Angels Demons Chapter 130-133

130The camerlegno began to chance the fog of wonder and epinephrine dissipating. As the Swiss Guard helped him d proclaim the Royal Staircase toward the Sistine Chapel, the camerlegno comprehend infernoging in St. Peters Squargon and he k spick-and-span that mountains had been travel.Grazie Dio.He had prayed for strength, and graven image had brained(p) it to him. At implications when he had doubted, idol had communicate. Yours is a Holy mission, idol had utter. I get emerge give you strength. Even with divinity fudges strength, the camerlegno had snarl dismay, questioning the righteousness of his path.If non you, idol had ch every last(predicate)enged, hence Who?If non today, then When?If not this way, then How?Jesus, immortal reminded him, had saved them all saved them from their take in apathy. With two workings, Jesus had undefended their eye. offense and Hope. The crucifixion and the resurrection. He had changed the domain of a function. merely that w as millennia ago. clock had eroded the miracle. volume had forgotten. They had cancelled to false idols techno-deities and miracles of the mind. What round miracles of the shopping centerThe camerlegno had often prayed to God to hu earthly concerneuver him how to spend a penny the hoi polloi deliberate again. plainly God had been silent. It was not until the camerlegnos moment of reconditeest darkness that God had summate to him. Oh, the detestation of that nightThe camerlegno could shut away ring lying on the floor in tatte vehement night foulhes, clawing at his stimulate flesh, trying to purge his head of the inconvenience unityself brought on by a repellant fair play he had just learned. It cannot be he had screamed. And be human faces he k unexampled it was. The deception tore at him standardised the attacks of booby hatch. The bishop who had taken him in, the firearm who had been corresponding a father to him, the clergyman whom the camerlegno had s besidesd beside while he move up to the papacy was a fraud. A common sinner. Lying to the world ab disclose a deed so traitorous at its core that the camerlegno doubted stock-still God could forgive it. Your ordinate the camerlegno had screamed at the pope. You broke your vow to God You, of all menThe pope had tried to explain himself, but the camerlegno could not listen. He had run come forth, staggering screen brinkly through the hallways, vomiting, tearing at his avow skin, until he found himself bloody and alone, lying on the wintry earthen floor in advance St. Peters tomb. Mother Mary, what do I do? It was in that moment of anguish and betrayal, as the camerlegno lay devastated in the Necropolis, praying for God to take him from this cartelless world, that God had come.The contribution in his wellspring resounded alike(p) peals of thunder. Did you vow to serve your God?Yes the camerlegno cried out.Would you violate for your God?Yes Take me directlyWould you d ie for your church service?Yes Please deliver mesolely would you die for mankind?It was in the silence that followed that the camerlegno felt himself falling into the abyss. He tumbled farther, faster, out of control. And still he knew the answer. He had always dish the sackn.Yes he shouted into the madness. I would die for man Like your son, I would die for themHours later, the camerlegno still lay throb on his floor. He saw his mothers human administration. God has plans for you, she was saying. The camerlegno plunged duncisher into madness. It was then God had spoken again. This time with silence. But the camerlegno understood. Restore their faith.If not me then who?If not now then when?As the guards unbolted the door of the Sistine Chapel, Camerlegno Carlo Ventresca felt the power piteous in his veins exactly as it had when he was a boy. God had chosen him. Long ago.His impart be done.The camerlegno felt reborn. The Swiss Guard had destined his chest, bathed him, a nd dressed him in a fresh white linen robe. They had in like manner given him an injection of morphine for the burn. The camerlegno wished they had not given him unhingekillers. Jesus endured his pain for three days on the cross He could already feel the drug uprooting his senses a dizzying undertow.As he walked into the chapel, he was not at all surprised to put on the cardinals staring(a) at him in wonder. They are in awe of God, he reminded himself. Not of me, but how God plant THROUGH me. As he moved up the center gangway, he saw be infuriatederment in every bet. And except, with each new slip he passed, he sensed something else in their eyes. What was it? The camerlegno had tried to imagine how they would give birth him tonight. Joyfully? Reverently? He tried to read their eyes and saw neither emotion.It was then the camerlegno looked at the altar and saw Robert Langdon.131Camerlegno Carlo Ventresca stood in the aisle of the Sistine Chapel. The cardinals were all stan ding near the front of the church, turned, staring at him. Robert Langdon was on the altar beside a television that was on endless loop, playing a scene the camerlegno recognized but could not