The Vengeance Code by Ava Strong

Author:Ava Strong [Strong, Ava]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ava Strong
Published: 2022-02-18T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

“What are you doing here?” Remi asked.

It was Father De Sanctis, one of the Association of Devout Students, an ancient order dating back to the beginnings of the Catholic Church and dedicated to defending the secrets of the Gospel of Longinus. She had helped arrest a killer who had been targeting members one by one, trying to get at the gospel itself.

“Monitoring you,” he said, staggering to his feet.

“Stop right there, you are under arrest,” Remi said.

Father De Sanctis smiled. “Am I? You have no authority here. And what have I done that’s illegal?”

“You killed the museum director.”

“No. That was a young man stronger than I am. I had a brief glimpse of him coming out of the director’s office. Through connections I knew that you were to meet with Salah, and I came here to find out what you were up to. How does he fit into the hunt for the cryptex? Why did that man kill him? My Arabic is a bit rusty, but I understood that much.”

Looking at the older but still fit Italian, Remi realized he didn’t fit the witness description at all.

But the man she had seen Daniel go after certainly did.

She should get back up there and help him, but first she needed to straighten out what was going on here.

“This isn’t about the cryptex. The man we’re hunting is …,” watch yourself, Remi, “trading in stolen antiquities.”

Remi felt guilty saying even half a lie to a priest, but she wasn’t about to let him in on details of an FBI investigation. Then the horrible truth of what he had just said came down on her.

“Wait. You think I’m after the cryptex and you followed me all the way to Egypt?”

Again, that smile. Father De Sanctis rotated one of his arms, massaging the shoulder with his other hand. “Ouch. Landing on me really hurt. I’m not sure if it’s better or worse than getting pepper sprayed.”

“If you don’t want to keep getting hurt, stop following me.”

“You and I both know that’s not going to happen.”

Remi took a step closer to him. “I could arrest you for obstruction of justice and for breaking and entering.”

“You don’t have the authority here, and even if you did, you wouldn’t.”

“And why wouldn’t I?” Remi demanded.

“Because I would press charges for your theft of the cryptex clue from one of our churches.”

Remi blinked.

“You have no proof of that.” She wished her voice sounded a bit more forceful.

“Don’t we?”

“And you wouldn’t make that public because it would reveal your existence.”

“Wouldn’t we?”

Remi paused.

Father De Sanctis’s smile broadened. “Both the Association of Devout Students and your have skirted at the edges of the law. We have both done so because we thought under the circumstances it was the right thing to do. And we both rely on secrecy in order to achieve our ends. I suggest we continue with such a practice. Now don’t you have a murderer to catch?”

Remi glanced back up the stairs. She moved for them, spun and pointed at the priest.

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