Vatican Assassin (22 page)

“Who? No, sorry.” BC closes his eyes. Swan keeps talking.

“Really? I thought you might be. It’d be a huge coincidence, but it could happen. I’m supposed to work with another priest who’s traveling up to the Moon, too. I wasn’t even supposed to be on this flight, but when I found out I could go early I jumped at the chance. Are you sure you’re not him?”

BC doesn’t open his eyes. “I’m sure.”

“You wouldn’t lie to another priest, would you, Father?”

BC mumbles a negative and pretends to fall back asleep. A sharp pain lances through his temples. He sits up involuntarily.

“Are you okay?” She asks.

She sounds so far away... Woah, I don’t think so...

When BC comes to he’s being smothered by Swan’s sickly sweet perfume as she tries to prop him up. The attendant arrives with a hot towel for his forehead.

“You okay, Father? You blacked out, started to slide down to the floor,” Swan asks with concern.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m okay now. I... I get migraines,” BC says, pulling away from her ministrations.

“Yeah, looks like you got a whopper,” she says as she settles back in her seat.

“I just need to sleep,” BC says, closing his eyes again. The towel feels good on his forehead.

“Oh. Oh, sorry, Father. I didn’t mean to bother you. I’ll try to be quieter, so you can sleep.”

Was that a hint of sarcasm in the reverend’s voice? I wonder.

BC sleeps and the shuttle lifts off, carrying them to Lunar Prime. BC doesn’t wake up until they are just minutes from landing. The Reverend Swan, as good as her word, has been silent during the entire eight hour flight.

At least she didn’t say anything to me that I could hear. What a dead sleep! I must really
have been tired.

BC leans over to look out the viewport at the approaching moonscape. Reagan Station. LunarPrime.

Almost looks like home. Been gone a while. Four months, plus
. BC watches the buildings, domes, passageways and bunkers of Reagan station grow closer. Then something catches the corner of his eye.

Flash!

It’s there for all of two seconds, but it’s there.

Was that a flasher? A flasher! Another one! Same type of ship. It didn’t look alien. But it
didn’t look like any human ship I’ve ever seen, either. Damn!

BC feels his head split with sharp pain, like an ice pick through his skull. He has to close his eyes, feels his consciousness swim then disappear. He only comes to when the Reverend Swan shakes him awake.

“Father! We’re here! We’re on the Moon! Wake up! Head still bugging you? Maybe it’s the cabin pressure. I’m sure I’ll see you again Father, probably in church, huh? I’m going now.”

“Goodbye,” BC says, groggily. Swan gives him a puzzled look, then turns to make her way down the aisle.

Got to get my shit together. Wonder if I did see that ship. Damn headaches. Where’d they
come from? Where’d that ship come from? Contrary to the testimony of the late Captain
Longeux, that one was awfully close to the Moon. What if they’re actually locals? Got to be based
somewhere. It looks like a Transpace ship, though, so it could be based anywhere between here
and Mars.
Maybe in orbit. The Moon is a big place, too, though. Makes me wonder.

“Sir? Father? Are you all right?”

“What?” BC looks up. The attendant is standing in the aisle next to his row.

“You’re the last one on board. It’s time to get off.”

“Right. Thanks.”

Woah. Feeling kind of out of it. Got to wake the fuck up!

BC gets up, gets off the ship, makes his way through the Lunar Prime spaceport and heads back to his rooms in the Vatican Mission.

Lunar Prime is bustling, people everywhere rushing to work, back home, on errands, social calls. Normal life continues for most people. BC does notice a couple of businesses are closed, shut up and dark.

If I remember right, those were Moslem owned businesses. They’ve no doubt left, since
their government is attacking us. Looks like there have been even more attacks. There’s
construction everywhere. Maybe our section again, too. We’ve gotta do something to better
defend ourselves here. They’re gunning for us. You know, I really hope it’s not my fault...
BC turns off the main concourse and walks down the smaller corridor that leads to the Vatican Mission on the Moon. Everything’s shiny and bright, well lit.

Everything looks normal, but, I don’t know, it feels different, somehow. Probably just me.
I’m different. I felt all right when I was at the Vatican, back on Earth. It’s just since I got on that
ship this morning... Maybe I did get these headaches back at The Vatican but just don’t
remember? Is that possible?

