Read Online The Guardian by Robbie Cheuvront and Erik Reed - Free Book Online

must be honest with you. While we really look forward to seeing Mass in your native setting, we are anxious to talk to you about Anna’s grandfather.”
    “Yes, I see.” Father Ruiz studied his visitors now. He looked at them skeptically. “Well, perhaps I’ll have a few minutes after our service. I’m afraid, though, I must get ready right now. Mass starts in three minutes.” He studied them intently as if he wanted to say something. It seemed he’d changed his mind. “Father Marcella—”
    “Please, call me Father Vin. Everyone else does.”
    The priest smiled. “Would you like to assist me with our Mass this morning? It would please me greatly to worship side by side with you.”
    “I would be honored,” Father Vin bowed his head and accepted the invitation. “I’m afraid, though, my Spanish is pretty rusty. You’ll have to forgive me.”
    As the two priests prepared for the start of Mass, Father Vin leaned in to speak to his colleague. “You’re still trying to figure out what to do with us, aren’t you?”
    Father Ruiz smiled wryly. “I have forty-eight minutes, my friend.”
    And with that, Mass began.

CHAPTER 12
The Vatican
    C ardinal Joseph McCoy had dreamed of becoming pope ever since he had become a priest. He would lie in his bed each night planning, thinking about all of the things he needed to do. He had studied every papal election for the last one hundred years. He knew what it took. And he knew how to get it. And he would be pope. Why? Because he was the best con man the Vatican had ever seen.
    If they only knew half of his past, what he was before he became a priest, they would probably hang him in St. Peter’s Basilica. Forget his life before being a priest. If they knew what he’d done as a priest, they’d probably just bury him under the jail.
    Cardinal Joseph McCoy wasn’t as saintly as most people thought him to be. He had secrets. A previous life. His real name wasn’t even Joseph McCoy. He changed it to fit the profile he had created for his application to the seminary.
    When Joseph Sikeston—his real name—was young, he got into a lot of trouble. It was always about power with him. He needed to feel the power of being in charge. His need eventually got him thrown into a juvenile center for boys. That’s where he met Father Ryan.
    Father Ryan would tell him, “Joseph, if you don’t watch out, you’re gonna be the devil’s own personal instrument!” Joseph would just ignore the pompous old man, until one day he heard Father Ryan talk about a man called the pope.
    The pope. Now there was a man of power. An entire body of people, an entire religion, at the beck and call of one man. And Joseph decided then and there that he wanted to be the pope. He didn’t care about all of the religious stuff. He just wanted that power. He started planning that day. With Father Ryan’s help, he was on his way.
    Now, some forty years later, Joseph Sikeston was Cardinal Joseph McCoy. He set down his drink and checked his watch. Eleven forty. It was time to go. He was expected for a meeting. He would be early, of course. He always was. Punctuality was one of his strongest characteristics.
    He walked out of the outdoor café and headed for his car. He could already taste the bitterness of the next hour. He wasn’t looking forward to his appointment. Really and truthfully, he thought it was a waste of time. All they ever did at these meetings was talk. He had yet to see any kind of action. A bunch of tired, old windbags, he thought.
    Rome, Just Outside the City
    Cardinal Wickham sat alone in a high-backed mahogany chair. He sat at the head of an eight-foot-long, antique table. The room in which he sat was in the back of a historic, old country house. Technically, he owned the house, though one would have to do a major investigation to find any trace of a document with his name on it. Not that there was anything wrong with owning a property like this, but the kinds of activities that took