Chapter Twenty-One: Thou Shalt Not Kill
The archetype of family, despite the Twentieth Century’s challenges to the institution, is powerful beyond what many would like to believe. The special relationships among wife, husband and child form deep within our psyches, determining more of our actions than our belief in free will allows. From the Bible to Hamlet, from Jung to the Sunday supplement, the notion of familial roles reigns as the crucial motivation of human behavior, both positive and negative. It is a question of degree, of course, how much of what we “decide” to do is influenced by our subconscious feelings toward one or both parents; but whatever the degree, that we are profoundly influenced cannot be gainsaid.
To Argo, Michael was not only the Holy Father, but was the father he never had: a strong presence, a director, a figure of godlike proportion who commanded the utmost respect, and to some degree, even fear. To Michael, Argo was the son he could never have, the son he denied himself, and the son who would one day, if God were willing, lead the Family along the path he had cleared for him.
Michael had been correct about their similarity: the young priest with powers beyond the others, and himself, the incarnate Archangel whose mighty sword he would wield against those who would dare battle him and his own. Superiority of intellect and depth of knowledge provided each man with the wherewithal to control other men, and that they did with the judicious tact of Machiavelli’s prince. However, with those traits was mixed pride and passion, and that combination made each man on his own track unstoppable. What Michael did not know was that they were moving in opposite directions destined to collide.
Argo’s work as the Pope’s voice in the United States was as difficult as Michael had cautioned. Meeting upon meeting with the cardinals did little to convince them that Condicio would in the long run prove to raise the power and influence of the Church. In Latin America, Argo pointed out, there was the beginning of a surge not only in church attendance but also in vocations. Unfortunately, in their country and in Europe, with few exceptions, the opposite was true. The media onslaught was terrific. All major religions excoriated Michael, and ecumenism had become vestigial. Two American cardinals and been officially reprimanded for issuing proclamations against Condicio, and the one who refused to make a retraction was relieved of his position. Even in Paris where the Michelian movement had been so popular there was rebellion and significant diminution.
Argo’s arguments took several tacks. He pointed out that those who left the Church were weak Catholics to begin with, and it was best to be rid of them and their scandalous behavior. Argo even held out hope that when the fallen returned, they would come back better Catholics. He argued that secularists who were openly attacking the Church had always done so and were merely preaching to their own choirs. As for the Jewish and Protestant condemnation of Michael’s encyclical, Argo referred to their long-standing rejection of papal rule and suggested that with this rejection now in the open, the Catholic Church could no longer be thought of as merely one of the three major religions but as one distinct and apart. Catholicism, Argo insisted, was not like any other religion; it was better, and to conflate all religions was to bring the Church down to the lowest common denominator.
However his most daunting argument was when he challenged the carping cardinals to “point to one statement anywhere in the encyclical which is erroneous either theologically or in fact.” As that could not be done, Argo suggested that their complaints were not religious but political. When he then asked if anyone thought that politics should take precedence over truth, the complaints stopped and the cardinals turned to examination of ways to cope religiously as well as politically with the Pope’s ex cathedra pronouncement. “The pope issues proclamations based on truth, not based on what may be easiest for cardinals. It is for us to use that truth provided by the Holy Father to direct our bishoprics to Christ.”
It was the major goal of the Legion of Christ to educate more vigorously and completely in an effort to strengthen the Church from within. That effort, he suggested to the cardinals, should be adopted not only in Legion schools but also in parish schools and from the pulpit. Media distortion of the papacy had to be counteracted everywhere and by everyone, and the majesty of the Church had to be extolled. No longer could priests speak down from the pulpit as if parishioners were incapable of understanding little more than simple parables. Education had to be more rigorous if it were to have any effect. It was necessary to understand that being Catholic was not only for the ovine, though it could be; being Catholic was as complex as life itself, and it was up to the priesthood to guide its people in an understanding of and appreciation for that complexity.
The cardinals were not Argo’s only challenge, and Argo spent much of his effort shaping the media’s view of the Church’s new look. His doctorate in microbiology was little value as the spin doctor he had become. When Argo was a photogenic priest at odds with the Vatican’s view of stem cells, he was much sought after by the media. But when he came to support the teachings of the Church, the novelty wore off, and TV producers no longer pursued him. Argo Cardinal Malle was now a spokesman for the Vatican, and few but the Fox News Channel asked him to appear more than once. There were a few appearances on other cable venues, but on those shows he was the antagonist, often the only voice in support of Condicio on a panel of two or three protagonists. Chris Matthews on MSNBC even asked Argo if Michael’s condemnation of Islam in Condicio were revenge for their assassination attempt. Argo considered for a moment to walk off the set but forestalled the exit until after he skewered the talk show host. Argo’s coup de grace was like the concluding couplet of a Cyrano de Bergerac verse.
“Your weak-mindedness can be excused as a matter of genetics; however, your cowardly slur on the spiritual leader of two billion people is as low as your ratings. Have you no shame, Mr. Mathews?” Mathews had never been carved up so quickly or decisively, and he sat there speechless as Argo unclipped his microphone and simply walked off the set.
Mathews was less unhappy about being excoriated by Argo than by not having gotten to ask him to comment on what had been appearing on Fundamentalist Internet sites. One enterprising blogger had “proven” that the Pope was actually the Beast of the Apocalypse, destined to appear as God’s disciple but in fact would be an agent of Satan himself. When one substituted the number of the alphabet for each letter of the Cardinal’s mailing address, the total added up to 666. “Michel Thomas Abruzzi, 183 Rue De Marteos, Paris, France.”
Yet as forceful as Argo had been in support of the Pope, he was doubtful that the setback to Catholicism would soon be reversed. Matters of religious differences and slights take generations to heal, when they heal at all. While the Church’s core would likely be strengthened in a matter of years, Argo believed its relationship to other religions and to the secular world be damaged beyond repair in his lifetime.
That is why Argo trembled when he sat in the papal conference room with Michael’s aides that winter. It was not the icy rain which pelted Vatican City that chilled Argo to the bone, but the words of a passionate and resolute Michael I, rubbing his pen between his fingers as if to remove the finish.
“You have no doubt read in the papers this weak of the escalation of violence toward our missionaries in the Philippines,” said Michael in Italian to the dozen bishops seated around the centuries old Byzantine conference table. Carmerlengo Belli, sitting on Michael’s right, handed him a news clipping. The headline read, “Zamboaga Sibugay Cease Fire Fails Again.”
“Apparently,” continued Michael, “the government allows the Moro Islamic Liberation Front to operate freely and unchecked. Despite empty words, the radical Islamists continue to slaughter and maim our children. The government offers them no protection, and turns the other way to what is truly genocide. Only when there is criticism from abroad does the government give lip service to their opposition of the Moros, who then give promises until they embark on their next round of carnage.
“And what is to be done?” he asked looking around the room catching each set of eyes. “In the absence of civil protection by police, the faithful are compelled to exert all necessary means to stop the clergy from being killed by Muslim radicals.” He paused, his pen continuously rolling between his fingers and his eyes fiery steel. It appeared to Argo that he was a lion lying in wait for anyone to tender the slightest objection before pouncing on him for the kill.
