“The attack occurred near sunset,” Kat said. “This is the only camera that caught the assault.”
One of the men pointed an arm, then lurched forward, raising a palm to his chest, then collapsed to the pavement.
“Shot from behind,” Gray noted.
“Igor Koskov,” Kat reported. “The museum archivist.”
On the screen, a clutch of hooded men in black commando gear swarmed the priest. The leader of the group accosted the man and ripped a book from his arms, likely the Greek text that had been photographed. Then the monsignor’s throat was savagely cut. He fell to his hands and knees.
Gray noted him struggling, not to save himself, but to paw free a cell phone. “That must be when he dispatched the file.”
“But why send it to us?” Monk asked. “How did he even have our system’s encrypted number?”
Gray remembered Kat’s question about contacting Vatican City. “Father Bailey must have given it to him.”
“PrefettoBailey,” Kat corrected. “He was promoted to the prefect of the Vatican Apostolic Library a few months ago. I just reached out to his office and asked him to call us back.”
Gray frowned.
Finnigan Bailey was an Irish Roman Catholic priest, one who had a dual PhD in ancient history and classical studies. He also served theChurch in a more clandestine manner, as an operative of the Vatican’sintelligenza. Few were aware that the Vatican had its own intelligence agency, its own spy network. For decades—if not centuries—it had dispatched operatives to infiltrate hate groups, secret societies, hostile countries, wherever the concerns of the Vatican were threatened.
Gray’s history with this organization went back twelve years, when he’d first met Monsignor Vigor Verona, a former member of theintelligenza, an honorable man who would go on to save Gray’s life and whose niece had once captured his heart. Both were now gone, sacrificing themselves to save the world. Before his death, Monsignor Verona has been the prefect of the Vatican library.
“So, Bailey continues to follow in Vigor’s footsteps,” Gray commented. “Even into those dusty archives.”
“He’s been of great help to us in the past,” Kat reminded Gray. “And he may be able to give us some insight into all of this.”
Monk turned to her. “Does your contact in Russian intelligence know anything about the attackers?”
“Not yet. Moscow has dozens of organized crime groups running black markets and trafficking enterprises. At this point, it could be anyone.”
“No,” Seichan said, drawing everyone’s attention. “Run the footage again.”
Kat nodded and rewound the clip. Seichan elbowed closer and leaned her nose to the screen. Again, the murders unfolded in black-and-white.
“Stop it there,” Seichan said, getting Kat to pause as the monsignor’s throat was sliced with a sweep of the assailant’s arm. “I recognize that move.”
Seichan stepped back and pantomimed pivoting on her left toe and sweeping her right arm out. She twisted her wrist at the last moment to deal a deadly and unexpected blow.
Once done, she stared down the group. “I was taught that same maneuver. But another was far more skilled.”
Gray’s stomach gave a sickening lurch.
Seichan pointed to the screen. “That’s Valya Mikhailov.”
7:28P.M.
Seichan resented the doubt in all their faces. “It’s her.”
“Why would Valya’s group be involved in a mugging?” Monk asked, clearly ready to dismiss this possibility.
Only Kat seemed willing to consider it. “If Seichan’s right, this would confirm my earlier supposition about Valya’s location. No doubt, the attack upon us would have been costly to her organization. The planning, the preparation, the execution.”
Monk scoffed. “So she’s refilling her coffers by committing petty larceny, by stealing an old book? That doesn’t sound like her.”
“Unless the book was important,” Gray argued, coming around to Seichan’s side. “The monsignor went to great effort to send that file. Something significant must be tied to it. And Kat’s right. Valya is a mercenary. I wager some group with deep pockets—someone who could afford her services—hired her to interrogate Monsignor Borrelli and secure the book.”
Monk looked unconvinced. “But to commit this murder out in the open, on the street, in view of a camera. That also doesn’t sound like her. She’s far more calculating.”