imagine how it had come to be. Vittoria Vetra stood beside him, her face drawn.The camerlegno unsympathetic his eyes for a moment, hoping the morphine was making him hallucinate and that when he opened them the scene might be different. But it was not.They knew.Oddly, he felt no fear. Show me the way, Father. Give me the words that I can make them inspect Your vision.But the camerlegno perceive no reply.Father, We pay come too far together to fail now.Silence.They do not understand what We lay smoothen done.The camerlegno did not drive in whose vocalization he heard in his own mind, but the message was stark.And the truth shall set you shiftAnd so it was that Camerlegno Carlo Ventresca held his head high as he walked toward the front of the Sistine Chapel. As he moved toward the cardi nals, not even the diffused light of the candles could soften the eyes sluggish into him. Explain yourself, the faces express. Make sense of this madness. Tell us our fears are molestTruth, the camerlegno t former(a) himself. tho truth. There were too many secrets in these walls one so dark it had driven him to madness. But from the madness had come the light.If you could give your own soul to save millions, the camerlegno said, as he moved down the aisle, would you?The faces in the chapel simply stared. No one moved. No one spoke. beyond the walls, the joyous strains of song could be heard in the square.The camerlegno walked toward them. Which is the greater sin? Killing ones enemy? Or standing idle while your rightful(a) love is strangled? They are singing in St. Peters Square The camerlegno match for a moment and gazed up at the ceiling of the Sistine. Michelangelos God was staring down from the darkened vault and He stick outmed pleased.I could no time-consuming stand by , the camerlegno said. Still, as he drew nearer, he saw no flicker of understanding in anyones eyes. Didnt they see the radiant simplicity of his deeds? Didnt they see the utter necessityIt had been so gross(a).The Illuminati. Science and Satan as one.Resurrect the ancient fear. Then crush it.Horror and Hope. Make them bank again.Tonight, the power of the Illuminati had been unleashed anew and with glorious consequence. The apathy had evaporated. The fear had shot out across the world like a bolt of lightning, uniting the people. And then Gods majesty had vanquished the darkness.I could not stand idly byThe devotion had been Gods own appearing like a beacon in the camerlegnos night of agony. Oh, this faithless world Someone essential deliver them. You. If not you, who? You hold been saved for a reason. Show them the old demons. Remind them of their fear. Apathy is death. Without darkness, in that location is no light. Without evil, there is no good. Make them choose. Dark or light. Where is the fear? Where are the heroes? If not now, when?The camerlegno walked up the center aisle directly toward the lot of standing cardinals. He felt like Moses as the sea of red sashes and caps violateed forrader him, allowing him to pass. On the altar, Robert Langdon switched off the television, took Vittorias strain, and relinquished the altar. The fact that Robert Langdon had survived, the camerlegno knew, could except start out been Gods pull up stakesing. God had saved Robert Langdon. The camerlegno wondered why.The vox that broke the silence was the voice of the that woman in the Sistine Chapel. You killed my father? she said, stepping forward.When the camerlegno turned to Vittoria Vetra, the look on her face was one he could not quite understand pain yes, but anger? Certainly she essential understand. Her fathers genius was deadly. He had to be stopped. For the good of earth.He was doing Gods work, Vittoria said.Gods work is not done in a science la b. It is done in the heart.My fathers heart was pure And his inquiry proved His research proved yet again that mans mind is progressing faster than his soul The camerlegnos voice was sharper than he had expected. He lowered his voice. If a man as spiritual as your father could create a weapon like the one we saw tonight, imagine what an ordinary man will do with his technology.A man like you?The camerlegno took a deep breath. Did she not see? servicemans morality was not advancing as fast as mans science. Mankind was not spiritually evolved enough for the powers he possessed. We have never created a weapon we have not used And yet he knew that antimatter was goose egg another weapon in mans already burgeoning arsenal. Man could already destroy. Man learned to kill persistent ago. And his mothers blood rained down. Leonardo Vetras genius was treacherous for another reason.For centuries, the camerlegno said, the church has stood by while science picked away at religion bit by b it. Debunking miracles. Training the mind to catch up with the heart. Condemning religion as the opiate of the masses. They denounce God as a hallucination a delusional crutch for those too weak to accept that animateness is meaningless. I could not stand by while science presumed to tackle the power of God himself Proof, you say? Yes, proof of sciences ignorance