CHAPTER 32
ON LEAVING THE LUXURIOUS FACILITIES of the Anantara Palazzo Naiadi Rome Hotel, Gregory Evans, Nicole Hulmann and Father Green climbed into their rented car and, armed with a tourist map, plunged amidst the honking horns of Rome's chaotic traffic.
— Have you heard from Agent Ferri, Greg?
He shook his head.
— I know he's fine.
— Let's pray that yes, just before we left, I asked Victoria to go to the hospital and see if she can find anything.
The group was happy, after all, they were in Italy with someone who spoke the language fluently.
— Is it today that we have an audience with the Pope?
The priest laughed.
— Do you think it's that easy to get close to His Holiness?
— You're a priest, I thought...
— The Pope is a representative of state, Nick, he basically has the same privileges as a president, and that includes the difficulty of getting close to him.
— That I know... is that when we came to Italy, we would have some privileges.
— All we know is that Jeremy Niles was a seminarian — said Father Green. — So we've come to see an old acquaintance to see what he can do for us.
— And you couldn't see that on the internet?
The priest laughed.
'I doubt very much that the Vatican is familiar with modernity, Nick, we're talking about a nearly two-thousand-year-old institution that sticks above all to tradition.
— No one deserves this.
— But first we have to talk to Nick's contact.
Of this none of them could disagree.
GREG'S CELL PHONE rang and he saw that it was Victoria Hulmann on the other end of the line.
— Were you able to discover anything, Victoria?
— There really was a murder at the hospital, Greg, we have that Agent Ferri was the victim...
— We don't have much to do right now, but thanks anyway.
— Did she say anything?
— He said he went to the hospital and there's a big police movement, because someone was murdered.
The priest made the sign of the cross.
— May God have mercy on your poor soul.
Greg just thought about what he would do from that moment on without Pietro Ferri's help.
A LITTLE DISTANCE from the central area of Rome, another world unfolded before his eyes: narrow streets, the same ones through which in centuries so far away, the Roman legions, many apostles and crusaders, rich merchants and beautiful slaves, had passed, that sold for their weight in gold, Rome was a heady mix of the distant past, the Middle Ages and modernity.
They saw the monumental Roman Coliseum.
— The Colosseum in Rome — said the priest — known in antiquity as the Flavian Amphitheater, is the most impressive monument in Rome...
— It's bigger than I thought…it really does look like a football stadium.
The priest nodded.
— Bread and circuses have always been there, the sport is just different, sometimes less bloody, but always a crowd pleaser.
— We could stop by — Nicole said brightly.
— I don't see any problem — said the priest.
— We have to be quick.
And Greg followed.