The Cross of Sins (18 page)

"
Ja
, Professor."

Once Elliott was safely tucked away, the Professor opened the doors to the sitting room and led the boys inside. It was like entering a mini-makeshift version of a NASA control room. Computers were set up everywhere, their screens filled with satellite maps and digital data, all busily blipping and bleeping and rendering information.

"Where the hell did you get all this?" Will asked. "I thought the chalet—"

"This is home now," the Professor said before Will could finish. "At least for the time being. Fortunately, I have friends here in Vienna."

"Evidently they're very well-connected friends," Will said, inspecting the computer screens more closely.

"Don't touch anything, Will. Do you know how long it takes a blind man to set up a global scanning system and government file decoder in his hotel room?"

"I guess that means the cable TV reception's pretty good in these parts."

"Not anymore," the Professor said, taking a seat in front of the computers. His fingers began to glide over the Braille keyboard. "Now pay attention, all of you." Instinctively he added, "Will, that includes you."

Will was already toying with things, namely a small metal device that looked a lot like a tiepin. "What is this, anyway?"

The Professor took it off him to ascertain what it was, and then placed it on the desk out of Will's reach. "It's a tracking device. And if you play with it, you'll end up breaking it."

"What's it for?"

"In case we need it. Although rest assured I won't be giving it to you; if ever I need to find you all I have to do is look for trouble. Now listen up. The book is a code. Each symbol in it has a meaning. Since Luca arrived with the book, we've tried to transcribe all the symbols and their corresponding meanings, but so far the message on the first half of the stone doesn't make complete sense."

"All we can make out are the words home, fire, damnation, seek, and cave," said Eden. "We're hoping that once we join the two halves of the stone together, the symbols will make more sense."

"What about the Crimson Crown?" asked Shane. "What if they've already got the second tablet?"

"They don't," replied the Professor.

"But we don't even know who they are," said Will.

"We know a little more now," replied the Professor. His fingers felt their way to another Braille keyboard, and he began logging into files and databases. "I've managed to piece together as much information as I can on the Crimson Crown, and from what I've learned, there are three leaders: the Holy Father, the Holy Son and the Holy Ghost. I can't find any information at all on the Holy Father. He's something of an enigma, I'm afraid. But we now know the identities of the other two."

He entered a password into the computer, and a police profile of Eric Landon appeared on a screen to his left.

"This is Eric Landon, otherwise known as the Holy Son..."

Shane shook his head. "Son of a bitch. I wish I had've known that two days ago."

"So you've already made his acquaintance?" the Professor asked.

"That's one way to put it," Shane answered.

"He comes from a fanatically religious family in Arizona and discovered a small faction of the Crimson Crown operating within his college campus. It wasn't long before he dedicated himself to the cause and quickly rose through the ranks."

"He quickly rose for me, too," Shane said. "He didn't seem like the religious type to me, Professor."

"Trust me, these men will do anything. Religion is a powerful thing."

"So is denial," Shane added. "Unfortunately, he's still out there."

"As is this person," the Professor said, entering in a second password. A police file appeared on a screen to his right and a mug shot of the one-armed man appeared. "Meet Dominic Dixon, otherwise known as the Holy Ghost. He discovered the Crimson Crown on the internet while serving ten years in a London prison for armed robbery, assault with a deadly weapon and raping three women. He lost his arm after it was crushed in machinery at the prison workshop. One of the guards maintained it wasn't an accident, that Dixon did it to himself on purpose, to cleanse his soul. Nevertheless, Dominic Dixon was granted early parole on medical grounds. With only one arm and his newfound faith, the board believed he was no longer a threat to society. Elsa and I would argue otherwise. We had a close encounter of our own up at the chalet. Thankfully, Jake was there to lend us a helping hand."

"Not for much longer," Jake added from behind them all. "Now that you're all one big happy family again, I'm outta here."

Jake turned for the door.

"Don't you want to find the second half of the stone?" the Professor asked. "Aren't you in the least bit curious?"

"Like you said to the other guy, the less I know, the better. I got enough people tryin' to kill me on a day-to-day basis."

"What if I told you I know the exact whereabouts of the second tablet? It's in the safest place on earth—under the nose of a man who has no idea what it is."

"I'm still not interested," Jake said, reaching for the door handle. "There's already too many stupid people on the planet. If one of them has the stone tablet and doesn't know it, I don't care."

The Professor smiled. "What if this particular stupid person was a collector by the name of Pierre Perron?"

Jake froze.

The Professor informed the rest of the room, "Mr. Stone and Monsieur Perron share, shall we say, a rather unique history."

"The bastard tried to kill me." Jake turned, his hand not leaving the door handle, his eyes narrowing with suspicion. "So that's why I'm here. To get to Perron."

The Professor nodded, and then turned to Jake. "You once accused me of having an agenda, and you were right. I'd be lying if I hadn't already taken your relationship with Monsieur Perron into account. And so yes, we saved your life for what I believed to be a very good reason. But now you've saved ours in return. If you believe that makes us even, if you believe you no longer have any reason to stay, then go."

Jake hesitated a moment, the door handle still in his grip. He didn't let it go, not just yet, but asked the Professor, "How long have you known about the second half of the stone being in Perron's possession?"

"Over seven years. But there was never any point revealing its whereabouts until the first piece of the puzzle was uncovered. By keeping it a secret, I've managed to keep it hidden from the Crimson Crown. It's what keeps us one step ahead—for now."

"But if he's a collector, how can he not know?" Luca asked.

