The Eye of Moses - Vatican Knights Series 22 (2020) Read online

  “Yes, Your Holiness.”

  “And this organization—” The pontiff cut himself off.

  “The Shadow Klan,” Father Essex answered.

  “This Shadow Klan, they took nothing else but the staff, correct?”

  “That’s correct.”

  “For within this staff lies the power of God.”

  Neither Father Essex nor Father Auciello knew if the pontiff was talking to them or simply out loud to himself.

  Then from Pope Clement XV: “And you believe that this militarized organization stole the staff to extract this particle to master and harness its power?”

  Both priests nodded. But it was Father Auciello who spoke. “Should the characters of the particle be understood,” he told the pope, “and should they develop a designed weapon, then he who holds absolute power will also hold the scepter of rule, even over the superpowers. The United States, Russia, China—all these nations will have no choice but to recognize and bow before a new king.”

  “Perhaps you’re overestimating the value of this element,” stated the pontiff.

  “Your Holiness, the staff of Aaron was an all-powerful tool that had been used by Moses. With but a single touch upon the surface of the Nile, it nearly ruined a ruling kingdom with a string of catastrophic events. Now that we have a better understanding of science in regard to particles and atoms, can you imagine if that property became fully understood and utilized for a military application?”

  “And this Shadow Klan, they have the means and the abilities to manufacture such a weapon of mass destruction?”

  “Yes and no,” said Father Auciello. “They’re more than just an elite mercenary group made up of highly trained commandos from a number of special-operation groups. They’re also part of a political group that seeks to establish a global totalitarian state who are in allegiance with organizational principals and are in service as a global military unit. How many? Nobody really knows at this point. But the cabal is believed to number in the hundreds, if not thousands, worldwide.”

  The pontiff sighed. Then: “The staff once belonging to Aaron is an interest of the Vatican. The reasons behind its taking, however, is not. Once we have the staff within our custody, then the threat will be neutralized.”

  “That’s correct,” said Father Auciello.

  “And now you come to me because you believe that I should mobilize the Vatican Knights, yes?”

  “We do,” said Father Essex.

  “The world is in turmoil,” the pontiff stated evenly. “And the Vatican Knights are needed for more pressing matters.” He turned to face the priests. “But I will send one man. I will send Kimball Hayden.”

  “Alone?” asked Father Auciello.

  “Alone,” was the answer. “The Consortium has their own collection of military specialists. With Kimball among them, I see no reason to mobilize a unit of Vatican Knights when they can be used elsewhere for the good of others, in order to achieve the means of attaining the staff.”

  “But, Your Holiness,” said Father Auciello, “pitting Kimball Hayden against the Shadow Klan without his unit might minimize his chances of success.”

  The pontiff waved a hand dismissively at them. “Kimball Hayden can manage the mission alone. If I have faith in him, why not you? You know his abilities. You know what he’s capable of. The interest of this church is to acquire the staff and return it here to the Vatican, where we can safely place it within the Vault. We do not deal with the possible military or political outcomes that may attempt to arise from the appropriation to begin with. That is not the Vatican’s call. Kimball will work in concert with the Consortium Group to locate and retrieve the item. What I want you to do, Father, is to contact Mr. da Vinci and tell him that he gets one man, a Vatican Knight who is considered to be the best the church has to offer. And since this happened under da Vinci’s watch, let him know that I have become disillusioned that the Consortium can continue to safeguard all relics of a sacred nature to be protected while under their domain. Anything with religious ties will be brought back to the Vatican and placed within its Vault.”

  “We’ve always had a good relationship with the Consortium,” stated Father Essex. “They might take umbrage should I forward your message.”

  “I really don’t care,” returned Pope Clement XV with an edge to his tone. “They were to harbor these items with the trust of the Vatican that these objects would remain forever safe. And yet a league of assassins’ march in and take something of immense value to the church. I hold Mr. da Vinci personally responsible for this.”

  “With all due respect, Your Holiness,” stated Father Essex, “the treasures are too many for the Vatican Vault to hold.”

  “Then find a solution.” The pope sounded curt and short of temper.

  “Yes, Your Holiness.”

  “And tell them they get one man. Kimball Hayden. Which is more than they probably deserve.”

  “Yes, Your Holiness.”

  After the priests left the pontiff’s chamber, Pope Clement XV began to reflect. Kimball Hayden and a team of Vatican Knights would have been a formidable unit against any other, including the Shadow Klan. Kimball alone, however, minimizes his chances to succeed since his kryptonite is working without the support of his team.

  The pontiff started to smile inwardly.

  The staff and its power meant little to him, a wooden shaft that was embedded with a crystallized particle which glowed like an ember that was unable to fully catch and flame. It was a trinket, he considered, a religious bauble that held no such power. But it was reason enough to send Kimball Hayden, who had become a thorn in his side when Bonasero Vessucci administrated the church and he a cardinal, into a quarrel from which he might not return. Without his team, without the Vatican Knights by his side, he was hoping that Kimball Hayden would fall to the Shadow Klan.

  In fact, Pope Clement XV prayed and wished for this to happen.

