Day of Confession Part 28

Harry threw himself forward and sideways at the same time, felt his hand fill with material from Elena's habit, pulling her over the gunwale into the water in a hail of automatic-weapon fire.

Shoving her under the surface toward the pa.s.sageway on the far side of the skiff, he looked back to see the skiff surrounded by the bright yellow-green of water roiling with gunfire. Bullets chewed up the cavern walls around him, whining shrilly off the heavy stern. It was only a matter of moments before they would cut through the thick aluminum and reach Danny.

Ducking under the water, Harry shoved the skiff hard from beneath, trying to turn it, get Danny out of the murderous line of fire.

Lungs bursting, using the underwater wall for leverage, he maneuvered the skiff around, fighting it backward and into the pa.s.sage. Suddenly it caught against something, throwing Harry backward. He swam back, digging in against the underwater wall, trying to free it.

He couldn't. His chest was on fire. He had to have air. Pus.h.i.+ng off, he came up. Broke the surface full in the beam of the searchlight. For an instant he saw the muzzle flashes. Thought he saw the face of the man behind them. Calm. Unemotional. Firing in short bursts.

Bullets tore past his head, shredding the thin aluminum bow. Half a breath. No more. Harry dove again.

Once more he used the rock for purchase, this time driving against the hull with his shoulder. Still nothing happened. He tried again. Then again. Once more, then he had to have air. This time he felt something give. Lungs exploding, he hit it again. The skiff broke free and jumped forward. He went after it, kept it moving. Then he had to come up.

He felt himself break the surface. Suck in fresh air. At almost the same instant, the firing stopped and the light swung away. And the place where they were went black.

"Elena..." Harry's voice rasped through the dark.

"Elena!" His second call, harder, more urgent. He imagined her hit by the gunfire and lying on the bottom, her lungs filled with water.

"I have hold of the boat.... I'm all right-" Her voice was close by and she was gasping, trying to get air.

"What about Danny-?"

"We're moving!" Elena's cry was sudden and frightened.

Harry felt the water become abruptly colder, the skiff start to move away from him. Somehow they'd entered an underground stream and were being swept along with it.

He went after the skiff in the dark, half swimming, half pus.h.i.+ng off the rock walls. In a moment he caught up, grabbing hold as the boat picked up speed, the water taking them ever faster. Trapped, brutally pounded between the skiff and the pa.s.sage's granite sides, he fought the rush of water past him, worked his way along the gunwales, hand over hand, toward the stern.

"Elena!" Harry shouted over the roar of the water and the banging of the skiff against the rocks.

No reply.

"Elena!-Where are you?-Elena!"

88.

THOMAS KIND STRUGGLED WILDLY. SALVAtore was much stronger than he looked. The scarf taken from his wife's hair was twisted in his hands. Looped in a garrote around the blond man's neck. Pulling harder, the Italian pushed his knee into the small of Thomas Kind's back.

"b.a.s.t.a.r.do," he hissed. "b.a.s.t.a.r.do."

This was something Kind hadn't counted on, hadn't even considered from a man as insubstantial and spiritless as Salvatore Belsito. But he would not die because of it. Abruptly he let his body go limp and slumped forward, taking the Italian by surprise. Both men hit the deck at the same time. In a single motion, Thomas Kind pulled free, rolled to the side, and came up behind him. The razor flashed in his hand, and he grabbed the Italian by the hair, dragging his head back, fully exposing the length of his throat.

"That place-that cave where they were-" Thomas Kind took a breath and felt his pulse slow, come back to normal. "Where does it go?"

Deliberately the Italian's eyes crept up to fix on the blond man standing over him. Oddly, he was not afraid. "Nowhere..."

Abruptly the razor slid across the base of Salvator's nose. He cried out at the sudden gush of red that poured down over his lip and into his mouth.

"Where does it go?"

The Italian choked, tried to spit out his own blood.

"Like others in... here.... To an underground stream... and... then... back... to the lake."

