The Eye of Moses - Vatican Knights Series 22 (2020), Rick Jones [learn to read books txt] 📗

could be broken down into two-dozen grids that received live feeds from across the globe. Or it could be used as a central screen for a single purpose, depending on its need. Currently, a technical team was concentrating specifically on the movement of the chopper that lifted off from a field close to the Croatian bunker.

Using a string of geospatial satellites, they were able to follow its northwest trajectory all the way to Lucerne, Switzerland, where the vehicle landed. Then with the use of application programming, a separate team was able to tap into time-stamped feeds from CCTV cameras that were located throughout the Swiss city.

After the eye-in-the-sky satellites tracked their movements from the chopper to three awaiting vehicles, they followed the targets from an overhead view until they moved into range of CCTV scanners. Once they were able to coordinate the vehicles’ location to a nearby camera, they were able to zoom in on the faces of those exiting the sedans. Facial recognition software immediately began to scan certain landmarks on faces with geometric lines running from dot to dot to confirm identity. Hits were validated at 99%, which brought up images and biographical records of the people identified.

When the master screen held nearly a dozen photos with fact-based information, Misters da Vinci, Spartan, and Kimball Hayden were called to the Tech Chamber.

Hayden was amazed with this area and wondered about the billions of dollars it took to create such technological marvels that were nowhere close to hitting the public sector. In fact, the lab of Vatican Intelligence, he considered, paled in comparison.

Against the far wall on the central monitor were photos of those they had tracked from the field in Croatia, by way of satellite tracing. What came as no surprise to Mr. da Vinci was that they were all operatives who had worked with several different groups to ply their mercenary trades for financial benefit. But what caught his attention was their team leader, a man by the name of Salt, someone who was no stranger to the Consortium.

“Salt,” Mr. da Vinci mentioned openly. Then he ordered Salt’s photo to be the primary image on the screen next to his biographical record. As ordered, the assassin’s image appeared on the monitor.

“His name is Johannes Bossert,” Mr. da Vinci said to those within earshot. “He goes by Salt.”

“In regard to his features, I’m gathering,” said Hayden.

“Which are, of course, unmistakable.” After a pause, he then added: “About four years ago he disappeared from radar—fell right off the grid. Nobody knew what happened to him—the man simply going up in smoke. Before his disappearance, however, he was classified as a radical Christianist whose extremist activity put him on the terrorist map. What we know for certain is that he’s an extremely dangerous individual whose battle techniques include an expertise in martial arts and the use of double-edged weaponry. If he’s in league with the Shadow Klan, he’s not going to be fun to deal with.”

“Perhaps you had it wrong,” said Hayden. “Maybe we’re not dealing with the Shadow Klan at all. Maybe this guy is directing his own movement. We are, after all, talking about a Christian relic here.”

But Mr. da Vinci nodded at this, with the meaning behind the gesture telling Hayden that he was mistaken. “It would be a solid assessment, if not for those he was with,” he told him. After ordering the confirmed photos of those who were with Salt on the screen, seven of the dozen men were confirmed to be active members of the Shadow Klan.

Mr. da Vinci moved closer to the screen. “The Shadow Klan has always been known as a confederation whose primary objective is to steal trade secrets regarding weapons development, and then to perfect those weapons and hit the black market with them. Now I’m assuming with the theft of Aaron’s rod and with Salt captaining the chair to its military force, that their agenda is to promote the dark particle for their own military use. They’re evolving as an association who now believes that they have the strength to command a global force behind the power of the Eye of Moses.” He turned to look at Mr. Spartan and Hayden. “And should they break down the secrets of the quatrains with the use of the crucible, who knows how powerful they could become.”

“What about law enforcement?” Hayden asked.

“Not in this case,” he answered. “They would simply turn Aaron’s rod over to the leading political and military principals who covet its powers, and would no doubt try to mine the dark particle for military uses. Be it the United States or perhaps an association of allied countries. They would try to achieve the same purposes as the Shadow Klan, which is to tilt global power in their favor by restraining certain heads of state. There are no cowboys here wearing black or white hats. The goals of absolute power are the same for both sides.” Then he shook his head. “So, no. We need to retrieve the staff and the crucible, then put them in a place where they can never be misappropriated again by any power.”

Kimball Hayden understood this since the American government would consider the same uses, should they have their eye on the prize of the dark particle. To sequester the rod and the crucible made sense.

Mr. da Vinci continued to rub his chin with his fingers in deep thought, a habit he was never able to break or was aware of. On screen were the faces of mercenaries, hired killers who valued the dollar over the life of strangers. And then to the techs, he said: “Track the team and find out where they’ve gone. Use every CCTV camera in the city if you have to.”

Then turning to Mr. Spartan, he said, “Prepare your team for mobilization.”

After Mr. Spartan concurred with a nod, Hayden asked, “Where are we going?”

“You’re going to Switzerland, Kimball. To be specific, Lake Lucerne. That will be the starting point to