What did they do to me out there on that crazy station? How many of those drugs they
laced my food with are still in my system? They checked me out back in Rome, but what if there’s
shit they missed? Too many questions. I don’t like it.

There are too many messages waiting for him back in his rooms. BC checks the most recent, then stores the others away for the future. The two most recent messages are from the Cardinal and Marc Edwards.

“Hello, Campion,” The Cardinal’s message begins. The Cardinal sounds more somber than usual. “Welcome back. I’ll check in with you later today. There’s... there’s something I want to discuss with you.”

He doesn’t sound like his usual bubbly self. Wonder what’s up?

Edward’s message is next. “BC! I hear you’re back today! Glad you’re alive and well. I thought you were gonna be gone a couple’a weeks, not almost half a year! Hope you’re okay and all. Call me when you’ve settled in. See you then.”

Thanks for caring, Marc.

BC’s conversation with M’Bekke comes back to mind.

Nah. I don’t think he’s gay... Does he have a girlfriend? Man,
I
need a girlfriend. A little
female companionship would be nice, and I’m not talking about the quality time I’m going to have
to spend with the Reverend Swan.

BC looks around.

Funny, this place really does feel like home. Rome was okay. And I sure don’t miss my
little closet on Fortune Station. It’s nice to come back here. I’ll return
my messages later...
He sinks down on his bed and falls fast asleep.

BC dreams no dreams. Just a deep, long night’s sleep. He still wakes up feeling hungover.
Did I go on a bender last night? I don’t remember...

He checks his new messages. 34!

Thirty-four messages? Man, I just got back, who’s calling me like this? Wait a sec, what’s
this?

The most current message is dated four days after the date he got back.
I’ve been out cold for four days?

The Reverend Swan has been most persistent. At least ten of the messages are from her, both voice and text.

Seems I missed a meeting yesterday. So sorry, Swan.

The Cardinal and Edwards left several each as well. Edwards’s most recent is from yesterday, early. He actually sent a med tech to BC’s room to check on his health.

“He went in on my orders, found you sleeping. He said you’re fine, but deep asleep,” Edwards says in the message. “He said to let you rest, you must need it! I’ll talk to you when you get up. Later.”

I should feel better for having slept so long. Maybe I should see a doctor. If I get a spare
minute. Got some mad catching up to do.

BC’s head begins to clear as he gets up, showers, cleans up and dresses for the day. By the time he’s shaved he feels fine. He looks at himself in the mirror.

I look okay, I guess. My eyes look clear, not bloodshot, pupils normal, responsive... Just
my usual ugly self. Maybe older. I think the cult experience has aged me. No gray yet, that’s good.
Maybe I just needed to catch up with myself. Process all the shit I’ve been through. Hope there’s
no permanent damage.

BC’s room com goes off. Edwards is on the line.

“Hey, BC how are you? I was worried about you, man!”

“Yeah, guess I needed some rest, huh? I’ve been through a lot in these last couple months. I’m okay, now.”

“Good, good. When you’ve got some time to spare in the next day or two look me up, okay?

It’ll be good to catch up with you. Plus, I’ve got a couple of things I want to ask you about, get your opinion on. Give me a call, all right?”

“Sure, Marc, I will. Gotta find out what the Cardinal needs from me first, but once I do I’ll call you. Thanks for being a friend, Marc.”

Edwards sounds a little embarrassed, “Hey, BC, I don’t have a lot of friends, so I try to take care of the ones I do have, you know? Later.”

“Campion?” The Cardinal’s com cuts in as Edwards signs off. “Father Campion, are you there?”

“Yes, Cardinal, I’m here.”

“You feeling better?”

“Yes, sir, I am, thanks for asking.”

“Good. Come see me at once.”

“Sure, I will sir, be right there.”

He sounds weird. Bossy for him, too. Tense and nervous.

BC get dressed in basic blacks, checks his collar in the mirror, then sets off to see the Cardinal. The Cardinal’s secretary waves him in, “Go ahead, Father, he’s expecting you.”

