Globusz^® Publishing 

Within the hour, Henry, Hoskins, Frank, Evans and the two Ambassadors were sitting in the living room of the Cathedral’s rectory reviewing their findings with Bishop Dimitri and his assistant priest, when Henry’s cell phone rang.

“Okay, were ready.”

Everyone’s attention now turned to a laptop computer that was sitting on the coffee table in the living room. Two of Henry’s men were over in the cathedral transmitting from a handheld camera to the receiver on the laptop. Henry stayed on the phone with his two men and directed them as they worked their way under the floor.

The men went down into the hole, through the crawl space and climbed the ladder down into the pit. As the men turned on more lights in the pit, the screen showed the coffin at the bottom coming into focus. The men opened the lid and the camera slowly scanned the contents of the coffin. All of the men watching the laptop screen were silently shocked at the sight of the young dead woman gripping the cloak.

“My God, is it Sidonia?” the priest asked the Bishop.

The camera focused in on the young woman’s face, clothes, and of course the cloak of Christ.

“It must be her, she’s been preserved forever,” the Bishop said.

“Just like St. Bernadette,” the priest said referring to the young Saint who died in Lourdes France. Her body has never decomposed after looking at the Mother of Christ.

Henry looked around the living room to make sure that everyone had a good appreciation for what they were looking at before he told his men to seal up the coffin and clear out of the cathedral.

“I never thought that I would live to see something as extraordinary as this,” the Bishop said with his head bowed in reverence, “This is absolutely amazing. We knew that the cloak was buried somewhere under the church, but we never expected to ever see it, or Sidonia in that state.”

“I have to wonder,” Hoskins said, “While the thieves didn’t have the best intentions, this may be a golden opportunity for you to display to the people of Georgia, and the world, the magnificent discovery that was made here today.”

The priest and bishop could only look at each other before the priest sadly said, “If we had the money, we could build a glass enclosure just like they have at Lourdes. We could even build a stairway down to the crypt and another right back up the other side.”

“Yes, that would be a lot easier than crawling down there on your stomach, like I had to,” Henry said.

“But as you may or may not know,” the Bishop said, “We are a poor parish, we have only enough funds and donations to maintain the cathedral on a yearly basis.”

The priest looked at Henry and said, “Would you be kind enough to have your men seal up the floor, we’ll make a decision in due time.”

“Yes, under our present financial circumstances, it might be in our best interest to seal the crypt rather than see the holy relic desecrated again,” the Bishop said.

“We understand,” Henry said somewhat disappointed, “It’s yours to do as you wish.”

“On behalf of all Christians in Georgia and Eastern Europe, I want to thank you, Mr. Carr, for saving the cloak from falling into the hands of dishonest people,” the Bishop said.

Frank, who excused himself earlier, came back into the rectory and handed a briefcase to Hoskins.

“Just in time, Frank,” Hoskins said, “Bishop Dimitri on behalf of Henry Carr, who I think you should dedicate the memorial to, this should help you build a viewable entrance to the crypt.”

When the bishop opened the briefcase Hoskins said, “That’s over a half million American dollars.”

“I don’t know what to say,” the startled Bishop said.”

“Thanks, Jack,” Henry said, “Consider it a gift from the CIA, courtesy of Tariq Amin.”

The excited priest said, “Praise the Lord, there’s a good chance that this could double or triple our tourist traffic, this is amazing, we can’t thank you enough for your generosity.”

“It’s our pleasure,” Hoskins said.

“Ambassador Saginov and I will see about acquiring a United Nations historical donation as well,” Ganley said.

“God bless all of you,” the Bishop said.

After the meeting in the rectory concluded, Henry told Hoskins and Frank that he would get a ride back to the Embassy with his men who went to find a hardware store to buy some strong caulk to temporarily seal the marble floor.

Henry took a seat on the bench out in front of the cathedral to wait for his men. He saw a few tourists leaving through the front door of the cathedral and thought that he would take one last look inside. He walked in and took a seat in the notorious tenth pew. He looked down at the floor and the cut square marble that covered the hole to the crypt.

He then took a moment to reflect on the past week. He was thankful that the mission was a complete success clear across the board, and couldn’t remember feeling this well after any previous mission. Any time that there was complete closure on a case was a good thing. After reviewing his mind for any loose ends, he asked himself why he was sitting there, in a church of all places. In spite of the good that he did in preserving the cloak, a killer like him surely was not welcome in a place like this. Conscientiously, he’d like to tell anyone that would listen that he was sorry that killing was part of his job, but what good would it do, when he may have to kill someone else a few minutes later. In the past, the only thing that Henry gave thanks for was his luck which as far as he was concerned, was strictly a combination of using his deadly skills at the most opportune moments.

