"Do you know the investigator's name?"

"Alessio Rossi. But for God's sake, don't tell him I gave you his name. I have a reputation to protect."

"If you know so much, why haven't you written anything?"

"What I have now is a series of murders and disappearances which I believe are linked, yet I haven't a shred of hard evidence conclusively linking them in any way. The last thing I want to do is accuse the Vatican, or someone close to the Vatican, of murder without a damned solid case. Besides, no decent editor would touch it."

"But you have a theory about who might be behind it."

"What you have to remember is that we're talking about the Vatican," Malone said. "Men linked to that venerable institution have been involved in intrigues and plots for nearly two millennia. They play the game better than anyone, and in the past, religious fervor and battles over doctrine have induced them to commit the mortal sin of murder. The Church is riddled with secret societies and cliques who might be involved in something like this."

"Who?" Gabriel repeated.

Peter Malone flashed a television smile. "In my humble opinion, you hold the answer in your hand."

Gabriel looked down, crux vera: the kgb of the catholic church.

Malone left the room, returning a moment later with a bottle of Medoc and a pair of large crystal goblets. He poured two generous measures and handed one to Gabriel. "Do you speak Latin?"

 "Actually, we speak another ancient language."

Malone grinned at Gabriel over his wineglass and continued on. "Crux Vera is Latin for the True Cross. It is also the name of an ultra-secret order within the Roman Catholic Church, a sort of church within a church. If you look in the Annuario Pontificio, the Vatican yearbook, you'll find no mention of Crux Vera. If you ask the Vatican press office, you will be told that it is a fabrication, a sort of blood libel spread by the enemies of the Church in order to discredit it. But if you ask me, Crux Vera does exist, and I proved it in that book, regardless of what the Vatican says. I believe the tentacles of Crux Vera reach to the highest levels of the Vatican, and that its adherents occupy positions of power and influence around the globe."

"What is it exactly?"

"The group was created during the Spanish Civil War by an anti-Communist priest named Juan Antonio Rodriguez. Monsignor Rodriguez was very selective about the type of people he permitted to join. The vast majority of his recruits were laymen. Most were wealthy or politically connected: bankers, lawyers, industrialists, government ministers, spies, and secret policemen. You see, Rodriguez was never interested in the business of saving souls. In his opinion, that sort of thing could be left to ordinary parish priests. Rodriguez was interested in only one thing: protecting the Roman Catholic Church from its mortal enemies."

"And who were they?"

"The Bolsheviks," Malone said, then quickly added: "And the Jews, of course. Crux Vera spread quickly across Europe throughout the thirties. It established beachheads in France, Italy, Germany, the Balkans, and the Roman Curia itself. During the war, members of Crux Vera worked in the papal household and the Secretariat of State. As Crux Vera expanded, so did Monsignor Rodriguez's mission. He was no longer satisfied simply with protecting the Church from its enemies. He wanted to return the Church to the position of absolute power and supremacy that it enjoyed during the Middle Ages. That remains the core mission of Crux Vera to this day: reversing the defeats of the Reformation and the Enlightenment and making the state subservient to the Church once again. They also want to undo what they view as the heretical reforms of the Second Vatican Council: Vatican Two."

"How do they intend to do that?"

"Crux Vera may have loathed the KGB, but in many ways, it is an exact replica; hence the title of my book. It wages a secret war against those it deems enemies and acts like a secret police force within the Church, enforcing strict adherence to doctrine and crushing dissent. Oh, the dissidents and reformers are allowed to vent their spleen now and again, but if they ever pose a real threat, Crux Vera will step in and help them see the light."

"And if they refuse to yield?"

"Let's just say that several people who have run afoul of Crux Vera have died under less-than-clear circumstances. Prelates who have dared to oppose Crux Vera have fallen victim to sudden heart attacks. Journalists who have tried to investigate the order have disappeared or committed suicide. So have members of Crux Vera who've tried to leave."

"How does a religious order justify the use of violence?"

"The priests of Crux Vera aren't the ones who are resorting to violence. The priests give guidance, but it's the laymen who actually do the dirty work. Inside the order, they're known as milites Christi-- the soldiers of Christ. They're encouraged to engage in pilleria, or dirty tricks, to achieve the goals of the order. Pilleria can be anything  from blackmail to murder. And when the act is done, the priests provide absolution in the secrecy of the confessional. By the way, milites Christi aren't permitted to confess to anyone but a Crux Vera priest. That way, unpleasant secrets stay inside the family."

"How do they feel about the current pope?"

"From what I hear, they're lukewarm, to say the least. Pope Paul VII talks about rebirth and renewal. To Crux Vera, those words mean reform and liberalization, and they get nervous."

"What makes you think Crux Vera was involved in Benjamin's murder?"

"They might have had a motive. If there's one thing Crux Vera detests, it's revelations of the Vatican's dirty laundry. The order sees itself first and foremost as a guardian of the Church. If your friend had proof of something damaging, he would have fallen into the category of enemy. And Crux Vera would have seen it as their duty to deal with him harshly--for the greater good of the Church, of course."

Malone finished his glass of wine and poured himself another. Gabriel's glass remained untouched. "If you've been talking to people, asking questions, poking your nose into affairs that don't concern you, it's quite possible you've already appeared on Crux Vera's radar. If they think you pose a threat, they won't hesitate to kill you."

"I appreciate your candor."

"And we had a deal." Malone picked up a notepad and a pen and suddenly the roles were reversed. "It's my turn to ask the questions now."

"Just remember the rules. If you betray me--"

"Don't worry; I'm also aware of the fact that Crux Vera is not the only secret organization to engage in pillena." Malone licked his forefinger and turned to a fresh page in his notebook. "My God, I have so many questions, I don't know where to begin."

Gabriel spent the next two hours unenthusiastically holding up his end of the bargain. Finally, he saw himself out the front door of Peter Malone's house and struck out across Cadogan Square in a steady rain. On Sloane Street, he pulled his cellular phone from his pocket and dialed Mordecai in the surveillance van. "Keep monitoring him," Gabriel said. "If he goes anywhere, go with him."

Peter Malone sat before the computer in his upstairs office, feverishly typing up his notes. He could not quite believe his good fortune. He had learned long ago that success was the result of a volatile combination of hard work and pure luck. Sometimes good stories just fell into one's lap. The difference between an average journalist and a great one is what he did next.

After an hour of steady work, his handwritten notes had been transformed into a pair of organized memos. The first dealt with the exploits of the agent code-named Sword. The second was an account of their discussion regarding Benjamin Stern. Whether it was his intention or not, the Israeli had just given Malone the hook he needed for his story. Israeli intelligence was investigating the murder of prominent historian Benjamin Stern. He would ring Tel Aviv in the morning, secure the mandatory denial from the drones at headquarters, then stitch together the other mysterious details he knew about the case. He had not told the Israeli everything he knew about Stern's murder, just as he was quite certain the Israeli had not shared all of his knowledge. That's the way the game was played.