Mithras held to the throat of the bull. Icicle had not yet adjusted to the sudden arrival of the stranger, who now flicked off the switch on the detonator and stalked toward him, aiming Seth's pistol. The stranger's expression was a combination of disgust and fury. "Get me out of here,"

Icicle said, "before the authorities arrive. We don't have much time.

If you help me, I'll help you." Delirium made his thoughts drift He fought to steady them. "I'll tell you anything you want to know. My father's dead. This isn't my fight any longer. Halloway has to be punished."

"Halloway? Who's Halloway?"

"For God's sake, get me out of here. The woman we kidnapped from the gardens. Seth rigged explosives to her."

"I know that"

"But her husband thinks he can safely remove the bomb if we're out of radio range. Seth lied. The bomb'll go off if the husband tries to disconnect the wires." The stranger spoke urgently. "Can you walk?"

"I think so." Icicle almost fainted from pain when the stranger helped him up. The stranger put his jacket over Icicle's shoulders. "It'll hide the blood." Icicle leaned against the stranger and, through a haze, stumbled from the temple. The next thing he knew, he was in the subterranean basilica. He didn't remember going up the final group of stairs or crossing the upper basilica. He only knew that he was outside, mat the last rays of sunset were blinding, that a police siren's wail was approaching. "Walk faster," the stranger said, supporting him. They reached a corner and turned in the direction opposite to the siren. At another corner, they turned again.

And again. Disoriented, Icicle had the sense of wandering through a maze. "I don't think I can stand up much longer." We're almost there."

A park to the south of the Arch of Constantine, Icicle saw. In the dimming blaze of sunset, tourists milled through the area, admiring the carvings on the monument The stranger set him on the ground against a tree. Given the emergency, the cover was perfect. Icicle realized. As long as I don't bleed through the jacket he slipped over my shoulders, I won't attract attention. "Stay here. I'll be back," the stranger said.

'Tell the woman's husband not to try to remove the bomb." But the stranger had already disappeared through the crowd.

Damn it, Romulus, I warned you not to jerk me around. Where the hell's the priest? I promised you two hours alone with him. I come back, and the room's deserted. Nothing's on the nicking tape recorder." Gallagher pounded a fist into his hand. The station chief had been pacing angrily in the hotel room when Saul brought Erika back there. Saul had hoped to see Drew and Arlene, not Gallagher. He'd waited outside the Colosseum, expecting his friends to emerge from the park across from the ruins.

When they hadn't come, he'd tried to call them where they should have been waiting at the prearranged contact site, a pay phone. But the first time no one had answered, and the second time a strident woman had asked if he was Luigi and why was he keeping her waiting. By then, it was after 7 p. m., the deadline for contact Filled with misgivings, he'd decided that the hotel room was me only other place where Drew and

Arlene would know they could get in touch with him. Besides, the hotel room would give him the privacy he needed to remove the explosives from

Erika's back. Guiding her, he'd hailed a taxi and returned to the hotel as quickly as possible. But now, in addition to his other pressures, he had to deal with Gallagher. "The priest doesn't matter," Saul said.

"I've got my wife back. That's all I care about."

"You're telling me the priest is gone because you traded him?"

"Yes! And I'd do it again! I questioned him, don't worry! I'll keep my bargain! I've got plenty to tell you! But not before I deal with this!" Saul slipped the rain jacket off Erika, showing Gallagher the metal box attached to the belt at her spine. Gallagher stared. "Jesus

Christ, it's a bomb." Erika murmured something unintelligible; gradually the effects of the drug were lessening. Saul sat her on the bed and studied the apparatus secured to her. "I'll have to break the lock or cut the belt. But the belt's wired to the box. The whole thing--lock, belt and box--forms a continuous electrical circuit"

"Then the bomb might be rigged to go off if the circuit's broken."

"Seth told me it was safe to take it off as soon as he was out of radio range."

"Seth? Who the hell is Seth?"

"I'll explain later. First I have to--" Saul reached toward the wires, stiffening when he heard a knock on the door. He swung his troubled gaze toward the sound. Gallagher went to answer it. "No! Wait!" Saul said. He suspected Drew and Arlene were in the corridor, and he didn't want Gallagher to see them.

"What's the problem, Romulus? Another secret?" Gallagher opened the door, Saul's suspicion had been half correct Arlene stood out there, supporting the groggy priest

"Who the hell are you?" Gallagher demanded. Saul slumped into a chair. Arlene held back for a moment, then acquiesced when Gallagher tugged her and Father Dusseault into the room.

"Romulus, who is this woman?" Gallagher insisted, locking the door. "A friend."

"That's not a good enough explanation."

"It's all you need to know. You've got the priest back. That's what you wanted, isn't it? Thank her. Don't ask questions about who she is." Arlene brought the priest to the bed and laid him down on the side away from Erika. "The priest back?" Gallagher said. "No, mat isn't what I wanted."

"I wish you'd make up your mind." 1 don't want him. I want what he knows. After I learn about the Fraternity, the sooner I'm rid of him the better."

"He killed Cardinal Pavelic. He's been trying to sabotage (he

Fraternity. What's more, he can tell you where to find a dozen or more

Nazi war criminals." Gallagher's mouth opened in surprise. Saul turned to Arlene. "I'm glad to see you again. When I couldn't make contact

... How did you get the priest back? Drew? Where's Drew?"

"He went after Seth and Icicle," she said. "Icicle?" Gallagher looked even more mystified. "Drew?" Saul and Arlene ignored him. "Your wire?"

Arlene asked. "Is she all right?"

"Still groggy from being drugged. It doesn't seem as if they hurt her."

"She's beautiful."

"Yes." Saul felt tears in his eyes. "And smart and funny and kind.

Strong, maybe stronger than I am--in all sorts of ways. I don't know what I'd do without her."

"Would somebody please tell me what's going on?" Gallagher said. "After

World War Two, Cardinal Pavelic helped Nazi war criminals escape from the Allies," Arlene said.

"Over the years, he kept track of them. He blackmailed them in exchange for his silence. His assistant"--Arlene gestured toward Father

Dusseault--"found out what the cardinal was doing. Father Dusseault belongs to the Fraternity, but he hates what the order stands for. He used his position in the order to try to sabotage it He saw the cardinal as a further example of corruption within the Church. Not only did he kill the cardinal--he decided to punish the war criminals the cardinal had been protecting."

"Punish them? How?" Saul added to Arlene's explanation. "Father

Dusseault gave the information to a Mossad operative whose family had been killed and who himself had nearly been killed in Dachau. The theory was that someone with so terrible a grievance, particularly someone with his training and resources, would be a more reliable instrument of punishment man trials that might take years."

"Punishment? Do you mean vengeance?" Gallagher asked. "Did Father

Dusseault hope the Mossad operative would kill me Nazis?" Saul nodded.

"I'm less sure about the rest of it, but my guess is that the Mossad agent--his name was Ephraim Avidan by the way--decided he needed help. I think he went to other Mossad operatives who'd been in concentration camps and organized a team. These operatives were old enough to be retired. Many of them were widowers. They had the freedom, both politically and personally, to do what they wanted. In Vienna, Erika and I were given a list of men's names by our contact with the Mossad.

The men on that list matched the profile I just described. During the past few months, they all disappeared. I think they were dropping out of the limited society they still had, preparing for their mission."

"Disappearing?" Gallagher asked. "It sounds like..."