Chapter 43 - The Blind Spot in the Nave
"Julian, now!" Clara shouted.
Before Arthur’s operatives could raise their rifles, Clara whipped the floral handbag from her shoulder and hurled it straight toward the altar’s great bronze brazier.
During our desperate flight through the old wharf and the cathedral tunnels, Clara had packed the lining of the bag not with microfilm, but with the volatile lithium-phosphorus charges we had salvaged from the subterranean siphon's maintenance depot. The moment the satin fabric hit the glowing embers of the brazier, the world turned white.
A concussive roar tore through the cathedral. Blinding magnesium flares erupted, accompanied by thick, choking plumes of chemical smoke that instantly blinded the night-vision optics of Arthur’s mercenaries. Shouts of alarm and tactical chatter shattered the cavernous space.
"Cover your eyes!" I roared, scooping Maya into my left arm and grabbing Lily’s wrist with my right.
Gunfire immediately cracked through the smoke—blind, undisciplined bursts from Arthur’s front-line guards as they reeled from the flash. Stone chips showered down from the ornate Corinthian pillars.
"The crypt stairs behind the reredos!" Clara yelled, coughing through her sleeve as she drew a suppressed sidearm from her trench coat, firing two precise rounds into the smoke to suppress an advancing shadow.
We sprinted through the blinding fog, vaulting over the low marble railing behind the high altar. The smell of burning phosphorus and ancient dust clogged our throats. Lily was crying, but she ran gallantly, her small legs matching my strides while Maya clutched my neck with surprising strength.
"Get them!" Arthur's voice cut through the chaos, cold and devoid of all earlier gentleness. "Do not shoot the children! Take Julian and Clara down by any means necessary!"
We ducked beneath the heavy velvet drapery behind the choir stalls. Behind the tapestry lay an iron spiral staircase descending into the cathedral's foundation—the ossuary that linked the medieval foundations to the city's abandoned stormwater drainage grid.
Clara slipped through the narrow doorway first, taking Maya from my arms. "I have her. Watch the rear!"
I turned back just as the smoke parted. Arthur stepped through the haze, wearing ballistic glasses, a customized silver automatic raised in his grip. His face was twisted in a mixture of fury and admiration.
May you like
"You never could accept when you were beaten, Julian!" he yelled over the crackle of burning tapestries.
"I learned it from you, brother!" I snarled, pulling the heavy wrought-iron door shut and slamming the massive timber crossbar into place just as three heavy-caliber rounds pulverized the outer oak planks.