  That inward smile now surfaced, but marginally.

  The thorn that was Kimball Hayden, he thought, the rogue warrior of the Vatican Knights who surmised correctly about the skeletons he kept buried deep inside his closet, would be forever gone from his life. All it would take would be one well-placed bullet from an assault rifle of a Shadow Klansman to neutralize him.

  Just one.

  Pope Clement XV prayed for this to be so.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Lucerne, Switzerland

  While the Consortium was attempting to rebound from their loss in Croatia soon after their talk with the Vatican, the man who called himself Salt stood before the stonewall sculpture of the ‘Lion of Lucerne’ in Switzerland.

  After his unit appropriated the Eye of Moses, it was returned to Deep Mountain by a reigning principal of the Shadow Klan, who waited for them at the extraction site five kilometers east of the Croatian bunker. Hopping onboard a chopper, the rectangular box was gifted to the operator by Salt with its passing going from one set of hands to another as though it were a holy relic, which it was. But neither man saw it that way. They saw it as uncontested power.

  After the unit landed safely, Salt was given the symbolic atta-boy pat on the back and told to ‘get some rest.’

  So here he was, standing before the Lion of Lucerne, the man absolutely exhausted after going without sleep for three days, his adrenaline tapped out.

  Cocking his head slightly in study, he noted the agony on the lion’s face—could see its exhaustion in the aftermath of losing a battle, the creature wounded and crippled. Then taking the foot bridge over the waters to the main throughway, Salt’s mind continued to wander while his body was driven by autopilot to get home. He thought about the mission and about the lives he had taken, and he justified his actions for the good of the Klan. Should the particle be developed into an absolute power with no equal, then the Shadow Klan could bring governments to their knees. And people like Salt could raise a fist in power and dictate whatever he wanted, whenever he w
anted, alongside a man by the name of Elias Caspari, who was the driving headmaster.

  Reaching an apartment building which catered to the wealthy and the exclusive, Salt entered the building and took the sky elevator for the scenic route, got off on his floor, went to his door which was glossy white with gold trim, and used his keycard to enter his residence.

  In a rush from the dining room, he was greeted by his two daughters who jumped into his embrace, happy to see him with hugs all around. Standing within the archway that connected the rooms was his wife, Minerva, who maintained a soft smile while rubbing her hands dry with a dishtowel.

  “Perfect timing,” she told him. “Lunch is about to hit the table. Hungry, yes?”

  “Famished.”

  She beckoned him with a wave of her hand in invitation to take a seat at the table, which he did with his wife and daughters. Once seated, Salt extended his hands out for his daughters to take, a hand for each of them, while the children grabbed their mother’s hands to form a connective ring around the table.

  “Bow your heads,” said Salt. “And now we pray.”

  In giving thanks for all the bounty of food and appreciating all that was given them, Salt also prayed for the welfare of his family. When the last word was spoken, they began to eat.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Lakeside Cabin in Maryland

  The snow was knee-deep as Kimball Hayden came across a trap that had snared a muskrat, the device having been set by poachers who were encroaching on the territory. Though the wooded area was thick with trees and brush, it had obscured the view of the cabin which wasn’t too far from where he was standing. Either the trappers were so brazen that they simply didn’t care, or they truly had no idea that the land sat on private property. It didn’t matter that the action was illegal. Kimball was planning to take care of it his way.

  Removing the trap and its kill, Kimball Hayden labored to the cabin, which was a small and spartan residence that he called his ‘sweet spot,’ and went inside. A fire was already burning within the hearth that was made of fieldstone. Occasionally, a knot of wood would explode against the flames, the pop sounding like a firecracker. After placing the trap on the table, he examined the muskrat, a female. It was unlikely that she was caring for a brood since the weather was cold and the food scarce. Then removing his glove, he ran his hand gently over its body and found its pelt bristly. Fighting to maintain calm, Kimball knew that the trapper’s motivation was to strip the creature of its fur so that it could be made into a hat, the fur often selling for $125 at the local market. Not one penny for you, he thought, and then he began to disassemble the snare when the phone rang.

  Picking it up, he stated curtly, “What?”

  “Having a bad day already? It’s not even ten.” It was Shari Cohen, who quickly detected the edge in his voice.

  “I’m sorry,” he told her. “I found another trap. This time a female.”

  After Shari awed sadly on her end, she then asked him ‘where’ he discovered the trap, which he responded, ‘close to the cabin.’

  “Where are you?” he asked her. “I was surprised to see that you were gone when I woke up. You didn’t make a sound.”

  “Running a few errands. Nothing big or spectacular.”

  “What about tonight?” he asked. “How about dinner and a fine wine?”

  “Sounds good. We haven’t done anything special in a while. I think we deserve it”

  “I’m in the mood for a little surf-n-turf.”

  “Then I’ll be in the mood for the same. I’ll see you in a bit. Love you.”

  “Love you, too.”

  After hanging up and returning to disable the trap, the phone rang for a second time.

  With far more reserve, Kimball said, “Yeah.”

  “How are you, Kimball.” It was the smooth and soft-spoken Father Auciello.

