The most daring theft in history; the stolen

object more explosive than an atom bomb,

more valuable than the Kohinoor Diamond.

Deep within the Secret VaticanArchives

lies a red leatherbound volume labeled

"The Tetramachus Collection" whose con-

tents will prove the Church s collaboration

with the Nazis during World War II. Only

a handful of people even know of its exis-

tence, among them a humble Polish priest

named Father Martin Belobraditz, secre-

tary to Rozdentsy Cardinal Meyerczuk,

the living symbol of Catholic Poland s de-

fiance of Communism and the man almost

certain to become the next Pope.

When Father Martin arrives at the

Court of the Belvedere, ostensibly to bring

the papers to the cardinal, and then dis-

appears with the Collection, an unparal-

leled manhunt ensues. Not only may the

document topple the entire structure of

the Church, but it will assuredly ruin the

career and aspirations of Cardinal Meyer-

czuk, whose Faustian pact with the Ger-

mans the Collection explicitly sets forth.

To the horror of the Vatican, the papers

surface in the hands of Alfredo Sabatini.