“And what do I mean by ‘all necessary means’? Belli handed him a paper written in the Pope’s hand. “First, all Catholic politicians must be encouraged --- indeed forced --- to suspend all other activity except to fight their governments to protect Catholics. They must use all their effort, their supporters, media sources, their political might, toward this end. Those who do not are in violation of Church dicta and are living in sin. Communinion is to be denied them.” He paused again, then added as if it were a dare, “Are there any questions?”
“Second, Catholic police must use their authority to crack down on Muslim radicals even when their governments turn a deaf ear to the pleas of Catholic politicians. If they do not, they are in violation of Church dicta and to be denied Communion. Any questions?”
“Third, all confirmed Catholics, laity and clergy, must act in place of the law when no meaningful law exists or when extant laws are ignored by enforcement officials.” Several of the cardinals looked down, but Argo kept his eyes on Michael.
“Now,” said Michael, his head lowered like a bull ready for an attack. “Are they any questions?” he challenged them. “Now is the time for you to raise questions or level arguments. When we leave this room, we will leave as one.”
Cardinal Marco Chan, a small man with a round face and slow eyes was the first to speak. His voice was thin, his Italian poor, his words measured. “Then, Your Holiness, we are to condone violence to prevent violence.”
“I applaud the simplicity of your observation. Would that your obvious objection were not quite so simple,” said Michael with a sneer Argo had not seen before. “It is not, Cardinal Chan, a sin to use physical force when necessary to protect members of the church, laity or clergy. It is, in fact, the opposite. To do nothing in the face of wonton killing is the sin. Not to act against such violence against the Church when one has the wherewithal to do so is itself a sin, even if the action may bring harm to oneself. Or in your case, make your soft world more rocky.”
“The politicians are likely to fail,” said Hans deLange, the conservative Cardinal from the Netherlands.
“The sin is not in the failure, Cardinal deLange, but in the failure to make the attempt,” answered Michael coldly. “Would you suggest generals fail to use their armies because their efforts may fail?”
Argo thought that the answer was yes, if there were little hope of success. It was a recipe for disater: the Pope encouraging use of physical force against terrorists. Radical Muslims, while they were causing damage, would eventually fail. To engage them on their terms would only provide more impetous to continue their savagry.
“Antonio, give me that second page,” he asked, adjusting his glasses before reading aloud.
“I declare the Moslem religion an abomination, as it has been since its inception. Moslem clerics have done nothing to stop their radical elements from perpetrating heinous crimes against Catholics and Jews despite their continual pleas and even those from secular governments. No religion can be accepted that advocates murder, as the Koran unequivocally states. Governments tolerating such a religion are complicit even though their attempt, doubtless misguided, is to honor all religions equally. A religion which advocates violence and which does little if anything to rein in its terrorists, tacitly supports that terrorism and is therefore a godless institution in need of removal like the metastatic cancer it is.”
The room was still, and Argo saw a number of eyes meet knowingly. Pope Michael was about to declare a modern Crusade against Islam, and there was silence.
“I have sent this, along with others, to the Curia for their review. If there are no further questions or comments, we will convene again when the Curia responds.” Michael with a slight wave of his hand signaled the group to leave. “Argo, please wait.”
When the room was empty except for Carmerlengo Belli, Michael addressed Argo. In a manner he had reserved only for him, Michael said softly, “You did not speak.”
“I had no questions, Your Holiness.”
“Nor any thoughts?”
“I am certain, Your Holiness, that your vision is greater than mine.”
“Then you will not share with your Holy Father your thoughts,” he said with a half smile, looking over to Belli for an instant before returning to Argo.
“I will, if you wish.”
“I do.”
Argo’s voice was low, and his eyes lower. “I fear the effect of such edicts, Your Holiness.”
“Your silence said as much.”
“I have faith, however, that Your Holiness is guided by the Lord in a way no other is,” Argo lied.
Michael made the sign of the cross at Argo before pulling him close and kissing his cheek. “Go, my son, the battle has begun, and you have much to do.”
Exactly what Argo had to do was not yet clear to him.
l
It was impossible for Argo to work, and with an inbox loaded and 200 emails to answer, he lay on his bed ruminating over the looming catastrophe that was about to shake the world.
Argo understood Michael, perhaps because they shared many of the same character traits. Michael was a man unafraid to take action, supremely confident, and driven to succeed. He had every reason to believe he was an extraordinary leader. He had risen to the papacy and was for two billion Catholics the beacon lighting the path to heaven. As the great visionaries of the American and French Revolutions against all odds leveled a successful revolution from the monarchy to establish a democratic order that continues to flourish, Michael would lead his church from an effete institution to the paragon of religious order. Michael will return the Church to its rightful leadership of the civilized world, and he will do so, despite the objections of the Curia, by taking extreme action of the kind that had not been undertaken for a thousand years. He is convinced that a crusade against Islam will not only prevent continued atrocities against the innocent but will also demonstrate to secularists the power and majesty of the Catholic Church. After the battle is won, from the ashes and debris will rise the Phoenix. The Roman Catholic Church, the one true and perfect religion, will reign again as the means for every person on earth to enter the gates of heaven.
In this, Argo was convinced that Michael was mad. Spartan in his life as a priest, bishop, and cardinal, he was as pope Spartan in his willingness to wage war. Of course, from childhood Argo regonized the value of returning agression both as a defense and a deterrent, and he had proven capable of using it. However, to declare war on two billion Muslims was insane and would be catastrophic. A thousand years ago, such wars were possible. Then the Church partnered with governments, feudal entities, and in many instances led them. But over the centuries the Church has ceded to Caesar the temporal and retained the spiritual. To obvert that now at the outset of the third millennium was insanity.
It seemed that whatever the patholgy, Michael had proven himself unfit to lead. His rise in the Church was aided by a “miracle” that was hardly divine, and his election to Pope was obviously a mistake made by the Council of Cardinals who had no evidence of the seeds of megalomania that now had grown to fruition.
Argo knew well the value of keeping hidden certain aspect of one’s true self. All gifted leaders had to do so if they are to be successful. Along with fortuitous circumstances and guile, Michael did what he had to do to rise to the top of the Church, and had now become dangerous. Much in the way radical imams were, Michael was particulalrly dangerous because he believed he was doing the will of God. No objections from man, no matter how fact based and well-reasoned, can withstand the will of God. And it was the will of God that tortured Argo as he lay on his bed in the middle of the day.
A summer storm had drenched Connecticut, and Argo would not have minded if it drowned him as it was doing the tender shrubs outside his new rectory. Argo’s entire religious life was predicated on the supremacy of the papacy. As an officer in the Legion of Christ especially, absolute dedication to the notion of papal infallibility was unquestioned. Popes were men, after all, and as men they could be in error. But when they issue ex cathedra documents, they are using the words of God. Of this, Argo was certain. He was also certain that no objections from the Curia could prevent a pope from issuing an ex cathedra document. How, after all, could God allow error to be proclaimed in His name?
The Church was not a democracy but a dictatorship led by a benevolent leader divinely inspired by God. Even on a naval vessel on which the captain rules with an iron hand, the mates can decide to relieve him of his command if they collectively believe him to be unfit. No such provision exists in the Catholic Church. If it did, there would be a chance to remove Michael before the publication of his second encylical. As it stood, however, all the Curia could do was exhort His Holiness not to execute an edict sure to lead to disaster and to pray mightily that God would intervene.
