The Square of Revenge (12 page)

“Any idea what it might mean?” asked Van In optimistically.

“More or less. The translation is a question of interpretation, but I know what it is,” he said with conviction. “This, good sirs, is the Templars’ Square, their creed in a nutshell. The original text is carved in stone on a pillar in Ethiopia, in Axium to be precise. Christ is said to have leaned against it.”

Leo’s eyes almost popped out of his head and Van In rubbed his chin in disbelief.

The Templars
, he thought. So they were dealing with a bunch of crazies after all.

Billen noticed their surprise.

“There’s a lot of nonsense doing the rounds about the Templars. It would help if we tried to get handle on them first, then take a look at my interpretation.”

Van In and Leo nodded in unison. They knew as much about the Templars as a retired padre knew about modern mathematics.

“Let me try to sketch the history of the order as a basis for explaining the text. But why don’t we begin with the wine. It’s not a short story.”

Billen gave the example by raising the glass to his lips. Leo, who was more used to beer, fluttered his eyelids. This was the nectar of the gods … no denying it.

Billen waited until they had put down their glasses.

“We know from the history books that Philip IV, otherwise known as Philip the Fair, had the Templars arrested and that the pope of the day, Clement V, had reluctantly supported him. The judicial proceedings that followed the mass arrest served as a source of myth and gossip about the Templars that was to last for centuries. Philip was jealous of their power and wealth, and this led him to concoct a number of grotesque accusations. The Inquisition extracted the required confessions. It was claimed, for example, that the Knights Templar stamped on the cross and spat on it, kissed each other’s anus, and indulged in sodomy and devil worship.

“It can be demonstrated on the basis of documentary evidence from the proceedings that only a handful of Templars actually confessed, but that would take us too far from our purpose. Suffice it to say that even the most gruesome torture failed to bring them to their knees. The majority of those who succumbed later withdrew their forced confessions. Sadly, Philip the Fair’s version of events is what survived, not the truth.”

Van In and Leo listened attentively. Billen was a passionate narrator.

“And the truth is a different story altogether. When Hugues de Payens and eight other noblemen founded the order at the beginning of the twelfth century, they had one goal in mind: keeping the roads that led to sacred places free of robbers and heathens and thus protecting pilgrims. They were monks in the first instance. Hugues was later supported by St. Bernard of Clairvaux, and the order acquired official status in 1128.

“Directly responsible to the pope alone, the Templars amassed a gigantic fortune in the shortest time. They enjoyed enormous respect and they became powerful, perhaps too powerful. Conditions of admission to the order were strict, its life was hard, and its discipline was unrelenting. For the nearly two centuries the Templars sojourned in the Holy Land, they performed their duties with excellence. Their permanent presence was remarkable in itself, especially when you realize that the order only reached a couple of thousand members at its peak.

“Moorish superiority was increasing, however, and after a while they were left with little choice: negotiate or face defeat.

“Peace negotiations naturally took place in the strictest of secrecy. The Church had forbidden compromise with unbelievers. Those on the home front were also unlikely to understand what they were doing and would probably condemn them in no uncertain terms. This is where we find the primary difference between the faith of the Templars and the faith of the official Church. The Templars were practical and broadminded for their day. They had long stripped the Church’s teaching of its encrustations in search of the core of the faith,
le noyau
as they called it, its nucleus. They had shorn off the frills and absurd rules with which previous generations of popes and bishops had encumbered the message of Christ.

“The Christ they ardently believed in spoke words of love, fraternity, tolerance, and forgiveness, words that attracted the soldier monks more than the hodgepodge preached by the successors of Peter. They opted with determination for the most evangelical solution and tried to live in peace with the Muslims, for better or for worse—or at least those Muslims who had encountered the same message in the Quran. The Templars’ greatest contribution has to be their conviction that we all worship the same God, that human beings are responsible for division, and that unity speaks for itself.

“The
Pax Dei
or Peace of God seemed to function well for a time. A fertile exchange of ideas and knowledge evolved between East and West. For example, the Templars imported windmills, algebra, exotic plants and fruits, and advanced medical techniques from the East.

