Page 80 of Skotos
“Does any other priest wear crimson?” Thomas asked.
“That’s a question for Rinaldi, but I don’t think so. They have a thing about their symbols, and red is the cardinals’ color.”
“It could have been a fake, a costume for a pretender to wear,” I offered, somehow compelled to soothe the man’s frayed nerves. “But . . . it looked real.”
Then Thomas looked to me. “Tell him what the note says.”
The note, of course. Thomas had been so invested in recounting our past few days that I’d nearly forgotten the paper in my pocket. I pulled out the parchment and unfolded it. In a slow, clear voice, I read, “George VI and Pius XII.”
“The Pope is a target?” Manakin breathed, his first hint of emotion.
I nodded. “And the king of England.”
“Was there anything else? Were those the only names?” Manakin asked.
I held the note and turned it over, checking for the hundredth time for some hidden message. “No, but it looks like this was torn from a larger page. I think there’s the end of a few other names, though I can’t tell who with only fragments of letters. We should inform the Swiss Guard.”
“Wait.” Manakin’s voice was a whip-crack through the phone. “Before we alert anyone, we need to think this through. The Pope is under constant surveillance and protection, as is the king. Unless there are bad actors on the inside, they are safe within their respective palaces.”
“There may be players inside the Vatican. The robe? The chapel? All the religious symbols on the wall in the cave below the ruins?” Thomas asked. “There are what, seventy cardinals, most of whom work here in Rome? Any one of them could be part of this plot—or its leader, for all we know. They can probably get close to the Pope anytime they want to.”
“How close are the cardinals to the Pope? How easy is their access to him?” I asked.
“Ask Rinaldi,” Manakin said. “But from what I understand, they would likely have unfettered access.”
“Then we definitely need to alert the Swiss Guard,” I repeated.
“No,” Manakin said, his voice now distant, thoughtful. “I will handle London. The king will be fine. You two need to find these killers and stop them before they murder the Pope.”
“Wait,” I said, standing to pace the tiny room. “Are you instructing us to use the head of the Catholic Church as bait for an assassination ring?”
Manakin huffed into the phone. “Don’t be dramatic, Emu. If you alert the palace, the killers will know. They’reinsidethe building, for fuck’s sake. They’ll go to ground and we won’t hear from them again until the next world leader lies in his own blood.”
“But not telling the Pope—”
“Is the smart thing to do,” Manakin’s voice was iron. “You two are our best shot at taking this group down. You have a suspect list of no more than seventy people, assuming a cardinal is involved. Our people picked up chatter using what we thought was a code name of ‘cardinal.’ We never thought he might actually be one of the Pope’s inner circle.”
“Great. Any more intel you haven’t shared that might be helpful?” I asked with more heat than intended.
Manakin didn’t snap back. “You know everything I do at this point. If you need to coordinate, go to the embassy. Don’t trust the Vatican, not even Rinaldi.”
“Do you think Rinaldi—” Thomasbegan.
“No,” Manakin cut him off. “We have no evidence of Rinaldi being turned, but we also have no clue who the insiders are. You must assume there is more than one conspirator inside the Vatican. One person could never pull off the killings this group accomplished.”
Thomas looked to me. For once, I was speechless, so I sat back down and shrugged.
“What now?” Thomas asked, sounding as doubtful and flummoxed as I felt.
“Find that damn cardinal and whoever he’s working with. Until you do, there isn’t a leader in Europe who will sleep well—and neither should you two.”
“Thanks, I think,” Thomas said.
I stood and stepped around the table to lean over Thomas. He held the phone up.
“Are we forgetting the Soviet angle? We seem to be focusing only on an inside job in the Vatican despite evidence the Russians might be behind this whole thing.”
“It’s not them. Your evidence is circumstantial, at best,” Manakin said. “The Soviet angle was weak to begin with. Stalin may be a brutal, authoritarian thug, but he isn’t stupid. Killing world leaders isn’t his style, at least not like this. Focus on the Church. Pull every string, whatever it takes.”