The latter was the only real hope, and Argo considered what sort of intervention there might be. Absent the appearance of the Holy Ghost to warn Michael, any intervention would be a wordly one. A stroke or heart attack would do, but that would be a true miracle, unlike the one that trigered Michael’s ascension.
Argo recalled his lunches with Michael, each of which at one time or other addressed the nature of a truly great leader. Michael had asked Argo whether he was such a man, able to act regardless of the prevailing wisdom. Did he have the stength to trust his own inner voice because he knew it to be a superior one, incapable of being untracked by doubts common to lesser individuals. Argo said he was, and he believed it then. But now there was doubt.
Nietzshe postulated that truly great men had no doubt, that doubt was a sure sign of the ordinary. Regret for having acted was the other. However, the irrational blatherings of the insane, even if somehow they have achieved greatness in the literary world, were not to be taken seriously. The question for Argo was whether he was to exercise whatever influence he could on Michael and pray that he could change his mind, or whether he was an instrument of God destined himself to stop Micheal.
If he were truly great, Argo would be able to do the unthinkable. But was he truly great or merely talented? In his thrities, Argo had already risen to be a confident of the Pope. Yet his drive to succeed did not obscure sensitivity toward his competitors, and he was most capable of tenderness and love. However, before everything, before himself and Willow, he sacrificed so that he might be worthy of being a Legionary. His was an honest, quite selfless dedication to making the world more Christlike. Argo had reached charism.
In so far as such is possible, this was his true assessment of what he was, unfettered by false modesty. As a scientist it was fact which led him to conclusions, not vainglory or hope. Yet his assests, as renowned as they were, did little to satisfy his deeply set thirst to be better than he was. The truly great, it seems, are never quenched. In Argo there was the haunting realization that no matter how much more intelligent, more sensitive, more accomplished, even more handsome, he may have been among others; he was in truth intellectually flawed, mired in the mundane, lacking in knowledge, and trapped in a weak and putrid body. His thimble may have been larger than the others’, but there was Niagara Falls.
Like the steady rain tapping against his window, ideas came fast an unrelenting. If Michael were to be stopped, he would have to be unable to communicate in any way, and that would mean his death. Joe Machiarolla had men who could do it. A sharpshooter could be used during the Pope’s trip to New York where he was scheduled to say mass at Yankee Stadium. The problem would be how to get the weapon passed the metal detectors and would have to be placed in the stadium before the security people set up barriers. Machiarolla’s men would have little trouble secreting the weapon, perhaps in a dropped ceiling in the men’s room or hidden among a cluttered maintenance closet. The shooter would need a safe retreat after the shot, and that would require several other men to create a passage for his escape by blocking others from stopping him. The shooter could be wearing a simple disguise, a wig, which he could remove once out of the grandstand.
However, that would require Argo’s dependence on others, many others, including the cooperation of Machiarolla. How could Argo explain to him that the Pope had to be killed, and how could he live with telling his friend the horror he was about? Even if it could be accomplished, there were too many variables. Argo covered his head with his pillow, embarrassed even to have thought the preposterous idea.
No, if Michael were to die, it would have to be by his own hand. He had ready access to the Pope, and he really could trust no one but himself to accomplish the task. However, to commit cold-blooded murder, to kill the man who loved him, the Pope who raised him to cardinal? What kind of demon was possessing him?
“If you did it, you would be so much more the man!” shot through his mind as he quickly rose from the bed. He would make the Stations of the Cross, and the pain of Jesus who suffered in Gethsemane before his crucifixion would lesson his own torment. Even before he reached the chapel, Argo had decided that he was simply unable to go through with it.
As it had always after making the stations, Argo’s pain would dissipate. When he compared his meager suffering with that of the Lord, he could accept his own as a way, somehow, to have lessened that of Jesus. However, this time it was not about pain; it was about doubt, and Argo trudged back through the driving rain feeling no better than when he arrived. There was a buzz inside him like a fly on a window, frustrating and hopeless. It was natural to fear what had to be done. As Jesus in the garden suffered from fear in the knowledge of the pain that awaited him, Argo was suffering now. Great men always had doubts and fears, but great men also knew what had to be done, and they had been given the gifts to see their greatness fulfilled.
Ago busied himself with desk work he hoped would provide surcease from what might lay ahead. However at dinner, which he took alone, what had been flittering and gosssamer notions flashing thoughout the day became palpable ideas and the bases of a workable plot. The deed would best be done when he was alone with Michael, likely at lunch or dinner. However, if Argo were even to be suspected of the deed, damage would be done not only to him but to the Legion and ultimately the Church. A Cardinal killing a pope would be almost as bad as the publication of the second encyclical, though not quite. Argo would be seen as deranged, perhaps, and the scandal would be horrendous but temporary; the encyclical would be binding for all time and would ultimatley destroy the Church.
Argo would have to ensure beyond question that he would not be implicated. That would mean that he could not use a weapon; any weapon would surely be traced back to the last man to see the Pope alive. Poison of some type would obviate the need for a weapon, but one cannot simply go to a druggist and ask for it. And even if that were possible, records of such sales were surely kept.
Argo was on the Internet searching scores of sites dealing with poisons of all sorts. In under an hour he learned that strychnine was as deadly as it was easily and annonymously purchased. Mostly used in a mixture to poison rats, strychnine was used in a purer more deadly form to kill gophers. Ingested by humans, the slightest amount caused severe illness. Only 5 grams was lethal, and there was no antidote.
Argo learned that it was easily crushed into pink flakes, was easily traced on clothes and hands, and caused a painful death in 15 to 30 minutes. As strychnine attacks the nervous system almost immediately on ingestion, breathing is severely restricted and use of the vocal cords becomes next to impossible. Several sites explained in lurid detail how pulverized strychnine can be mixed with food and drink, its acrid taste mollified by sweet basil. Of interest to Argo was that strychnine had been used in small doses to cure a number of digestive problems until other, more effective medicines had made it superfluous. Its use as a medication was banned in the 1930’s.
The next morning, after backing up his important files on a flash drive and reverting the hard drive to its original state, he removed it from his laptop and drove it to New Haven to be dumped. Argo now had part of a plan, but he still had no way of ensuring that he would not be suspected. Assuming he were able to get the powder into Michael, Argo’s being alone with him when he was poisoned would surely make him the prime suspect. In addition, there were his clothes and hands to consider.
The latter concerns could be handled easily. The clothes he wore could be washed or destroyed as could any materials he would use to cursh the gopher bait, which he would do in woods far from Cheshire. The small amount of powder necessary could be wrapped in a napkin or paper towel and carried in a platic bag. However, that still left him with the biggest question of all: how he could possibly avoid suspicion.
The next day, Argo learned from Rome that the Curia had gone into seclusion and received notice that Michael’s aides would meet in three weeks regardless. It was uncertain how long the Curia would be incommunicado; what was not uncertain was the Herculean task they faced. If their efforts were indeed mythologic, Argo was certain they were trapped in the Minotaur’s cave without Ariadne’s thread. Only Argo knew the the way out of the mythic bull’s maze, or the papal bull’s cataclysm. While the others were uselessly searching canon law and praying; Argo, against the possibility that their prayers would not be answered, was sharpening the sword of Theseus.
l
Argo had fallen asleep with the soultion to his problem, and when he awoke that morning, the light of day made real his nighttime visions, and the reality hollowed his stomach. He was unsure what would become of him afterward, but he knew that aside from himself, the only person who would truly be affected was Willow. They had lived separate lives, as many couples with different careers in different places do, but their close emotional ties bound them closer than others he had known who shared a house. Theirs was a bond secured by generosity and mutual support, and the prospect of losing that was as harrowing as it was looming. He would have to find a way to prepare her for what, though no fault of her own, she was about to face. He had three weeks before he had to be in Rome, and he would share as much of it with her.