  “I’m good. Yourself?”

  “Same. Doing my due diligence, as always. But the reason why I’m calling is that I have a mission for you, one of grave importance.”

  Kimball Hayden sighed inwardly and closed his eyes, knowing that his night with Shari had just been cancelled. “It’s always a matter of grave importance,” he told the priest.

  “Not like this, Kimball. Not even close.”

  “What are we talking about here?”

  “Two items: the crucible belonging to Nostradamus from which he allegedly foretold the future from . . . and Aaron’s rod.”

  “Aaron’s r—” Kimball Hayden cut himself off. “To find Aaron’s rod, then I would have to find the Ark of the Covenant, which is in Switzerland.”

  “The one presented to Switzerland by Isaiah is a facsimile. The true Ark was secreted away inside a chamber in Croatia under the control of the Consortium. That was where the Knights Templar hid their bounty of treasures that adventurers have been seeking for years. It was also the resting place for the Ark since it was believed that the element within the rod itself may possess a power too great and dangerous to keep inside Vatican City.”

  Kimball was at a loss for words, one of the few times he was.

  “Kimball, you still there?”

  “Yeah. I’m right here,” he answered. Then: “I know that the rod was one of the four items inside the Ark. I’ve seen it.”

  “It was stolen by a group called the Shadow Klan. Apparently, the staff which Moses wielded as a divine extension between himself and God contained a dark element that was encapsulated inside a crystal, with the crystal embedded within the head of the rod. It’s called the Eye of Moses.”

  Father Auciello went on and provided a brief history of the Consortium but spoke extensively about the crucible and the rod. Kimball remembered seeing the gem inside the head of the staff but thought little of it.

  “The Shadow Klan is a society headed by a politically minded overseer who took the rod not because of its priceless value, but because of the particle that glimmers within its crystal casing. It is the belief of the Consortium principals that the rod will be destroyed by the Master Techs to get at the particle and to harness its power for military application.”

  “The Master Techs?”

  “Progressive-thinking scientists who take stolen or appropriated blueprints of smart weaponry, then fashion them to perfection for sale on the black market. The overwhelming view here is that the organization wants to refine the power of this particle so that it can be turned into a weapon for themselves. Strictly conjecture at this point, but one that makes sense since the treasures within the Croatian Vault remained untouched. These people knew what they wanted and took only the staff. If given the chance, it is believed that they will try to develop the ultimate weapon to promote their ideology.”

  “Which is?”

  “The Consortium principals believe that the goal may be to create a totalitarian state for which there is one government under one rule. In their eyes, creating a totalitarian society is their answer to global harmony.”

  “It would be far from it. But why call on me? You know I’m not on Vatican grounds at the moment. Isaiah is more than capable of leading the mission.”

  “This is at the direct insistence of the pontiff,” Father Auciello answered. “He wants you to work a joint operation with the Consortium team to regain the staff. A second item, a crucible belonging to Nostradamus, will be property belonging to the Consortium, which is why they will be involved. They will attain the crucible since it is a key that holds many global secrets that should never be unlocked and place it within a hold for safe keeping.”

  “You know I’m better with my team.”

  “The pontiff clearly indicated that the Vatican Knights would be needed elsewhere.”

  “What’s more important than claiming an interest of the church that can be turned into a super WMD? Did the Society of Seven approve this?”

  “I’m afraid that Pope Clement chose not to call into council the cardinals so they could decide in unison on whet
her the Vatican Knights needed to be employed. He made this decision on his own.”

  “I see. New pope, new rules, is that it?”

  “Please keep in mind, Kimball, that there are two treasures involved here: the crucible of Nostradamus and Aaron’s rod. You must aid in finding these treasures for which you are to return the crucible to the Consortium. The Vatican will keep the staff and the Eye of Moses. These two items, when pieced together, hold secrets that should remain buried. The crucible is the key to unlocking them all. And the dark particle would become the ultimate weapon, should those secrets be revealed.”

  “I don’t understand the correlation between the two,” said Hayden.

  “You will,” said Father Auciello. “Mr. da Vinci will brief you fully. It’ll make sense.”

  “Going up against the Shadow Klan doesn’t sound like something we normally do,” he told the priest. “This sounds more like a political or corporate mission.”

  “I won’t lie to you, Kimball, this is going to be incredibly dangerous. But the Consortium has their own highly skilled field agents—well trained and combat ready. Your agenda will be to aid them on this mission to retrieve these treasures. In fact, it’s paramount to stop the potential manufacturing of a weapon so powerful, it could toss the entire planet into chaos, political or otherwise.”

  “And what exactly is a dark particle, anyway?”

  “Some believe it to be a remnant of the Big Bang that happened more than fourteen billion years ago, and an energy so condensed and so powerful, it would make a nuclear weapon appear like a firecracker. Should the Master Techs analyze the powers within the crystal, there is no doubt that the principles of what they discover will be used for military utilization.”

  “That could take decades. Maybe longer.”

  “That may be true. But it could also take weeks or months. The Master Techs, from what I’ve been told, possess the best analytical minds in scientific discovery.”