"Where?-North of here, South. Where? Where?"

Slowly a smile crossed Salvatore Belsito's face, a great, grand smile that was, in truth, his soul.

"I will not... tell you..."

89.

HARRY HELD ELENA BETWEEN HIMSELF AND the skiff as it drove stern first against them, pus.h.i.+ng them down through a thundering wash of narrow sluice that was dropping at an ever-increasing angle. The pitch black. The force of the water. His hands were raw and bleeding from trying to slow their speed against the unseen granite walls. He could feel Elena pressing against him, fighting to keep her head above water. As he was. If Danny was still inside the skiff-his gurney shoved against the stern-there was no way to tell.

Then suddenly there was nothing under them. Just air. He heard Elena scream. And he felt the skiff crush against him. Then they hit. Deep water. Blacker than before. The force sent him down. Twisting, spiraling, in a ma.s.s of turbulence. Then he felt himself touch bottom and push up, trying to swim to the surface.

And then he was up and through it. Choking, gasping, sucking in air. He saw light from somewhere cutting a ribbon through the dark.

"Elena!" he heard himself yell. "Elena!!"

"I'm here."

Her voice came from behind him. Startling him, making him swing around. In the light he saw her swimming toward him.

Abruptly he felt his feet touch ground, and he staggered forward to sprawl on a rocky shelf, gasping, exhausted. Outside he could see thick undergrowth and sunlight s.h.i.+mmering off the lake beyond it. Then he saw Elena move up on the rock shelf beside him, but she was looking off, past him, toward the water where they had just been. Real time came back, and he followed her gaze. Then he saw what she was looking at, and he could feel the chill cut through him.

Danny was like a ghost. Pale, almost transparent. Gaunt as death. Bearded and nearly naked. Bandages all but washed away. Lying only feet away, staring at him.

"Harry," he said. "Jesus H. Christ."

THE SOUND OF DANNY'S VOICE hung frozen in the close air of the water cave as the brothers stared at one another, half in sheer joy and half in disbelief that they were not only alive but together and face-to-face after so many years.

Finally Harry stood and quickly slid back down the rock to where Danny was. Bracing himself, he reached out.

"Take my hand," he said.

Slowly Danny reached up, their hands met, and Harry started to pull him up onto the ledge, sliding partway back into the water at the last moment to take special care of Danny's broken legs that miraculously were still enclosed by the blue casts.

"Are you all right?" Harry asked as he crawled up beside him.

"Yes... ," Danny nodded weakly and tried to smile, and Harry could see the exhaustion beginning to overtake him. Then suddenly, and from behind them, came a loud unrestrained sob. Instantly both men looked up.

Elena sat on the rock ledge where Harry had left her. Her eyes were closed and her arms were pulled tight around her, while her entire body shuddered with sobs of enormous relief. Sobs she tried to hold back but could not.

Getting up quickly, his feet slipping on the damp rocks, Harry climbed up to where she was.

"It's okay," he said kneeling. Then, gently putting his arms around her, he pulled her close and held her against him.

"I'm-sorry...," she managed, letting her head fall against his shoulder.

"It's okay," he said again. "We're all right, all right, all all of us." of us."

Looking back toward the water, Harry could see Danny huddled on the rock ledge watching him. Yes, they were all right. But for how long? And what to do next?

90.

Rome. Ambasciata della Repubblica Popolare Cinese In Italia-Emba.s.sy, People's Republic of China.

Still Tuesday, July 14. 2:30 P.M P.M.

THE DARK CADILLAC LIMOUSINE TURNED ONTO Via Bruxelles and drove past the nineteenth-century stone wall surrounding the grounds of the old Parco di Villa Grazioli, now a subdivision of apartment buildings and large private residences.