Sadly, their time together was limited, and they separated with her anger as great as his sadness. As is it often happens, the private lives of the publicly successful fail to measure up, and those with the most, lose more than they know. Argo’s guilt was wrenching. He could not make happy the person he cared about most, and he was sorrowfully aware that this was the great failure in a life full of successes. Despite his greatest effort, Argo was unable at once to serve God and love Willow.
For the first time Argo thought perhaps he had been wrong about celibacy. Had they been married, would Argo not now be on a plane to the Vatican with a plastic bag hidden deep in his pocket knowing that its contents will sacrifice not only his career but Willow’s happiness. However, they were not married, and Argo was about to transcend the law, as all great men have done, to the benefit of mankind. And he would do so without knowledge of anyone else, without the glory, only the satisfaction in knowing that he was using his gifts from God to save his church.
l
The meeting with Michael had gone as Argo had suspected. Michael announced that he had almost completed a second encylical, yet to be named, and the Curia was opposed to several key sections, including those expressed at their last meeting the month before. Michael was as resolute as always and particularly irritated by those who tendered even the most deferential objections. Argo’s was the only voice of support.
After only twenty minutes, Michael adjourned the meeting leaving the staff in silence. Argo sat at the table motionless, the plastic bag protruding inconspicuously from his pocket. It would have to be done, but he would have to wait.
Three excruciatingly long days passed with no word from the papal office. Cabined in his Vatican office for twelve hours at a time, Argo’s heart skipped every time the phone rang, and every time it was a matter that under normal circumstances would have commanded his attention but now was merely a means of helping the time pass. Argo was Odysseus hiding in the Trojan Horse --- waiting and waiting.
On the fourth day, Argo called Michael’s office saying that he had a gift for the Pope he wanted to present before returning to the United States. He was told that the Pope was not seeing visitors, but that the message would be given.
“Please be sure to tell His Holiness that I managed to get a bottle of Dulcimea Reserva, a favorite of his.” Before he returned to his office, Michael had sent him an invitation to dine with him that evening. Argo read the email message and shut his computer and his eyes. There was nothing else that remained to do as a papal aide. Argo had reverted to being a soldier in the Legion of Christ prepared to sacrifice everything for the principle of charism. He kissed the Cross of the Cadre and left his Vatican office never to return.
l
Neither man was dead when the waiter entered the papal dining room and the rushed out calling for security. Argo was rushed to the hospital, but the Pope was already dead by the time the medics arrived. The condition of Cardinal Malle had yet to be determined, but it was clear that the men had been poisoned.
In a matter of minutes, the dining room had been cordoned off and the Vatican locked down. The first investigators on the scene learned from the waiter that the wine had not come from their stock but had been brought by Cardinal Malle. It was more than likely that the wine had been poisoned since everything else had come from the kitchen.
One of the detectives whispered to another that the Cardinal could not be responsible since he himself had drunk the wine. The other just shook his head. The cardinal was still alive, only the Pope was dead. All the cardinal had to do was take less of it to turn suspicion away from himself.
Carmerlengo Belli, knowing the uselessness of demanding that no word of the Pope’s death be leaked until official word had been given, issued the order nonetheless and prepared the following statement for the Vatican press corps: “The Pope has suffered an untimely death. The cause of death is yet unknown.”
By midnight it was learned that the minestrone had been laced with strychnine, not the wine. No trace of strychnine powder was found on the hands or clothes of either victim or on any of those on duty in the kitchen. The pot in which the soup had been cooked had already been washed, but further investigation of the kitchen was continuing. From the condition of the victims, it was assumed that both men had been unconscious for twenty minutes before being found. Argo’s condition was critical but stable, and it was almost certain he would live.
The blogosphere had already determined that Muslim fanatics were responsible, but seasoned investigators could not resist thinking that the last person to see the Pope alive, hospitalized though he was, had to be considered, and his room, office, and personal belongings were already being checked. Two questions would have to be answered if the cardinal in fact poisoned the soup when it was in the dining room: how he managed to do so without being seen by Michael and why there was no trace of it on the cardinal. It was certainly more likely and far easier for someone to have poisoned the tureen unseen before bringing it into the room.
Unfortunately, none of the four men and two women who worked in the kitchen that day seemed likely suspects. The most thorough examinations of their backgrounds and of their homes would be made, and the distributors of the vegetables used in the soup would not be overlooked.
What the investigators could not know and had not surmised is that Argo had the poison wrapped in a paper towel which he kept in his pocket until, while removing the cover of the soup tureen, he “accidentally” knocked Michael’s wine goblet onto his lap. As Michael jumped back from the table, wiped the wine from his lap, and bent below the table to pick up the goblet, Argo emptied the powder into the tureen allowing the paper to unroll and become absorbed in the soup. Later Argo ladled the soup into their bowls ensuring that Michael could not see into the tureen. After Michael had drunk the soup and grew unconscious, Argo swallowed the paper, and with that gulp, any evidence that could be used against him.
l
Argo left the hospital after a week, the media portraying him as a surviving victim both because of his age and because of having ingested less poison. None of the kitchen staff had been charged, and while suspicion still lay over them, it was widely believed that the strychnine was placed in a few pieces of the rolled pasta shells or sliced into the zucchini chunks before they reached the kitchen. Only a few years before, an al-Qaeda type bomb had been used in an attempt on this pope, and it seemed reasonable that this time the terrorists had been successful.
Conspiracy theorists, of course, were certain that the Pope had been assassinated by his own people because they feared the publication of a second encyclical more damaging than the first. Many of the same people believed that Pope John Paul I had been murdered, but they were largely dismissed by the pundits. Still others believed that it was an accident, that somehow rat poison had tainted the vegetables that found their way into the kitchen.
Often as a result of the actions of man, especially those that rattle the earth, the law of unintended consequences becomes manifest. The funeral of the slain Pope gripped the world, and the media narrative, which had drawn Michael I as a villain, now saw him a victim of terrorism. The religious leader of the largest church in world was killed solely because some disapproved of what he had written to his followers. An assault on the freedom of expression, regardless of how unpopular the sentiments, was an assault on every religion, on every university, and on every news outlet in the world. Pope Michael I became a martyr, and his church the object of sympathy.
Argo had suffered serious internal damage and was stricken by recurring headaches and bouts of nausea. He was not, however, stricken by pangs of conscience. Ridding his church of a man whose pathology would have caused its demise was Argo’s greatest achievement. He was certain that the Lord would not have allowed him to have been successful if it were not His will. Argo was truly the agent of God, the wearer of the Cross of the Cadre, and His greatest soldier. Only this son could have saved the Family from the Father weakened by an inner demon and intent on its destruction.
Argo was granted unlimited leave and sent home until it was possible for him to return to his duties.
