Chapter 14 - SPECTRE Alert
Time: Modern Day
Location: Vatican City
Graz opened the door with a smile. Here he is....Dan...take a seat. Dan settled into the same plush chair that he occupied whenever he had visited the Office of the Black Pope.
"I had an audience with His Holiness this morning, Dan. He sends his regards. He appreciates the job you are doing here. SPECTRE and it's Financial objectives are extremely important to the current state of affairs in the world," Graz explained.
Dan thought for a while then said, "Petros is getting much better. They are releasing him this weekend. intends to come back to work on Monday. Shouldn't we tell him first?"
"No! Let's surprise him. His Holiness couldn't say anything until after the interim Black Pope position was replaced by my permanent selection and officially announced as such to the media. He understands why we had him put Arturo, Enrico's Personal Assistant in the position temporarily after Enrico's death even though he was already also retiring. It is important that the media believe the Pope is the ultimate authority. After tomorrow we are free to announce the other appointments including mine and yours."
"The Holy Father has instructed me to inform you that you will be returning to Australia for two weeks to tie up loose ends and ensure the inquiries from there come to a premature end. You are then to organise SPECTRE financials via the proxy bank and transfer all the laundered funds back to the IOR."
"We are to be installed by His Holiness tomorrow and then we can install Petros on Monday on his return. Any questions?"
"No, not really, just I feel obliged to tell you that Petros had been acting a little strange since he woke up," Dan ventured hesitantly.
"How so?" Graz eyed Dan suspiciously. "Just how strange is my boy acting, Dan?"
"Well, he just seems a bit off. A bit angry, and a bit suspicious of my motives. I told him I had nothing to do with Amelia's death but I don't think he believed me." Dan had a lowered voice of resignation.
"Well, technically you were telling the truth. Why, you even thought it was Amelia, in the transfer terminal didn't you? You needed plausible deniability, and we gave it to you. Everything afterwards is on Petros. He made his own decisions in the game, we merely guided the ball," Graz said. Remember the whole Monique affair was his doing. Revenge is a meal best enjoyed alone. He'll come around Dan. You worry too much."
"And there's the eyes, his eyes are blue, Graz," Dan countered, "I don't know what to make of that. It's weird."
Graz thought for a moment. "You know Rosa had blue eyes. She was from the north, from the north arm of the dynasty, a lot of them had blue eyes."
"Yes but his were brown, have always been brown . . . until now."
"Maybe it was the trauma, maybe all the blood transfusions. Who knows. What I do know is that we don't need any doctors poking around the Vatican . . . not now. You do well to best drop it. Keep an eye on him by all means but drop it Dan, or I'll begin to worry about you. If I, as the new Black Pope report any hint of a problem in the first few weeks I will be expected to act swiftly and without hesitation, so drop it, okay?"
"Okay, okay, you're the boss."
"Now go and prepare, we both have a big day tomorrow. There is much to plan for. Much to look forward to. Enjoy!" Graz showed Dan to the door flanked by two Swiss Guards.
"You Aussies worry too much for people who continually are saying 'No worries'," Graz chuckled to himself.
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