Time: Present Day

Location: Vatican City

Carter and Teacher were in their favourite viewing corner when Graz came back to his office after having gone to get Peter. They had just received word that the bombing of the hospital had been claimed by ISLA. The police were still investigating if the two paramedics killed in the bombings were willing or unwilling accomplices.

There was nothing initially to link them to ISLA. They were having difficulty identifying the bodies due to their horrific injuries and the fact that they were carrying fake ids. As a result they were not sure if they were in fact paramedics. The media were on to a rumour circulating that the victim of a shooting attempt, After Dark's lead anchor, Layla Hart, may have been the target of the attack. Speculation was rife that Jihad Yazzi may have ordered the attack to silence media because he was unhappy with how the media interview in Syria was going to portray him and his organisation.

"Sit, Peter, Sit. Jesus, Peter. What a stuff up. How could this happen?"

"Just as well, if you ask me?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"I told you I didn't want anything to happen to Amanda. Why was she there, at that hospital. She was supposed to be waiting at Orley with Margot."

"Don't you want revenge on those responsible for keeping you and Amelia apart?"

"Yes, but not Amanda, and probably not Christoph, and not my parents either of course. I don't think, anyway, I'm yet to confront them about their roles in the deception."

Graz felt a twinge of unease. The apprentice was threatening to outdo the Master. "It must have been Enrico, He must have told Andre that Amanda had a picture of him. They probably cooked it up to cover their tracks, after all, it was Enrico that decided we needed two bombs, another in the record department to destroy the evidence in The Princess Di case. I told him I didn't think it was good idea, that we should handle that separately. That trying to kill two birds with one stone risked missing both. I thought he had dropped that idea. I couldn't be at the SPECTRE meeting planning the attack," he lied.

"SPECTRE? What's SPECTRE?" Peter asked.

"I guess it's time you knew the whole truth. It's going to take a while to explain. I'll ring down for some coffee."

Carter asked Teacher, "What's SPECTRE?"

"You mean in your language besides a ghost or apparition? The coffee is here now I should let the expert tell you, see if he tells Peter what I would tell you, if he lies or leaves something out I will let you know. The All will fill in the gaps for you."

Carter listened to Graz's explanation to Peter."In your studies Petros you have no doubt read about Constantine the first. The Father of the Holy Roman Catholic Church. It was Constantine who outlawed religious persecution, particularly Christian persecution throughout the Byzantine Roman Empire. To achieve this he needed a network of spies. Not only that, he needed a part of the army that could operate in secret, do his bidding based on what the spies told him was going on anywhere in the three empires, but do so without appearing it was his handiwork. They had to be sworn to secrecy under pain of death. The forerunner of the myriad secret services operating in each country today. Without going into too much detail, Constantine managed in this sense to be revered and adored publicly while at the same time being a ruthless dictator. Mussolini and later Hitler designed their reigns on what they had learnt from Constantine. Mussolini had his Black Shirts and Hitler his Gestapo. What they didn't realise was that they were part of a bigger game, a game instituted by the descendants of Constantine, the rulers of the Roman Catholic Church.

It was soon realised by those who wanted to take power but more importantly keep power, that the only way to do that in the face of the growing trend away from fascism and towards democracy was in secret. Constantine was the first to instigate a network based on the four pillars of Solomon's temple. The first and foremost was the State, the government of the time, second the Church, thirdly the police, the enforcers and lastly the secret service, the spies. Constantine enforced rules based on the Church's teachings. He enforced them ruthlessly. So much so that a short time after making adultery a capital offense, his eldest son Crispus was charged by his stepmother, and Constantine duly sentenced him to death and carried out the sentence.

He was the first head of what we now know as SPECTRE. He was a pagan who had learnt the art of hiding in plain sight. He knew little about Christianity save for it's power to bend people to the will of the Caesars of the day. He only became a Christian himself at the end of his life and was only baptised on his deathbed. Yet he managed to control and forge what was later to become the Holy Roman Catholic Church. He was able to at once be attributed with stopping persecution of Christians while persecuting those Christians from sects that didn't fit into his plans for power into extinction. He was made a saint and at the same time declared a God under the pagan Deity system by the very same priests that he had elevated to positions of power within the Church. Constantine was the first in a long line of Guardians of Secrets and Pope makers. The first Black Pope. He used the meetings of priests and deacons to forge a doctrine based on fear of death and damnation and an economy based on financing wars and high taxes, harsh penalties and confiscation of wealth and property.

He alone set the scene for the extraordinary growth of a State endorsed Religion. A Religion that would be able to grow into the wealthiest organisation the world had ever seen. Constantine was an enigma and he left behind an enigma as his legacy. While it's leaders and beneficiaries were professing to be taking vows of poverty and chastity and appearing to the outside world to be kind and caring the Church he built was anything but. Having established the one true religion by stamping out all rivals except the Jews and Islam. But you will eventually learn how they would be part of the bigger plan for world domination.

It went on happily for another 300 years or so until the uncovery of the manuscript that could wreck everything. The real Thomas gospel which was really the Jesus gospel, the truth about the afterlife that, Jesus was no more God than anyone else, that we are all part of the All, just as important and yet just as insignificant as each other.

What we did or didn't do on the earth didn't matter much. There was no sin, no damnation, no hell, no death, but release of the spirit. Sure it could hurt this release of the spirit but that hurt was infantisimal compared to what came later. The real Thomas gospel had to be either destroyed or at least discovered to be a fraud. Then the Elders of the Church came up with a better idea. They would hide away the real Thomas/Jesus Gospel and where better to hide it than in the safest city on earth, Rome. They didn't count on one thing however, that Jesus would guess that something like this was likely to happen and would make several copies, one of which he entrusted to his lover Mary Magdalene. The others he buried on his various travels along the way to India. This is the area Jesus accepted as his allocated area as he played out his assumed role as his twin brother, Thomas. However it appears he couldn't help himself and started going off script to preach what he was preaching back in Jerusalem. He soon raised the ire of the local church hierarchy and was eventually charged with sorcery and executed by a spear to the side in the area that he had indicated that he had thrust his hand into the side of the Lord."

"Have any of the original copies surfaced to date?" Peter was fascinated.

"Yes, we have all three here in the Vatican vault, along with all three copies of the false versions of the Gospel of Thomas that were penned by the Elders in 151 AD. and buried under three different churches. Each was declared a heresy as they were uncovered and confiscated. This ensured that any future discoveries could also be deemed a heresy and destroyed before becoming public. After Constantine's reign no Pope was allowed to read the real Thomas Gospel unless the Black Pope allowed it. This power was extended over the decades to eventually include members of SPECTRE as well. That is why we say that the Black Pope is the most powerful man in the world, because he controls the money and the knowledge through SPECTRE."

"Then who belongs to SPECTRE?" Peter puzzled.

"It depends on the jurisdiction, but broadly speaking it will be at least four and no more than eight individuals, all dependant on succession arrangements. There are representatives at the highest level of church, government, the police and national security."

Peter would have to be careful now. "Was it SPECTRE that ordered the death of Amelia?" he asked without flinching.

"Yes, Peter that would have been a decision within their sphere of influence. A Special Treatment decision."

"But why, why kill an innocent girl, with a young baby, what possible threat could she pose . . . to anything?"

"You'll have to ask Enrico that."

Chapter 66 - SPECTRE Exposed.

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