The archetype of family, despite the Twentieth Century’s challenges to the institution, is powerful beyond what many would like to believe. The special relationships among wife, husband and child form deep within our psyches, determining more of our actions than our belief in free will allows. From the Bible to Hamlet, from Jung to the Sunday supplement, the notion of familial roles reigns as the crucial motivation of human behavior, both positive and negative. It is a question of degree, of course, how much of what we “decide” to do is influenced by our subconscious feelings toward one or both parents; but whatever the degree, that we are profoundly influenced cannot be gainsaid.
To Argo, Michael was not only the Holy Father, but was the father he never had: a strong presence, a director, a figure of godlike proportion who commanded the utmost respect, and to some degree, even fear. To Michael, Argo was the son he could never have, the son he denied himself, and the son who would one day, if God were willing, lead the Family along the path he had cleared for him.
Michael had been correct about their similarity: the young priest with powers beyond the others, and himself, the incarnate Archangel whose mighty sword he would wield against those who would dare battle him and his own. Superiority of intellect and depth of knowledge provided each man with the wherewithal to control other men, and that they did with the judicious tact of Machiavelli’s prince. However, with those traits was mixed pride and passion, and that combination made each man on his own track unstoppable. What Michael did not know was that they were moving in opposite directions destined to collide.
Argo’s work as the Pope’s voice in the United States was as difficult as Michael had cautioned. Meeting upon meeting with the cardinals did little to convince them that Condicio would in the long run prove to raise the power and influence of the Church. In Latin America, Argo pointed out, there was the beginning of a surge not only in church attendance but also in vocations. Unfortunately, in their country and in Europe, with few exceptions, the opposite was true. The media onslaught was terrific. All major religions excoriated Michael, and ecumenism had become vestigial. Two American cardinals and been officially reprimanded for issuing proclamations against Condicio, and the one who refused to make a retraction was relieved of his position. Even in Paris where the Michelian movement had been so popular there was rebellion and significant diminution.
Argo’s arguments took several tacks. He pointed out that those who left the Church were weak Catholics to begin with, and it was best to be rid of them and their scandalous behavior. Argo even held out hope that when the fallen returned, they would come back better Catholics. He argued that secularists who were openly attacking the Church had always done so and were merely preaching to their own choirs. As for the Jewish and Protestant condemnation of Michael’s encyclical, Argo referred to their long-standing rejection of papal rule and suggested that with this rejection now in the open, the Catholic Church could no longer be thought of as merely one of the three major religions but as one distinct and apart. Catholicism, Argo insisted, was not like any other religion; it was better, and to conflate all religions was to bring the Church down to the lowest common denominator.
However his most daunting argument was when he challenged the carping cardinals to “point to one statement anywhere in the encyclical which is erroneous either theologically or in fact.” As that could not be done, Argo suggested that their complaints were not religious but political. When he then asked if anyone thought that politics should take precedence over truth, the complaints stopped and the cardinals turned to examination of ways to cope religiously as well as politically with the Pope’s ex cathedra pronouncement. “The pope issues proclamations based on truth, not based on what may be easiest for cardinals. It is for us to use that truth provided by the Holy Father to direct our bishoprics to Christ.”
It was the major goal of the Legion of Christ to educate more vigorously and completely in an effort to strengthen the Church from within. That effort, he suggested to the cardinals, should be adopted not only in Legion schools but also in parish schools and from the pulpit. Media distortion of the papacy had to be counteracted everywhere and by everyone, and the majesty of the Church had to be extolled. No longer could priests speak down from the pulpit as if parishioners were incapable of understanding little more than simple parables. Education had to be more rigorous if it were to have any effect. It was necessary to understand that being Catholic was not only for the ovine, though it could be; being Catholic was as complex as life itself, and it was up to the priesthood to guide its people in an understanding of and appreciation for that complexity.
The cardinals were not Argo’s only challenge, and Argo spent much of his effort shaping the media’s view of the Church’s new look. His doctorate in microbiology was little value as the spin doctor he had become. When Argo was a photogenic priest at odds with the Vatican’s view of stem cells, he was much sought after by the media. But when he came to support the teachings of the Church, the novelty wore off, and TV producers no longer pursued him. Argo Cardinal Malle was now a spokesman for the Vatican, and few but the Fox News Channel asked him to appear more than once. There were a few appearances on other cable venues, but on those shows he was the antagonist, often the only voice in support of Condicio on a panel of two or three protagonists. Chris Matthews on MSNBC even asked Argo if Michael’s condemnation of Islam in Condicio were revenge for their assassination attempt. Argo considered for a moment to walk off the set but forestalled the exit until after he skewered the talk show host. Argo’s coup de grace was like the concluding couplet of a Cyrano de Bergerac verse.
“Your weak-mindedness can be excused as a matter of genetics; however, your cowardly slur on the spiritual leader of two billion people is as low as your ratings. Have you no shame, Mr. Mathews?” Mathews had never been carved up so quickly or decisively, and he sat there speechless as Argo unclipped his microphone and simply walked off the set.
Mathews was less unhappy about being excoriated by Argo than by not having gotten to ask him to comment on what had been appearing on Fundamentalist Internet sites. One enterprising blogger had “proven” that the Pope was actually the Beast of the Apocalypse, destined to appear as God’s disciple but in fact would be an agent of Satan himself. When one substituted the number of the alphabet for each letter of the Cardinal’s mailing address, the total added up to 666. “Michel Thomas Abruzzi, 183 Rue De Marteos, Paris, France.”
Yet as forceful as Argo had been in support of the Pope, he was doubtful that the setback to Catholicism would soon be reversed. Matters of religious differences and slights take generations to heal, when they heal at all. While the Church’s core would likely be strengthened in a matter of years, Argo believed its relationship to other religions and to the secular world be damaged beyond repair in his lifetime.
That is why Argo trembled when he sat in the papal conference room with Michael’s aides that winter. It was not the icy rain which pelted Vatican City that chilled Argo to the bone, but the words of a passionate and resolute Michael I, rubbing his pen between his fingers as if to remove the finish.
“You have no doubt read in the papers this weak of the escalation of violence toward our missionaries in the Philippines,” said Michael in Italian to the dozen bishops seated around the centuries old Byzantine conference table. Carmerlengo Belli, sitting on Michael’s right, handed him a news clipping. The headline read, “Zamboaga Sibugay Cease Fire Fails Again.”
“Apparently,” continued Michael, “the government allows the Moro Islamic Liberation Front to operate freely and unchecked. Despite empty words, the radical Islamists continue to slaughter and maim our children. The government offers them no protection, and turns the other way to what is truly genocide. Only when there is criticism from abroad does the government give lip service to their opposition of the Moros, who then give promises until they embark on their next round of carnage.
“And what is to be done?” he asked looking around the room catching each set of eyes. “In the absence of civil protection by police, the faithful are compelled to exert all necessary means to stop the clergy from being killed by Muslim radicals.” He paused, his pen continuously rolling between his fingers and his eyes fiery steel. It appeared to Argo that he was a lion lying in wait for anyone to tender the slightest objection before pouncing on him for the kill.
