Chapter 25 - Cathedral of Shattered Glass
The iron chandelier crashed directly onto the center altar steps with an earth-shattering roar, shattering stone, wood, and bone.
The blast wave of dust and splintered timber blew backward into the choir stalls. Julian was hurled into the air by the impact of the falling ironwork, his hand severed from the detonator switch before his thumb could compress the button.
Gunfire erupted instantly from every corner of the nave.
Luca rolled behind a fallen marble pillar, drawing his Kimber .45 and firing three double-taps with terrifying precision. Three Vanguard mercenaries dropped like sacks of grain, their weapons clattering across the floor. Dominic and his men surged from the side ambulatories, sweeping the flanking columns with disciplined, devastating crossfire.
"Arthur!" I screamed, coughing through the thick cloud of pulverized plaster and ancient incense.
I scrambled through the rubble toward the chair. The falling chandelier had missed Arthur by inches, but the heavy iron rim had sheared the wooden chair legs, dumping him onto the cold flagstones.
"Dad! Dad, look at me!" I cried, falling to my knees beside him.
My hands shook violently as I pulled the pearl-handled dagger from my boot, frantically slicing through the ropes binding his arms and legs. The bundle of explosives on his chest remained inert, the wire disconnected when Julian's severed detonator bounced into the crypt stairs.
"Clara..." Arthur wheezed, spitting blood onto the marble. His ribs were clearly broken, his breath rattling in his chest, but his eyes were wide with pure terror. "You shouldn't have come... you shouldn't have brought it..."
"I couldn't leave you," I sobbed, throwing my arms around his battered frame.
Luca arrived at our side like a thunderstorm, his weapon smoking, his suit splattered with brick dust. He dropped to one knee, throwing his massive frame over both of us as the final echoes of gunfire died away under Dominic's clearing sweep.
"All hostiles down, Boss," Dominic shouted from the center aisle. "Cathedral is secure. But we have sirens in the distance—someone called in a five-alarm disturbance."
Luca looked down at Arthur, his face grim. "Arthur. Can you stand?"
"The jacket, Luca..." Arthur gasped, clutching Luca’s arm with surprising strength for a man who had been tortured for forty-eight hours. "Did you bring the jacket?"
Luca reached behind him and picked up the green Army jacket, which had fallen beside the altar rail, undamaged amidst the carnage. "It's here. The Silver Star is safe."
"Not the medal," Arthur whispered, his eyes rolling back as unconsciousness began to drag him under. "The lining... the lining of the right sleeve. Vito didn't put the map in the star... the star was the decoy... Julian's master was never after the star..."
Arthur’s head fell back against my shoulder, his pulse fluttering erratically against my neck.
"Dad! Stay with me!" I yelled in a panic.
"Dominic! Get the medical transport to the side entrance now!" Luca roared, scooping Arthur into his arms as if he weighed nothing.
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Luca turned to me, his dark eyes burning into mine. "We have five minutes before the precinct swarms this block. Move, Clara!"
I grabbed the fallen Army jacket, clutching it against my chest, and ran down the altar steps through the smoke and broken glass, following the man who had just defied death to save my family.
