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“But why did Attila choose a catacomb?” asked Remi “And hoould he even know about them?”

Albrecht said, “I’ what Attila did will take up most of the rest of my career Rome was the most famous place in the world People talked about it Attila was probably taught to adroup historians call the five good emperors Many of the Flavian family were buried in the oldest parts of this cataco of raves was a concern We know he left instructions, going to great lengths, to hide his grave We know Attila was very cunning Because Rome was full of people from every country in the Empire, he probably kneould be possible for a sh to enter a cataco the graves of a hundred and fifty thousand, most of theoods, seeht do And of course we have his word that this is what he did”

“The word of a twelve-year-old?”

“One of the things we know is that people who underestimated this man usually died And there is another reason to have faith in the young Attila”

“What’s that?”

“That year, Attila was the one chosen as hostage, not his older brother Bleda or anyone else This was Ruga’s best chance to get a spy into the most important court on earth It was also Rome’s chance to form a relationship with the youth who the Huns Both sides agreed on who that would be—the twelve-year-old Attila”

“All right,” said Sam “We knohere the tomb is, and all the oing to accomplish this”

“I’d like to have all of us there for the finish,” Remi said “Even if we’re fifteen hundred years late and the tomb has been looted, we all work to follow his instructions to the end”

“Reht to mention the possible end,” said Albrecht “Sooths, Loers It’s possible we’ll find nothing But the Catacomb of Domitilla is the least compromised”

Saalities?”

Sel into it The people of Rome abandoned the Catacoot it existed In 1873 it was rediscovered Because most of the catacomb was an early Christian cemetery, it was placed under the ownership of the Catholic Church In 2007 the Pope appointed the Divine Word Missionaries, an organization of priests and monks, to act as administrator At the moment, about sixteen hundred meters are open to the public, but they’ve been cooperative about projects to explore, raph the rest of the catacoest, and the one that still contains the bones of its original dead We’ve called Captain Boiardi of the Carabinieri Tutela Patrireed not only to provide security but also to intercede for us with the Divine Word Missionaries He’s telling them about the way you called in the authorities after the Mantua excavation”

“Wonderful,” said Remi “He’s somebody ant on our side”

“He called a while ago and asked for you and Sam I told him I worked for you, so he said to tell you he would be here as soon as he could He has the Ministry of Culture approving this as a joint project Anything that’s dated before the ninth century BC or after the fourth century AD will be granted a license for possible export to the US Anything else will be negotiated case by case”

“Those are generous terms,” said Sam

“It will be good to have official backing,” Albrecht said “Going into a catacomb is like a cave expedition The floor is hard, smoothly finished, and reasonably level and dry But beyond the areas open to the public, it’s not very different from the way it was in 300 CE There will be no electricity None of the deceased will have been removed fro and, e go, we’ll leave nothing behind This is a fifteen-kiloraph, but, to the extent that we can avoid it, we touch nothing We’ll have to be very deliberate, attentive, and patient because the toreat treasures of the ancient world Attila started thinking about this tomb when he elve and didn’t stop until he died thirty-five years later All we can assu it will not be easy”