“And what do I mean by ‘all necessary means’? Belli handed him a paper written in the Pope’s hand. “First, all Catholic politicians must be encouraged --- indeed forced --- to suspend all other activity except to fight their governments to protect Catholics. They must use all their effort, their supporters, media sources, their political might, toward this end. Those who do not are in violation of Church dicta and are living in sin. Communinion is to be denied them.” He paused again, then added as if it were a dare, “Are there any questions?”
“Second, Catholic police must use their authority to crack down on Muslim radicals even when their governments turn a deaf ear to the pleas of Catholic politicians. If they do not, they are in violation of Church dicta and to be denied Communion. Any questions?”
“Third, all confirmed Catholics, laity and clergy, must act in place of the law when no meaningful law exists or when extant laws are ignored by enforcement officials.” Several of the cardinals looked down, but Argo kept his eyes on Michael.
“Now,” said Michael, his head lowered like a bull ready for an attack. “Are they any questions?” he challenged them. “Now is the time for you to raise questions or level arguments. When we leave this room, we will leave as one.”
Cardinal Marco Chan, a small man with a round face and slow eyes was the first to speak. His voice was thin, his Italian poor, his words measured. “Then, Your Holiness, we are to condone violence to prevent violence.”
“I applaud the simplicity of your observation. Would that your obvious objection were not quite so simple,” said Michael with a sneer Argo had not seen before. “It is not, Cardinal Chan, a sin to use physical force when necessary to protect members of the church, laity or clergy. It is, in fact, the opposite. To do nothing in the face of wonton killing is the sin. Not to act against such violence against the Church when one has the wherewithal to do so is itself a sin, even if the action may bring harm to oneself. Or in your case, make your soft world more rocky.”
“The politicians are likely to fail,” said Hans deLange, the conservative Cardinal from the Netherlands.
“The sin is not in the failure, Cardinal deLange, but in the failure to make the attempt,” answered Michael coldly. “Would you suggest generals fail to use their armies because their efforts may fail?”
Argo thought that the answer was yes, if there were little hope of success. It was a recipe for disater: the Pope encouraging use of physical force against terrorists. Radical Muslims, while they were causing damage, would eventually fail. To engage them on their terms would only provide more impetous to continue their savagry.
“Antonio, give me that second page,” he asked, adjusting his glasses before reading aloud.
“I declare the Moslem religion an abomination, as it has been since its inception. Moslem clerics have done nothing to stop their radical elements from perpetrating heinous crimes against Catholics and Jews despite their continual pleas and even those from secular governments. No religion can be accepted that advocates murder, as the Koran unequivocally states. Governments tolerating such a religion are complicit even though their attempt, doubtless misguided, is to honor all religions equally. A religion which advocates violence and which does little if anything to rein in its terrorists, tacitly supports that terrorism and is therefore a godless institution in need of removal like the metastatic cancer it is.”
The room was still, and Argo saw a number of eyes meet knowingly. Pope Michael was about to declare a modern Crusade against Islam, and there was silence.
“I have sent this, along with others, to the Curia for their review. If there are no further questions or comments, we will convene again when the Curia responds.” Michael with a slight wave of his hand signaled the group to leave. “Argo, please wait.”
When the room was empty except for Carmerlengo Belli, Michael addressed Argo. In a manner he had reserved only for him, Michael said softly, “You did not speak.”
“I had no questions, Your Holiness.”
“Nor any thoughts?”
“I am certain, Your Holiness, that your vision is greater than mine.”
“Then you will not share with your Holy Father your thoughts,” he said with a half smile, looking over to Belli for an instant before returning to Argo.
“I will, if you wish.”
“I do.”
Argo’s voice was low, and his eyes lower. “I fear the effect of such edicts, Your Holiness.”
“Your silence said as much.”
“I have faith, however, that Your Holiness is guided by the Lord in a way no other is,” Argo lied.
Michael made the sign of the cross at Argo before pulling him close and kissing his cheek. “Go, my son, the battle has begun, and you have much to do.”
Exactly what Argo had to do was not yet clear to him.
l
It was impossible for Argo to work, and with an inbox loaded and 200 emails to answer, he lay on his bed ruminating over the looming catastrophe that was about to shake the world.
Argo understood Michael, perhaps because they shared many of the same character traits. Michael was a man unafraid to take action, supremely confident, and driven to succeed. He had every reason to believe he was an extraordinary leader. He had risen to the papacy and was for two billion Catholics the beacon lighting the path to heaven. As the great visionaries of the American and French Revolutions against all odds leveled a successful revolution from the monarchy to establish a democratic order that continues to flourish, Michael would lead his church from an effete institution to the paragon of religious order. Michael will return the Church to its rightful leadership of the civilized world, and he will do so, despite the objections of the Curia, by taking extreme action of the kind that had not been undertaken for a thousand years. He is convinced that a crusade against Islam will not only prevent continued atrocities against the innocent but will also demonstrate to secularists the power and majesty of the Catholic Church. After the battle is won, from the ashes and debris will rise the Phoenix. The Roman Catholic Church, the one true and perfect religion, will reign again as the means for every person on earth to enter the gates of heaven.
In this, Argo was convinced that Michael was mad. Spartan in his life as a priest, bishop, and cardinal, he was as pope Spartan in his willingness to wage war. Of course, from childhood Argo regonized the value of returning agression both as a defense and a deterrent, and he had proven capable of using it. However, to declare war on two billion Muslims was insane and would be catastrophic. A thousand years ago, such wars were possible. Then the Church partnered with governments, feudal entities, and in many instances led them. But over the centuries the Church has ceded to Caesar the temporal and retained the spiritual. To obvert that now at the outset of the third millennium was insanity.
It seemed that whatever the patholgy, Michael had proven himself unfit to lead. His rise in the Church was aided by a “miracle” that was hardly divine, and his election to Pope was obviously a mistake made by the Council of Cardinals who had no evidence of the seeds of megalomania that now had grown to fruition.
Argo knew well the value of keeping hidden certain aspect of one’s true self. All gifted leaders had to do so if they are to be successful. Along with fortuitous circumstances and guile, Michael did what he had to do to rise to the top of the Church, and had now become dangerous. Much in the way radical imams were, Michael was particulalrly dangerous because he believed he was doing the will of God. No objections from man, no matter how fact based and well-reasoned, can withstand the will of God. And it was the will of God that tortured Argo as he lay on his bed in the middle of the day.
A summer storm had drenched Connecticut, and Argo would not have minded if it drowned him as it was doing the tender shrubs outside his new rectory. Argo’s entire religious life was predicated on the supremacy of the papacy. As an officer in the Legion of Christ especially, absolute dedication to the notion of papal infallibility was unquestioned. Popes were men, after all, and as men they could be in error. But when they issue ex cathedra documents, they are using the words of God. Of this, Argo was certain. He was also certain that no objections from the Curia could prevent a pope from issuing an ex cathedra document. How, after all, could God allow error to be proclaimed in His name?
The Church was not a democracy but a dictatorship led by a benevolent leader divinely inspired by God. Even on a naval vessel on which the captain rules with an iron hand, the mates can decide to relieve him of his command if they collectively believe him to be unfit. No such provision exists in the Catholic Church. If it did, there would be a chance to remove Michael before the publication of his second encylical. As it stood, however, all the Curia could do was exhort His Holiness not to execute an edict sure to lead to disaster and to pray mightily that God would intervene.
