Sign Of The Cross (23 page)

‘From the roof? Was another helicopter involved?’

Frankie heard the comment as he reentered. ‘What do you mean
another
?’

Payne did his best to explain. ‘The police were close to nailing Boyd in Orvieto before he shot down their chopper.’

‘He shoots down a helicopter? With what? Big gun?’

Payne shrugged. ‘We tried to investigate the crash site, but the wreckage had been removed.’

‘Is that normal?’

He shook his head. ‘Not where we’re from.’

Jones added, ‘Our colleague took some pictures of the scene, but we haven’t had a chance to develop them yet. We’re kind of hoping they can clear up the mystery of the wreckage.’

Frankie raised his eyebrows. ‘Do you still have film?’

‘Maybe,’ Jones answered. ‘Why?’

‘Because I have school photo lab. I can do pictures for you now, if you like.’

Pleased by the development, Payne looked at Frankie and said, ‘Yes, we like.’

‘Good! Just give me film, and I do my job quick!’

Reluctantly, Jones handed the film to Frankie and watched him leave. The instant he was gone, Jones said, ‘I hope you’re right about this guy. We just gave a big piece of evidence to a stranger. We don’t even -‘

‘Relax! I got a good feeling about Frankie. He’s going to be a big help to us.’

As if on cue, Frankie walked back into the room, holding a photocopy in his hand. ‘Special delivery,
Signor
Payne. I think you want to see this.’ He accented his statement by kissing his fingertips in a classic Italian gesture. ‘The guard was right. This woman is
bellissima!
’

‘Really?’ Jones grabbed the picture before Payne had a chance to see it. ‘Wow! You weren’t kidding. This woman is beautiful. Where’d you get this?’

‘The
polizia
find image on security camera, and I get from them. I hope you is pleased.’

‘Very pleased,’ Payne said. ‘Exceptionally pleased.’

Frankie grinned at the praise. ‘Good! Is there anything else before I go make film?’

Payne shook his head, then waited for Jones to respond. Unfortunately, he was somewhere in la-la land, soaking up every nuance of the woman’s face. The intensity of his gaze told Payne his interest was something less than professional.

So Payne said, ‘D.J.? What do you think? Do we need anything else?’

Smiling, he looked at Payne. ‘Just time. Give me some time, and this woman is mine.’

The abandoned warehouse was crawling with spiders, yet Maria Pelati didn’t mind, since it gave her a safe place to rest. Dr Boyd felt the same way, even though it took him a lot longer to warm to the concept. To him, the thought of sleeping like a hobo seemed preposterous until he stretched his tired frame atop the concrete floor. Within seconds his body whispered its approval.

‘Professore,’
she said, adjusting the rag under her head. ‘May I ask you a personal question? I was wondering if you’ve ever been married.’

‘I should’ve guessed; the age-old query that has plagued me for years. No, my dear, I’ve never been married. Between teaching and traveling, I never found the right person… And what of you? Why is there no man in your life?’

‘In some ways I guess I’m following your lead. I’ve been working too long and too hard to screw things up now, especially with my doctorate close at hand. But I’ll promise you this: Once I obtain my degree, my life is going to change drastically.’

‘Just like that?’

‘Yes, just like that,’ she assured him. ‘I’ve always wanted a family. So there’ll come a point in the near future when my personal life becomes my number-one priority. And when it does, look out. No guy on the planet will be safe.’

‘A beautiful girl like yourself shouldn’t have difficulty finding a suitor. Or hundreds of them, for that matter.’

Maria blushed at the compliment.

‘And what does your family think about all of this? I’ve heard you grumble about your father on more than one occasion. Does he really look down on your choices as much as you claim?’

The color in her cheeks grew even brighter. ‘I don’t think he looks down on my choices as much as he looks down on me. My father has an old-world mentality, one in which women are considered the weaker, dumber sex. He truly believes that we were put on earth to serve men.’

‘Old-world, indeed! And how does your mother feel about his barbaric views?’

She paused before answering. ‘I wish I knew, sir… My mother passed away before I ever had the chance to ask her.’

‘Oh, Maria, I had no idea. I’m so sorry for bringing it up.’