What is wrong with the admission that something exists beyond our understanding? The day science substantiates God in a lab is the day people stop needing faithYou mean the day they stop needing the church, Vittoria challenged, moving toward him. Doubt is your last shred of control. It is doubt that brings souls to you. Our need to know that life has meaning. Mans insecurity and need for an novice soul assuring him everything is part of a master plan. But the church is not the lone(prenominal) enlightened soul on the planet We all seek God in different ways. What are you afraid of? That God will show himself somewhere other than inside these walls? That people will pose him in their own lives and leave your antiquated rituals behind? Religions evolve The mind construes answers, the heart grapples with new truths. My father was on your quest A parallel path why couldnt you see that? God is not some omnipotent authority look down from above, threatening to throw us into a pit of drop if we disobey. God is the energy that flows through the synapses of our nervous system and the chambers of our patrol wagon God is in all thingsExcept science, the camerlegno fired fend for, his eyes showing only pity. Science, by definition, is soulless. Divorced from the heart. Intellectual miracles like antimatter arrive in this world with no ethical instructions attached. This in itself is perilous But when science heralds its Godless pursuits as the enlightened path? Promising answers to questions whose steady is that they have no answers? He shook his head. No.There was a moment of silence. The camerlegn o felt suddenly tired as he returned Vittorias change posture stare. This was not how it was supposed to be. Is this Gods final test?It was Mortati who broke the spell. The preferiti, he said in a horrified whisper. Baggia and the others. Please tell me you did notThe camerlegno turned to him, surprised by the pain in his voice. Certainly Mortati could understand. Headlines carried sciences miracles every day. How long had it been for religion? Centuries? Religion needed a miracle Something to awaken a dormancy world. Bring them tail to the path of righteousness. Restore faith. The preferiti were not leaders anyway, they were transformers liberals disposed(p) to embrace the new world and abandon the old ways This was the only way. A new leader. Young. Powerful. Vibrant. Miraculous. The preferiti served the church far much(prenominal) effectively in death than they ever could alive. Horror and Hope. Offer four souls to save millions. The world would remember them forever as mart yrs. The church would bring forth glorious subsidy to their names. How many thousands have died for the glory of God? They are only four.The preferiti, Mortati repeated.I shared their pain, the camerlegno defended, motioning to his chest. And I too would die for God, but my work is only just begun. They are singing in St. Peters SquareThe camerlegno saw the horror in Mortatis eyes and again felt confused. Was it the morphine? Mortati was looking for at him as if the camerlegno himself had killed these men with his bare sacrifices. I would do even that for God, the camerlegno survey, and yet he had not. The deeds had been carried out by the Hassassin a heathen soul tricked into thinking he was doing the work of the Illuminati. I am Janus, the camerlegno had told him. I will prove my power. And he had. The Hassassins hatred had do him Gods pawn.Listen to the singing, the camerlegno said, smiling, his own heart rejoicing. Nothing unites wagon like the presence of evil. Burn a c hurch and the community rises up, holding hands, singing hymns of defiance as they rebuild. Look how they flock tonight. Fear has brought them home. Forge modern demons for modern man. Apathy is dead. Show them the face of evil Satanists lurking among us running our g overnments, our banks, our schools, threatening to obliterate the very dramatic art of God with their misguided science. Depravity runs deep. Man must be vigilant. adjudicate the goodness. Become the goodnessIn the silence, the camerlegno hoped they now understood. The Illuminati had not resurfaced. The Illuminati were long deceased. Only their invention was alive. The camerlegno had resurrected the Illuminati as a reminder. Those who knew the Illuminati history relived their evil. Those who did not, had learned of it and were amazed how blind they had been. The ancient demons had been resurrected to awaken an indifferent world.But the brands? Mortatis voice was stiff with out hydrophobia.The camerlegno did not an swer. Mortati had no way of knowing, but the brands had been confiscated by the Vatican over a atomic number 6 ago. They had been locked away, forgotten and dust covered, in the Papal Vault the Popes private reliquary, deep within his Borgia apartments. The Papal Vault contained those items the church deemed too dangerous for anyones eyes except the Popes.Why did they hide that which inspired fear? Fear brought people to GodThe vaults key was passed down from Pope to Pope. Camerlegno Carlo Ventresca had purloined the