“Does the son know about the Templars?” Mario wondered about the extent of their secrecy.
“As far as we know, Hannah has kept our existence a secret from him. She’s only told him that they escaped Europe during World War II.”
“Do you keep in touch with her?”
“We check in occasionally. But as I mentioned, they’re doing quite well. The old gal’s getting on in years, but her cunning and intelligence have served them well. Their success doesn’t surprise me.”
Mario fell silent, contemplating his own situation, which mirrored Hannah’s in many ways. He realized his knowledge of the Templars was limited to what he’d read in books and what Dominic had already shared with him.
“This is all so overwhelming. It’s like a condensed version of the Vatican Secret Archives,” Mario said, his gaze sweeping over the aisle of towering shelves. “What other secrets does this place hold?”
“We’ve been amassing knowledge for centuries. This is merely a fraction of our entire collection. The primary collection is housed at our headquarters, the location of which I cannot disclose. You understand.”
“Absolutely,” Mario acknowledged. The Templars obviously had to maintain their veil of secrecy.
“How long has this . . .” Mario paused, searching for the right term. “What do you call this place?”
“We refer to it as a ‘Satellite’. We’ve been stationed in Rome since the late 1890s, vigilantly monitoring the Vatican and all its activities.”
“What other Vatican-related information is stored here?”
“We have meticulously documented all our interactions with the Vatican. I believe you’ll find it quite intriguing. Before Hannah’s arrival, we were keeping a close eye on Father Eugenio Pacelli. . . . You’re familiar with him, aren’t you?”
“He ascended to the papacy as Pope Pius XII.”
“Correct. Pacelli, in conjunction with the Black Nobility, was meticulously orchestrating their ultimate confrontation against us. Upon his ascension to the papacy in ‘39, he set in motion Hitler’s initiation of World War II with the invasion of Poland later that year. Pacelli then directed Hitler to round up the Jews and seize all their possessions—their artwork, homes, real estate, gold, cash. Everything. Pacelli essentially held the Jews hostage for ransom.”
“Ransom for what?”
“Solomon’s treasure.”
Mario remained silent, stunned by Dominic’s revelation, eagerly awaiting further elucidation.
“With Pacelli manipulating Hitler like a marionette, the Nazis swelled in numbers and power. We were vastly outnumbered. Pacelli was convinced they were the rightful inheritors of Solomon’s treasure and used the Jews as leverage to try and force our hand.”
“This is a lot of information. Is there some place to sit down?”
“Certainly. Let’s move to the reading area.” The Templar guided Mario down the aisle to an open space furnished with four leather chairs arranged in a circle. As Mario settled into a chair, he encouraged Dominic to continue with the account of the covert war between the Templars and the Vatican.
“As I mentioned, we were significantly outnumbered by the Nazis and Mussolini’s Fascists. The Vatican had their puppet strings attached to Germany, Italy, and the United States. The pope pulled Hitler’s strings in Germany, his brother manipulated Mussolini in Italy, and FDR was under the influence of Catholic cardinals and the archbishop in the United States. We were at a stark disadvantage during the initial years of World War II.”
“You’re suggesting that World War II was a grandiose game of chess between the Vatican and the Templars, vying for control of Solomon’s treasure?” Mario was struggling to digest this revelation. He had been raised on the teachings of the Catholic Church. Now he was hearing that the Vatican was essentially a bully, fighting to reclaim their ‘toy’—the invaluable treasure of King Solomon that the Templars had discovered and sworn to protect. It felt as though the Vatican and the pope were merely a facade, an elaborate ruse in their pursuit of the world’s most precious treasure.
“Yes, I suppose that’s a succinct summary of World War II.”
Mario stared at Dominic. This contradicted everything taught in history classes worldwide, everything taught in Catholic schools. What was the truth? What was a lie?
Seeing Mario struggling to comprehend, Dominic continued his explanation. “That’s when we manipulated the Japanese into bombing Pearl Harbor in December 1941.”
“Wait! You provoked them into bombing Pearl Harbor?”
“Yes, to draw the United States into the war. We had heard the Nazis were planning a meeting in December 1941 to intensify their extermination of the Jews.”
Mario fell silent again, absorbing this shocking information. He still couldn’t believe that World War II was essentially an elaborate chess match between two competing shadow powers.
“Regrettably, the bombing only postponed the meeting by a month. The senior government leaders of the Nazi Party convened in Wannsee, Germany.”
“The Wannsee Conference,” Mario interjected. “That’s where the Nazis formulated their plans for the Final Solution to the Jewish Problem.”
“Correct.”
“Reinhard Heydrich and Adolf Eichmann spearheaded the effort,” Mario added, using his newfound knowledge regarding the Final Solution.
“Indeed. It was at the Wannsee Conference that the pope escalated the extermination the Jews. The ball, metaphorically speaking, was back in our court.”
“What did you do?”
“We were limited in power. The United States was now in the war, but they were moving too slowly. We recruited volunteers across Europe to hide Jews or assist them in escaping the Nazis. I’m sure you’ve heard some of those stories.”
“You mean like Anne Frank?”
“Indeed. Tragically, Anne and her family were discovered and transported to a death camp where they succumbed to the horrors of the gas chambers.”
“Your volunteers couldn’t stem the tide.”
“Indeed. The Nazis were systematically exterminating tens of thousands of Jews daily across Eastern Europe in their death camps.”
“So what could you do?”