But there was no hiding the fact that something very different had happened to him this past week, as if some spirit or force was moving with him. He had been with the agency ten years, and that’s about how long it’s been since he worshipped in a church. Year after year it had always been a case of ‘why bother, what good will it do’ since he had lost count of how many men he had killed. Sure they deserved to die, but you certainly can’t keep the fifth commandment when it’s your job to kill people. It was a no win situation, Henry thought as he sat back in the pew to rest and relax his mind. It was then that he first noticed an old lady seated across the aisle in one of the pews on the left side of the cathedral. He felt somewhat guilty when he thought that most of the people who come to this church were truly sorry for the minor infractions in their lives, and here he sat, possibly the biggest killer to ever set foot in this building.

All of a sudden an elderly female voice said, “God knows that you had to do what you did.”

“What?” Henry said as he sat up straight, looked to his left and saw the old lady standing there looking at him. A cold chill came over him, and he finally gained enough composure to say, “I’m sorry, are you talking to me?”

The lady had a kind face, and for some reason, she looked familiar to him, she might have reminded Henry of his grandmother who would do anything for anyone.

“God sees everything,” the old lady said, “And you are an important part of his plan.”

Henry leaned back in the pew and was totally perplexed. He wondered why this lady was saying these things to him, for all he knew, she could be the local crazy person. He decided to see where this conversation was going to take him.

“You said that I’m actually part of some plan?”

“Of course, we all are, and in your case, you have been called to rid the world of those who would kill the innocents.”

Henry looked directly into the lady’s kind eyes, and felt like she was really looking right through him and into his soul.

“But, why tell me this after all these years, you must have known that I’ve always been troubled by my violent actions.”

The old lady smiled at him and said, “Some people are good and some are bad, by saving the innocents, you proved to God that you are genuinely good. The fact that you feel remorse for your actions only proves that you are a good man. You even prevented the cloak from being stolen, which is the main reason that you were in Georgia today. You don’t kill out of malice or for your own gain, and God knows that deep inside, you are a good man. We know that it is hard for you to believe what I am telling you, and we’ll understand if you don’t, but today you have earned the right to know that on the other side, you are considered among the great knights of God. Just like St. George, he was a relative of mine, you know, and the patron saint of this beautiful country.”

“I appreciate your kind words, and I wish I could believe what you’re saying.”

“We understand why you would feel this way, and you have a long road ahead of you. That’s why God sent me to tell you to continue to fight for us. There’s a lot of evil in the world today, and we need good people like you to keep up the good fight.”

“You, or ... God knows that I will.”

“There were many innocents killed in Georgia over the course of its history, today you saved many more from dying, you’re a good man, trust your instincts, we will be with you until the end.”

Henry felt the cold run down his spine again as the old lady smiled at him one last time and slowly walked out of the cathedral. He looked back to watch her leave, and thought about running after her to continue their conversation. Instead he sat back down in the tenth pew and wondered if what he just experienced was a weird dream. He rationalized that it was probably the fact that he was exhausted and had not eaten or slept very well in over a week. He tried to relax his mind again, but he couldn’t, so he pulled himself up from the pew and walked to the front door of the cathedral. When he got to the front vestibule of the church he saw a nun kneeling and praying in front of a candlelit shrine. He turned to walk toward the exit and had to turn around and do a double take when he saw a painting hanging above the shrine. The woman in the painting looked just like the old lady he was talking to earlier. He shook his head incredulously and knew there was no way that could be possible.

Out of curiosity, he interrupted the praying nun and said, “Excuse me, Sister, could I ask you a question?”

The nun was somewhat surprised but appeared to be agreeably friendly to the approach when she said, “Yes, can I help you?”

“The woman in that painting, who is she?”

The nun smiled and said, “That’s St. Nino and this is her shrine, she helped build this church.”

“Tell me,” Henry asked, “Do you know if she was related to St.George?”

“As a matter of fact she was,” the nun said.

Henry felt the chill returning to his spine, and he just stood there mostly embarrassed that he was facing a situation that he could not control.

The nun handed him a prayer card and said, “This is a prayer to St. Nino that you could take with you.”

Thank you, Sister,” Henry said as he walked to the door reading the prayer. He flipped the card over and looked at the picture of the Saint on the other side. He was absolutely floored when he saw that the picture was of St. Nino when she was younger than she was on the painting above the shrine. The younger picture was the same as the one that he took from Tafar Rasulon’s wallet and office wall.

“And here I thought you were his mother,” Henry said to himself as he pulled the small picture out of his wallet and compared the two. He turned around to face the shrine, looked up at the painting on the wall again and walked over to take a closer look. It was then that he saw a reflection on the glass-covered shrine of someone moving very quickly toward him. He turned around just in time to block Ella Mamedov’s arm as she stabbed at him with her knife. The blade cut Henry’s arm, but he managed to grab her arm, and with a quick jerk, forced her to drop the knife to the floor. As he saw her reach for her pistol, Henry abandoned any consideration that he was fighting a woman and hit her with a leg kick to the chest that sent her tumbling back into a large candle display. In the sudden commotion, the nun stood up from the kneeler in front of the St. Nino display and not knowing what was going on, she ran over and tried to help Ella get up. Henry who now had his pistol drawn and pointing at Ella, was not quick enough to tell the nun to back away so she would not obstruct his view of the terrorist. Ella seized the opportunity and grabbed the nun, pulled her in close to shield her from Henry, and put her pistol to the nun’s head.

