Chapter 57 Chapter 55 St. Peter's Church, Sacristy

The priests who assisted Cardinal Gasser in Mass were helping each other with the vestments in the sacristy, near the entrance to St. Peter's.There were also a few youths serving there, waiting for the cardinal to appear.The ceremony took place five minutes later.They are not allowed into the main meeting room. At this time, there was no one else in the exhibition hall of the church, only two nuns serving Gase, a cardinal Paul Jack who was going to attend mass with Gase, and a Swiss security guard standing at the gate. Karowski felt comfortable with the bulge in the clothes, where the knife and gun were hidden.In his head he calculated the time to act.

He was finally on the verge of his reward.The time has finally come. "We can't go through the Santa Ana Gate at all. It is very guarded and only authorized personnel from the Vatican are allowed to pass through." Paula and Antony secretly scouted the entrance to the Vatican from a distance, watching carefully and taking care not to attract attention. In 50 minutes, Mass will begin in St. Peter's Church. When Gase's name appeared on the Santa Maria devotion card about 30 minutes earlier, Paula and Anthony immediately started looking online.From the news agency they already knew when and where Gase was going to appear, and had a good idea of ​​who would want to meet him.

So they came to St. Peter's Square. "We have to go in through the gate." "Impossible. It's the most old-fashioned death trap. There are security guards everywhere, except for the gate, which is reserved for the public, and they will wait for us there. Even if we manage to get in, there is no way we can get close to the altar. Gasser and the cardinal who presides with him will enter from the sacristy of St. Peter's. From there there is no obstacle to the route to the church. They will not use the main altar, which only the Pope can use, but they A secondary altar will be used, and even then there will be at least 800 people attending this Mass."

"Will Kaloski appear in front of so many people?" "The problem we have right now, officer, is that we don't know what part everyone is playing in this drama. If the Holy League wanted Gasser dead, they wouldn't let us stop them at this Mass. If they wanted They wouldn't let us warn the Cardinal to catch Karowski. He was their bait. But I know, anyway, this should be the last scene of this tragedy." "But there's no you or me in this scene. It's a quarter past eleven." "Not necessarily. We're going to find a way to get into the church. Get out of Serling's men and sneak into the sacristy. We're going to stop Gasser from starting mass."

"So what shall we do, Father?" "We're going to take a route that Sellin never dreamed of." Four minutes later they stood in front of a cold four-story building.Paula knew Anthony was right.Sellin never thought that Anthony would come here and knock on the door, and he voluntarily stood in front of the gate of the Holy See and knocked on the door. One of the entrances to St. Peter's Basilica is located between the small building of the Holy See and the Hotel Bernini.There's a partition and a guard here.Usually two Swiss security guards are on duty.It's Sunday, and there are five security guards, plus one Vatican policeman.He held a file in his hand that contained a photo of Anthony and Paula, both of whom had innocent expressions on their faces.The policeman saw the two people approaching him, and felt that it matched the photo in his hand, but he only saw them once, and the two disappeared, and he was not sure whether it was these two people.But he couldn't leave his post without authorization, so he didn't chase them.His orders were to report immediately if the pair attempted to enter the Vatican.In order to stop them, he can take necessary acts of force.He understood that these two people needed special vigilance, and he turned on the walkie-talkie to report what he had just discovered.

Just around the corner from Porta Botha, at a guard point 60 paces from the police, is the entrance to the Holy See.The door is locked, but there is a bell on it.Anthony's hand seemed glued to the doorbell and kept ringing until he heard movement inside.The face of an old priest appeared through the crack in the doorway. "What are you going to do?" he said, his voice unhappy. "We want to see Bishop Hannar." "Who are you?" "Father Fowler." "I do not recognize." "I'm an old friend of his." "Bishop Hannar is resting. It's Sunday and it's closed. Goodbye," he said, ready to dismiss them like flies.

"So can you tell me in which hospital or cemetery Bishop Hannar can be found?" The old priest was taken aback. "What did you say?" "Bishop Hannar told me he wouldn't rest until I paid for my sin. So he must be sick or dead by now. No other explanation." There was some change on the priest's face, from hostility to some disgusting expression. "It seems that you know Bishop Hannar. Please wait here." The priest closed the door in front of Anthony. "How do you know that Bishop Hannar is already inside?" "Because he's never had a Sunday off in his life, and if he did today, something unfortunate must have happened."

"Is he your friend?" Anthony cleared his throat. "The truth is, I'm the person he hates the most in the world. Hannar oversees the day-to-day work of the clergy. He's a Jesuit of German origin. When the mission of the Holy Alliance overseas got out of control, He just reined in. A Christian version of the Ministry of the Interior. He took me to court and he hated me so much because I refused to say a word about that mission." "But you were acquitted?" "It's actually very mysterious. He said he put a curse on all the places with my name, and he said that sooner or later the Pope would sign the sentence against me."

"curse?" "It's the decree of final excommunication. Hannar knows that's the only thing I'm afraid of in the world: I've given my life to the church, and when I die, the church is going to stop me from going to heaven .” Paula glanced at him with a complicated expression. "So, Father, what are we doing here?" "I've come to make a full confession." The Swiss security guard fell to the ground like a drunk on the street losing his former dignity.Only the slightest sound was left on the marble floor.His throat was cut from one end, and the incision slid to the other, just in time to completely sever the windpipe.

At the sound, a nun came out of the sacristy to check.Before she could cry out, Kaloski punched her hard in the face, and the nun fell face down, unconscious.The killer grabbed her right foot, which was hidden under the robe.He groped for the nun's slender neck, found the lower hand, and kicked it down hard.There was a click on the nun's neck. The second nun poked her head out of the room again with a calm expression on her face.But she needs help. Karowski stabbed the knife deep into the nun's right eye.He threw her to the floor and dragged her down the corridor to the door of the sacristy, where he had already killed someone—the Swiss security guard.

He inspected the three bodies, then glanced into the room to check his watch. He has five minutes to finish his work.