“Everything went well until the order was torn apart from the inside by incompetent leadership, pride, and overindulgence. The Templars lost the Holy Land and returned to Europe without a purpose. They tried to return to their sources and renew themselves in the hope that they might one day retake Jerusalem. In those days they were even responsible for the French treasury. The Temple in Paris functioned as a sort of National Bank. Their exceptional status provoked the French king’s jealousy. Philip the Fair,
le Roi Fraudeur
, was fed up having to go cap in hand to the Templars for money. He also found it difficult to swallow that the grand master of the order enjoyed more respect in certain circles than he did. So he decided to discredit the knights.”

Billen interrupted his monologue for a sip of Musigny.

“Historians would burn me at the stake for less,” he grinned. “And maybe they would be right. There are plenty of things I still can’t prove.”

He noticed that Leo’s glass was empty, got to his feet and quickly topped everyone up.

“An exceptionally interesting story, Mr. Billen,” said Van In, and before he could add “but” to the compliment, Billen interrupted.

“Thank you, but you still don’t know much about the text, and I presume that’s why you’re here.

“You should know that the Templars left almost no documents behind. We have their Rule of Life, a copy of which happens to be preserved here in Bruges, by the way, details of the suppression proceedings, inventories, and this …”

Billen waved the piece of paper in the air.

“As I mentioned, we already know this inscription from Ethiopia. It was found in a mosque that had been converted into a church. What the Templars were up to in Ethiopia isn’t clear. Links have been made in recent years with their search for the Ark of the Covenant, but that’s another story altogether. It might be better if we concentrate on the text.”

He got to his feet and fetched a notebook and felt-tip pen from a drawer in the bookcase. He tore a sheet of paper from the notebook and wrote down the puzzle in large uppercase letters.

ROTAS

OPERA

TENET

AREPO

SATOR

“There we are.”

He handed the sheet of paper to Van In.

“Notice anything special?” Leo edged a little closer.

“A cross,” said Van In hesitatingly, as if he was afraid of making a fool of himself in front of the concierge. Billen had written the letters forming the cross in bold.

“Spot on, a cross. And if you turn the Ts of TENET on their side you get a perfect Templar cross.”

“Does that mean anything?” asked Leo.

“We’re not done yet,” Billen grinned. “There’s more. If we puzzle around a bit, we get PATER NOSTER twice and we’re left with the letters A and O.”

“Fascinating,” said Leo. Van In raised his eyebrows in amazement, not because he was impressed, but because he was clueless.

Billen noticed his reaction.

“Bear with me,” he said. “It’ll all become clear in a moment.”

He scribbled a couple of words on the scrap of paper and handed it to Van In.

Van In read it aloud: “A PATER NOSTER O.”

“God is the beginning and the end, the alpha and the omega. Pretty inventive, those Templars, don’t you think?”

Neither Leo nor Van In reacted, so Billen continued, his enthusiasm unabated.

“As I said a moment ago, the Templars discovered the core of the faith in the prayer that Jesus taught his apostles. Our Father—Pater Noster. Get it?”

Leo nodded and Van In took a sip of the excellent wine.

“The ‘Our Father’ is the complete prayer. Its words are all-inclusive and the Templars didn’t need anything else. But in spite of the prayer’s simplicity, human beings are weak and find it hard to apply it in their lives. The core idea of the gospel, love your neighbor as yourself, seems to be even more of a problem.

“SATOR ROTAS OPERA TENET is the Templars’ modest response to the PATER NOSTER. It means: the Sower (Creator) knows the burdens and vicissitudes (of life), because He is the beginning and the end. Everything comes from Him and flows back to Him. What he sows either bears fruit a hundredfold or lands among the weeds on the fire. The knights of the Temple thus gave expression to their humble respect and reverence for the love of God. Their reasoning was this: God sent his Son Jesus Christ into the world to preach a simple message of love. People heard the message and understood it, but found it difficult to put it into practice. And God is an understanding God, in spite of our human weakness. He takes into account the burdens and vicissitudes of life that so often lead us astray. Even with our many infidelities, He continues to love us.”

