Read Online Pandora's Ark by Rick Jones - Free Book Online Page B

it?”
    Cardinal
Angullo’s nostrils flared the same moment his brow dipped sharply over the
bridge of his nose in anger. “The days of heresy have been abandoned by
rational thought over the years, Bonasero. But if anything provides a strong
case for such profanation, it’s what you just stated.”
    “Is your memory
so short, Giuseppe? Have you forgotten the attempt on the life of John Paul the
Second?”
    The cardinal bit
his lower lip.
    “What I say
holds a measure of probability. Therefore, I will not turn a blind eye to the
reality of what might have been.”
    Cardinal Angullo
turned away from Bonasero, his eyes alighting on the landscape of Vatican City. “So what will you do?” he asked. “Open an investigation when there are less
than ten days left before we enter the conclave to vote on the successor?”
    “Hardly. I’m
simply voicing my opinion.”
    “But you believe
the pontiff was murdered?”
    Bonasero
remained quiet.
    “You do realize
once the newly elected takes the Papal Throne, then you will return to Boston along with your foolish notion.”
    “Unless,
Giuseppe,” he faced the cardinal directly, “I’m elected to the pontifical post.”
    There, a
laryngeal microexpression, a quick bob of the Adam’s apple, was a sign of fear
from Angullo.
    “And if you
are,” Angullo returned dispassionately, “then what? You’ll spearhead a quest to
find something that does not exist? You’ll just end up like a dog chasing after
its tail, Bonasero. There’s nothing out there for you to find. And if you are
elected, don’t you think you’d be better suited to apply yourself to the needs
of the Church rather than the needs of yourself, since you are newly
appointed?”
     “To seek the
truth, Giuseppe, is always the need of the Church.”
    Whether Cardinal
Angullo shook his head in disagreement or disgust, Vessucci could not
determine.
    The cardinal
then looked over the railing, then back to Vessucci. “Do what you must,” he
told him. “Chase your foolish notions while I seek to better my position with
the Electors. If I take the throne, Bonasero, let it be known right now that
you will return to Boston and seek the truth from there. And believe me when I
say that such notions will fall on deaf ears.”
    Vessucci smiled.
“God is never deaf or blind to the truth, Giuseppe. And the truth will always
find its way, whether I’m at the Vatican or across the ocean.”
    Angullo began to
circle the cardinal, and Vessucci took a conscious step back away from the
railing.
    “Perhaps you
think me the killer, is that it? Is that how you plan to win the Electors
votes, by politicking with foolish and unfounded theories—that the good
Cardinal Giuseppe Angullo murdered the pope? Is that your strategy, Bonasero?”
The cardinal was now standing directly behind Vessucci, who could not see the
man through either corner of his eyes.
    Vessucci turned
enough to offer a sidelong glance. “I politick with the strengths I offer as a newly
elected and nothing more,” he said.
    “I see.” Angullo
maneuvered back toward the railing. And then: “I understand that your camp
remains strong, even after Pope Gregory sent you to America.”
    “And yours a
little less powerful.”
    Angullo smiled,
nodded. “It will be interesting when the Electors take to the conclave. But
tell me, Bonasero, should you be selected to the papal throne, will you bring
these Vatican Knights, these abominations, back to the Church?”
    “Whatever I do,
Giuseppe, you will have no knowledge of my stance in any position within the
Church, believe me.”
    “As the Vatican’s secretary of state, I’m afraid you’d have no choice.”
    “Oh, but I do,”
he returned adamantly. “In the same manner that Pope Gregory has seen me fit to
leave my post that you now hold, I would yield the same power of authority to
see the same. Perhaps, Giuseppe, Boston would suit you well.”
    The cardinal
nodded. “You forget one thing, Bonasero. You seem