The Vatican Children (World of Shadows Book 2) Read online

  The priest sat on one of the couches with a Bible open on his lap. He appeared exhausted, and Arthur knew he wouldn’t have slept much, if at all. Though still going, the fireplace had burned down to almost nothing. Instead, Niccolo sat wrapped in blankets dragged from his room.

  When Arthur came into the room, he glanced up and folded the book closed on his lap. Arthur waited for him to say something, but he didn’t. Instead, they just stared at each other until the silence became awkward.

  “Would you like some tea?” Arthur asked, finally, heading to the kitchen. He filled up a kettle and set it on the stove. To light the burner, he had to use matches and had run low. Later, he would need to stock up on supplies.

  “No, thank you.” Niccolo set the book on the couch next to him.

  “Coffee, then?”

  “No.”

  “You should get some caffeine,” Arthur said. “Doesn’t look like you got much rest, and we’ll have a long day.”

  “I thought you said we didn’t have any leads to follow up on.”

  “We don’t,” Arthur said. “Not yet, at least. But we’ll still be busy.”

  “Doing what?”

  “Training. We won’t leave this cabin until I have confidence you can take care of yourself and won’t panic at the first sign of trouble.”

  Arthur grabbed a loaf of bread out of one of the cupboards and sliced off a few pieces. They had grown hard and stale, but better than nothing. At least they hadn’t yet gone moldy. He turned on another burner, grabbed the slices with tongs, and heated them up.

  “No toaster?”

  “The generator isn’t running. We only have the gas burners.”

  “Ah.”

  “Food is food.”

  “So you keep telling me,” Niccolo said. “Yet, I still can’t help but disagree.”

  “You’ll get used to it.”

  “Maybe. What kind of training did you have in mind?”

  Arthur finished toasting the bread and then grabbed a jar of grape jelly from the cabinet. He brought that, two cups of coffee, and the slightly burnt bread into the living room and sat down across from Niccolo.

  “Eat.”

  “I’m not hungry.”

  “I don’t care. Eat.”

  Reluctantly, Niccolo picked up some of the bread. He took a bite.

  “No jelly?” Arthur asked.

  “I prefer jam.”

  “You won’t find any jam here,” Arthur said. “This is a jam-free zone.”

  “What training?”

  Arthur finished smearing about half of the jar onto his toast and then took a bite. “Have you ever fired a gun before?”

  “I told you, I’m not—”

  “The tranquilizer dart guns that I acquired are similar to normal pistols, though lighter and with only three darts. They’re also extremely expensive, so I expect a fair amount of accuracy from you if you’re to carry one.”

  “I don’t intend on carrying one.”

  “And I don’t intend on you leaving this cabin without one. You might as well just accept it and learn how to shoot.”

  “And how do you plan on me learning that? I’ve never been a fighter and don’t know how to use a gun.”

  “Guns don’t require you to be a fighter. Pretty much, they prove the antithesis to it. You aim and pull the trigger.”

  “I don’t think that will be—”

  “This isn’t up for debate,” Arthur said. “You will learn how to shoot a tranquilizer gun, and you will figure out how to hit your target before we leave this cabin.”

  Niccolo leaned forward and stared at Arthur, his frustration and anger palpable. Had he pushed Niccolo too far? The priest’s expression looked unreadable, and a long while passed before he spoke.

  “Fine.”

  “Good.”

  “We will let Desiree train as well.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Everything you teach me about these tranquilizer guns, you will teach her as well.”

  “No,” Arthur said, shaking his head in disbelief. “That is not happening.”

  “This isn’t up for debate either. I don’t appreciate getting manipulated or lied to, and you brought her here because of me.”

  “And to keep her safe. But, fair enough,” Arthur said. “I did use her, but only to make a point.”

  “Consider your point made. Now, let me make mine. You said she can’t defend herself, so teach her. Since you brought her here, then you will show her how to protect herself when you show me.”

  “You have a flaw in your logic,” Arthur said. “If I show her how to use one of these guns, she can just use them on us.”

  “Then, I suppose it’s a good thing you’re not killing people anymore, isn’t it? You’ll just wake up with a really bad headache.”

  Arthur sat in stunned silence, fighting down the urge to yell as well as the urge to laugh. He had to admit, he felt impressed. After what he had put Niccolo through, this didn’t bring the retribution he’d expected.

  It also didn’t seem a terrible idea, when he thought about it. And teaching her how to defend herself would make it easier to send her back out into the world and would be good for her. It didn’t feel like a good idea, either, though, as teaching one person how to become accurate with one of these guns would prove difficult enough, but two amateurs ...

  Plus, if Desiree did turn out as the sort of person to hold a grudge, he would have to keep a constant eye on her so that she didn’t run away or try to shoot him.

  Still, considering what he’d put them both through, it would be a small concession to make.

  “Fine.”

  “Make no mistake, the only reason I’m still here is because you told me you intended to change your ways and that you were done murdering. The world is a dangerous place, considerably more so than I might have known during my life at the Vatican, but that does not, and will not, ever justify murder. Those are my terms.”

  “I agree to them.”

