The Lost Catacomb (50 page)
Rome,
Piazza di Spagna --
with a series of delicately hand-painted roses near its rim.
She and Bruno were in Babington
’
s Tea Rooms near the
Spanish Steps, a fragrant pot of tea and a basket of fresh buttery scones,
studded with currants, resting on the linen-covered table at which they
sat.
A pile of newspapers in
several languages lay scattered on the banquette beside them.
It had only been a day since their earth-shattering
discovery of the secret Museum and Nicola
’
s fateful confrontation with Rostoni.
Bruno had arrived at the Apostolic
Palace shortly after Nicola
’
s
call, having sent a group of reporters and photographers to the catacombs to
document evidence of the stolen artifacts and the strange showcase with its now
decomposing corpses.
Concerned for
her safety, even though Rostoni was dead, he
’
d rushed to her side and had supported Father Benedetto
’
s decision to suppress
both the story of the Cardinal
’
s
involvement in the Museum and the existence of the Temple treasures, at least
for now.
Yesterday
’
s
edition of the Herald Tribune was spread out on the table in front of them, and
they began to peruse it with great satisfaction one more time.
The International Herald
Tribune
Museum of Dead
Nations Uncovered
ROME
—
Reuters
—
An anonymous tip has led to the discovery in Rome of a
secret art collection concealed in a crypt near the catacombs of the Via Appia
Pignatelli.
The underground museum
is said to contain Jewish-owned artwork and ritual objects confiscated by the
Nazis during World War II that were allegedly intended to become part of Hitler
’
s planned Museum of
Dead Nations.
A gag order has been
placed regarding evidence of some unusual scientific experimentation that had
allegedly been conducted in the museum.
The remains of two as yet unidentified bodies were also found in the
catacombs.
An unnamed source at Interpol has confirmed that the
discovery of the artifacts may be linked to the recent death of internationally
acclaimed art correspondent, Matthew Osborne, who had been investigating the
whereabouts of artwork stolen from Greek Jews in the early 1940s.
Forensic testing has revealed that
Osborne died of a rare, fast-acting poison injected into his bloodstream, which
mimicked the symptoms of cardiac arrest.
The Italian government has taken provisional custody of the
catacomb and its contents.
International efforts are now underway to locate and return the art to
its rightful owners and their heirs.
* * *
“
I
’
m
glad we were able to keep our names out of the newspapers,
”
Nicola told Bruno,
“
though I
’
m still not completely
sure it was a good idea to suppress the story about Rostoni
’
s involvement.
He
’
s going to lie in state in San Pietro and be given a
lavish funeral, and no one but us and Father Benedetto will know that what he
really deserves is to be buried in obscurity, in unsanctified ground.
”
Her gray eyes clouded
for a moment with tears as she thought of all her relatives, whose traces had
vanished completely during the war and whose places of burial would never be
known.
Though she suspected she
might eventually locate some family members somewhere in Italy, perhaps even in
Rome itself, she knew it would be a difficult task.
It would require great reserves of
patience in dealing with the labyrinth of Italian bureaucracy and red tape, and
the perseverance to check out all possible leads through genealogical lists of
Holocaust victims on file in Washington and Jerusalem.
She had no idea which
members of Niccol
ò’
s
extended family might have survived the war, who might have changed a surname
or identity in order to do so, or who might have emigrated, perhaps even to the
United States.
But she also knew
that she had the tenacity to see it through, and that she would do so, not only
for her own sake, but to sanctify the memory of the young man Elena had loved
so briefly, so desperately, nearly a lifetime ago.
Finding out what had
happened to Elena
’
s
own family would prove to be equally complex, but Father Benedetto had offered
to assist in obtaining parish and municipal records, and Nicola hoped that
eventually some information would turn up.
Perhaps the dead might finally be laid to rest, and her grandmother
would now be willing to return to Italy, at some point, to confront her past
and make peace with it.
But no matter what her
search might ultimately reveal, Nicola had begun to reclaim her roots and
fashion an identity based on her newly discovered heritage
—
an historical
past that was part of a living legacy that transcended dead relics and vanished
civilizations.
She understood how
tenuous her own life and personal happiness were within the larger context of
events and forces seemingly beyond her control.
She had faced death and had come out on
the other side
—
victorious,
like her grandmother
—
and
had found an inner strength she
’
d
never known she had possessed.
possibility, untainted and as yet untarnished.
With Bruno, she could become anything
she wanted to be.
Anything.
Zurich,
Bahnhofstrasse
—
“
The Cardinal
’
s
death is a blow, but not a fatal one,
”
a heavily accented voice replied at the other end of the line.
“
There
are others waiting to take his place.
Many others.
“
We will need to regroup our forces and plan more
carefully this time.
The other
branch of the Museum will need to be moved immediately, to Engenweill.
K
ö
nnen sie
Mich h
ö
ren
?
”
he said heatedly.
“
We
cannot be sure that its current location has not been compromised.
”
“
I understand,
”
Giovanni answered quickly.
“
I
’
ll
get to work on it at once.
”
“
The clinic will provide a secure front for the
delivery and storage of large shipments of goods.
There are secret underground areas,
currently used as research laboratories, where no one will ever think of
looking.
The remaining artifacts
will be safe there, until we can bring our master plan to fruition.
"And we will need
to redouble the guard on our cryonics lab. Without the
F
ü
hrer
's body,
everything we've worked for could fail.
”
“
All right.
But what about the special collection that the Cardinal guarded for so
many decades in the Vatican itself?" Giovanni asked.
"What will we do about that?
It cannot be accessed at the moment.
”
“
Leave it for the time being.
Someday it will join the other objects
we have amassed.
Someday soon.
Patience,
mein lieber freund
.
Patience and tenacity will be our
watchwords.
“
Heil Hitler!
”
“
Heil Hitler!
”
* * *
Shifra Hochberg has a
Ph.D. in English literature from New York University and teaches at Ariel
University in Israel. She has published over 20 academic essays and is
currently writing another novel.