Page 101 of The Medici Return

Metal grated asphalt.

The brake pedal gave way to a spongey sensation signaling that the pads were not working. He tried the opposite. Jamming the accelerator to the floor, increasing speed, and working the front end as best he could to keep them on the road. But the car continued to drift left, the front rims screaming against the pavement. He strained to keep the vibrating steering wheel under control, but the car began to fishtail even more.

No guardrails anywhere.

“We’re going over,” he said to Richter.

The car veered, then vaulted over the embankment. They tore through scrub, bumping and weaving, sliding across the rocky scree between the trees. They hit one tree, then another, and the car tumbled. Over and over. The windshield shattered into spiderwebs. Trails of light arced before his eyes. Nothinghe could do now. They were at the mercy of gravity, which kept applying itself until they slammed squarely into something hard.

All movement stopped.

And a deep blackness engulfed him.

CHAPTER 69

STEFANO WALKED WITHASCOLANI OUT OF THE MONASTERY’S MAINgate. The car that had just left was one moment speeding down the road, its headlights leading the way, and the next skidding out of control, then disappearing into the trees.

He heard bangs.

Headlights extinguished and darkness resumed control.

“We need to get down there,” he said.

“First, I want to know what happened here.”

“People could be hurt.”

“Father Giumenta, I have the situation under control.”

Which meant there were others here. He caught an edge in the voice. He’d pushed too far. “My apologies, Eminence.”

“Quite all right. Now let’s find the prior.”

They headed back through the gate and into the office.

“Wait out in the cloister for me,” Ascolani said.

Stefano exited, but managed a quick look back through one of the windows. Ascolani was tapping on his phone. He finished, pocketed the unit, and headed his way.

The klaxon had stopped and there were now more brothers up and about, moving in and out of the doors, the cloister alive with light. Ascolani led the way and they were told the prior was insidethe church. There they found him with five other men, including a lay brother in a white cowl, along with a woman whom Stefano assumed to be Camilla Baines.

“It seems that one of our documents has been stolen,” the prior said.

“From the sixteenth century?” Ascolani asked. “Signed by Pope Julius II?”

The prior nodded. “Its significance?”

Ascolani shrugged. “We will have to ask the thieves that.”

“Apparently one of them was Cardinal Jason Richter,” the prior said. “What would he be doing here, stealing?”

“As I mentioned earlier,” Ascolani said, “this is Entity business.”

“That is not good enough, Eminence.” And no respect laced the use of the title. “This facility is under my control and I want answers. As I just made clear to my lay brother, this breach is extremely serious.”

“I have told you all I know.”

“Then I will report this to our prior-general in France, and he can speak with Rome.”