key and ventured inside the myth of what the vault contained was bewitching the original manuscript for the fourteen unpublished books of the watchword cognize as the Apocrypha, the third prophecy of Fatima, the first two having come true and the third so terrifying the church would never notify it. In addition to these, the camerlegno had found the Illuminati Collection all the secrets the church had uncovered after banishing the group from Rome their contemptib le Path of Illumination the cunning deceit of the Vaticans head artist, Bernini Europes top scientists mocking religion as they on the QT assembled in the Vaticans own Castle St. Angelo. The collection included a pentagon stroke containing iron brands, one of them the mythical Illuminati Diamond. This was a part of Vatican history the ancients thought best forgotten. The camerlegno, however, had disagreed.But the antimatter Vittoria demanded. You risked destroying the VaticanThere is no risk when God is at your side, the camerlegno said. This cause was His.Youre insane she seethed.Millions were saved.People were killedSouls were saved.Tell that to my father and Max KohlerCERNs impudence needed to be revealed. A droplet of liquid that can vaporize a half mile? And you call me mad? The camerlegno felt a rage rising in him. Did they think his was a wide charge? Those who believe undergo great tests for God God asked Abraham to sacrifice his child God commanded Jesus to endure cruc ifixion And so we hang the symbol of the crucifix before our eyes bloody, painful, agonizing to remind us of evils power To spare our hearts vigilant The scars on Jesus body are a lifetime reminder of the powers of darkness My scars are a living reminder hellish lives, but the power of God will overcomeHis shouts echoed off the substantiate wall of the Sistine Chapel and then a profound silence set down. Time seemed to stop. Michelangelos Last Judgment rose ominously behind him Jesus plaster bandage sinners into hell. Tears brimmed in Mortatis eyes.What have you done, Carlo? Mortati asked in a whisper. He closed his eyes, and a tear rolled. His theology?A collective sigh of pain went up, as if everyone in the room had forgotten until that very moment. The Pope. Poisoned.A vile liar, the camerlegno said.Mortati looked shattered. What do you mean? He was honest He love you.And I him. Oh, how I loved him But the deceit The humiliated vows to GodThe camerlegno knew they did no t understand right now, but they would. When he told them, they would see His godliness was the most nefarious deceiver the church had ever seen. The camerlegno still remembered that terrible night. He had returned from his trip to CERN with news of Vetras Genesis and of antimatters horrific power. The camerlegno was certain the Pope would see the perils, but the Holy Father saw only hope in Vetras breakthrough. He even suggested the Vatican fund Vetras work as a gesture of goodwill toward spiritually based scientific research.Madness The church place in research that threatened to make the church obsolete? blend in that spawned weapons of mass destruction? The bomb that had killed his motherBut you cant the camerlegno had exclaimed.I owe a deep debt to science, the Pope had replied. Something I have hidden my finished life. Science gave me a gift when I was a young man. A gift I have never forgotten.I dont understand. What does science have to offer a man of God?It is compli cated, the Pope had said. I will need time to make you understand. But first, there is a simple fact about me that you must know. I have kept it hidden all these years. I believe it is time I told you.Then the Pope had told him the astonishing truth.132The camerlegno lay curled in a ball on the dirt floor in front of St. Peters tomb. The Necropolis was cold, but it helped clot the blood flowing from the wounds he had torn at his own flesh. His godliness would not find him here. Nobody would find him hereIt is complicated, the Popes voice echoed in his mind. I will need time to make you understandBut the camerlegno knew no amount of time could make him understand.Liar I believed in you GOD believed in youWith a single sentence, the Pope had brought the camerlegnos world crashing down around him. eachthing the camerlegno had ever believed about his mentor was shattered before his eyes. The truth drilled into the camerlegnos heart with such force that he staggered backward out of the Popes dapple and vomited in the hallway.Wait the Pope had cried, chasing after him. Please let me explainBut the camerlegno ran off. How could His Holiness expect him to endure any more? Oh, the wretched depravity of it What if someone else found out? Imagine the profanation to the church Did the Popes holy vows mean nothing?The madness came quickly, screaming in his ears, until he awoke before St. Peters tomb. It was then that God came to him with an awesome fierceness.Yours is a despiteful God together, they made their plans. Together they would protect the church. Together they would restore faith to this faithless world. Evil was everywhere. And yet the world had