Shrouded in Silence

S
HROUDED IN
S
ILENCE
 

Robert L. Wise

Nashville, Tennessee

Other books by Robert Wise

The Son Rises: Resurrecting the Resurrection

Crossing the Threshold of Eternity

The Narrow Door at Colditz

The Bitter Road to Dachau

The Secret Road Home

Be Not Afraid

Crazymakers

Quest for the Soul

Windows of the Soul

Tagged

Wired

Deleted

The Dead Detective

The Empty Coffin

The Tail of the Dragon

The Secret Code

Fear Less for Life

When There Is No Miracle

When the Night Is Too Long

The Third Millennium

The Fourth Millennium

Mega-Millennium

The Dawning

The Exiles

The Fall of Jerusalem

Shrouded in Silence

Copyright © 2011 by Robert L. Wise

ISBN-13: 978-1-4267-0868-8

Published by Abingdon Press, P.O. Box 801, Nashville, TN 37202 

www.abingdonpress.com

All rights reserved. 

No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form,
stored in any retrieval system, posted on any website,
or transmitted in any form or by any means—digital,
electronic, scanning, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without
written permission from the publisher, except for brief
quotations in printed reviews and articles.

All characters in this book have no existence outside
of the imagination of the author and have no relationship
to anyone bearing the same name. They are not even distantly
inspired by any individual known or unknown
to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

Cover design by Anderson Design Group, Nashville, TN

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

TO COME 

Printed in the United States of America

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 / 16 15 14 13 12 11

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

Prologue

Part One Night Falls

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Part Two Night Darkens

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Part Three Midnight Approaches

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 44

Chapter 45

Chapter 46

Chapter 47

Chapter 48

Chapter 49

Chapter 50

Chapter 51

Chapter 52

Chapter 53

Chapter 54

Chapter 55

Discussion Questions

More About Author

The author appreciates the reading and responses of Donna

Sisson, who assisted with the final development

of the manuscript.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

San Giovanni in Laterano Church does exit in Rome's Piazza de San Govanni in Laterano with a baptistery adjacent to the basilica. One can find the
Scala Santa,
the holy staircase, in the church. In addition, Santa Maria della Concezione sits sedately at Via Vittorio Veneto 27. However, liberties have been taken with the structure of both churches to facilitate the story. Special thanks to Stephano Pace, Rome's finest guide, for leading me through the backside of the amazing sights in Rome.

The theme of this story reflects months of work in deciphering the original Koine Greek collection of New Testament Gospels and Epistles in addressing the problem posed by the missing correct ending to Mark. Multitudes of books and articles were consulted in researching this project. However, the names, characters, and incidents are purely the product of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons—living or dead—businesses, or companies is entirely coincidental.
Shrouded in Silence
is a work of fiction composed for the reader's enjoyment.

Heartfelt thanks to Barbara Scott and Ramona Richards as well as the publishing team of Abingdon Press for their gracious help in editing the final manuscript. As always, my friend and agent, Greg Johnson, remains the essence of professionalism and the motivation to go the second mile. Thanks Greg.

Prologue

A.D. 68

F
og hung in the air, making the blackness of night difficult to penetrate. Still, the irregular outline of the Seven Hills of Rome stood silhouetted against the opaque sky and remained barely visible. The cold dampness made Plautius Laterani shiver, but he worried more about fulfilling his assignment. Plautius trotted briskly down the stone stairs from the legislative assembly and walked toward the soldiers standing at attention by their horses. It would not be a good night for any of them. His friend Scipio Livius's hand rested nervously on his sword as he swiftly walked beside Plautius.

"You've heard the bizarre accounts murmured among senators gathering on the Palatine and Esquiline hills?" Scipio Livius asked. "Along Via Sacra, soldiers tell stories, claiming that the Christianios have a remarkable ability to pray for the sick and break the spells demons cast on people. These strange stories of eating flesh and drinking blood circulate among the Praetorians. You know about these tales?"

Plautius nodded. "I don't spread rumors. The legislators handle that nonsense. I leave it to them."

But Plautius knew all about the Christianios who kept their meetings secret while openly sharing their conviction that the Christ had been resurrected from the dead. Plebs chattered that this strange sect believed there was only one god, but of course, such ideas were preposterous. The assembly had just told him the Christianios were compiling a scroll with the full story of this Christ and his teachings and had given Plautius the task of finding the document—not an easy job.

Scipio Livius gripped his sword. "Makes me nervous to hear a new cult has sprung up in Rome. We grow these fanatics like weeds."

Taking all the chitchat with a grain of salt, Plautius still listened with interest. The Laterani family had lost two sons during military incursions in Gaul, and Plautius's mother continued to grieve profoundly over the loss of her children. The reports that Christianios did not fear death and believed they would live beyond this world intrigued him.

"We must ride fast to capitalize on the element of surprise," Plautius told his friend. "No one must lag behind."

"I'll keep the men moving," Scipio said.

The two soldiers marched directly to their horses and mounted. Without uttering a word, Plautius kicked his horse and headed for the gate. The Praetorian guard followed.

"Hurry!" Plautius called to the soldiers riding behind him. "We must attack before anyone discovers we are coming."

The Praetorians raced beyond the Republican Forum, across the Lapis Niger—the black marble pavement—while the moonlight glistened on their metal breastplates and plume-spiked helmets. A surge of cold night air filled his nose with the scent of Rome, and he shivered again.

"Faster!" Plautius shouted. "Stay up with me!"

The twenty-five men riding behind him crowded together and maintained close formation. Their destination lay at the edge of the city where the Circus of Caligula and Nero, the latest national racetrack, stood on the Ager Vaticanus. Spies said the arena had become one of the places where believers hid. It was rumored that one of their leaders called Petros, the Rock, might be there. His assistant John Mark was reported to be in the area writing a mysterious book.