The Cardinal rises behind his desk. “Ah, Father Campion, good to see you’re still in one piece. Come in, sit down.” He sits back down. BC sits down across from the Cardinal in a chair in front of the desk.

He sounds more normal than he did on the com.
That’s good.
Silence ensues. BC and the Cardinal sit across from each other. Neither says a word. The Cardinal looks down at his empty desktop, as if studying something BC can’t see. BC just waits.
Preoccupied by something... He isn’t even looking at me! What is up with this?

After a long few minutes, the Cardinal looks up, looks BC in the eyes.

“I’ve just recently found out about your last ‘mission’, the one that kept you away so long.”

“What?”

“
You’re surprised, I know. I’m not supposed to know these things,” the Cardinal laughs nervously. ”Usually I don’t want to. But this time I do.
And I hear you, what, I don’t know, what do you call it in your line of work? What? Eliminated? Neutralized? Fixed? Took care of.. whatever. I hear you’ve killed the one who called himself The Light.”

Wow. Entirely unexpected!

“I can see you’re surprised I know this. Well, I have my reasons for knowing. But is it true? Was it you? Did you kill him? Was that your mission?”

“I really don’t know what to tell you, Cardinal...”

“Hmm. Guess you can’t say, eh? Top secret or something like that?”

“Something like that.”

“Is he dead?”

“Look, Cardinal, I really can’t...”

“He is dead, isn’t he? I can see it in your eyes, Campion.”

What can I say?

“Did you know he was an old friend of mine? ‘The Light’?” The Cardinal asks. He doesn’t wait for an answer, just goes on. “We were in seminary together, all those ages ago. Seems like another life, another world ago, now.”

“Really?”

This I didn’t know. Small world. Small fucking universe.

“He was once a good man, Campion. A true man of God. He truly believed.
”

“He believed until the end, Cardinal.”

The Cardinal snaps to full attention, eyes on fire at BC’s tacit admission.

“So you did kill him!”

Whoa! Back, boy!

“No! I did not kill him! But he is dead. I’m sorry you’ve lost your friend.”

The Cardinal calms down. “I lost him a long time ago, Campion. But you did go there, to his station? To kill him?”

What the hell...

“Yes, I did. Under orders. But I failed. They captured me, dosed me with God knows what drugs, and tried to brainwash me. It was torture; they made me read the Bible all the time,” BC chuckles, trying to lighten the mood.

“I don’t see the humor in any of this, Campion,” The Cardinal says darkly.

“No, I see that.”
Jeesh.
“Look, he meant well. But in the end, one of his own people killed him, because
they
felt he had lost his way.
They used me to help them, and then they let me go. And set me up as an absentee leader, a figurehead for them to work behind.”

“So... did you get to know him before the end?”

“Pardon?”

“Did you get to know The Light?”

“Sort of.”

“Did you think he was a good man?”

“Honestly?”

“Honestly.”

“No.” BC shakes his head. “I don’t think anyone who sets himself up as a god, or God’s sole representative, is a good man. I think he was delusional. He might have meant well, started out good, but he couldn’t see his own faults, see where he was going, what he was doing. Plus, he had them starve me, drug me, keep me in the dark for extended periods, mess with my head... those aren’t the tactics of a good man, Cardinal.”

“Yet you have changed. And I think, maybe, for the better. I can see that in your eyes, Father. Maybe not brainwashed, but... he got to you, didn’t he?”

“Maybe. In some way.” BC admits grudgingly. “But I never bought his philosophies. I did what I had to, to get out of there, but I’m not born again or anything like that.”

“Well, he was never into the old ‘born again’ thing...” The Cardinal protests.

“You know what I mean. Born into his whole ‘back to the future’ deal, wearing robes on a space station, getting back to the first century from a mile high in orbit. Somehow, I never could see the early Christians living like astronauts. Still, I did learn a lot. I actually read the Bible. There is some validity to The Light’s arguments that the church isn’t what it was originally intended to be, what Jesus wanted it to be.”

“He still taught that, eh? And they wear robes?” The Cardinal begins to relax a little. “You have been changed, Campion. Maybe more than you know. And I trust you when you say you didn’t kill him. You didn’t, right?”

“No, sir. I did not. I give you my word, for what it’s worth. It was one of his own.”