Chapter 7 - BLOOD BETWEEN BROTHERS
Salazar fired.
Kell threw himself sideways.
The bullet struck the wall behind him.
He drew his weapon before hitting the floor and fired twice.
One round shattered a light.
The corridor plunged into darkness.
Kell ran toward Sofia’s room.
The guard opened fire blindly.
Kell shot him through the knee and kicked the weapon away.
“Keys.”
The guard cursed.
Kell pressed the barrel against his wounded leg.
The keys appeared.
Sofia stood when Kell entered.
“You chose.”
“Temporarily.”
He unlocked her restraints.
“Can you run?”
“You should know better than to ask a De Santos that question.”
Gunfire echoed from the stairwell.
Kell gave her the fallen guard’s pistol.
“Stay behind me.”
“I don’t take orders from traitors.”
“Then treat it as a suggestion.”
They moved through a service corridor.
Salazar’s men closed in from both sides.
Kell shot the first.
Sofia shot the second.
Her bullet struck the man’s shoulder.
She fired again and hit his chest.
For half a second, she froze.
It was her first kill.
Kell grabbed her arm.
“Feel bad later.”
They reached a loading bay.
A delivery truck sat idling near the doors.
Kell pulled the driver out and shoved Sofia into the passenger seat.
The rear windshield shattered as bullets followed them into the street.
“Where are we going?” Sofia asked.
“St. Michael’s.”
“The church?”
“Rafael has men nearby.”
“How do you know?”
“I gave him the routes.”
She stared at him.
“At least you’re honest now.”
“I’m tired.”
“That is not the same thing.”
They reached St. Michael’s twelve minutes later.
The church stood between two condemned buildings.
Kell stopped in the alley behind it.
“You go inside.”
“You’re coming.”
“No.”
“You think Salazar will forgive you?”
“No.”
“You think Rafael will?”
Kell looked toward the church door.
“No.”
“Then what happens to you?”
“What should have happened years ago.”
Sofia stepped closer.
“My brother killed Owen.”
Kell’s face changed.
“You know?”
“I heard you arguing with him the night before.”
“He was innocent.”
“I know that now.”
Kell’s eyes sharpened.
“What does that mean?”
“It means Rafael knows too.”
Before Kell could respond, headlights flooded the alley.
Three black vehicles blocked both exits.
Salazar’s men emerged.
Kell pushed Sofia behind a stone column and opened fire.
The church doors exploded outward.
Rafael’s men poured into the alley from inside.
Diego led them with his wounded arm strapped against his chest.
Rafael came behind him.
For one suspended second, he and Kell saw each other through the gunfire.
Years of loyalty.
A brother’s death.
A child’s accusation.
A kidnapped sister.
Every unanswered question existed between them.
Kell lowered his weapon.
Rafael did not.
Then a Salazar gunman appeared behind Rafael.
Kell fired.
The gunman fell.
Rafael looked at the body, then back at Kell.
“Later,” Sofia shouted. “You can hate each other later.”
They retreated into the church.
Rafael’s men sealed the doors.
Sofia threw her arms around her brother.
Rafael held her tightly.
Only for a second.
Then he examined the blood on her face.
“Who did this?”
“Salazar.”
Rafael looked at Kell.
“He helped me escape.”
“That does not erase what he did.”
“I didn’t say it did.”
Kell placed his gun on the floor.
Diego kicked it away.
Two men seized him.
Rafael approached.
“Why did Salazar want me at the Harrington club?”
“To kill you.”
“What is inside?”
“Explosives.”
“How many civilians?”
“Forty employees. Maybe more.”
Rafael turned to Diego.
“Evacuate it quietly.”
Diego issued the order.
Sofia touched Rafael’s arm.
“Kell warned you.”
“He also gave Salazar the information necessary to build the trap.”
“He could have let me die.”
“He could have prevented your kidnapping.”
Kell laughed bitterly.
“Yes. Let’s organize my sins by date.”
Rafael struck him across the face.
Kell remained upright.
“Do it again,” Kell said.
Rafael did.
Sofia stepped between them.
“Enough.”
“He betrayed us.”
“And he brought me back.”
“He brought the enemy into our walls.”
“Then ask why.”
Rafael looked around the church.
Rain struck the stained-glass windows.
Candles trembled near the altar.
“Why?” he asked.
Kell wiped blood from his mouth.
“Owen was innocent.”
Rafael’s face went still.
Diego looked away.
That small movement did not escape Sofia.
Or Kell.
Kell pointed at him.
“You knew.”
Diego shook his head.
“I knew the evidence had problems.”
“When?”
“After the execution.”
“You said nothing.”
“I told Rafael.”
Kell looked at Rafael.
“Is that true?”
Rafael did not answer quickly enough.
Kell lunged.
The guards restrained him.
“You knew my brother died for nothing!”
“I learned later.”
“How much later?”
“Three weeks.”
Kell’s rage became almost silent.
“You let me serve you for six years.”
“I had no proof.”
“You had doubt.”
“I had an organization to hold together.”
“You had a man who trusted you.”
Rafael stepped closer.
“And you answered by terrorizing families?”
“I answered by destroying what you loved.”
A strange beeping sound interrupted them.
Nate, standing near the side entrance with Mara, looked upward.
“What is that?”
Everyone froze.
The sound came from beneath the altar.
Diego pulled aside the carpet.
A digital timer had been attached to a block of explosives.
Thirty-one seconds remained.
Kell stared at it.
“I didn’t know.”
Rafael looked toward the crowded church.
“There are apartments on both sides.”
Twenty-seven seconds.
Diego shouted for everyone to move.
Kell dropped to his knees beside the device.
“What are you doing?” Sofia asked.
“Fixing one thing.”
The timer reached twenty seconds.
Kell opened the panel.
His hands moved across the wires.
Rafael watched.
“You cut the wrong one, we all die.”
Kell looked up at him.
“Then maybe Owen gets his revenge.”
The timer reached three seconds.
Kell pulled a wire.
The display stopped.
For one heartbeat, nobody breathed.
Then the device began counting again.
Two.
May you like
One.
Zero.