Billen had been talking for close to half an hour.

Van In took advantage of the brief pause to light a cigarette without asking if it was okay. Billen had treated them to a handsome story, but he feared that his explanation of the letter square wasn’t going to contribute much to solving the Degroof case.

The perpetrators were probably playing a game and nothing more.

“Do you mind if I ask you a question, Mr. Billen?” said Van In.

“Frans, call me Frans, Mr… .”

“Van In.”

He wasn’t into the familiarity hype.

“Of course, Mr. Van In,” said Billen. “Fire away.”

“The story you just told us was fascinating, let me be clear about that. But would I be wrong to say that there aren’t too many people as captivated by the topic as you would appear to be? I mean, is this sort of information accessible to the public at large?”

Billen leaned forward and slipped an ashtray to Van In’s side of the coffee table.

“I think you’d be surprised at the number of people who are interested in the Templars and a whole lot more. Magic, freemasonry, Egyptian mysteries, Gnosticism … you name it. Esoteric societies are popping up everywhere, and their followers are completely convinced they have the answer to life’s big questions. They say it’s fairly normal for the turn of a millennium. And as usual, the gullible and the naïve are their first customers.

“But if we’re talking about the Templars’ Square, I don’t think there are more than ten people in Belgium who would be familiar with what I just told you. If you ask me, whoever left the square at Degroof’s wasn’t a pseudo-new age freak.”

Van In was about to ask how a simple concierge happened to be so well informed, but Leo sensed what he was about to do and shook his head. Van In held his tongue. Leo was much more diplomatic, and putting Billen under pressure wasn’t going to benefit their inquiries. After all, the poor guy had nothing to do with the case.

“So, if only a handful of people know about the meaning of the square,” Leo wavered, filling in the sudden and uncomfortable silence, “then the number of suspects has to be pretty small.”

“If we presume they didn’t leave the text behind as some kind of joke to throw us off the scent,” said Van In, unable to contain his skepticism.

“That doesn’t sound right, Mr. Van In,” said Billen, sticking to his guns. “I’m close to convinced that the nature of the crime is proof that the perpetrators knew what the square meant.”

“A payback with an esoteric tint? Your will be done, but if we don’t like it, we’ll take care of our own affairs. God understands what motivates us, and he’ll take it into account on the Last Day?” Van In responded in an almost derisive tone.

“Who knows,” said Billen unassumingly. “I’ve never looked at it that way. But believe me, Mr. Van In, I don’t think we’ve seen the end of this. People who base their actions on a certain sort of symbolism—and what they did with the gold seems to point in that direction—usually think long and hard before they make a move and aren’t likely to limit their plans to a once-only incident.”

Leo nodded approvingly and Van In was obliged to agree. He had come to more or less the same conclusion himself, and he was also at a loss for a different explanation.

“I also have a sense that the symbolism was at least as important to them as the deed itself. Degroof probably knows exactly what it all means.”

Van In took a mental note of Billen’s words. The man was in a different league, far too astute to be a mere concierge.

“Another glass of wine, Mr. Van In?”

Van In fished his cigarettes from his pocket and placed them on the coffee table.

“Why not, Mr. Billen,” he said good-humoredly. “Maybe you could fill us in on the Ark of the Covenant. Now that we have the time.”

L
AURENT DE BOCK AND DANIEL VERHAEGHE
spent the night in a Swiss Cottage-style chalet near Namur. In spite of the stress and tension that had marked the previous few days, Daniel slept like a log.

Laurent woke his pupil at seven-thirty with a shake.

“Time to get up, my boy,” he said, in a gentle but imperative tone. “We’ve got a busy schedule ahead of us today.”

He caressed Daniel’s forehead with the back of his hand and shuffled back to the kitchen. The coffee was ready and Laurent popped two slices of bread in the toaster. Daniel appeared five minutes later. The kitchen ceiling was low and he had to stoop to avoid bumping his head on one of the beams. He looked gaunt and tired in his pajamas.