‘That’s all right. I think it actually does me some good to get this stuff off of my chest.’

Boyd offered her a smile, then laid back to listen.

‘When I was growing up, my mother and I were best of friends. We played together, went to the park together, read books together. My father didn’t allow her to do any work – we had a staff of servants to take care of the house – so she had plenty of time to spend with me. And let me tell you, she was the greatest mother in the world. So loving, so thoughtful. Always encouraging me to pursue my dreams. Just the way you’d want a parent to be…’

Her voice trailed off as she searched for the words to continue.

‘Unfortunately, my dad was just the opposite, at least toward me. I have two half brothers, and my father treated them like gold. Especially Roberto. Always showering him with attention. Always bragging about his potential. Always taking him to work and on business trips. But I wasn’t jealous. I had my mom and my brothers had my dad. I just figured that was the way things were supposed to be.’ She paused, her eyes focusing on the moonlight that streamed through the warehouse’s dirty windows. ‘At least I thought that way until I was nine.’

Maria took a deep breath. ‘I’d never heard my parents fight until that year. And I mean really
fight
. Screaming, crying, threats of all kinds. It was a nightmare. The two people in the world that meant the most to me were going head-to-head in a heated battle. God, when you’re a child, there are never any winners in a situation like that. And if that wasn’t bad enough, it got even worse when I figured out what they were fighting about.’

‘And what was that?’

‘They were fighting about me.’

She nodded her head, slowly, like she was still coming to grips with the memory. ‘They were in the kitchen, and my dad was screaming right into her face. The veins bulging in his neck. I still find this next part hard to believe, but my father ordered her to stay away from me. He told her that I was a girl and nothing could change the fact that I was worthless. Then he insisted that she start paying more attention to my brothers because they still had a chance to be something. Can you believe that? I’m nine years old, and my dad was already giving up on me.’

Boyd didn’t know what to say.

‘My mother argued that I could be just as good as a man, but he laughed at that. Literally laughed in her face. Then, when he was done laughing, he informed her that he was sending me away to boarding school so they wouldn’t have to deal with me anymore.’

‘You have to be joking.’

A tear rolled down Maria’s cheek. ‘I didn’t even know what boarding school was, yet I could tell from my mother’s reaction that it wasn’t a good thing. She immediately burst into tears and ran from the kitchen.’

‘My God! You were sent away?’

Maria nodded. ‘Nine years old and I was shipped off to the Cheltenham School for Girls.’

‘The one in Gloucestershire? That’s a top-notch academy, my dear.’

‘Maybe so, but it couldn’t make up for the things that were taken from me.’

Boyd flinched at her tone. ‘Maria, I didn’t mean to suggest that -‘

The anger in her eyes softened slowly. ‘I know. At least they had the decency to get me a good education, right? Well, that was my mother’s doing, not his. She figured, if she couldn’t stop him from sending me away, the least she could do was find me a school where women were treated with respect. And do you know what? For the most part, things turned out well. Once I adjusted, I started to thrive in my new environment. I was introduced to girls from several countries and backgrounds. I learned half a dozen languages. In fact, I got to the point where I started to look down on all things Italian. The language, the culture, the food. I figured if I wasn’t good enough for Italy, then Italy wasn’t good enough for me. It wasn’t until much later that I even set foot in this country again.’

‘Not even for the holidays?’

‘Why would I want to ruin my holidays? There was nothing in Rome but my father, and he didn’t want anything to do with me, remember?’

‘And what of your mom?’ he asked delicately. ‘I take it she passed on shortly thereafter?’

Maria took another deep breath. ‘My mother rang me a few weeks after I arrived in England. The call was against the rules, but she managed to get through by claiming a family emergency. I was expecting dreadful news – I mean, the headmistress was ashen when she came to get me, so what else could it be? – but I couldn’t have been more wrong. My mother was ecstatic. She told me she’d been looking for a way to get me home and finally stumbled upon a way to do it. She wouldn’t tell me what it was but assured me that I would be by her side very soon.

