Regardless of what happened during the nine hundred years that followed Heinrich IV’s possession of the box, hard facts about it reemerged in the spring of 1935.

Acting on Hitler’s orders, the German government began exacting onerous taxes from Jewish citizens of the Third Reich. Those unable to pay the punitive taxes were forced to sell their homes and businesses to Reich officials or to their friends.

Of course, most Jews did not have enough cash and savings to meet the outrageous Nazi demands, so they gave the government collectors their jewelry and family heirlooms, including art, rare books, antiques, and other items of value.

The American finished buttoning his pajama top and walked across the room to turn out the lights. He stood by the switch for a moment, torn between fatigue and the remarkable discovery he had made that day. He looked at the books on the desk and then walked over to it and picked up his yellow pad of notes.

Sheldon Brucker was the man’s name. Brucker had been a prosperous antique dealer in Bad Tolz, a small village south of Munich. Brucker had used a gold box inlaid with jewels to pay part of the Nazi government’s tax.

Hitler had not yet formed the Sonderauftrag Linz—the organization responsible for the gathering of art for the Fuhrermuseum in Linz, Austria—but even in 1935, he was aware of the need to scrutinize carefully the objects stolen from the Jews to make sure nothing of value was melted down or destroyed.

Objects from art dealers, antiques dealers, and the truly wealthy were all examined more carefully than the rest The art experts and historians pressed into service by the Third Reich eventually recognized the significance of the extraordinary box with the seals of Constantine and Pope Sylvester I impressed into its metal

The box had been opened carefully to avoid marring its beauty and the documentation inside was quickly translated into German. From the moment the discovery was revealed to Adolf Hitler, Sophia’s Shroud became the object of the most intense security ever. Ultimately, the shroud and its flawless documentation would be used by Hitler to assure the Vatican’s silence on the Holocaust The church would close its eyes to one evil, hoping to save the world from a second evil that might eventually prove greater.

The American got up, turned out the light, and walked through the darkness of the unfamiliar room. Hitler had hidden the shroud well, Braun had told him. So well, that in the chaos following the fall of the Third Reich, it had disappeared as completely as if it had never left its vault in the Vatican nearly a millennium ago.

He slipped between the crisp, cool sheets, but the horrors of history kept the American wide awake.

Zoe stood in the middle of her cell and let the cacophony wash around her; she hadn’t inserted her makeshift earplugs because she wanted every bit of the room to sink into her mind; if there was a way out, the room would point the way, she just needed to pay attention.