The Last Templar - Страница 34

"What's your point?" Jansson interjected.

"I thought the Templars and the Church were on the same side. I mean, the way I understand it, these guys were the defenders of the Church. They fought bloody wars in the name of the Vatican for over two hundred years. I can imagine their descendants being ticked off at the Church for what happened to them, but the theories you're talking about," he said as he looked at Tess, "are about something they supposedly discovered two hundred years before they were persecuted. Why would they have anything in their possession, from day one, that would worry the Church?"

"It could help explain why they were burned at the stake," Amelia Gaines offered.

"Two hundred years later? And there's another thing," Reilly continued, turning to Tess now.

"These guys went from defending the Cross to desecrating it. Why would they do that? Their initiation ceremonies just don't make sense."

"Well, that's what they were accused of," Tess said. "Doesn't mean they actually did these things. It was a standard accusation at the time. The king used the very same charges a few years earlier to get rid of an earlier pope, Boniface VIII."

"Okay, but it still doesn't make sense," Reilly went on. "Why would they spend all that time fighting for the Church if they were hiding some secret that the Vatican didn't want exposed?"

De Angelis finally rejoined the discussion in his usual dulcet tone. "If I may ... I think that if you're going to entertain such flights of fancy, you might as well consider another possibility that hasn't yet been discussed."

The gathered group turned to face him. He paused, letting the anticipation build before proceeding calmly.

"The whole conjecture about our Lord's bloodline comes up every few years and never fails to generate interest, whether it's in the realm of fiction or in the halls of academia. The Holy Grail, the San Graal, or the Sang Real, call it what you will. But, as Miss Chaykin has very articulately explained," he pointed out, nodding graciously at her, "a lot of what happened to the Templars can simply be explained by that most basic of human traits, namely," turning now to glance at Aparo, "greed. Not only had they gotten too powerful, but without the defense of the Holy Land to keep them occupied, they were now back in Europe—mostly in France—and they were armed, they were powerful, and they were very, very wealthy. The king of France felt threatened and rightfully so.

Being virtually bankrupt and heavily indebted to them, he desperately coveted their wealth. He was a loathsome man by any account; I would be inclined to agree with Miss Chaykin on the whole affair of their arrest. I wouldn't read too much into their accusations. They were undoubtedly innocent, true believers, and Soldiers of Christ to the death. But the accusations gave the king the excuse to get rid of them, and, by doing so, he killed two birds with one stone. He got rid of his rivals and got hold of their treasure. Or at least tried to, given that it was never found."

"This is physical treasure we're talking about now, not some kind of esoteric 'knowledge'?" Jansson asked.

"Well, I like to think so, but then I've never been blessed with a great sense of fantasy, although I do understand the appeal of all the colorful, alternative conspiracy theories. But the physical and the esoteric could be related in another way. You see, a lot of the interest in the Templars stems from the fact that no one can unequivocally explain how they got to be so rich and so powerful in such a short time. I believe it's simply the result of the abundance of donations they received once their mission was widely publicized. But then, who knows? Perhaps they did find some buried secret that made them incredibly wealthy in record time. But what was it? Was it related to the mythical descendants of Christ, proof that our Lord fathered a child or two a thousand years earlier . . ."he scoffed lightly, "or was it something much less controversial, but potentially far more lucrative?"

He waited, making sure they were all still following his line of thought.

"I'm talking about the secrets of alchemy, about the formula to turn ordinary metals," he calmly announced, "into gold."

Chapter 43

The faces around the table were frozen in silence as De Angelis took them through a brief history of the arcane science.

The historical evidence supported his proposition. Alchemy was indeed introduced into Europe during the Crusades. The earliest alchemical works originated in the Middle East and were written in Arabic long before they were translated into Latin.

