Adrian dHage - The Omega Scroll

ADRIAN, dHAG

VIKING
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PENGUIN BOOKS

VIKING

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First published by Penguin Group (Australia), a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd, 2005

Text copyright Adrian dHag 2005

The moral right of the author has been asserted

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

ISBN: 978-1-74-228331-9

www.penguin.com.au

For David and Mark

Roma

T he Cardinal Secretary of State to the Vatican stood at his second-floor window in the Apostolic Palace and stared out over the Piazza San Pietro. Cardinal Lorenzo Petroni had two things on his mind. Of the two, the Popes failing health was perhaps the more urgent but the woman was now by far the more dangerous.

The most powerful cardinal in the Catholic Church was tall and thin and cut an elegant but formidable figure. His soutane, edged in scarlet, was immaculate. A pale angular face with features at once delicate and steely; eyes blue and piercing. His fine black hair streaked with distinguished grey.

Below him the early dusk of winter had already enveloped the great square of St Peters, and although the rain had stopped the cobblestones were still wet, glistening in the soft reflected light from the Vatican buildings. A lone scrap of paper bowled across the now deserted piazza, disappearing into the surrounds of Berninis Colonnade, the wind growling around the columns as it had for over three hundred years.

Slowly and deliberately, Lorenzo Petroni paced the spacious office afforded the Secretary of State, the deep pile of the royal blue carpet soft under the Italian leather of his shoes. At one end of the room were three crimson couches; at the opposite end, two large French-polished desks. One was almost obscured by piles of dispatches. The other, his working desk, was clear save for a black marble cross. On the wall behind, Peruginos Saint Benedict kept watch. As he often did, Petroni reflected on how close he was to absolute power, yet that power had become frustratingly elusive. Next month would mark his fifteenth year as Cardinal Secretary of State, a position which was second only to the Pope. Petroni had regained control of the Vatican Bank and the Churchs vast international financial holdings, but for a long time the Keys to Peter had seemed unattainable. The Popes reign seemed endless. Now the Popes ill health provided a rare opening. A quiet, persistent buzzing on his private line interrupted the Cardinals thoughts.

Petroni.

One moment, Eminence, Father Jean-Pierre La Franci is calling. Petronis lips tightened. The Director of Lcole Biblique in Jerusalem had been instructed never to contact him at the Vatican unless it was a matter of the utmost urgency. The phone crackled and the Director came on the line.

Buonasera, Eminence.

Buonasera, Jean-Pierre. How can I help? Long years of diplomatic training kept Petronis irritation in check.

I am sorry to trouble you, Eminence, but there has been a development that I think you should be aware of.

And that is?

The information has not been confirmed, but I have a contact in one of the Hebrew University laboratories here and we suspect that a substantial number of Dead Sea Scroll fragments have been subjected to DNA and carbon dating analysis.

Where did these fragments come from? Petronis voice was suddenly sharp.

Thats the puzzling part, Eminence. None of our fragments are missing. It is presumably a new find, but my sources are very good.

And? Petroni demanded.

We suspect that the DNA analysis may enable the fragments to be separated and pieced together into separate scrolls. One of them may be either the original or another copy of the Omega Scroll.

Petroni felt the blood drain from his face.

The Omega Scroll. Petroni knew only too well that there were just three in existence; the original and two copies. In 1978 one of the copies had surfaced on the black market and for the exorbitant sum of US ten million dollars, Lorenzo Petroni, then a powerful Archbishop in the Vatican in control of the Vatican Bank, had arranged for its purchase. Pope John Paul I had seen a report on it, but he was now dead and that copy of the Omega Scroll was buried deep within the Vaticans Secret Archives.

This had to be the original, Petroni thought. The second copy had come to light only a few months ago when a Turkish dealer on the black market had offered it to Monsignor Lonergan, Petronis man in Jerusalem. Petroni had made sure of its purchase, this time for fifty million dollars. It was also safe and secure in the Secret Archives.

Do we know who commissioned this analysis? Petroni already had strong suspicions but he needed positive verification.

Dr Allegra Bassetti, Eminence.

At the confirmation of the womans name Lorenzo Petronis anger was palpable and his grip tightened on the receiver.

I want a full report in the black bag tomorrow.

Yes, of course, Eminence. Father La Franci was wasting his breath. The line was dead.

The Cardinal Secretary of State stared out over the Piazza San Pietro for a long time. The Keys to Peter were dangling tantalisingly within his grasp and Petroni needed to maintain his control. Desperation was never far from the surface of his calm and powerful demeanour. At the moment two other issues were swirling around him and either one could bring him down. Cardinal Giovanni Donelli, the Patriarch of Venice, had started an investigation into the activities of the Vatican Bank in his diocese of the Veneto. Petroni knew that any investigation into the Vatican Bank would finish him and although he had been told it would be difficult, the Italian Solution had been arranged. Cardinal Donelli would be meeting with an unfortunate accident. Petroni had also discovered that a journalist from CCN, Tom Schweiker, was investigating his past. If he got too close to the truth Schweiker would also be dealt with. Now there was an even more threatening issue: the woman and the Omega Scroll.

The Omega Scroll contained three coded messages that had the power to change the world. Petroni allowed himself a rare feeling of satisfaction. An American scholar had unravelled the first of them and although the coded numbers posed a critical threat to the Vatican, so far no one had taken much notice.