Shrouded in Silence by Robert Wise

quite," Michelle said. "We've got to do some cross-checking and more research. I'm concerned that we don't really have enough clues to know where to start looking for the papyrus yet. We've got to dig much deeper in the Vatican Library."
"And that's what you'd like me to do?" Dov said. "Trudge down to those dark halls and wander through the dusty stacks?"
"I think so," Michelle said hesitantly. "What about you, Jack?"
"I agree," Jack said and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I believe we've got to search for clues about what might have happened in the first century to Mark's conclusion to his Gospel. We're going to need to dig farther into sections of the Vatican Library where no one usually looks. You can use one of our passes to get you in. It's not easy to get permission to wander around in those ancient corridors."
"I think you're going to need to try to get behind the time of Irenaeus, and that won't be easy," Michelle said. "Irenaeus was a disciple of Polycarp, and that will be hard to find if it's even there. We have the writings of Clement, and we believe he was with Paul in Phillipi in A.D. 57. We need to research behind Clement, and that's a real toughie."
"I suspect that there might be materials in the Vatican Library that may be hidden because they were lost from sight," Jack said. "Who knows what's buried in that pile of ancient documents. I want you to bring an intellectual shovel and start digging deep, Dov."
Dov grinned. "You know that I'm not particularly comfortable wandering around in the world of Rome's Catholic Church, but I can't think of anything I'd rather do than try to turn up the writing of somebody like Linus or Cletus who might have perished in the persecutions of Nero. Then there was that guy called Laterani. Maybe I can find something new. Sure; I'll hit the stacks."
"Good," Jack said. "I think that's an important place for you to go today. I understand your reluctance. Many Jews don't exactly trust what the Roman hierarchy did in the past, but you won't have any problems today. You can start going through the archives in Vatican City immediately."
Dov smiled. "My, my; amazing how times can change. OK, give me your entry documents and I'll tool on down to St. Pete's palace to see what I can rummage out of their garbage pile of old valuables."
"That's what I like," Jack said. "A devout attitude."
"We do our best." Dov slowly pushed himself up out of his chair. "The Vatican is not particularly considered a friend of the Jewish people. I'll need that pass to get by the boys who guard the door." He stood up and stretched before walking toward the front office area. "OK, I'm on my way."
"You are going to seek entry into the Archivum Secretum Apostalicum Vaticanum," Jack said. "The Vatican Secret Archives."
"Secret Archives!" Dov raised an eyebrow. "Are you kidding me?"
"Not secret in the sense of hidden," Jack explained. "Secret means the archives are the pope's own private documents, not those of a department of the Curia. It's been estimated that the archives contain fifty-two miles of shelving with more than thirty-five thousand volumes in the selective catalog alone. Who know how much is actually down there?"
"You want me to cruise through thirty-five thousand books like a kid going around the block on a skateboard?"
Jack laughed. "Not quite. There's everything down there from the marriage annulment of Henry VIII of England to correspondence with Michelangelo. You'll find the rooms to be elegant almost beyond belief. The ceilings have been painted in a manner similar to the Sistine Chapel. You'll be dazzled.
"Wow. You're talking big time for a little Jewish boy from the sticks in Israel."
"Yes," Michelle said. "It's a scholar's paradise. I know that some documents go back to at least the eighth century with an almost uninterrupted documentation from 1198 forward. You're going to dig way behind those dates."
"What we're after is far behind the eighth century," Jack said. "There's also an Apostolic