Chapter 11 - The Bell
Wade raised the gun.
“Hands where I can see them.”
Shaw aimed back.
For one frozen second, the bell tower held four people and two loaded weapons.
Elena stood between history and disaster.
Then Mateo said one word.
“Now.”
Elena yanked the rope.
The bell exploded above them.
The sound was enormous.
Wade flinched.
Shaw did too.
Mateo lunged sideways, slammed into the wooden frame, and kicked the maintenance hatch open.
Sunlight flooded in.
“Move!”
Elena climbed first.
Another bell strike shook the tower.
Shaw backed toward the hatch, weapon still trained on Wade.
“Put it down!”
Wade fired.
The bullet struck the beam inches from Shaw’s head.
Wood splintered.
Shaw fired once in return.
Wade dropped behind the stair wall.
Mateo dragged Elena onto the roof.
A metal maintenance ladder ran down the back side of the church.
They climbed.
Below, bikers circled toward them.
Then sirens sounded in the distance.
Not one.
Several.
Wade’s men looked toward the road.
Mateo did too.
State police cruisers.
He had sent the documents from the bell tower to an old colleague the moment he found them.
He had not known whether she would believe him.
Apparently, she did.
Wade burst onto the roof behind them.
Shaw tackled him before he could aim.
Both men crashed against the railing.
The gun skidded across the tiles.
Mateo started back up the ladder.
Elena grabbed him.
“Let the police come.”
“He’ll kill Calvin.”
Mateo climbed anyway.
By the time he reached the roof, Wade had Shaw by the throat.
Mateo hit him from the side.
All three men went down.
The roof tiles cracked beneath Wade’s weight.
Wade rolled toward the edge and stopped with half his body hanging over open air.
He screamed.
Mateo crawled forward.
Wade looked up at him, terrified now.
“Help me.”
Mateo grabbed his wrist.
Below, Elena watched.
Wade’s face twisted.
“You should let me fall.”
Mateo tightened his grip.
“No,” he said. “You get to stand in court.”
State troopers flooded the churchyard.
Then one of them shouted up at Mateo.
“Sir! We have another problem.”
May you like
He pointed toward town.
Black smoke was rising from Elena’s house.