"The alchemists' experiments were based on Aristorie's theory of earth, air, fire, and water. They believed that everything was made up from a combination of these elements. They also believed that with the right dosage and method, these elements could each be transmuted into any of the others. Water could easily be turned into air by being boiled, and so on. And since everything on the planet was believed to be made up of a combination of earth, water, air, and fire, in theory at least, it was thought possible to transmute any starting material into anything one desired to create. And topping die list of desirables was, of course, gold."

The monsignor explained how alchemy also functioned on a physiological level. Aristotle's four elements also manifested themselves in the four humors: phlegm, blood, bile, and black bile. In a healthy human, the humors were believed to be in balance. Illness was thought to arise from a

deficiency or an excess of one of the humors. Alchemy evolved beyond the search for a recipe that would turn lead into gold. It promised to uncover the secrets to physiological transformations, from sickness to health, or from old age to youth. Furthermore, many alchemists also used the search for this formula as a metaphor for seeking moral perfection, believing that what could be accomplished in nature could also be realized in the heart and mind. In its spiritual guise, the Philosopher's Stone they sought was believed to be capable of causing a spiritual conversion as well as a physical one.

Alchemy promised everything to whoever unlocked its secrets: wealth, longevity, even immortality.

In the twelfth century, however, alchemy was also mysterious and frightening to those who had never experienced it. Alchemists used strange instruments and mystical incantations; they employed cryptic symbolism and suggestive colors in their art. Aristotle's works were eventually banned. At the time, any science, as it was then called, was thought to be a challenge to the authority of the Church; a science that promised spiritual purification was a direct threat to the Church. "Which,"

De Angelis continued, "could be another explanation for the Vatican allowing the Templars' persecution to proceed unchallenged.

"The timing, the location, the origin of it all, everything fits." The monsignor glanced around the table. "Now don't get me wrong." He flashed a comforting smile. "I'm not saying such a formula exists, although to me it's certainly no more of a stretch of the imagination than the other fanciful theories of the Templars' great secret that have been discussed around this table and elsewhere.

What I'm simply saying is that a man who has lost touch with reality could easily believe that such a formula exists."

Tess looked briefly at Reilly and hesitated before turning to face De Angelis. "Why would Vance want to make gold?"

"You forget, the man is not thinking with the clearest of minds. You said so yourself, Miss Chaykin.

One need only look at what happened at the Met to realize that. That was not a plan drawn up by a sane man. So once you keep in mind that the man isn't behaving rationally, anything's possible. It could be a means to an end. Financing to allow him to achieve whatever demented objective he's set himself." He shrugged. "This man, Vance . . . he's clearly delusional, and he's caught in the grip of some nonsensical treasure hunt. It seems to me like you have a madman on your hands, and whatever it is he's after, sooner or later, he's going to realize that he's been chasing a ghost, and I dread to think of how he's going to react when that realization hits."

A disconcerting quiet descended on the table as the assembled few mulled over that sobering thought.

Jansson leaned forward. "Whatever he thinks he's after, he doesn't seem to mind how many dead bodies it takes for him to get there, and we need to stop him. But it seems to me like the only thing we have to work with right now are these damn papers." He was holding up the copy of the manuscript. "If we could read it, it might tell us what his next move is." He turned to Reilly.

"What's the NSA saying?"

"It's not looking good. I spoke to Terry Kendricks before coming in, and he's not optimistic."

"Why not?"

"They know it's a basic polyalphabetic substitution cipher. Nothing too sophisticated. The military used it for decades, but code breaking is all about frequency of occurrence, about patterns; you spot repeated words, deduce what they are, and that gives you something to work off until you ultimately manage to figure out the mnemonic key and work your way back from there. In this case, they simply don't have enough material to work with. If the document were longer, or if they had other documents written in the same code, they'd be able to deduce the key pretty easily. But six pages is just too little to go on."

Jansson's face bent inward. "I don't believe this. Several billion dollars of funding and they still can't crack something a bunch of monks came up with seven hundred years ago?" He shrugged, breathing out through pursed lips for a long moment. "All right. Then we forget about the damn manuscript and concentrate elsewhere. We need to go over everything we have and find a new tack."