Destination by David Wood & Sean Ellis

Author:David Wood & Sean Ellis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: action adventure, men's adventure, thriller, travel adventure, new pulp, pulp adventure
Publisher: Adrenaline Press
Published: 2018-07-15T16:00:00+00:00

NINE

Cardinal Sergio Ribeiro sat alone in the dimly lit study of his private apartment staring, not at the golden reliquary or the mask—both of which sat on a side table near the door, but instead at the small wooden box which occupied the center of his desk. It was a simple cigar box, unremarkable in every way. Ribeiro could not recall where he had acquired it; he had smoked cigarettes for many years, but never cigars. In any event, the box was of little interest to him, but in its own way, it was like the jar in the old Greek myth of Pandora. If he opened it, if he revealed the secret he had kept for more than fifty years, the world would be changed forever.

But it would be a change for the better. He believed that with every fiber of his being. And so, really, what choice did he have?

Smiling, he leaned forward and flipped back the lid. Inside, resting on a yellowed piece of old newspaper, was a crude disc shape, upon which a distinctive sigil had been inscribed—a sun-circle with thirty-two rays, alternating straight and wavy points, and inside the circle were a cross, three nails, and the letters IHS—a Christogram, or representation of the name of Jesus.

It was the sigil of the Society of Jesus. The Jesuits.

The cardinal may not have recalled the origin of the cigar box, but he remembered every detail of the day he had acquired the relic.

“Bless me father, for I have sinned,” came the whispered voice behind the screen.

Despite the appearance of anonymity, Father Ribeiro had no difficulty recognizing the voice of the penitent. It was Father Marques, a junior priest from a neighboring parish. Ribeiro had only met Marques a couple of times, and had taken an immediate dislike to the outspoken young man, whose sermons seemed more like the propaganda of the communist revolutionaries than the word of God.

It was a growing problem in the Church, and in South America in particular. Secularism, disguised as an appeal to social justice was insinuating even into the upper hierarchy of the Church, turning priests into revolutionaries, and bishops and cardinals into quiet blasphemers. No, it wasn’t a problem, he corrected, it was war. Spiritual warfare, and nothing less than the future of the Holy Church lay in the balance.

Oh, yes, Father Marques, he thought. You have sinned.

Marques went on, unaware of his confessor’s thoughts. “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. My last confession was one week ago.”

“You are not a member of this flock,” Ribeiro said. It was a small breach of protocol, but a necessary one he judged. “Why do you come here to offer your confession?”

Marques swallowed nervously. “I came to you...” A pause. “I came to you because I think only you can help me.”

The answer surprised Ribeiro. “Only God can help you, my son. What are your sins?”

As Marques told his story, Ribeiro’s contempt for the man was supplanted in turn by astonishment and anger.

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