainly would have shot Kowalski on the spot. Instead, once they found the case empty, they would have grabbed him. They would want to interrogate him, to find out what he knows.”
“How can you be sure?”
Gray shrugged. “Because it’s what I would’ve done.”
Maria slowly uncrossed her arms. Some of the fear faded from her face, but not the guilt. “How did those bastards even know we were coming up here?”
How indeed?
Gray turned to Father Bailey. “Why are we up here? Why did we need to bring the astrolabe to the pope’s summer palace?”
Bailey waved them to the table. “You should eat.”
Gray grabbed the priest’s arm before he could turn away. “Why?” he pressed.
Major Bossard stepped forward, a palm resting on his holstered pistol.
Bailey waved the guard down and answered, “We’re here because Monsignor Roe requested it.” He shook his arm free. “If you’ll kindly join us, maybe he’ll explain his reasoning.”
Gray exhaled his frustration and followed the priest.
As they settled to a table laden with platters of scrambled eggs, hearty breads, and delicate pastries, Monsignor Roe cast an apologetic look all around. “Perdonami. Perhaps in hindsight I should not have chosen this location.”
“It’s not your fault,” Gray said. “But why did you want us at the summer palace?”
Roe sighed, clearly trying to gather his thoughts. He finally said, “What do you know of the Holy Scrinium?”
Gray frowned at the strangeness of this question and shook his head. He had never heard the term.
Roe explained: “The first Vatican Library was officially established in 1475. Then in the seventeenth century, Pope Leo XIII separated out its most vital volumes and records into a separate archive, the Archivio Segreto Vaticano.”
“The Vatican’s Secret Archives,” Gray said.
The monsignor sighed. “Si, but before there was a Vatican Library, long before the Secret Archives, there was the Holy Scrinium. It was the pope’s personal library. Founded by Pope Julius in the fourth century. It traveled with the popes that succeeded him, never leaving their sides. The archive contained books and theological writings dating back to the founding of Christendom.”
Gray guessed where this was going. “The Holy Scrinium still exists.”
Roe gave a bow of his head. “It is the true secret library of the Church.”
Bailey leaned forward. “Monsignor Roe is the prefect of the Scrinium. Its official caretaker.”
Roe explained his position. “The Holy Scrinium contains treasures too rare and important to be shared, too heretical to be shown, even too dangerous. It’s why the astrolabe had to be brought here.”
Gray looked back at the bulk of the summer palace as the newly risen sun turned its yellow walls to rose gold. “Are you saying the Holy Scrinium is hidden here?”
“No,” Roe said. “Not exactly.”
6:04 A.M.
Where are we going?
Seichan followed the others across the rooftop of the Pontifical Palace.
From this height, a panoramic view opened up on the full breadth of Lake Albano and the surrounding wooded hillsides and volcanic slopes. A cold breeze blew off the lake. She smelled a scent of orange and lavender in the wind.
No wonder the popes picked this place to escape Rome’s stifling heat.
On the rooftop, sections of the view were blocked by a pair of huge silver domes, two astronomical observatories.
Monsignor Roe explained to Gray. “These observatories are mostly showpieces today. Two new ones were installed a mile to the south, in a converted nunnery. We’re just finishing up a summer school program over there, in astronomy and astrophysics. Proof that science continues