Book of JUDAS

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

Vatican City, Rome

“Colonel, I have a code seven international call from England − can I put it through?”

Colonel Renauld stared at the console on his desk for a moment, wondering what could be the reason for his agent making such an unscheduled communication. Their last conversation had been to discuss strategy earlier that afternoon and they had agreed to speak again tomorrow night.

“Yes, go ahead put the call through and then you can go, Major; we’ll sort out the rest of the regiment business in the morning.”

“Very good, Sir,” he replied.

It was early evening and although he trusted his assistant implicitly, he had no intention of leaving any opportunity for any misinformation leaks.

“Colonel, are you there?” Goran inquired.

“Yes, go ahead, Goran, is there a problem?”

“Not exactly Colonel… but there have been some more developments that I need to make you aware of.”

“Ok, what is it?” he answered gruffly.

“My contacts have been very useful − it would appear the brothers have both left England. One travelled to Basle and the other took a flight to Athens – I also know that they visited Professor Palanski’s house the day before he died. It would appear that this Professor was a close colleague of their grandfather’s − further checks confirm that they booked themselves on a later flight to Bangkok.”

Colonel Renauld listening intently shook his head slowly.

“Ok, at this point in time it would seem that they’ve decided to step into their grandfather’s shoes – I’m surprised you’ve found it so easy to trace them!”

“It’s been too easy Colonel – they’ve even been communicating on their mobiles and the computer print-out backs up all their movements − one brother’s been to Bank Ehinger in Basle while the other’s contacted a young archaeologist lady in Athens, called Anna Nikolaidis.”

The Colonel cursed at the news. It was one thing having the information but it was another thing altogether when it was so readily and easily available.

“So we can safely assume that any information that’s with us will also be in the hands of the Satanica?” he questioned dryly.

“Yes,” responded a disgruntled Goran. “But I have taken deliberate counter measures − I called Philip Trenchard directly on his mobile in Bangkok and I’m confident that they won’t be using them again!”

“Good,” replied the Colonel thankfully.

The line went quiet for a moment before Goran spoke again in his deep low voice.

“Colonel, I don’t want to go into details on the line but I believe we have a leak directly to the Satanica and it’s someone within our inner sanctum.”

The Colonel froze for a second, taking in the comment. He had worked with Goran on many difficult and life-threatening assignments in the past when trust and integrity between them was stretched to the limit. Renauld knew him well enough to give serious credence to the damaging remarks. Although he was a man of few words he would not have offered such a statement without real facts to back it up.

“Ok,” the Colonel muttered quietly, almost inaudibly.

“Can you tell me more about any indications or information from your end?” requested Renauld cautiously. He was well aware of the need for secrecy.

Goran pondered the best way forward.

“Colonel, the Supreme Pontiff’s dying and that leaves only five within the Vatican walls who could know the real facts, all potential successors to the Catholic throne − maybe we should release some, er, ‘news’…. to flush the infiltrator out or potentially put the enemy on the wrong track!”

He knew straight away what Goran was implying. If there was someone with links to the Satanica in their midst they could find the source of the leak by giving them snippets of incorrect information.

“Ok Goran, I’ll give this some thought − you’ve done a good job!”

The Colonel signed off and stared at the picture of his regiment on the wall contemplating the latest developments. Who can the traitor possibly be? he thought as he considered each of the Vatican’s five most senior Cardinals one by one and weighed up the implications for the successful completion of his assignment.