CHAPTER 96

CHAPTER 96

THE GONDOLA WALKED NOW down the middle of the Grand Canal. It was just the two of them. A mixture of joy and disquiet stirred inside Nicole; his female sixth sense told him that Victoria wasn't tired, but that she was planning something, she just didn't know exactly what. It didn't matter now, it felt like the world had turned to water.

Palaces in the Renaissance style, churches and bridges that were crossed by dozens of small boats like the one they were on. As they captured in wonder the fascinating buildings that multiplied in all directions, a mask of deep sense of obligation towards their duty.

Gregory examined the robustness of the fortifications, not forgetting, however, to notice the grace employed by the architects of the past in all their constructions.

— Piazza San Marco! — shouted the gondolier, breaking the silence as they approached the other gondolas anchored on the pier.

Gregory leapt down, extending a hand to Nicole to help her down.

— This is just fantastic! — Said the young woman as her eyes roamed the vastness of the square.

— I'll wait for you here — said the gondolier.

— THIS IS THE HEART OF VENICE — Gregory said.

— It's beautiful — said the young woman as her eyes fell on the magnificent Basilica of San Marco and the gigantic bell tower beside it.

A flock of pigeons took flight as if performing a rehearsed choreography. The square was teeming with people from all over the world.

— According to Napoleon, this square is the largest ballroom in Europe.

— How do you know this? — Inquired the young woman — you're sounding like a tour guide to me — he pinned her.

— I would like to be a tour guide here in Venice — returned the detective — but ignorance prevents me, except for a few points — he said, trying not to laugh.

— If America's most decorated cop is ignorant, then what am I?

— As a military man, I studied the great military campaigns of the past: Caesar, and the conquest of Gaul; Hannibal, in Spain; Napoleon Bonaparte, in Egypt...— Gregory said, interrupting the conversation. — That's why I know that Napoleon was here when he sent four thousand soldiers to Venice during the French war against Austria and also against Egypt.

— Was Napoleon in Egypt?

— Yes, that's what history tells us. It is even during this period that the meaning of the Egyptian hierographers was finally understood when the Rosetta Stone was deciphered.

— This is very curious! Why did Napoleon Bonaparte, who at the time was trying to consolidate his empire in Europe, feel the need to travel to Egypt?

— That's one thing I definitely don't know — Gregory said with a shrug — but knowing the things we're learning, I can make a guess.

Nicole nodded.

— Look! — said the young woman, indicating a bunch of chairs —, it must be a cafeteria, shall we sit there?

Gregory Evans chivalrously pulled out the chair for Nicole to sit in the best spot in the room. A majestic view of St. Mark's Square now stretched out before them.

It was Nicole who broke the silence.

— Tell me about you.

— Talk about me? — The detective was surprised.

— Yes, tell me about yourself — said the young woman looking at him now with an expression of tenderness. — Ever since we met, we've been chasing riddles! Our only subject seems to be the Golden Book and the secret society of the Brotherhood of the Serpent.

— I agree with you in part.

— I forgot you're also figuring out the kid's murder.

— We must forget for a while the Brotherhood of the Serpent. After all, we already delivered the Golden Book to the Vatican, there it will be completely safe. Perhaps this was Victoria's objective in offering us this tour.

— She really is amazing — Nicole said, remembering her own mother's intrepid spirit.

— Yes, she is amazing! — Gregory agreed.

— Now, talk about yourself.

— There's not much to say... I went to the Vietnam War, then I joined the police academy to solve my grandfather's death and I've been doing that for the last thirty years.

— Your wife must be very proud of you, right?

— Not as much as I have her.

— You love her very much, don't you?

— It would be impossible not to love her.

— WHAT ELSE DO YOU WANT to know?

— I don't know — said Nicole, smiling — I'm just curious, it all happened so suddenly...

— The attempt on the Senator — continued Gregory — the enigma of Victoria's father...

— Yes, and then we crossed the world and arrived in Rome, and now Venice.

— And isn't it wonderful that we're here? If nothing had happened, we wouldn't be sitting in one of the cafes in the most famous square in the world right now, life really has its mysteries.

— Everything that involves mysteries you are always involved.

— There isn't much in my life that you might find interesting — Gregory said, his tone serious now. Like you, I lost my parents very early. At eighteen I joined the army, got a medal for bravery for...

— Per?

— Save the senator.

— So that's how you met?

Gregory continued the narrative now, slightly embarrassed.

