The Judas Strain - James Rollins [69]
Gray glanced to the monsignor.
Vigor explained, “Dante’s Divine Comedy, including the famous Inferno, were the first books written in Italian. Even the French came to nickname the Italian language la langue de Dante.”
Seichan nodded. “And such a revolution did not pass by Marco. According to historical records, he translated a French copy of his book into his native language. For his countrymen to appreciate. But in the process, he made one secret copy for himself. In that one book, he finally related what befell the Khan’s fleet. Wrote that last story.”
“Impossible,” Vigor mumbled. “How would such a book have remained hidden for so long? Where has it been?”
“At first, at the Polos’ family estate. Then eventually in a place more secure.” Seichan stared at Vigor.
“You can’t mean—”
“The Polos were sent abroad by order of Pope Gregory. There are some who claim that Marco’s father and uncle were the first Vatican spies, sent as double agents into China to scout the strength of the Mongol forces. The veritable founders of the agency you once served, Monsignor Verona.”
Vigor sank back into his seat, retreating into his own thoughts. “The secret diary was hidden in the archives,” he mumbled.
“Buried away, unregistered. Just another edition of Marco’s book to all outside eyes. It would take a thorough reading to realize that there was an extra chapter woven near the end of the book.”
“And the Guild got ahold of this edition?” Gray asked. “Learned something important.”
Seichan nodded.
Gray frowned. “But how did the Guild get their hands on this secret text in the first place?”
Taking off her sunglasses, Seichan stared him full in the face, accusing, angry.
“You gave it to them, Gray.”
7:18 A.M.
VIGOR READ THE shock in the commander’s face.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Gray asked.
Vigor also noted the steel flash of satisfaction in the emerald eyes of the Guild assassin. She seemed to gain a measure of enjoyment in taunting them. Still, he also noted the thinness of her face, the bit of pallor to her cheeks. She was scared.
“We’re all to blame,” Seichan said, nodding also to Vigor.
Vigor kept his reaction placid, not playing this game. He was too old for his blood to be so easily stirred. Besides, he already understood.
“The Dragon Court’s symbol,” Vigor said. “You painted it on the floor. I thought it was meant as a warning to me, a call to investigate the angelic inscription.”
Seichan nodded, leaning back. She read the understanding in his eyes.
“But it was more,” he continued. He remembered the man who formerly filled his seat at the Vatican Archives: Dr. Alberto Menardi, a traitor who secretly worked for the Royal Dragon Court. The man had pilfered many key texts from the archives during his tenure, stole them away to a private library in a castle in Switzerland. Gray, Seichan, and Vigor had been instrumental in exposing the man, destroying the sect of the Dragon Court. The castle ended up being bequeathed to the Verona household, a cursed estate with a long bloody history.
“Alberto’s library,” Vigor said. “At the castle. After all the bloodshed and horror, once the police allowed us on-site, we discovered the entire library gone. Vanished away.”
“Why wasn’t I told about this?” Gray asked, surprised.
Vigor sighed. “We supposed it was local thieves…or possibly some corruption among the Italian police. There had been many priceless antiquities in the traitor’s library. And because of Alberto’s interest, there were many books of arcane knowledge.”
As much as Vigor despised the former prefect, he also recognized Alberto Menardi’s brilliance, a genius in his own right. And as prefect of the archives for over thirty years, Alberto knew all its secrets. He would have treasured and been intrigued by such a discovery, an edition of Marco’s The Description of the World with a hidden extra chapter.
But what had the old prefect read? What made him steal it away? What had piqued the interest and attention of the Guild?
Vigor stared at Seichan. “But it wasn’t ordinary thieves who cleared out the library,