The limousine slowed as it approached an armored carabinieri carabinieri car backed across the sidewalk. Farther down was another. In between was number 56. Turning in, the Cadillac stopped in front of a high green gate. A moment pa.s.sed and then the gate slid back and the limousine entered, the gate closing again behind it. car backed across the sidewalk. Farther down was another. In between was number 56. Turning in, the Cadillac stopped in front of a high green gate. A moment pa.s.sed and then the gate slid back and the limousine entered, the gate closing again behind it.

Moments later United States amba.s.sador to Italy Leighton Merri-weather Fox walked up the front steps to the four-story, beige brick-and-marble structure that was the Emba.s.sy for the People's Republic of China. With him were Nicholas Reid, deputy chief of Mission; Harmon Alley, counselor for Political Affairs; and Alley's first secretary, James Eaton.

Inside, the mood was somber. Eaton saw Fox bow and shake the hand of Jiang Youmei, Chinese amba.s.sador to Italy. Nicholas Reid did the same with Foreign Minister Zhou Yi, while Harmon Alley waited in turn to meet deputy Foreign Minister Dai Rui.

The topic among them, the discussion in every corner of the large light-green-and-gold reception room, was the same, the disaster in the Chinese city of Hefei, where the death toll from polluted drinking water had risen to a horrific sixty-two thousand and was still increasing.

Health officials had no estimate of where or when it would end. Seventy thousand. Eighty. No one knew. The filtration plants had been shut down. Fresh water was being flown, railroaded, and trucked in. But the devastation had already been done. The Chinese Army was on scene but was overwhelmed by the immensity of the task, by the most rudimentary logistics of dealing with so much sickness and death. And despite attempts at media control by Beijing, the whole world knew what was happening.

Leighton Merriweather Fox and Nicholas Reid were there to offer condolence and aid. Harmon Alley and James Eaton to a.s.sess the politics of the situation. It was the same worldwide: ranking diplomatic officials visiting the Chinese Emba.s.sy in the country to which they were a.s.signed, offering help on one hand, a.s.sessing the political implications on the other. The speculation was whether Beijing was capable of safeguarding its people, or whether the fear that a simple drink of water could kill you, your family, and thousands of your neighbors in a single stroke would be enough to cause the provinces to pull away, choosing to rely upon themselves instead. Every foreign government knew Beijing was hovering on the precipice. The central government might weather Hefei, but if the same thing happened again anywhere else in the country, tomorrow, next week, or even next year, it would be the clap of thunder that would leave the People's Republic on the verge of total collapse. It was a nightmare every foreign government knew was China's deepest and most profound fear. Water had suddenly become her greatest weakness.

Which was why, in the name of human suffering and tragedy, the diplomats were gathered here at number 56 Via Bruxelles and in Chinese emba.s.sies around the world, hovering to see what would happen next.

Bowing politely, taking a cup of tea from a tray proffered by a young Chinese woman in a gray jacket, Eaton made his way across the crowded room, stopping now and then to take a familiar hand. As first secretary for Political Affairs, his presence here was not so much to offer sympathy to the Chinese, but rather to determine who else was there and doing the same. And now, as he chatted with the counselor for Political Affairs from the French Emba.s.sy, there was a stir at the main entry, and both men turned toward it.

What Eaton saw was not unexpected: the entrance of Vatican Secretariat of State Cardinal Umberto Palestrina, dressed in his emblem simple black suit with white clerical collar, and followed immediately by three others of the Holy See's ranking n.o.bility, wearing their robes of office-Cardinal Joseph Matadi, Monsignor Fabio Capizzi, and Cardinal Nicola Marsciano.

Almost immediately the din of conversation faded, and diplomats stepped aside as Palestrina approached the Chinese amba.s.sador, bowed, and took his hand as if they were the oldest and dearest of friends. That relations between Beijing and the Vatican hardly existed made little difference. This was Rome, and Rome represented nine hundred and fifty million Roman Catholics around the world. It was those millions Palestrina and the others represented in the name of the Holy Father. They were here now to offer sympathy to the people of China.

