Chapter 50

           TheunmarkedFiatsedandepartingCastelGandolfosnakeddownwardthroughtheAlbanHillsintothevalleybelow.Inthebackseat,BishopAringarosasmiled,feelingtheweightofthebearerbondsinthebriefcaseonhislapandwonderinghowlongitwouldbebeforeheandtheTeachercouldmaketheexchange.

           Twentymillioneuro.

           ThesumwouldbuyAringarosapowerfarmorevaluablethanthat.

           AshiscarspedbacktowardRome,AringarosaagainfoundhimselfwonderingwhytheTeacherhadnotyetcontactedhim.Pullinghiscellphonefromhiscassockpocket,hecheckedthecarriersignal.Extremelyfaint.

           «Cellserviceisintermittentuphere,»thedriversaid,glancingathimintherearviewmirror.«Inaboutfiveminutes,we’llbeoutofthemountains,andserviceimproves.»

           «Thankyou.»Aringarosafeltasuddensurgeofconcern.Noserviceinthemountains?MaybetheTeacherhadbeentryingtoreachhimallthistime.Maybesomethinghadgoneterriblywrong.

           Quickly,Aringarosacheckedthephone’svoicemail.Nothing.Thenagain,herealized,theTeacherneverwouldhaveleftarecordedmessage;hewasamanwhotookenormouscarewithhiscommunications.NobodyunderstoodbetterthantheTeachertheperilsofspeakingopenlyinthismodernworld.Electroniceavesdroppinghadplayedamajorroleinhowhehadgatheredhisastonishingarrayofsecretknowledge.

           Forthisreason,hetakesextraprecautions.

           Unfortunately,theTeacher’sprotocolsforcautionincludedarefusaltogiveAringarosaanykindofcontactnumber.Ialonewillinitiatecontact,theTeacherhadinformedhim.Sokeepyourphoneclose