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by Felix Alexander (Author)
A relic stolen from the Vatican Secret Archives leads Detective Angelo Marquez to S.W.A.T. Officer Ann Polites, and together, they uncover secrets about a 40-year-old murder involving the Vatican, the Mafia, and an archbishop whose career has been riddled with scandal.
Detective Angelo Marquez, of the Chicago PD, arrives at The Cathedral of Saint Thomas Aquinas where he has tracked Father Francesco, a prime suspect in the theft of an ancient relic stolen from the Vatican Private Archives. Concurrently, Detective Ann Polites of DuPage County's M.E.R.I.T. arrives as the hostage negotiator that Father Francesco demanded to have on-scene, lest he detonate an incendiary and bring down the cathedral, killing everyone inside.
As she endeavors to convince Father Francesco to free the hostages, he agrees to release them on the condition that she meet with him in person. Adding the encrypted statement, "Mordechai sits at the palace gate," which raises a red flag for Angelo that Ann dismisses in order to secure the hostages. But upon entering the cathedral, the bomb is detonated, and Ann is knocked unconscious and transported to Central DuPage Hospital. When Angelo arrives at the hospital, he discovers that the F.B.I. suspects her involvement in the bombing and plans to question her when she regains consciousness. Curious about why Father Francesco had insisted on her presence at the cathedral, Angelo convinces Ann to flee the hospital in order to prove her innocence and find the priest. Upon arriving at Nagi's home a few miles away, Angelo reveals the clues left in place of the stolen relic. The coded message and symbol immediately get Nagi's attention before local law enforcement converge on his home. Together, the three embark on a perilous quest throughout Chicago and its suburbs to locate Father Francesco and recover what he has stolen. Unraveling clue after clue left for them to find, Angelo and Ann soon discover dark secrets about the Church of Rome that numerous entities will go to great lengths to protect, including a forty-year-old murder of a banker in possession of one of the Church's most dangerous relics. The shocking truth they uncover reveals what no one is ready to believe...and brings an old enemy out of the shadows.