The latter was the only real hope, and Argo considered what sort of intervention there might be. Absent the appearance of the Holy Ghost to warn Michael, any intervention would be a wordly one. A stroke or heart attack would do, but that would be a true miracle, unlike the one that trigered Michael’s ascension.
Argo recalled his lunches with Michael, each of which at one time or other addressed the nature of a truly great leader. Michael had asked Argo whether he was such a man, able to act regardless of the prevailing wisdom. Did he have the stength to trust his own inner voice because he knew it to be a superior one, incapable of being untracked by doubts common to lesser individuals. Argo said he was, and he believed it then. But now there was doubt.
Nietzshe postulated that truly great men had no doubt, that doubt was a sure sign of the ordinary. Regret for having acted was the other. However, the irrational blatherings of the insane, even if somehow they have achieved greatness in the literary world, were not to be taken seriously. The question for Argo was whether he was to exercise whatever influence he could on Michael and pray that he could change his mind, or whether he was an instrument of God destined himself to stop Micheal.
If he were truly great, Argo would be able to do the unthinkable. But was he truly great or merely talented? In his thrities, Argo had already risen to be a confident of the Pope. Yet his drive to succeed did not obscure sensitivity toward his competitors, and he was most capable of tenderness and love. However, before everything, before himself and Willow, he sacrificed so that he might be worthy of being a Legionary. His was an honest, quite selfless dedication to making the world more Christlike. Argo had reached charism.
In so far as such is possible, this was his true assessment of what he was, unfettered by false modesty. As a scientist it was fact which led him to conclusions, not vainglory or hope. Yet his assests, as renowned as they were, did little to satisfy his deeply set thirst to be better than he was. The truly great, it seems, are never quenched. In Argo there was the haunting realization that no matter how much more intelligent, more sensitive, more accomplished, even more handsome, he may have been among others; he was in truth intellectually flawed, mired in the mundane, lacking in knowledge, and trapped in a weak and putrid body. His thimble may have been larger than the others’, but there was Niagara Falls.
Like the steady rain tapping against his window, ideas came fast an unrelenting. If Michael were to be stopped, he would have to be unable to communicate in any way, and that would mean his death. Joe Machiarolla had men who could do it. A sharpshooter could be used during the Pope’s trip to New York where he was scheduled to say mass at Yankee Stadium. The problem would be how to get the weapon passed the metal detectors and would have to be placed in the stadium before the security people set up barriers. Machiarolla’s men would have little trouble secreting the weapon, perhaps in a dropped ceiling in the men’s room or hidden among a cluttered maintenance closet. The shooter would need a safe retreat after the shot, and that would require several other men to create a passage for his escape by blocking others from stopping him. The shooter could be wearing a simple disguise, a wig, which he could remove once out of the grandstand.
However, that would require Argo’s dependence on others, many others, including the cooperation of Machiarolla. How could Argo explain to him that the Pope had to be killed, and how could he live with telling his friend the horror he was about? Even if it could be accomplished, there were too many variables. Argo covered his head with his pillow, embarrassed even to have thought the preposterous idea.
No, if Michael were to die, it would have to be by his own hand. He had ready access to the Pope, and he really could trust no one but himself to accomplish the task. However, to commit cold-blooded murder, to kill the man who loved him, the Pope who raised him to cardinal? What kind of demon was possessing him?
“If you did it, you would be so much more the man!” shot through his mind as he quickly rose from the bed. He would make the Stations of the Cross, and the pain of Jesus who suffered in Gethsemane before his crucifixion would lesson his own torment. Even before he reached the chapel, Argo had decided that he was simply unable to go through with it.
As it had always after making the stations, Argo’s pain would dissipate. When he compared his meager suffering with that of the Lord, he could accept his own as a way, somehow, to have lessened that of Jesus. However, this time it was not about pain; it was about doubt, and Argo trudged back through the driving rain feeling no better than when he arrived. There was a buzz inside him like a fly on a window, frustrating and hopeless. It was natural to fear what had to be done. As Jesus in the garden suffered from fear in the knowledge of the pain that awaited him, Argo was suffering now. Great men always had doubts and fears, but great men also knew what had to be done, and they had been given the gifts to see their greatness fulfilled.
Ago busied himself with desk work he hoped would provide surcease from what might lay ahead. However at dinner, which he took alone, what had been flittering and gosssamer notions flashing thoughout the day became palpable ideas and the bases of a workable plot. The deed would best be done when he was alone with Michael, likely at lunch or dinner. However, if Argo were even to be suspected of the deed, damage would be done not only to him but to the Legion and ultimately the Church. A Cardinal killing a pope would be almost as bad as the publication of the second encyclical, though not quite. Argo would be seen as deranged, perhaps, and the scandal would be horrendous but temporary; the encyclical would be binding for all time and would ultimatley destroy the Church.
Argo would have to ensure beyond question that he would not be implicated. That would mean that he could not use a weapon; any weapon would surely be traced back to the last man to see the Pope alive. Poison of some type would obviate the need for a weapon, but one cannot simply go to a druggist and ask for it. And even if that were possible, records of such sales were surely kept.
Argo was on the Internet searching scores of sites dealing with poisons of all sorts. In under an hour he learned that strychnine was as deadly as it was easily and annonymously purchased. Mostly used in a mixture to poison rats, strychnine was used in a purer more deadly form to kill gophers. Ingested by humans, the slightest amount caused severe illness. Only 5 grams was lethal, and there was no antidote.
Argo learned that it was easily crushed into pink flakes, was easily traced on clothes and hands, and caused a painful death in 15 to 30 minutes. As strychnine attacks the nervous system almost immediately on ingestion, breathing is severely restricted and use of the vocal cords becomes next to impossible. Several sites explained in lurid detail how pulverized strychnine can be mixed with food and drink, its acrid taste mollified by sweet basil. Of interest to Argo was that strychnine had been used in small doses to cure a number of digestive problems until other, more effective medicines had made it superfluous. Its use as a medication was banned in the 1930’s.
The next morning, after backing up his important files on a flash drive and reverting the hard drive to its original state, he removed it from his laptop and drove it to New Haven to be dumped. Argo now had part of a plan, but he still had no way of ensuring that he would not be suspected. Assuming he were able to get the powder into Michael, Argo’s being alone with him when he was poisoned would surely make him the prime suspect. In addition, there were his clothes and hands to consider.
The latter concerns could be handled easily. The clothes he wore could be washed or destroyed as could any materials he would use to cursh the gopher bait, which he would do in woods far from Cheshire. The small amount of powder necessary could be wrapped in a napkin or paper towel and carried in a platic bag. However, that still left him with the biggest question of all: how he could possibly avoid suspicion.
The next day, Argo learned from Rome that the Curia had gone into seclusion and received notice that Michael’s aides would meet in three weeks regardless. It was uncertain how long the Curia would be incommunicado; what was not uncertain was the Herculean task they faced. If their efforts were indeed mythologic, Argo was certain they were trapped in the Minotaur’s cave without Ariadne’s thread. Only Argo knew the the way out of the mythic bull’s maze, or the papal bull’s cataclysm. While the others were uselessly searching canon law and praying; Argo, against the possibility that their prayers would not be answered, was sharpening the sword of Theseus.
l
Argo had fallen asleep with the soultion to his problem, and when he awoke that morning, the light of day made real his nighttime visions, and the reality hollowed his stomach. He was unsure what would become of him afterward, but he knew that aside from himself, the only person who would truly be affected was Willow. They had lived separate lives, as many couples with different careers in different places do, but their close emotional ties bound them closer than others he had known who shared a house. Theirs was a bond secured by generosity and mutual support, and the prospect of losing that was as harrowing as it was looming. He would have to find a way to prepare her for what, though no fault of her own, she was about to face. He had three weeks before he had to be in Rome, and he would share as much of it with her.