“Let her go, it’s me you want,” Henry said as he kept his pistol aimed directly at Ella’s head.

“You killed Tafar, and now I’m going to kill you,” Ella said.

“Let her go, and you and I could go outside and settle this,” Henry said as Ella stood there with a look on her face that was one of relief and dread.

Henry held his pistol with two hands to steady his aim. He didn’t have much of a target, and he silently prayed that he would not accidentally hit the nun. It was the first time he could remember asking for divine help in a situation like this. In the past it would simply be ‘take out the bad guy, and live with the losses,’ but for whatever reason, not this time.

Not wanting to let a bad situation get any worse, Henry saw Ella’s trigger finger tensing and he ended things with a volley of four shots in the direction of her head that sent her reeling backwards into the candle display and toppling it over on herself. Henry ran over to the nun who collapsed on the floor in front of Ella and again he silently prayed that Ella was not able to get a shot off, or that one of his own bullets did not go astray.

“Sister, are you okay?”

The shocked nun had difficulty catching her breath, but eventually managed to utter, “Yes, I’m fine,” before she let Henry help her up, she pointed over to Ella who’s clothes had caught fire from the lit candles on the display. Henry wished that he could just let her burn, but he relented and grabbed a fire extinguisher to put out the burning terrorist thinking that she probably has a lot more to burn for in the next life. He then helped the nun walk outside the cathedral to get away from the smoke that she was now choking on. When they got outside, an older man who saw the smoke billowing out the door said, “Are you okay?”

“Yes, she just needs some air.”

“I’ll take care of her, you call the fire department,” the man said.

“Thanks,” Henry said as he immediately called the Embassy and asked them to send the police and a fire truck to the cathedral. He sat down on the bench outside the cathedral and waited for them to arrive.

The nun told the old man what happened as they walked away from the cathedral in the direction of the convent that was only a block away.

“Who was that man?” the old man asked.

“I don’t know.”

“My son, the Ambassador, told me that there was a lot of dangerous people in town the past few days, but I never thought that I’d run into one of them, especially here at the cathedral.”

Later at the Embassy, the CIA team got together to enjoy a lavish dinner in their honor provided by the Ambassador.

“I want to thank all of you for keeping not only Georgia, but the rest of the world safe from terrorism,” Ganley said as the dinner was wrapping up.

As the group got up to leave and head their separate ways, Hoskins said to Henry, “I wish they could all end this way.”

“You and me both, it’s not very often that we’re able to get the bad guys and find some innerpeace at the same time.”

“That’s for sure,” Hoskins said as he shook hands with Henry, “I have this strange feeling that we’ll be getting together again sometime.”

“You know my number, don’t hesitate to call.”

Brad said to Leslie, “Will you call me when you get back to Langley?”

“Sure, I have to make sure that you get your pilot’s license and take that self defense course.”

Frank walked over to Veronica and said, “Good luck with your new assignment.”

“Thanks, I hope I could handle it.”

“I just saw you in action, you’ve got it together, you’ll be fine.”

“Do you think so?”

“I know so, and I want you to call me if you need anything, okay.”

“Thanks, I may just do that,” Veronica said as she and Leslie left the room.

“It’s too bad she’s on a remote assignment,” Hoskins said as he walked over by Frank, “I saw the way she looked at you.”

“They say that you learn something new about yourself on every mission," ”Frank said as he watched Veronica and Leslie leave.

“Yeah, and what did you learn?”

“I learned that maybe its time to get on with my life, and that I’m still here for a reason.”

Hoskins shook Frank’s hand and said, “That’s right, because you’re the best there is at what you do, and we still need you here.”

“Thanks, Jack.”

David walked up to Hoskins and asked, “Jack, will we still get to stay here until tomorrow?”

Hoskins was silent for a moment while he made his decision.

“The answer is yes, but under the following conditions. You’ll check in with the Embassy every hour on the hour, and if Mr. Evans will allow us, you will not travel anywhere without a Marine escort.”

“That’s the least we could do for you,” Evans said.

“As long as I get to spend time with my sister, we’ll drive around in a tank if we have to.”

“Hmm, that’s not a bad idea,” Hoskins said.

“Don’t worry, Mr. Hoskins, I won’t let them out of my sight,” Tamara said.

“That being the case, I don’t see why you and Brad shouldn’t be able to stay until Thursday to make up for the time you missed today.”

“Thanks, Jack,” David said.

“Why don’t you and Frank stay here with us?” Brad asked.

“I’d like nothing more, but I have too many things to take care of back at the office, maybe some day I’ll make it back to this beautiful country.”

“Don’t worry,” David said, “Once you’ve been here, you’ll have Georgia on your mind for a long time.”