Page 83 of The Order

His father, Estermann continued, was a member of the Order of St. Helena, as was their parish priest. Estermann joined when he was a student at Munich’s Ludwig Maximillian University. Three years later, during a particularly chilly phase of the Cold War, he joined the BfV. By any objective measure, he had a fine career, the failure to disrupt the Hamburg Cell notwithstanding. In 2008 he left the counterterrorism division and took command of Department 2, which monitored neo-Nazis and other right-wing extremists.

“A bit like the fox guarding the henhouse, don’t you think?”

“A bit,” admitted Estermann with a wry smile.

He kept a close eye on the worst of the worst, he continued, and helped federal prosecutors put a few behind bars. But for the most part, he worked to advance the country’s rightward drift by shielding extreme political parties and groups from scrutiny, especially when it came to the source of their funding. On the whole, his term as director of Department 2 had been wildly successful. The German far right exploded in size and influence during his tenure. He retired from the BfV in 2014, three years ahead of schedule, and the next day went to work as head of security for the Wolf Group.

“The Order of St. Helena Incorporated.”

“You’ve obviously read Alessandro Ricci’s book.”

“Why did you leave the BfV early?”

“I’d done everything I could from the inside. Besides, by 2014 we were close to achieving our goals. Bishop Richter and Herr Wolf decided that the Project required my full attention.”

“The Project?”

Estermann nodded.

“What was it?”

“A response to an incident that occurred at the Vatican in the autumn of 2006. You might remember it. In fact,” said Estermann, “I believe you were there that day.”

He needlessly reminded Gabriel of the horrific details. The attack had occurred a few minutes after noon, during a Wednesday General Audience in St. Peter’s Square. Three suicide bombers, three shoulder-launch RPG-7s: a calculated insult to the Christian concept of the Trinity, which Islam regarded as polytheism, orshirk. More than seven hundred people were killed, making it the worst terrorist attack since 9/11. Among the dead were the commandant of the Swiss Guard, four curial cardinals, eight bishops, and threemonsignori. The Holy Father would have died as well if Gabriel hadn’t shielded his body from the falling debris.

“And what did Lucchesi and Donati do?” asked Estermann. “They called for dialogue and reconciliation.”

“I assume the Order had a better idea.”

“Islamic terrorists had just attacked the heart of Christendom. Their goal was to turn Western Europe into a colony of the caliphate. Let’s just say that Bishop Richter and Jonas Wolf were in no mood to negotiate the terms of Christianity’s surrender. In fact, when discussing their plan, they borrowed a famous phrase from the Jews.”

“What was that?”

“Never again.”

“How flattering,” said Gabriel. “And the plan?”

“Radical Islam had declared war on the Church and Western civilization. If the Church and Western civilization could notsummon the strength to fight back, the Order would do it for them.”

It was Jonas Wolf, he continued, who chose to call the operation the Project. Bishop Richter had argued for something biblical, something with historical sweep and gravitas. But Wolf insisted on blandness over grandeur. He wanted a harmless-sounding word that could be used in an e-mail or a phone conversation without raising suspicion.

“And the nature of the Project?” asked Gabriel.

“It was to be a twenty-first-century version of the Reconquista.”

“I assume your ambitions weren’t limited to the Iberian Peninsula.”

“No,” said Estermann. “Our goal was to erase the Islamic presence from Western Europe and restore the Church to its proper place of ascendancy.”

“How?”

“The same way our founder, Father Schiller, waged a successful war against communism.”

“By throwing in your lot with fascists?”

“By supporting the election of traditionalist politicians in the predominantly Roman Catholic heartland of Western Europe.” His words had the dryness of a policy paper. “Politicians who would take the difficult but necessary steps to reverse current demographic trends.”

“What sort of steps?”