Chapter 5 - The Woman in the Choir Loft
Director Evelyn Shaw descended the church stairs as if she owned the building.
Silver hair. Black wool coat. No hurry.
Adrian looked like he had seen a ghost.
Claire was getting tired of ghosts.
Shaw stopped ten feet away.
“I told them not to shoot near the child.”
Adrian’s voice was flat. “You sold Lantern.”
“I saved what was useful.”
Cross raised his gun. “Evelyn.”
Her eyes moved to him. “Daniel. Still pretending to be independent?”
Claire looked between them. “Can someone explain which one of you is betraying which government agency?”
Shaw studied Claire with unsettling interest.
“So this is the wife.”
“Don’t talk about her,” Adrian said.
“Protective now? You weren’t very protective when you left her pregnant and alone.”
Adrian flinched.
Claire noticed.
Shaw smiled faintly. “There it is. Guilt. The last reliable leash.”
Adrian stepped forward. “Why Noah?”
“Because your biometric signature is useless without a direct descendant. You locked the Lantern archive using a hereditary failsafe. Clever, dramatic, and extremely inconvenient.”
“I did it to keep you out.”
“And yet here we are.”
Cross moved toward the trapdoor. “We need to leave.”
Shaw shook her head. “The tunnels are already covered.”
A red dot appeared on Cross’s chest.
Then another on Adrian.
Claire saw figures in the choir loft.
Snipers.
Shaw extended her hand.
“Give me the baby.”
Claire stepped back.
“No.”
Shaw’s expression barely changed. “Mrs. Vale, you have no idea what is happening.”
“I know enough to understand that anyone asking me to hand over my newborn while snipers point guns at his father doesn’t get to call themselves reasonable.”
Cross muttered, “Definitely like her.”
Adrian’s eyes stayed on Shaw. “If she gives you Noah, you’ll kill all of us.”
“Not necessarily.”
“That means yes.”
Shaw smiled.
Then the stained-glass window behind the altar blew inward.
Everyone ducked.
Smoke filled the church.
A figure swung through the broken frame on a rope.
Lucas.
He fired toward the balcony.
The snipers scattered.
Adrian grabbed Claire and dragged her toward the trapdoor.
“Your dead brother is helping us?” she shouted.
“No idea!”
“Great family!”
They dropped into the bunker below the altar.
Cross followed and slammed the hatch.
The underground room smelled like dust, oil, and old concrete.
Emergency lights flickered on.
Claire saw radios, locked cabinets, maps, and a medical case.
Adrian crossed to a metal console.
A screen blinked awake.
Then a line of text appeared.
HEREDITARY AUTHORIZATION DETECTED.
Claire looked down at Noah.
Adrian’s face drained of color.
The machine had detected him through two layers of clothing and a blanket.
Then a second line appeared.
SECOND DESCENDANT DETECTED.
Nobody spoke.
Claire slowly looked at Adrian.
“Second?”
Cross stared at the screen.
Adrian whispered, “That’s impossible.”
May you like
Then something moved in the locked medical room behind them.
A child coughed.
