“Let’s say that someone alerted us to certain actions of that organization. Facts that turned out to be consistent and trustworthy,” the barber explained. He got up to get an old bottle with clear liquid on a tray. He poured a little in the cup that had held the tea. The smell of alcohol filled the nasal passages of everyone present.

“Does anyone else want some?”

He held the mouth of the bottle over Phelps’s cup, but Phelps put his hand up to decline. Rafael accepted and let him fill his cup. Sarah also declined the offer.

“Cheers,” Rafael toasted, lifting his cup.

Ivanovsky joined him, lifting his cup with a thoughtful look.

“What was the interest of this someone?” Rafael asked.

The barber took a drink of vodka and took out a cigarette.

“Do you mind if I smoke?”

The question did not require an answer, since as he asked he was striking a match and lighting the cigarette. He leaned back, not far enough to fall, making himself comfortable. He had only to cross his legs and put his feet on the table to complete the scenario, but the narrow space of the room prevented those comforts. He crossed his arms with the cigarette held between the fingers of his right hand, letting the ashes fall on the table. Silence was the only reply.

“I’m going to tell you what I think happened,” Rafael announced. “Someone sweet-talked you, which didn’t take much, and put you on the trail of Opus Dei. It’s not hard to figure out what they’re doing. I bet that after a few days you got the general picture.”

“And what’s that?” It was the Russian’s turn to be sarcastic. A little jab.

“That’s what you don’t understand. On the one hand you found a large-scale operation; on the other you couldn’t find the thread to lead you to what’s going on. Your friend, this someone, shed some light, very little, only what was necessary. I’ll bet it was he who gave you the CD with instructions to give it back after you’d analyzed and processed it. So you ended up knowing everything had to do with the Pole. Or better, you ended up knowing what that someone wanted you to know.”

“It’s a nice guess,” Ivanovsky interrupted with the same sarcasm.

“What else did you find out?” Rafael continued. “That the rich clergy-men had ended up allying themselves with the CIA and were killing right and left.”

The expression on Ivanovsky’s face changed.

“Who told you that?” he asked with irritation.

“You know the fact that we have God on our side is a big advantage,” Rafael finally answered, taking a sip of vodka. “It makes us omniscient.”

“And how does this strike you?” Ivanovsky asked, like someone who doesn’t like something.

“Are you asking me?”

“I am.”

“Well, my guess seems plausible.” A statement loaded with venom.

“Why has Opus Dei conspired with the CIA? What’s the purpose?” the Russian demanded, interrupting him.

“What do you think?” Rafael answered with a question, testing the situation.

“Burning the file,” Ivanovsky finally said.

“Burning the file?” Phelps stammered out. “What’s that?”

“When someone eliminates loose ends,” Rafael explained.

“Do you agree?” the barber asked Rafael. He was visibly interested.

“I won’t say no. But why?”

“When they killed the pair in Amsterdam, that’s what they wanted to make understood. Why is not easy to make out, but burning the file presupposes the elimination of elements that could undermine certain interests,” he explained in a casual tone.

“Everything has to do with John Paul the Second. Isn’t that what I said?” the man from the Vatican reminded them.

“Exactly,” the barber confirmed.

“But John Paul the Second is dead.”

“Of course he is,” the other said thoughtfully. “Which takes us down other roads.”

“What roads?” Rafael didn’t drop his guard. Everything had to come out. Ivanovsky understood that. Confidence had been established, plainly.

“Opus Dei, as they call themselves, took care of the English couple as well as the CIA man, we believe mistakenly, a Spanish priest from Santiago de Compostela, and, presumably, Marcinkus in the United States.”

“A priest from Santiago de Compostela? Are you certain?” Rafael interrupted.

“Yes. Though I didn’t come across his name,” Ivanovsky excused himself. “Why? Is there a problem?”

A black cloud crossed Rafael’s face, but vanished soon.

“No, go on.”

“We have already analyzed all the communications we had access to, surveillances, agents in the field, and we came up with two possibilities.” He raised his finger. “Either they wanted to eliminate something based on a decision the Pole made during his life…”

“What?” Sarah and Phelps protested. Sarah believed the goodness emanating from Wojtyla was genuine and could not imagine ordering killings in his name to clean up anything.

“How dare you?” Phelps defended the deceased pope.

Ivanovsky ignored them and raised his other finger.

“Or Opus Dei has something rotten in its past it wants to hide. We’ve done an exhaustive investigation. We’ve done it for years and come to an interesting conclusion.” He stopped speaking for several moments to increase the suspense. “There was a bishop in the Vatican, who’s been mentioned, who was not what he seemed.”

“No one is what he seems in any way. Especially in the Vatican,” Rafael declared.

“This bishop got around quite smoothly. He used bankers, cardinals, priors, politicians, economists. He could do anything. Except pray. He was rarely seen at prayer, unless he had to say Mass. He gained the confidence of people. He was good friends with Paul the Sixth.

“The interesting fact we’ve discovered is that, in addition to being a member of a Masonic lodge, he was also a member of Opus Dei. We’ve uncovered this through facts found among his belongings. Opus Dei would never permit such a thing to be known. We also discovered an immense scheme of illegal financial manipulations done for this gentleman and his partners with the knowledge of certain members of the Vatican Curia, the Masonic lodge, and Opus Dei, although none of them knew that the others also knew about this. It was a deception carried out well by the bishop. His name was-”

“Paul Casimir Marcinkus,” Rafael completed his words.

“Correct.”

Him again, Sarah murmured to herself. Always him.

“Marcinkus,” Phelps said with hate in his voice. “He never had any respect for the Church. An arrogant egomaniac.”

“You knew him?” the Russian asked.

“I knew him. I was insulted and humiliated by that man.”

“When was that?” Rafael wanted to know.

“When?” he responded with a question. He was nervous. “When? When they discovered all his dirty dealings.”

“Do you mean you had knowledge of what we just said?”

“A little,” he replied nervously.

“You’re the first person I know who knew Marcinkus was Opus Dei.”

“Well…” He hesitated. “I didn’t…”

Suddenly Phelps raised his hand to his chest and looked like he was in pain.

“Are you all right?” Sarah asked, worried.

Phelps said nothing. He grabbed his chest with his hand and fell from his seat, striking his head on the floor.

“Vladimir,” Ivanovsky shouted.

The Englishman twisted in pain.

Rafael placed his hand on his chest. “Do you need air?”

Phelps confirmed with a gesture. He was in agony.

“Vladimir,” Ivanovsky shouted again. “Let’s sit him up,” the barber suggested.

“No. Let him be,” Rafael ordered. “We shouldn’t force him.”

A tear rolled down Sarah’s face. “What’s wrong with him?”

No one answered. The wrinkled one came into the room.

“What’s happening?”

“Get the car and call Mikhail. We have to take him to the hospital.”

Vladimir left the room running.

A last grimace of pain, and Phelps lost consciousness. In spite of everything, calm descended on the room instantly.