Faith Inc. ep 2 – Trial of faith
Episode 2
”Trial of faith”
Brussels – Eastern France – Berlin – London
It’s a beautiful morning. The kind that makes you happy to be alive. Jurgen Weiss whistles a little tune as he walks the few steps to Jane Flanagan’s door. He knocks and waits. There is no answer. He knocks again and checks his watch while waiting. Disappointed he retrieves his keys and opens her door.
Shocked he stops as the door swings open. Mayhem meets him. The apartment is torn apart. It looks like a tornado have blasted through it.
Carefully he steps though the artifacts of a life strewn on the floor. Then, through the opening to the livingroom he sees her. Her cold, bloody body. He flees.
In panic he calls his old friend and teacher, Monsignor JAMES MONTGOMERY, currently on business in the Vatican. Weiss tells him about Flanagan’s legacy, the folder. The Monsignor advises him to turn the other cheek, to let the right channels deal with the matter and, basically, to forget the whole thing. Stunned, Weiss hangs up.
In the Vatican, Montgomery returns to the meeting with the INNER CIRCLE, headed by Vatican’s ”Prime Minister”, Cardinal SOFORZA. He reports on the file and measures are taken to assure it is buried. The information can easily destroy the chances of an Miles Militis Deus papacy that are so close.
Father Montfort informs HENRI DE LORRAINE that Jean has left. De Lorraine, also known as Le Nautonnier, is grand master of the Priory of the Temple, and an old statesman in every inch and stitch. De Lorraine scolds Montfort, both for Jean’s escape and for the poor security at Montrazès, leading to so many deaths. De Lorraine tells Montfort he better find Jean and bring him back.
Somewhere in the east of France, Jean and Alain are comfortably laying on the back of a small truck loaded with fresh vegetables for the market.
Alain wants to know where they are heading, and Jean explains about the paper he found in the abbot’s room, indicating that his lost mother is somewhere in the vicinity of Zaragozza in Spain.
Upset by a phone call informing him that Jean de Plantagenet has managed to escape, Carriera is in a bad mood. We are also pretty upset by the revelation that there is a traitor close to Jean. Strangely his mood brightens as Bucci reports that Carriera has managed to beat Isabella to death. The usually so stone-cold Bucci, however, gets very upset by Carriera’s inability to show any emotion at the news that Isabella was carrying his child when she died.
Ridden by moral doubt, Jurgen Weiss finally calls the police. The POLICE INSPECTOR in charge turns out to be Jane’s killer. Having no idea about this, Weiss still gets suspicious at the inspector’s attempts to discredit Flanagan and of his questions if Flanagan left anything behind. Weiss claims to be a concerned neighbour, having no knowledge of her professional life. Realising Flanagan’s legacy is explosive, he starts packing.
The Flanagan-Granjo affair have made Carriera realise he needs to strengthen his control over the media. He makes a hostile bid to take over Mediatime, the media group owning Newstime. The bid is rudely dismissed in a demeaning way by CEO RUPERT MAXFIELD and Carriera flies into a fit of rage. He orders his people to crush Maxfield.
A stunned Newstime staff is informed of the double murder of their colleagues Flanagan and Granic. Young guns Virgil and LOMBARD demand that their work are carried forth. They shouldn’t have died for nothing. Painstakingly, the pair start trying to patch the pieces together.
Jurgen Weiss is an excellent scholar, but a poor secret agent. He tries to sneak away to the train station, but the police inspector can follow him quite easily and only through a daring dash at the station does Weiss manage to get on the train to Berlin.
Scared, he takes a seat in the restaurant car and sits tight for the entire journey. This turns out to be a good choice as the inspector also managed to board the train.
In Berlin, Weiss takes refuge in a Catholic Church with his old friend, BISHOP REINHARD FRIDERICH.
In an emotional conversation, Weiss reveals the contents of Flanagan’s folder and how he first thought it was an outbreak of over-active imagination, then learnt the far-reaching implications the hard way.
The Bishop doesn’t seem nearly as surprised by the revelations as Weiss thought he would be. Concerned, the Bishop has followed Miles Militis Deus’s rise to power and the escalating plotting inside the Vatican.
But, there is an opposing force buried in the heartland of Europe. The inconspiciously named Priory of the Temple. An organisation centered around a precious bloodline guarded for two millennia. Not particularly interested in the wellbeing of their fellow citizens, the organisation has the power and the connections for which Miles Militis Deus strives, and the Priory of the Temple is not lenient toward competitors. Being a very closed organisation, the Bishop only knows one of their members, the British chief state prosecutor CATHERINE SINCLAIR in London.
Her family, the Sinclairs of Rosslyn, have long intermarried with the core families of the Priory of the Temple and is rumoured to be the chief guardians of the legacy left by the Knights Templar.
Jean and Alain continue their journey towards Spain. Both are elated with a sense of freedom. Jean reveals his frustration at having this nagging feeling there is something he is meant to do with his life, but not knowing what it is. Alain tries to help him find out by asking questions, helping us to get to know Jean.
The police inspector, who previously tailed Weiss to the cathedral, calls bishop Friderich and tells him that Professor Weiss is not the man the bishop once knew. Weiss is suspected of the sex-related murder of his neighbour. The bishop tells him to drop the pretense. He knows exactly who the inspector is working for and what he is after.
The line of people for the confessional booth is diminishing when the inspector walks into the cathedral. Kneeling in prayer at a small altar, he monitors the line. When only one woman is left, he walks closer. The church is emptying as people head home.