Excusing himself from the French diplomat, Eaton crossed the room slowly, watching Palestrina and the clergymen with him as they talked with the Chinese. Watching with even greater interest as the group of seven left the room together.

This was the second public interaction between the Vatican and ranking diplomats from China since the a.s.sa.s.sination of Cardinal Parma. More than ever, Eaton wished Father Daniel Addison were there to tell him what it meant.

91.

TRYING TO KEEP HIS SANITY AND AT THE same time praying to G.o.d to show him some way to stop the horror, Marsciano entered the small pale-green-and-beige parlor and sat down with the others-Palestrina, Cardinal Matadi, Monsignor Capizzi, Amba.s.sador Jiang Youmei, Zhou Yi, and Dai Rui.

Palestrina was directly across from him, sitting in a gold-fabric armchair, speaking Mandarin to the Chinese. Every part of him, from the plant of his feet on the floor to the look in his eyes to the expressive way he used his hands, conveyed heartfelt empathy and vast concern for the tragedy playing out halfway around the world. He made his entire outpouring intimate and very personal, as if he were saying that if it were at all possible, he would go to Hefei and minister to the sick and dying himself.

It was a posture and generosity the Chinese took courteously and appreciatively, if not gratefully. But Marsciano-and, he knew, Palestrina as well-could see they were merely going through the motions. As much as their thoughts and concerns were with the people of Hefei, they were first and foremost politicians, and the focus of their attention was their government and its survival. Beijing, and what it did, was clearly under a world microscope.

Yet how, in their wildest nightmares, could they know, or even consider, that the prime architect of the disaster was neither nature nor a decaying water-filtration system, but instead the white-haired giant who sat only inches away, consoling them in their own language? Or that two of the three other highly distinguished prelates in the room with them had, in the last hours, become that architect's steadfast disciples?

If Marsciano had held any secret hope-now that the horror had started and Palestrina's "Protocol" was exposed for the awful and savage reality it was-that either Monsignor Capizzi or Cardinal Matadi would be rocked to his senses and take a forceful stand against the secretariat, it had been quashed by an internal letter of support, hand delivered that morning by both men to Palestrina personally (a letter Marsciano was asked to sign but refused), fully backing the secretariat's rationale for his actions. A rationale maintaining that Rome had sought rapprochement with Beijing for years, and for years the central government had spurned it; and would continue to spurn it for as long as they remained in power.

To Palestrina, Beijing's stance meant one thing-the Chinese had no religious freedom at all and never would have it. Palestrina's answer to that was simply that he was going to give it to them. The cost was irrelevant, those who died would be martyrs.

Obviously Capizzi and Matadi wholeheartedly agreed. Pursuit of the papacy was everything, and either would be foolish to defy the man who could put him there. In result, human life became merely a tool in that pursuit. And vile as it was now, it would get infinitely worse, because there were two more lakes yet to be poisoned.

Knowing what was to come, sickened by the awful hypocrisy and obscenity before him, unable to partic.i.p.ate in it further, Marsciano suddenly stood. "If you will excuse me."

Palestrina started and looked up sharply in surprise. "Are you ill, Eminence?"

Palestrina's startled reaction made Marsciano realize how deranged the secretariat had become. He was playing his part so well he actually and truly believed what he was saying. At that moment the other side of him simply did not exist. It was a marvel of supreme self-deception.

"Are you ill, Eminence?" Palestrina said again.

"Yes...," Marsciano said quietly, his gaze swinging directly to Palestrina and holding there for the briefest second, his profound contempt for the secretariat made explicitly clear but at the same time kept wholly private between them. Immediately he turned away and bowed graciously to the Chinese.

"The prayers of all of Rome are with you," he said and then left, crossing the room alone and walking out the door, knowing Palestrina watched him every step of the way.

92.

MARSCIANO MIGHT HAVE LEFT THE ROOM alone, but that was where his freedom ended. Protocol forced him to wait for the others, and now, inside the limousine, there was silence.