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first step.
    David Kaufmann took another sip of beer and reflected on Allegra’s breakthrough. Her DNA analysis had been nothing short of outstanding, but they were still only halfway through sorting the fragments. David glanced towards the door where Elie was taking Allegra’s coat. Allegra was slender with round, dark brown eyes and an oval face. In the lab Allegra normally wore her hair up, but tonight she had let it tumble to her shoulders, black and glistening in the light of the restaurant.
    ‘You look even more stunning than usual,’ David said, giving her a kiss as he pulled her chair out from the table.
    ‘Thank you, Sir. That sort of flattery will get you a long way.’
    ‘Beer? Gin and tonic? Champagne?’
    ‘I think champagne,’ Allegra replied, looking pleased with herself.
    ‘Better make that a bottle, Elie,’ David said, taking the menus.
    ‘Have you heard from your folks lately?’ Allegra asked.
    ‘Both fine. Yossi’s still juggling mathematics at the university with politics and Marian is quietly supportive, although sometimes I think she would rather Yossi just remain a professor.’
    ‘An impressive woman your mother. And neither of them look much older than sixty.’
    ‘Yes. The powers of the universe got it right when they put those two together.’
    ‘Except they produced you,’ Allegra responded quickly. ‘Yesss! I love it when you leave yourself open, David Kaufmann.’
    ‘You’ll keep. Shalom!’ he said with a grin. ‘A good week, non è vero ?’ David said, mixing Hebrew with Allegra’s native Italian.
    Allegra smiled. ‘A very good week. No wonder Monsignor Lonergan didn’t want anyone to have access to the fragments he had in that trunk of his in the Rockefeller vault. Once the Vatican gets wind of what we’ve got all hell will break loose.’
    ‘Yes,’ David agreed, suddenly serious. ‘It looks as if their greatest nightmare has finally surfaced, although ultimately it might not be a bad thing.’
    ‘Meaning?’
    ‘Meaning in the long run the Vatican may have to re-examine their dogma. You’ve always said that you left the Church because it was based on fear. Run by old men who refuse to shift their position no matter what the evidence.’ David picked up on the shift in Allegra’s body language.
    ‘As you know, that wasn’t the only reason,’ she replied, the bitter memory of the Cardinal and a Church she once loved shadowing the usual softness of her eyes.
    ‘Is there no one you can trust?’
    Allegra shook her head. ‘Not in the Vatican. Their response will be ferocious and whatever it takes, they will bury it. But Giovanni Donelli would help. He is one of the few people at the top who would allow debate on this scroll within the Church.’
    ‘An impressive man, the Cardinal Patriarch of Venice,’ David observed with a small touch of jealousy, aware of the special bond between Allegra and the brilliant Catholic priest. ‘But even if he doesn’t help, couldn’t we release the information here on our own?’
    ‘Without someone like Giovanni supporting us,’ Allegra insisted, ‘the Vatican will simply denounce the scroll as a fraud. They’re masters of spin control, and this is arguably the most important discovery in the entire history of Christianity. This is the real message, David, a warning that civilisation has entered its final phase.’
    ‘Do you think anyone else knows about it?’
    Allegra shook her head. ‘Lonergan’s trunk in the vault of the Rockefeller Museum was marked “personal” so I doubt if even the Director knows what was in it. We’re going to have to be careful of Lonergan when he gets back.’
    ‘Do you think he knows what he’s got, or rather had?’
    Allegra looked thoughtful. ‘It’s hard to tell with him. He may know more than we think. Although he may not have had time to decipher any of the fragments, and without a DNA analysis to help that could have taken years.’
    ‘You think he’s on the Vatican