“He’s always been such a private person. I’ve never understood him, to tell you the honest truth, especially back when he first started here. He was self-righteous and self-destructive, and I’m not sure which is worse. When the suit came in this morning and I fielded the call from the mayor’s office, I thought he was reverting to bad habits.”

“The thought went through my mind as well,” Calvin confessed, “which, I suppose, is why I didn’t give him the benefit of the doubt with this current affair.”

“Talk to the general counsel,” Bingham said. “Tell her we’re going to defend the case unless she thinks we should settle. And with that said, get out of here so I can get some real work done.”

Chapter 12

12

8:15 P.M., TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2008
ROME
(2:15 P.M., NEW YORK CITY)

The flash of the one hundred million volts of electricity came first, followed by a sputtering crackle as it knifed through the humid air to ground itself on the ancient Egyptian obelisk in the center of Piazza San Pietro. A blink of the eye later came the sharp crack of thunder that literally shook the Fiat.

“What the hell was that?” Sana demanded, before her mind told her exactly what it was.

“Thunder and lightning,” Shawn said disdainfully, although he had jumped nearly as much as his wife had. He’d never seen a bolt of lightning so close. “For God’s sake, calm down! You’re out of control.”

Sana nodded as she looked out the rent-a-car’s windows. In the darkness there were lots of pedestrians on their way home, bent into the wind using their umbrellas like shields against the near-horizontal rain. “I can’t help it. Are you sure we should be doing this?” Sana questioned. “I mean, we’re sneaking into an ancient Roman cemetery on a rainy night to steal an ossuary. It seems more like the script for a horror movie than something appropriate. What if we get caught?”

Shawn drummed his fingers irritably on the rent-a-car’s steering wheel. He too was tense, and Sana’s second thoughts were only magnifying his anxiety.

“We’re not going to get caught,” Shawn snapped. He didn’t want to hear any negativity. He was on the verge of making his most spectacular find, provided Sana cooperated.

“How can you be so sure?”

“I worked in there at night for months, and unless I brought people in with me, I never saw a soul.”

“You were using pencil and paper and photography. We’re going to be using a drill and hammer and chisel. As you suggested, what if someone up in the basilica hears us?”