‘Well, as you can imagine, I was thrilled. I ran down the hall and started to pack, expecting her to be at the front gate that very night. Of course, she wasn’t. Nor the next night. Nor the night after that. This went on for weeks and not a single word from her. Finally, after two months, my headmistress retrieved me again, her face even worse than the first time. I picked up the phone, dying to hear the sound of my mother’s voice, but it wasn’t her. It was my brother, Roberto. Without so much as a hello, he informed me that my mother had died a few months back, although the official inquiry had only been wrapped up that day. The Italian courts ruled that she became depressed over my departure and had taken her own life.’

Boyd winced at the news. It wasn’t what he was expecting.

‘It was bad enough that my mother was gone, but to be told that
I
was the cause…’ She paused to catch her breath. ‘To be called several weeks after her death by one of the people who forced my departure, well, that somehow made it worse.’

Boyd had always assumed that Maria was a pampered rich kid who was biding her time until she inherited her father’s throne as the minister of antiquities. Now he knew different. This trip had revealed a side of Maria that he never knew existed. She was a fighter.

‘And out of curiosity, how is your current relationship with your father?’

Maria wiped her eyes while she thought of the appropriate words. ‘I wouldn’t call it cordial, but he’s definitely an important part of my life.’

‘Are you serious? That’s awfully surprising, considering the story you just told.’

‘Don’t get me wrong,
Professore
. I hate the man for what he put me and my mother through. But after giving it some thought, I decided it would be foolish to exclude him from my life.’

‘And why is that, my dear?’

‘Why? Because I want him to see that my mother was right, that his worthless little girl was able to make something of herself. I want that bastard to have a front row seat in my life so I can rub his nose in everything that I achieve.’

All of the police files were written in Italian, so Payne wasn’t very useful as Jones translated them and took notes. After ten minutes or so, Payne couldn’t take it anymore. He needed to do something productive while waiting for Frankie to develop the film, or he was going to start bouncing off the walls. Jones sensed it, too. ‘Did you forget to take your Ritalin?’

‘You know how I get. I’m not wired for this office crap.’

Jones laughed while pulling a phone number from his wallet. ‘Do you remember Randy Raskin? I introduced you two a few years ago.’

‘Computer guy at the Pentagon, right?’

‘Yep, that’s him.’ He handed Payne a card. ‘That’s his direct line. Tell him I need to cash in a favor – he’ll know what I mean. Have him search his system for any background info on Boyd. See if he’s dating anyone or has ever been married. Maybe this woman is his long-lost daughter.’

‘What about Donald Barnes? Maybe there’s something there that we don’t know about.’

‘Same with Manzak and Buckner. He might be able to find some dirt on them. I didn’t have enough time to dig into their files.’

Thankfully, Randy Raskin was more helpful than any computer-tech guy Payne had ever talked to. At first Payne figured Jones was just humoring him, giving him some busy-work so he’d leave him alone. Turns out that wasn’t the case at all, because Raskin hooked Payne up with some serious information. Payne scribbled furiously as Raskin told him everything that he needed to know about Dr Boyd and their friends at the
CIA
, Manzak and Buckner. He was so forthcoming Payne was tempted to ask him if the U.S. government still kept aliens in Area 51.

Anyhow, after thanking Raskin, Payne hustled back to Jones to brief him on his conversation. ‘Let’s start with Boyd. He’s been a member of the Dover faculty for over a decade. During that time he’s taken several leaves of absence to go on archaeological digs around the world, including the privately funded excavation he was on in Orvieto.’

‘No shocker there.’

‘Hang on, I’m getting to the good part. In addition to funds he received from private donors, he also received a yearly stipend from American Cargo International.’ He glanced at Jones and waited for a reaction. ‘Does that name ring any bells?’

‘Not really.’

‘Well, it should. We’ve done business with them on more than one occasion.’

And that’s when the name clicked in Jones’s head. American Cargo International wasn’t a business. It was a front, a company in name alone that enabled groups like the MANIACs to carry out their missions. The money for their operations had to come from somewhere, and it obviously couldn’t be a public source – that would be too difficult to explain to the taxpayers. So dummy companies were established to help foot the bills. The
FBI
had Red River Mining, the Navy had Pacific Salvage, and the Pentagon had too many companies for Payne to remember.