— I left the army, and because of the politics that followed in our country, I ended up joining the Police, I married the most extraordinary person in the world and it seems that everyone always has a problem for me to solve, if I could sum up my life, would it be this.

— And what was Senator James Hofma like as an army officer?

— As any officer should be, with an ego the size of the universe and humility the size of a mustard seed.

Nicole laughed.

— I didn't think they were like that.

— It's the military system itself that's like that, they're formed to obey orders, nobody there likes people who think very much, good soldiers are those who obey orders, no more and no less.

— It reminds me of Forest Gump with Sgt.

— You're the most genius person I've ever met, Gump — Greg spoke imitating the sergeant in the film and the two laughed.

— Yes, but one of the dogmas of the battalion to which I belonged is the belief that a people is only really free when it has under its control all forms of guarantee of that same freedom.

— Do you mean weapons?

— Not only weapons, but also the right to supervise any and all constituted authorities, as well as the establishment of an even more severe surveillance over security organizations such as the CIA, FBI, NASA and others that, due to their secret nature, can ally themselves with hidden interests and harmful to democracy in any way interfere with or even suppress the freedom of the American people to make their own sovereign decisions.

— And in your view, does Senator Hofma share this idea?

— Although the Senator is not part of the freedom militia, his performance in Congress with a vehement defense of the right of every American to own a gun has the sympathy of many.

— So you decided to protect him.

— The police have followed with visible apprehension an international campaign for the disarmament of the civilian population. This international campaign has already been successful in Australia and England, without however reaching the propagated objective, which according to them would be the reduction of crime.

— Do you not believe that the reduction of criminality and deaths by firearms is the true objective of these international groups that sponsor disarmament campaigns?

Gregory smiled at the naivety of the young woman's question.

— Check it out, Nick! We trace the source of the money that funds these campaigns. We were surprised to discover that the money comes from gigantic multinational groups and mega-speculators on the Stock Exchange, the same ones that are putting all their strength into creating a globalized world, a world without borders, in which democracy would be replaced by a plutocracy.

— Plutocracy, rule by the richest — the young woman asserted in an audible thought.

— Exactly! If you pay attention to current economic and political events, you will realize that everything seems to follow a secret agenda for the implementation of a single government across the globe: the removal of borders by international speculative capital, the union of countries in blocs like the European Union, Mercosur etc...

— The disarmament of the civilian population would be an important stage in the development of this project, it would prevent people from rebelling against this future plutocratic government, whose hidden forces intend to put democracy in place.

Greg nodded.

— And the most terrible thing is that we now know that it is the Brotherhood of the Serpent that is behind all this for the establishment of the Antichrist government.

— It is for this reason that we are against internationalism and civilian gun control. All peoples have the sacred right of armed defence. Even more so when the future of democracy is at stake.

— You're right.

— Coincidentally, I was moved by these reasons when I approached Senator Hofma.

— But then her son ended up participating in that macabre ritual.

— And I was — transferred— to work with you, but where I go, everything is connected to them.

— Even so, you decided to protect him, anonymously?

— Well, at first I tried to warn him, I was in his office in Congress, but he didn't listen to me, inviting me to withdraw.

— Even so, you didn't give up and decided to take charge of the Senator's security without him even knowing?!

— It may seem absurd, Nick, but it was pure coincidence that I was at the right time and did the right thing, as I would do it for anyone, and even against his will, I was being true to the principles I believe in.

— That was an act of heroism. Even discredited by the Senator, you ended up saving his life.

THE GONDOLA PASSED THROUGH the canal next to the old Ducal Palace, now turned into a museum.

— What bridge is that? — Nicole asked.

— It's the Bridge of Sighs — Gregory replied, consulting a small city guide.

— Bridge of Sighs? — Exclaimed the young woman as the gondola glided smoothly under the bridge leaving St. Mark's Square behind.

The afternoon descended little by little, making everyone's attention return to the sun, which in orange tones, slowly declined in the sea.

— HOW WAS YOUR WALK? — Victoria asked, noticing the dazzle on her daughter's face.

— Simply amazing! St. Mark's Square is the most beautiful place I've ever seen.

— And you Gregory, what did you think?

— Nick is right, Venice really is indescribable.

— I'm glad you liked it, because from now on we're going to dedicate ourselves exclusively to work.

— Has agent Fernando contacted you? — Asked the young woman at the moment when all traces of wonder disappeared from her face.

— Tomorrow, we'll meet with Dante, and then he'll tell us how we can help.