Shrouded in Silence Read Online Free PDF Page B

over.
"A Signor!" The vendor hurried over. The old cap pulled down over his head modestly shielded his eyes. "A newspaper?"
Stein nodded, and the man handed him the paper. Albert placed one euro in his hand then brushed him away. The man tipped his hat and humbly returned to his stand.
The headlines remained the same, shouting their reports on the subway tragedy. Albert scanned the big stories and quickly turned the page. After reading about a blast in a subway, he pressed on. Suddenly he stopped. The smaller headline read, "Americans Track Lost Scripture." Stein lunged forward and caught his breath. It was a story about Jack and Michelle Townsend doing research in Rome. With a hard thrust of his fist, Stein pounded the table.
If there was anyone that Albert Stein despised, it was Jack Townsend. He had been a stumbling block for Stein's research for the last several years. Constantly posing questions that made Stein's insights seem shallow, Townsend inevitably kept Albert from the recognition he thought his work deserved. Albert had printed a book contending that during the period of oral tradition immediately following Jesus' death, the actual story of his life had been fabricated and twisted by his followers. It was not possible to know anything Jesus actually said from the Gospels that were written a generation later at the earliest. Stein would place their creation in the second century, although this was contested by many scholars. Townsend had countered that the words of Jesus were inseparable from his person. Jesus and his teaching were not like the oral transmission of the scribes because he always remained present in his words. That argument had cost Stein and created in him a hatred for Townsend that simmered to this very moment.
One of the reasons Stein had come to Rome was to get the jump on Jack and Michelle Townsend. When he learned they were headed for Rome, Albert immediately anticipated arriving in the city ahead of them and spying on what they were researching. While he had other work to do, he had to beat them to the punch, particularly with such a project as described in the Il Messaggero newspaper. Now this article splashed the Townsends' enterprise all over the world! Stein's endeavors deserved such headlines, not these upstart Americans.
The edges of the newspaper curled up in Albert's hands and his fists tightened. How could it be that Jack Townsend had gotten ahead of him again? It was the exact thing he hated. The Townsends were not only scholars at the opposite end of the theological scale, they were Americans, which made the injury a double insult. The denazification program that followed Germany's World War II defeat had been an affront that lay buried in Stein's soul. Nothing about these arrogant Americans sat right with him. The story in the newspaper only inflamed an already chronic wound.
Albert abruptly crushed the paper in his hands with a loud crackling noise. Other customers turned to see what caused the sound, but Albert threw the newspaper on the sidewalk. The vendor who had sold him the newspaper looked up in surprise. Stein returned a hostile glance, knowing that his thick glasses made his anger appear even more intense.
Albert crossed his arms over his chest and cursed under his breath. This was the last thing he expected. He glanced at his watch; his appointment should be showing up. If there was ever a time when he needed an assistant, it was now.
Albert visually scoured each person walking down the sidewalks, looking for the man. Ambling down the street in a slow shiftless pace, Albert could see a skinny young man who looked to be around thirty, shuffling along in worn tennis shoes and torn blue jeans. From his right eye the remnants of a nasty scar ran down the side of his cheek. The injury made him easy to identify, but it also meant he had been a risk taker and Stein needed a daredevil more than an invisible man. As he drew closer, Albert could see that his shaved head added to a