Page 21 of Redemption
“Get down!” I grab the priest by the arm and yank him to the stone floor, covering him with my body as I move him toward the rear marble mausoleum. “Stay down,” I order as I pull two guns from my shoulder holsters.
It was small caliber. Pistol. He has to be close.
Pop-pop-pop-pop.
Marble chunks fly over my head as bullets riddle the marble monument.
Where is he? I use the front column as cover as I peek around the side.
Pop-pop.
Eight rounds. How many more does he have?
“God have mercy on our souls,” the priest says from behind me.
“Don’t worry, Father. I’ll get you out of here. You’re not meeting God today.”
“I have no fear of death,” he wheezes.
I glance behind me to see him clutching his chest. Fuck. Don’t have a heart attack on me, priest. That’s the last black mark I need on my soul.
“Maybe you don’t fear death, but I’m not fucking ready,” I tell him as I scan the otherwise peaceful grounds of the cemetery. Where are you, motherfucker? I know you’re close.
I hear the roar of the engine next, and my attention shoots to the narrow road running between the aisles of expensive mausoleum and monuments spread out under the live oaks. A black Suburban hurtles toward us, tires squealing as the driver slams on the brakes.
Fuck, it’s an ambush. How many of them are there?
Guns in hand, I step out from behind the marble pillar. With both barrels pointed toward the SUV, my fingers caress the triggers, ready to unload forty rounds.
Before I pull them, an Italian-accented voice calls to us, “Come! Come! We must go! Get in! You must run!”
The door slams as my brother rounds the hood. Instantly, I lower the barrels.
What the fuck?
Pop-pop-pop.
“Get back in the car! Fuck! Take cover!”
I turn and grab the priest by his cassock. “We have to go. Now.”
I drag him toward the SUV, using my body to cover him as bullets fly toward us. Tink-tink-tink. They embed in the opposite side of the vehicle as I open the door and shove him inside.
“Stay down!”
Fuck, where is he?
I scan the cemetery and see a dark human-sized shadow. A man hunches behind the corner of a mausoleum two monuments over.
He’s reloading.
Good.
I got you, motherfucker.
Gunfire erupts as I unload in his direction. A scream pierces the air.
I got you. I fucking got you.
