Trip Wire

Petra Wagner, a professional photographer, learns of a secret that has been in her family for generations. Skeptical and unable to forget the story, revealed to her by her mother, she visits a grave site at secluded monastery in Germany. Her visit sets off a trip wire in Rome. The Vatican’s Cardinal Matteotti, learns that Elisabeth Wagner, whose maiden name is von Hompesch, lives in Hamburg and is the mother of the twins Petra and Peter.

The von Hompesch family has been on a Vatican Watch List since 1842 when Ferdinand von Hompesch died at the monastery. Ferdinand, the last Grandmaster of the Knights of Malta, before the French, under Napoleon Bonaparte banished the Knights from the island in 1798, was a distant relative.

It was rumored that he was in possession of a priceless relic and may have hidden it on the island before he departed. Matteotti contacts the diocese in Hamburg and learns that Petra is on a photo assignment in Italy and Peter is vacationing on Malta. He dispatches a young priest to Italy to follow Petra, and Fra Guiseppe, one of their problem-solvers, to keep track of Peter.

After completing the photo shoot, Petra travels to Trieste, in search of clues. Peter’s boss had him carry a set of blueprints to Malta, for an unsavory associate, Carlo. Peter soon finds himself an unwitting target of local criminals. Guiseppe is under extreme pressure from Cardinal Matteotti, to discover what Peter is doing on the island. The laity engaged by a local priest to keep tabs on Peter are ineffectual and Guiseppe reluctantly enlists the assistance of the underworld in Rome to keep track of him. A job that surprisingly filters down to the Monk, a friend of Carlo’s.

The present day Knights of Malta, headquartered in Rome, learn of the church’s interest in Peter, and sends two of its clandestine members to discover why.

Petra flies to Malta and shares the family secret with her brother and enlists his help in the search. Their quest leads them from one clue to another as those watching them make their way through a tangled web of intrigue and danger.

Trip Wire was originally published under the title ‘Watch List’.