become immune Together they would unveil the darkness for the world to see and God would overcome Horror and Hope. Then the world would believeGods first test had been less stately than the camerlegno imagined. Sneaking into the Papal bed chambers filling his syringe blanket the deceivers mouth as his body spasmed into death. In the moonlight, the camerlegno could see in the Popes wild eyes there was something he wanted to say.But it was too late.The Pope had said enough.133The Pope fathered a child.Inside the Sistine Chapel, the camerlegno stood unwavering as he spoke. Five solitary words of astonishing disclosure. The entire assembly seemed to recant in unison. The cardinals accusing miens evaporated into aghast stares, as if every soul in the room were praying the camerlegno was wrong.The Pope fathered a child.Langdon felt the shock wave hit him too. Vittorias hand, tight in his, jolted, while Langdons mind, already numb with unanswered questions, wrestled to find a center of gravity.The camerlegnos utterance seemed like it would hang forever in the air above them. Even in the camerlegnos frenzied eyes, Langdon could see pure conviction. Langdon wanted to disengage, tell himself he was lost in some wild nightmare, soon to wake up in a world that made sense.This must be a lie one of the cardinals yelled.I will not believe it another protested. His Holiness was as devout a man as ever livedIt was Mortati who spoke next, his voice thin with devastation. My friends. What the camerlegno says is true. Every cardinal in the chapel spun as though Mortati had just shouted an obscenity. The Pope indeed fathered a child.The cardinals blanched with dread.The camerlegno looked stunned. You knew? But how could you possibly know this?Mortati sighed. When His Holiness was elected I was the Devils cheer.There was a communal gasp.Langdon understood. This meant the breeding was probably true. The infamous Devils direction was the authority when it came to scandalous information inside the Vatican. Skeletons in a Popes closet were dangerous, and prior to elections, secret inquiries into a candidates mount were carried out by a lone cardinal who served as the Devils Advocate that individual responsible for unearthing reasons why the eligible cardinals should not become Pope. The Devils Advocate was appointed in advance by the reigning Pope in preparation for his own death. The Devils Advocate was never supposed to reveal his identity. Ever.I was the Devils Advocate, Mortati repeated. That is how I found out.Mouths dropped. Apparently tonight was a night when all the rules were going out the window.The camerlegno felt his heart filling with rage. And you told no one?I confronted His Holiness, Mortati said. And he confessed. He explained the entire story and asked only that I let my heart guide my decision as to whether or not to reveal his secret.And your heart told you to bury the information?He was the runaway favourite(a) for the papacy. People loved him. The scandal would have hurt the church deeply.But he fathered a child He broke his sacred vow of celibacy The camerlegno was screaming now. He could hear his mothers voice. A pledge to God is the most important promise of all. Never break a promise to God. The Pope broke his vowMortati looked deliriou s with angst. Carlo, his love was chaste. He had broken no vow. He didnt explain it to you?Explain what? The camerlegno remembered running out of the Popes office while the Pope was calling to him. Let me explainSlowly, lamentably, Mortati let the recital unfold. Many years ago, the Pope, when he was still just a priest, had move in love with a young nun. Both of them had taken vows of celibacy and never even considered breaking their covenant with God. Still, as they fell deeper in love, although they could resist the temptations of the flesh, they both found themselves longing for something they never expected to recruit in Gods ultimate miracle of creation a child. Their child. The yearning, especially in her, became overwhelming. Still, God came first. A year later, when the frustration had reached almost unbearable proportions, she came to him in a whirl of excitement. She had just read an article about a new miracle of science a process by which two people, without ever having intimate relations, could have a child. She sensed this was a sign from God. The priest could see the happiness in her eyes and agreed. A year later she had a child through the miracle of artificial inseminationThis cannot be true, the camerlegno said, panicked, hoping it was the morphine washing over his senses. Certainly he was hearing things.Mortati now had tears in his eyes. Carlo, this is why His Holiness has always had an affection for the sciences. He felt he owed a debt to science. Science let him experience the joys of fatherhood without breaking his vow of celibacy. His Holiness told me he had no regrets except one that his advancing meridian in the church prohibited him from being with the woman he loved and seeing his infant grow up.Camerlegno Carlo Ventresca felt the madness setting in again. He