October 13, 1307: In France, a
vicious inquisition condemns thousands of men to prison and
torture at the stake. These men are members of the Knights
Templar, a powerful group of warrior monks. The same day, 17
ships belonging to the monks leave the French harbor of La
Rochelle and vanish without a trace. What secrets do the monks
possess? How did they acquire their immense wealth?
July 16, 1918: In Ekaterinburg, Tsar Nicholas II, his wife
Alexandra and their five children are violently slain by the
Bolshevik rebels who have overtaken Russia. Where is the
Imperial family’s vast fortune? Is there a link between the
events of 1307 and the horror of 1918? Does the Imperial
family’s missing treasure somehow have a connection to the
tragedies that befell the Knights Templar in the fourteenth
century?
May 13, 1981: In Rome, at Saint Peter’s Square, Pope John Paul
II sustains serious gunshot wounds when fired at by a Turkish
terrorist, whose motive in the attempted murder has never been
completely understood. What connects the attempt on the Pope’s
life with the ancient order of the Knights Templar and with the
third vision of the children of Fátima in 1917?
Summer 1999: The largest and most luxurious cruise ship in the
world, The Queen of Atlantis, begins a voyage to visit the most
famous harbors on earth. In Venice, four American friends board
the ship and are soon joined by the medieval scholar Gerardo di
Valnure, who counts many Knights Templar among his ancestors. A
powerful Russian arms dealer, Josif Drostin, has also boarded
the ship. To discover answers to the secrets swirling among
those aboard ship, Oswald Breil, the former head of the Mossad
and currently Israel’s Vice-Minister of Defense, intervenes with
the collaboration of the ingenious scientist, Sara Terracini.
But even the intelligence service in Tel Aviv ignores the sect
whose fanatical members are prepared to make any sacrifice to
further their cause: to destroy the world, then rebuild on the
ashes -- just as Knights Templar who survived persecution so
long ago had pledged to do. |
Marco
Buticchi