  “You were a murderer,” Niccolo continued bluntly. “And there is no changing that. What you’ve done is terrible, and maybe even unforgivable in God’s eyes. The Bible teaches us, however, that no person falls beyond redemption, and no crime too great for forgiveness. I don’t know if I believe you are redeemable, but that lies between you and God. I will work with you, Arthur, provided your change is real and permanent. However, the very second I decide that it isn’t, I will work to stop you and make you pay for all your crimes.”

  Arthur leaned back in his chair. “Fair enough.”

  Niccolo set the book on the table next to him. “Then, since we have that settled, what do we do next?”

  “Now,” Arthur said, standing up and brushing the crumbs from his hands. “We get to work.”

  ARTHUR HEADED OUT TO get the range ready for their target practice while Niccolo disappeared into the basement to gather up Desiree Portman. He doubted she would want to participate, and he didn’t blame her. If she proved unwilling, he wouldn’t force her. He had no idea what the priest intended to say to her to convince her to participate, and he just hoped the priest didn’t get his hopes up about his grand scheme.

  However, they both emerged from the front door of the cabin about ten minutes later, Niccolo leading Desiree out to the range where Arthur stood waiting. She looked skittish and wary, as if ready to bolt at a moment’s notice, but she also looked confused.

  Arthur waited patiently for them both to make it out to him, raising an eyebrow at Niccolo. He felt impressed that Niccolo had convinced her to come. However, that didn’t mean he would trust her, nor her intentions, outright—after all, he did kidnap her. The priest nodded at him, and he cleared his throat.

  “First things first,” Arthur said. “We are a long way from any cities and surrounded by dangerous terrain and animals. And running away will only get you killed.”

  Niccolo sighed. “We’re here to help her, not scare her.”

  “I am helping,” Arthur said. “I�
�m just stating the facts so that no one gets hurt.” Then he reached behind him on the table and picked up one of the tranquilizer guns. He only had two of them and about sixty darts.

  “These,” he said, holding up the gun so that they could see it, “shoot tranquilizer darts. Each holds three darts, and each dart holds enough horse tranquilizer to take down a bull in a couple of seconds.”

  He handed the first one to Niccolo. The priest held it gingerly, like it was a snake that might bite him. He handed the second one to Desiree, and her eyes went wide in shock. Arthur could see the thoughts running through her head as she realized it was loaded.

  “Both of them,” he said quickly. “Are fully loaded, but right now, I only have water in them to simulate the weight of a real dart.”

  Her face fell, and she lowered the gun to her side.

  For the next twenty minutes, Arthur walked then through how the guns worked. He showed them how to take them apart and put them back together and explained their inner workings. Squat cartridges in the back made them bulky and released the compressed air that propelled the darts. After ten or so shots, they would need to pop out the old one and put in a new canister to keep firing.

  It made the entire process cumbersome and slow, but they remained some of the best and most accurate dart guns on the market. Arthur had researched them and found these to be cutting edge, but the technology still hadn’t become that portable. The problem was, they could never offer a suitable substitute for a real gun, especially with their cost.

  Finally, they began their target practice. Arthur started with a quick demonstration on how to hold the gun and how to aim, firing three darts into the chest of his target. The other two watched him studiously, and then they had a go at shooting as well.

  It proved abysmally bad.

  Niccolo fired the first three shots clean over the target and past the mammoth backstop that Arthur had erected, sending the darts sailing somewhere into the woods behind it. There seemed almost no way they would manage to track them down, which meant a lot of lost money. Desiree did better, managing to hit the target with one shot and the backstop with the other two.

  Arthur bit back a groan and headed off into the woods to attempt to retrieve the missing darts. He doubted he would find them, but he didn’t have any choice but to try. They cost a lot of money, after all.

  AFTER A FEW HOURS OF shooting, they stopped for a break. Niccolo had improved his accuracy, able to hit the backdrop consistently, and occasionally, the target, but he remained a long way from being ready to use the dart gun in combat.

  That didn’t make the point of the exercise anyway. Best case scenario, Niccolo would never have to fire the dart gun or any gun in their time together. If things went well, then Niccolo would, basically, just carry a backup weapon for him.

  Arthur used the training opportunity to further test Niccolo. Get him outside his comfort zone and see how he responded. Would he close up and shut down when things didn’t go his way, or would he respond well and keep his focus?

  So far, Niccolo had done the latter, which gave encouragement. He approached the task with determination and even seemed to have a little bit of fun with it.

  Desiree barely spoke a word the entire time that they stood out at the range and seemed more depressed than interested in learning about the tranquilizer guns. That didn’t surprise Arthur since he hadn’t expected her to trust him after everything that had happened.

  She took it in stride, though, and even seemed to warm up by the end of their morning session. She would answer him politely and managed to hit the target fairly often.

  When they took a break, he prepared a lunch for them of canned stew and more stale bread and brought it into the living room. Desiree accepted hers and took it out onto the porch. Arthur allowed her to go, fairly certain she wouldn’t try to run.

  “She doesn’t like you very much,” Niccolo said as they sat down to eat.

  “Thanks for stating the obvious. Would you?”