He enters the confessional booth as the woman exits. The bishop greets him and then waits for the confessor to begin. Instead the inspector shoots him twice with a silenced gun.
Weiss, walking through the church, sees the inspector exiting the booth. The inspector recognises him and starts a chase. Cornered, the scholar makes his way into the crypt of the church where renovations are under way. He manages to slow down and unarm the inspector by tipping a small scaffold.
Injured, but still with a good fight in him, the inspector lunges at father Weiss. He throws Weiss into a stack of old coffins that shatters. Desperate, father Weiss searches for something – anything – to defend himself with and grabs a thighbone. He manages to stun the inspector and flee, shutting the crypt-door behind him. The claustrophobic inspector’s screams can barely be heard behind the heavy door.
Realising the inspector probably will be missed sooner or later, or that somebody will discover the body of the dead bishop, Weiss grabs his belongings and the bishop’s identity papers. Moving away from the church he hails a cab on the street and heads for the airport.
Professor Weiss buys a ticket to London with the parish credit card and checks in. As he walks away, the GROUND ATTENDANT looks at a half-hidden photograph of the scholar and lifts the telephone.
James Virgil tries to make sense of the latest piece of the puzzle they have found so far. Someone is staging an attack on Mediatime. Loans are withdrawn and the stock plummets by no apparent reason. The City is rife with rumours. After contacting different sources a name is emerging; Carriera and the Toledo group.
Our, by now, fearful scholar checks in at a small dingy hotel in London. He asks for a phone book and, leafing though it, he finds a number that he jots down.
In his sparse, run down room, Weiss grabs the phone and makes a call. He leaves a message for Catherine Sinclair, giving the bishop’s identity and the phone number of the hotel.
Leaning back in the old, dirty bed, he turns on the TV news. The headline news is the upcoming extradition trial of former Chilean dictator Pinochet. The prosecutor, Catherine Sinclair, is under tight security as the authorities fear her life is in danger.
MARY MAXFIELD, a beautiful 50-year-old woman, is sculpting a stunning clay-piece in her sun-drenched studio. Hearing steps outside, she calls out, surprised that her husband already returned from his sailing-trip. The steps belong to Hernando Carriera and she greets him as an old friend.
The beautiful yacht dances across the blue water in the breeze. RUPERT MAXFIELD, a vigorous man in his seventies looking a decade younger, stands smiling at the helm. A speedboat approach on a crash course. Maxfield’s smile turns into a scowl. He has to make a last-minute change of course to avoid a collision.
The speedboat turns and pulls up alongside. Carriera boards. He taunts his adversary cruelly, telling him about the rape of his wife.
In tears and fighting for his life, Maxfield is forced off the boat and into the swelling waves of the ocean. Carriera and part of the speedboat crew sail away with the yacht. Carriera remarks how peaceful it is to sail.
Catherine Sinclair returns Weiss’ call. He apologizes for claiming to be Bishop Frederich, and explains about the Flanagan folder that he wants to hand over to her. They quickly set up a meeting.
Father Weiss approaches the fancy hotel. Police are everywhere and he has to go through a body search to be allowed inside. Looking purposeful, he heads for the lavatories. With a look around him, he darts into the ladies’ room.
Catherine Sinclair descends the majestic stair leading down to the lobby, surrounded by uniformed policemen. At the foot of the stairs she suddenly develops a great need to relieve herself. With great authority she dismisses the concern of the assembled police, and walks alone into the ladies’ room.
Voicing the agreed code word, Weiss exits a stall and hands her the folder. She puts it in her briefcase, applies a touch of lipstick and leaves.
The lobby seem somewhat empty and quiet after the huge Sinclair entourage has left. Weiss quietly exits the ladies room, but someone sees him…
Walking away from the hotel on a small lane, Weiss suddenly finds himself surrounded by a threatening group of hard-core NAZI SKINHEADS. Frightened by their appearance, he panics when he discovers they know his name. They fall on him like a pack of hungry wolves.
Uneasy, the Newstime staff is called to yet another unscheduled staff meeting.
A very corporate-looking man takes charge, informing them that they are now owned by the Toledo Group. The editor in chief is replaced with the speaker and they can expect a reorganisation to increase profits. Chaos breaks out. Virgil and Lombard just have to look at each other to understand the other’s thoughts. They decide to quit.
Jean and Alain arrive in Lyon. On their way to the train station they comment on the big city life, both having sorely missed it during their stay at the mountain retreat.
While Alain sneaks off to a phone booth, Jean buys train tickets to Spain. The ticket clerk draws the card through the machine.
In a quick crosscut section we follow the information pouring through telephone lines, ending up in a silent alarm on a computer screen. A hand lifts the phone and places a call.
Father Montfort lifts the telephone and listens. Cut to a briefing with a few knights. Montfort gives them information on where Jean and Alain can be found, and where they probably are heading: to Jean’s mother in Spain. He urges them to find Jean as the world’s destiny may depend on it.
Saddened by the recent events, Virgil and Lombard head over to Virgil’s apartment to plan their future course. In the mailbox they find a thick envelope from Jane Flanagan. As they open it, the contents of Flanagan’s legacy pour out. Stunned, they look at the pieces they have been searching for to solve the mystery of her death.
Catherine Sinclair is sitting at her breakfast table as a BOBBY enters with the morning’s newspapers. As he holds up the frontpage, she stares shocked: ”Rupert Maxfield dead in sailing accident”, and below: ”German scholar found hung under London bridge.” She doesn’t have to read the story to understand just who is dead.
