Braun looked at him for several moments as if carefully considering the question. “When I’m ready,” Braun said, then turned his attention back to the shroud.

Just then, a mild vibration shook the floor. The gondola had arrived to collect the Vatican party. Stratton closed the door on Richard Borden’s face and returned to Braun’s side.

“Would you like to be head of my personal security detail?” Braun asked, still gazing down at the shroud.

“Yes, sir,” Stratton said eagerly. “Of course, Your Eminence.”

Stratton stood protectively beside Braun for several moments.

“Ah, Your Eminence?”

Braun looked up at him and raised his eyebrows.

“What about Rolf? He’s been your personal bodyguard for so many years now.”

“Rolf is getting old,” Brain said quickly. “And he lacks a certain… a certain finesse that the new job requires.”

“Will you tell him? Soon?”

“Just as soon as he returns.” Braun stood up straight “Meanwhile, repack all this.” He waved his hand over the conference table. “I have to pack. We’ve got a charter flight to Rome at noon. I’d like to be out of here by eleven.” He turned and walked toward the door. “Would you inform the staff?”

“Of course, Your Eminence,” Stratton replied eagerly.

Seth came out of the doorway of the Hotel Central just before 10 A.M. He held the door open for Zoe and for Father Morgen. The brightness of the day made them all squint as they walked down the Gilmstrasse toward the parking lot where they had left Gunther’s old Audi. Seth carried bags for them all.

“It’s way up there.” Morgen pointed toward the north, his long thin finger describing a group of jagged peaks. “I was there once, nearly thirty years ago, before Braun was made a cardinal.”

They had reached the corner of the Erlerstrasse and turned right, toward the university.

They found the car five minutes later. Ridgeway first unlocked the doors, then started the engine to warm it up while Zoe settled herself in the passenger seat and Morgen arranged himself in back. Ridgeway threw the bags in the trunk and brushed away the light dusting of snow that the wind had deposited during the night

Finally he slipped back behind the wheel, put the transmission into gear, and drove out of the parking structure.

The roads in Innsbruck were slick with snow and patchy with ice where the extreme cold had overcome the ability of the road salt to melt The roads cleared, however, once they reached the autobahn and headed for the airport, where Seth had booked a helicopter flight from a company that offered sight-seeing tours of the ski slopes.

“The helipad’s on the roof toward the rear of the chalet,” Morgen said. “According to Braun’s housekeeper—who has been working with us for nearly twenty years now—the entrance to the house from the helipad is never locked. It connects with an elevator and a staircase that leads down the center of the main chalet. The guards are stationed at the perimeter of the grounds and have their own quarters separate from the main chalet. Braun doesn’t like to be reminded of his need for security, so the main chalet is off limits to the guards except in an emergency. The only security man allowed in the chalet under normal conditions is Braun’s chief bodyguard, Rolf Engels. He’s a big man and loyal. You will have to kill him if he confronts you. He may be getting on in years, but he’s still formidable.”