The Bible of Clay

Chapter One


RAIN WAS FALLING ALL OVER ROME WHEN THE TAXI STOPPED at St. Peter's Square. It was ten o'clock in the morning.

The passenger paid the fare, told the driver to keep the change, and tucked a newspaper under his arm. He was lean and well tailored in an obviously expensive suit, his white hair combed carefully back, his resolute demeanor that of a person accustomed to giving orders. He headed straight for the first entry point, where visitors were inspected to make sure they entered the basilica properly dressed no shorts, no miniskirts, no cleavage.

Inside the cathedral, the man rushed past Michelangelo's "Pieta" the only work of art among the vast Vatican treasures that had ever moved him without a glance. He paused for a second, orienting himself, then walked toward the confessionals, where priests from an array of countries listened in their native languages to the faithful who came from around the world to visit the Holy See.

He approached a confessional whose sign indicated that the priest heard confessions in Italian, and he stood, leaning against a column, waiting impatiently for the communicant already inside to finish. As soon as he saw the velvet curtain open and a man step out, he moved purposefully toward the confessional.

The priest coughed quietly, ready for the new communicant to begin confession.

"Mi benedica, Padre, perch ho peccato."

"What is it you wish to confess, my son?"

"Not a past sin, Father, but a sin I am about to commit." He leaned toward the priest and smoothed the lapel of his suit jacket. "I intend to kill a man," he said. "May God forgive me."

With that the man stood, rushed from the confessional, and disappeared among the hordes of tourists crowding the basilica. It took the priest a few moments to recover from his shock.

The stunned cleric stepped out of the confessional and picked up a crumpled newspaper lying on the floor. He glanced at the headlines rostropovich concert in milan; dinosaur

Julia Navarro, author of the internationally bestselling novel The Brotherhood of the Holy Shroud, is a well-known Madrid-based journalist and political analyst for Agencia OTR/Europa Press, as well as a correspondent for other prominent Spanish radio and television networks and print media.

Andrew Hurley is best known for his translation of Jorge Luis Borges s Collected Fictions and Reinaldo Arenas s Pentagony novels, among many other works of literature, criticism, history, and memoir. He lives and works in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Navarro has crafted an intriguing adventure book that has what sells today: a dash of politics, a cupful of religious artifacts and lore, and brave characters determined to find the truth against all odds. FreshFiction.com