  “Of course not,” Niccolo said. “Though, I thought she would become more receptive once she found out we planned to put an end to Bishop Glasser’s tyranny.”

  Arthur took a bite of his stew. “Most probably, she doesn’t believe we will.”

  “She thinks we’re lying?”

  “More likely incompetent.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Think of it from her perspective: she came forward to the Church to tell the truth, and the Church completely ignored her. Worse, they called her a liar to protect an evil priest who has now become a bishop. In her eyes, the Church is, at best, incompetent and, at worst, evil.”

  “So, you think that she thinks we’re not being honest with her?”

  “Why would she believe otherwise? I’m sure countless people have promised to help her only to betray her in the end. More than that, she understands maybe even more than we do just how bad the bishop really is. She might simply think we won’t manage to stop him.”

  Niccolo sat in silence for a long few moments. While absorbed in his thoughts, he ate a spoonful of his stew. Arthur felt somewhat surprised that Niccolo hadn’t attempted to rationalize, justify, or make excuses for what the Church had done.

  Maybe they didn’t have enough evidence, or the woman’s narrative was unreliable. Maybe they had reason to suspect she had lied. There were reasons—albeit poor ones—that Niccolo could have brought up to explain it all away, but he didn’t.

  It must have been difficult for him to listen to accusations like this against his beloved Church. He had dedicated his life to serving the Vatican, and this woman represented a tremendous failing of the Church to protect its people. However, he didn’t even attempt to deny the accusations. Instead, he seemed more concerned with what had happened to Desiree and where to go from here.

  “She might think this is one of the bishop’s tests,” Niccolo said, finally. “He forced her to write letters and tortured her for years. Maybe she thinks he orchestrated the kidnapping and that this is just another situation where she’s supposed to prove her loyalty to him.”

  Arthur hadn’t thought of that possibility, but it might hold truth. Desiree had no way of knowing that the bishop had gone on the run for real, and the details could fit ways he’d acted previously. “Could be.”

  “In which case, maybe she does know something and feels afraid to tell us because he would punish her.”

  Arthur hesitated, and then said, “No. I talked to her at length. I don’t think she knows anything.”

  “With the life she’s lived, she’d probably get quite good at pretending. She fears you, but no doubt she feels more afraid of him. After years of torture, if she thinks this is one of his tests, then no way would she tell you anything.”

  “It’s possible. Unfortunately, we can’t do much about it. I did sort of kidnap her, and no matter how many times I promise I’m not working with the bishop, she will never believe me.”

  “I can talk to her.”

  “You think she will believe you?”

  “No,” Niccolo said. “But if she knows anything at all, then we need to at least try.”

  Arthur nodded. “It sounds like a good plan. Try to win her over, and I’ll stay out of the way. Just try to get her to believe that any information she gives you, we will use to put the bishop away. We can keep her safe but only if we can find the bishop.”

  “Can we, though?”

  “Can we what?”

  “Can we keep her safe?”

  “We will bring the bishop to justice, and once he’s safely locked away in the Vatican, she’ll be free of him.”

  “What if she helps us, and we fail to stop the bishop? Then, we’ll have asked her to increase her risk while she remains in danger.”

  “We will.”

  “But what if we don’t?”

  “You overthink things.” Arthur shook his head. “We don’t have time to stop and worry about what might go wrong. We just need to deal with what we have, and
right now, we have her. She gives us an asset, and brings the only clear link we have to the bishop, and if you can’t get her to talk, then our entire mission might die before it begins.”

  He’d told a lie, at least partly. Arthur also pursued other avenues to find out where Bishop Glasser might have hidden out, but they would prove considerably more dangerous and problematic than if Desiree had information.

  He hadn’t thought that Niccolo could get anything out of her, but if that possibility existed, it would be worth a lot. Their tenuous position would become much more solid if Niccolo managed to get the woman to divulge any relevant information.

  “Fine,” Niccolo said, standing up from the couch. “I’ll try to talk to her.”

  “Okay.”

  Niccolo hesitated in the living room for a moment longer before heading for the exit that led out through the front door of the cabin. With one last meaningful look toward Arthur, he opened it and disappeared outside.

  Arthur watched him go, and then leaned back on the couch. It impressed him that Niccolo had the willingness to address the problem head-on, and Arthur grew hopeful that he might manage to get some information ... but he also didn’t get his hopes up too high. He had spoken to Desiree extensively when he’d first kidnapped her, and even though it remained possible that Niccolo had it correct about her motivations, it seemed significantly more likely that she simply didn’t know anything of use.

  The bishop stayed careful and guarded, and the likelihood that he would slip up and give important information to a victim didn’t appear that plausible.

  Still, it seemed better than nothing.

  Plus, it would give him a chance to further evaluate Niccolo before they headed out into the dangerous real world. He needed to see the priest’s capabilities and hoped Niccolo would turn out as a resourceful and valuable companion in all of this, and only time would tell.

  Chapter 4

  Niccolo found Desiree out on the front porch with a sad look on her face as she stared off into the distance. She twirled her stew with her spoon, but it looked like she’d eaten little of it.