The 731 Legacy by Lynn Sholes Read Free Book Online Page B

seek revenge. For a different set of reasons, so do I. As does your Dear Leader and so many others who have experienced the atrocities committed by your enemies and their allies. All you have to understand is that I am willing to assist you. For me, this is just a stop along the way to my ultimate goal. At the end of all this, I must bring a dear family member home again. You and your project are a rung in the ladder that will lead to my success. So, I have chosen to help your endeavor. I have the ability to create a diversion that will take away the unwanted attention you are now getting and allow you to proceed with your project unhindered."

    "A diversion?" Moon said. "From what?"

    "Not what, but who."

    29

    WOLF CASTLE

    The Soviet-era ZIL limousine carrying its six passengers glided along the two-lane highway fifty miles east of Chisinau, Moldova. John watched the farms and woodlands roll by—a mixture of hornbeam, oaks, linden, maple, and beech. Most had already shed the last of their autumn leaves as their sap retreated into the protection of the earth before the onslaught of winter. At one point, the limo was waved through a border checkpoint and crossed a bridge over the Dniester River into Transnistria.

    Soon, they turned off the main highway onto a hard surface country road. The terrain became hilly and finally transformed into a range of low but rugged mountains.

    "Reminds me of the Great Smokey Mountains," John said to Archbishop Luigi Roberti, the Vatican Foreign Minister sitting next to him. "My family had a summer cabin in North Carolina. I spent a lot of time there as a kid."

    "Simpler times, yes?" Roberti said.

    "Much." John had grown up in a suburb of Boston but spent vacations and summers at the family cabin. His life had been a journey of faith—faith in his calling to serve God and his passion to find the secrets that man left buried in antiquity. It was after he and Cotten had destroyed a diabolical plot to clone Christ from blood residue found in the Holy Grail that he was called to Rome to take on the position of Prelate of the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archeology. His immediate elevation to the rank of bishop, and later archbishop, along with the secret recruitment into the Venatori put him on the fast track to leadership in the clandestine organization. Within five years he moved into the position of director of the Venatori, an office that came with the rank of cardinal. Now as the chief advisor to the pope on matters of intelligence and security, John was considered by a select few in the spy communities of the Western world as the second-most powerful man at the Vatican.

    After arriving in Moldova from Rome the previous day, he and the small Vatican delegation had stayed the night at the LeoGrand Hotel in the capital city of Chisinau before departing the following morning for a remote location near the Transnistrian border—a last-minute change of location, they were told. John knew it was not uncommon when dealing with fragile diplomatic issues for arrangements to change at the last moment. Their schedule called for meetings with representatives of the Moldova state department and their counterparts from Transnistria and the Ukraine.

    Major General Nikolai Borodin of the Republic of Transnistria sat opposite John in the limo. The officer appeared to be nodding off. John stared at him, thinking it peculiar that the general himself was their escort rather than some military attaché. But he supposed their resources were limited. One of the last Communist bastions, the Transnistrian Parliament was not recognized by any government in the world. The general's uniform seemed a little tattered, and the man wearing it was on the brink of being unkempt, which John thought was a sure indicator of the disastrous economy.

    30

    He also noticed that the driver's appearance was just as ragged. Even the limo was old and worn—parts of the headliner sagged, and the paint flaked in