Sadly, their time together was limited, and they separated with her anger as great as his sadness. As is it often happens, the private lives of the publicly successful fail to measure up, and those with the most, lose more than they know. Argo’s guilt was wrenching. He could not make happy the person he cared about most, and he was sorrowfully aware that this was the great failure in a life full of successes. Despite his greatest effort, Argo was unable at once to serve God and love Willow.
For the first time Argo thought perhaps he had been wrong about celibacy. Had they been married, would Argo not now be on a plane to the Vatican with a plastic bag hidden deep in his pocket knowing that its contents will sacrifice not only his career but Willow’s happiness. However, they were not married, and Argo was about to transcend the law, as all great men have done, to the benefit of mankind. And he would do so without knowledge of anyone else, without the glory, only the satisfaction in knowing that he was using his gifts from God to save his church.
l
The meeting with Michael had gone as Argo had suspected. Michael announced that he had almost completed a second encylical, yet to be named, and the Curia was opposed to several key sections, including those expressed at their last meeting the month before. Michael was as resolute as always and particularly irritated by those who tendered even the most deferential objections. Argo’s was the only voice of support.
After only twenty minutes, Michael adjourned the meeting leaving the staff in silence. Argo sat at the table motionless, the plastic bag protruding inconspicuously from his pocket. It would have to be done, but he would have to wait.
Three excruciatingly long days passed with no word from the papal office. Cabined in his Vatican office for twelve hours at a time, Argo’s heart skipped every time the phone rang, and every time it was a matter that under normal circumstances would have commanded his attention but now was merely a means of helping the time pass. Argo was Odysseus hiding in the Trojan Horse --- waiting and waiting.
On the fourth day, Argo called Michael’s office saying that he had a gift for the Pope he wanted to present before returning to the United States. He was told that the Pope was not seeing visitors, but that the message would be given.
“Please be sure to tell His Holiness that I managed to get a bottle of Dulcimea Reserva, a favorite of his.” Before he returned to his office, Michael had sent him an invitation to dine with him that evening. Argo read the email message and shut his computer and his eyes. There was nothing else that remained to do as a papal aide. Argo had reverted to being a soldier in the Legion of Christ prepared to sacrifice everything for the principle of charism. He kissed the Cross of the Cadre and left his Vatican office never to return.
l
Neither man was dead when the waiter entered the papal dining room and the rushed out calling for security. Argo was rushed to the hospital, but the Pope was already dead by the time the medics arrived. The condition of Cardinal Malle had yet to be determined, but it was clear that the men had been poisoned.
In a matter of minutes, the dining room had been cordoned off and the Vatican locked down. The first investigators on the scene learned from the waiter that the wine had not come from their stock but had been brought by Cardinal Malle. It was more than likely that the wine had been poisoned since everything else had come from the kitchen.
One of the detectives whispered to another that the Cardinal could not be responsible since he himself had drunk the wine. The other just shook his head. The cardinal was still alive, only the Pope was dead. All the cardinal had to do was take less of it to turn suspicion away from himself.
Carmerlengo Belli, knowing the uselessness of demanding that no word of the Pope’s death be leaked until official word had been given, issued the order nonetheless and prepared the following statement for the Vatican press corps: “The Pope has suffered an untimely death. The cause of death is yet unknown.”
By midnight it was learned that the minestrone had been laced with strychnine, not the wine. No trace of strychnine powder was found on the hands or clothes of either victim or on any of those on duty in the kitchen. The pot in which the soup had been cooked had already been washed, but further investigation of the kitchen was continuing. From the condition of the victims, it was assumed that both men had been unconscious for twenty minutes before being found. Argo’s condition was critical but stable, and it was almost certain he would live.
The blogosphere had already determined that Muslim fanatics were responsible, but seasoned investigators could not resist thinking that the last person to see the Pope alive, hospitalized though he was, had to be considered, and his room, office, and personal belongings were already being checked. Two questions would have to be answered if the cardinal in fact poisoned the soup when it was in the dining room: how he managed to do so without being seen by Michael and why there was no trace of it on the cardinal. It was certainly more likely and far easier for someone to have poisoned the tureen unseen before bringing it into the room.
Unfortunately, none of the four men and two women who worked in the kitchen that day seemed likely suspects. The most thorough examinations of their backgrounds and of their homes would be made, and the distributors of the vegetables used in the soup would not be overlooked.
What the investigators could not know and had not surmised is that Argo had the poison wrapped in a paper towel which he kept in his pocket until, while removing the cover of the soup tureen, he “accidentally” knocked Michael’s wine goblet onto his lap. As Michael jumped back from the table, wiped the wine from his lap, and bent below the table to pick up the goblet, Argo emptied the powder into the tureen allowing the paper to unroll and become absorbed in the soup. Later Argo ladled the soup into their bowls ensuring that Michael could not see into the tureen. After Michael had drunk the soup and grew unconscious, Argo swallowed the paper, and with that gulp, any evidence that could be used against him.
l
Argo left the hospital after a week, the media portraying him as a surviving victim both because of his age and because of having ingested less poison. None of the kitchen staff had been charged, and while suspicion still lay over them, it was widely believed that the strychnine was placed in a few pieces of the rolled pasta shells or sliced into the zucchini chunks before they reached the kitchen. Only a few years before, an al-Qaeda type bomb had been used in an attempt on this pope, and it seemed reasonable that this time the terrorists had been successful.
Conspiracy theorists, of course, were certain that the Pope had been assassinated by his own people because they feared the publication of a second encyclical more damaging than the first. Many of the same people believed that Pope John Paul I had been murdered, but they were largely dismissed by the pundits. Still others believed that it was an accident, that somehow rat poison had tainted the vegetables that found their way into the kitchen.
Often as a result of the actions of man, especially those that rattle the earth, the law of unintended consequences becomes manifest. The funeral of the slain Pope gripped the world, and the media narrative, which had drawn Michael I as a villain, now saw him a victim of terrorism. The religious leader of the largest church in world was killed solely because some disapproved of what he had written to his followers. An assault on the freedom of expression, regardless of how unpopular the sentiments, was an assault on every religion, on every university, and on every news outlet in the world. Pope Michael I became a martyr, and his church the object of sympathy.
Argo had suffered serious internal damage and was stricken by recurring headaches and bouts of nausea. He was not, however, stricken by pangs of conscience. Ridding his church of a man whose pathology would have caused its demise was Argo’s greatest achievement. He was certain that the Lord would not have allowed him to have been successful if it were not His will. Argo was truly the agent of God, the wearer of the Cross of the Cadre, and His greatest soldier. Only this son could have saved the Family from the Father weakened by an inner demon and intent on its destruction.
Argo was granted unlimited leave and sent home until it was possible for him to return to his duties.
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