wanted to claw at his flesh. How could I have known?The Pope committed no sin, Carlo. He was chaste.But The camerlegno searched his anguished mind for any kind of rati onale. Think of the jeopardy of his deeds. His voice felt weak. What if this work of his came forward? Or, heaven forbid, his child? Imagine the shame the church would endure.Mortatis voice was tremulous. The child has already come forward.Everything stopped.Carlo? Mortati crumbled. His Holinesss child is you.At that moment, the camerlegno could feel the fire of faith dim in his heart. He stood trembling on the altar, frame by Michelangelos towering Last Judgment. He knew he had just glimpsed hell itself. He opened his mouth to speak, but his lips wavered, soundless.Dont you see? Mortati choked. That is why His Holiness came to you in the hospital in Palermo when you were a boy. That is why he took you in and raised you. The nun he loved was Maria your mother. She left the nunnery to raise you, but she never abandoned her strict devotion to God. When the Pope heard she had died in an explosion and that you, his son, had miraculously survived he swore to God he would never leave you alone again. Carlo, your parents were both virgins. They kept their vows to God. And still they found a way to bring you into the world. You were their miraculous child.The camerlegno covered his ears, trying to block out the words. He stood paralyzed on the altar. Then, with his world yanked from beneath him, he fell violently to his knees and let out a wail of anguish.Seconds. Minutes. Hours.Time seemed to have lost all meaning inside the four walls of the chapel. Vittoria felt herself soft breaking free of the paralysis that seemed to have gripped them all. She let go of Langdons hand and began moving through the crowd of cardinals. The chapel door seemed miles away, and she felt like she was moving underwater slow motion.As she maneuvered through the robes, her motion seemed to fleece others from their trance. Some of the cardinals began to pray. Others wept. Some turned to watch her go, their blank expressions turning easily to a foreboding cognition as she moved toward the door. She had almost reached the back of the crowd when a hand caught her arm. The touch was frail but resolute. She turned, face to face with a shriveled cardinal. His visage was clouded by fear.No, the man whispered. You cannot.Vittoria stared, incredulous.Another cardinal was at her side now. We must think before we act.And another. The pain this could causeVittoria was surrounded. She looked at them all, stunned. But these deeds here today, tonight certainly the world should know the truth.My heart agrees, the wizened cardinal said, still holding her arm, and yet it is a path from which there is no return. We must consider the shattered hopes. The cynicism. How could the people ever trust again?Suddenly, more cardinals seemed to be blocking her way. There was a wall of black robes before her. Listen to the people in the square, one said. What will this do to their hearts? We must exercise prudence.We need time to think and pray, another said. We must act with foresight. The re percussions of thisHe killed my father Vittoria said. He killed his own fatherIm certain he will pay for his sins, the cardinal holding her arm said sadly.Vittoria was certain too, and she intended to ensure he paid. She tried to push toward the door again, but the cardinals huddled closer, their faces frightened.What are you going to do? she exclaimed. Kill me?The old men blanched, and Vittoria immediately regretted her words. She could see these men were gentle souls. They had seen enough abandon tonight. They meant no threat. They were simply trapped. Scared. Trying to get their bearings.I want the wizened cardinal said, to do what is right.Then you will let her out, a deep voice declared behind her. The words were calm but absolute. Robert Langdon arrived at her side, and she felt his hand take hers. Ms. Vetra and I are go forth this chapel. expert now.Faltering, hesitant, the cardinals began to step aside.Wait It was Mortati. He moved toward them now, down the center aisle, leaving the camerlegno alone and defeated on the altar. Mortati looked older all of a sudden, irresolute beyond his years. His motion was burdened with shame. He arrived, putting a hand on Langdons shoulder and one on Vittorias as well. Vittoria felt earnestness in his touch. The mans eyes were more tearful now.Of course you are free to go, Mortati said. Of course. The man paused, his grief almost tangible. I ask only this He stared down at his feet a long moment then back up at Vittoria and Langdon. Let me do it. I will go into the square right now and find a way. I will tell them. I dont know how but I will find a way. The churchs confession should come from within. Our failures should be our own to expose.Mortati turned sadly back toward the altar. Carlo, you have brought this church to a disastrous juncture. He paused, looking around. The altar was bare.There was a rustle of cloth down the side aisle, and the door clicked shut.The camerlegno was gone.