"Because he's an arrogant, fat, egotistical, pompous, rich idiot!" Jake answered in no uncertain terms. "He collects priceless relics and ancient artifacts for no reason other than he can. He's wealthy, and he's obsessed with his money and with his ability to accumulate irreplaceable treasures. But he has no idea of their history or importance. His motivation is simple—if somebody else might want it, then he must have it. No matter what." Jake let go of the door handle and lifted his shirt, showing them all the slowly healing wound in his side. "He doesn't care who gets in the way."

"How do you know him?" Will asked.

"Jake has been contracted by Monsieur Perron several times in the past," explained the Professor.

"For money, not love," Jake assured them all. "And I know what you're all thinking. If he's got the addiction, I'm supplying the goods. But some of us didn't grow up as rich idiots. We just grew up idiots. Well, for what it's worth, the contract between me and Perron is now well and truly terminated."

The Professor smiled. "Not quite yet—unless of course, you're still certain about walking out that door."

Jake glanced back at the door handle, and then to Eden, Will, Luca, Shane, and finally the Professor. He couldn't help himself. "Where is it?" he asked reluctantly.

"In his mansion in Venice, on the Grand Canal. The Palazzo di Perron. It's his own personal museum."

"That place is like a fortress," Jake said. "How the hell am I supposed to get inside that?"

The Professor continued to smile and shook his head. "Jake, when you're with us, you're not an
I
. You're part of a
we
. And you're not the only one with a foot inside Perron's door. As it turns out, Eden knows Perron's nephew—quite well."

"I do?" Eden asked, just as surprised as everyone else in the room.

"Yes," the Professor told them all. "Jacques Dumas."

"How the hell do you know a family like that?" Jake asked Eden.

"Jacques is a marine biologist. We spent three months together in the Galapagos studying the eco-structure of the islands. Jacques never spoke to me of an uncle. And I can assure you, he's not arrogant or fat or egotistical or pompous or rich. And he's certainly not an idiot. We became very—close."

Will grinned and slapped Eden on the back. "Sounds like your idea of work is my idea of fun. Way to go, Doc!"

The Professor smirked, reached into a drawer, and pulled out five first-class train tickets to Venice. "Speaking of fun," he said, "it appears the five of you are about to have an absolute ball."

XII

Venice, Italy

The palazzo of Monsieur Pierre Perron was situated along the Grand Canal of Venice, between the famed Palazzo Grassi and the Ponte del' Academia. It was an impressive structure, three stories high with no fewer than twenty-four rooms, including a ballroom and its own gallery wing. It went without saying that Perron's Annual Masquerade Ball was one of the great social events of the Venetian calendar. Monsieur Perron spared no expense in showcasing his priceless treasures and his glittering mansion on the banks of the canal. His 900 guests, dressed in the gowns and garments of Italy's very best designers—and each wearing a mask of gold, diamonds or silk—enjoyed Europe's finest champagne, Russia's most succulent caviar, France's sweetest black truffles, Canada's most delicate smoked salmon, and Tahiti's juiciest mango slices. There were rock stars and royalty, models and media moguls, pop divas and pop artists. Everyone and anyone with any amount of wealth or celebrity was invited. Guests arrived by speedboats or gondolas shrouded with satin veils and lit with traditional Venetian lanterns. They docked at the palazzo's canal landing one-by-one and ascended the stone steps—dressed in exotic gowns and long flowing capes, their faces concealed behind masks of every color and description—to the grand palazzo entrance where they milled about, guessing who was who behind those beautiful, amusing, and sometimes grotesque masks.

"This goddamn shirt is choking me to death!" Jake growled through clenched teeth, twisting a finger between his neck and the collar of his shirt. He started to attack his bow tie, but Eden and Will both wrestled his hands away. They were all in a Riviera Classic RC speedboat with Luca driving, steering the boat wide of the many Saturday night gondolas meandering down the Grand Canal.

All of them wore black tuxedos.

Shane had on a white horse mask.

Eden had on a silver crescent-moon mask.

Jake wore the face of a golden lion.

Luca had on a burning blood-red sun.

Will wore the mask of a mischievous monkey.

"Take it easy!" Will chuckled now, pulling Jake's meddlesome fingers from his shirt collar. "For a tough New Yorker, it doesn't take much to get you unstuck, does it?"

"Don't push me, kid!"

"You won't be wearing it for long," Eden assured him. "We get in, get the stone tablet, and get out."

"You're making it sound very easy," Jake warned.

"The plan's all set," Eden reminded him. "You distract Perron. I track down Jacques and find out which room the tablet is in. Shane and Will take care of security, while Luca stays near the boat, just in case."

"In case this shirt strangles me to death!"

"No, in case we need a fast getaway," Eden replied.

"Which I assure you we will," Jake answered back. "Perron's that kinda guy. The kind you wanna get away from real fast, as soon as you can, when things go wrong."

"There it is." Luca veered the Riviera toward a massive stone mansion lit with torches, with dozens of boats, large and small, docking at its canal entrance and unloading party guests adorned in satin gowns, dinner suits and masks.

Luca pulled the boat up to the entrance and secured it to a pontoon before the five of them stepped off the Riviera and walked up the steps of the canal landing. The palatial stone residence had been transformed into a medieval Italian fortress for the party. The vestibule landing was an open air courtyard looking over the canal, interspersed with thick Doric columns and lit by a multitude of low hanging cast iron chandeliers, each burning brightly with the glow of three dozen candles melting slowly into ornate drip trays directly beneath them. The courtyard itself was filled with music and people and food and drink.

A waiter appeared and offered the five of them champagne in tall thin flutes.

Will, Luca and Shane each took a glass. Eden took two and handed one to Jake. "How's your shirt?"

"It's tryin' to kill me, but I'll survive."

Eden smiled. "You're an intriguing man, Jake Stone."