“What are you people doing in here? The church is closed!” he called out in German. “You must leave immediately or I’m going to call the police.”
“You’re not going to call the police, Father,” Raimond replied from the other end of the church.
“Why not?” Kalen called back.
“Because if you do, I’ll blow this nice young woman’s brains all over your beautiful marble floor.”
Kalen feigned dismay, raising his right hand to his heart. He hobbled forward, pretending to try to get a better view of the intruders in his church.
Will turned toward Kalen, verifying the priest he heard was the priest he expected to see.
“Father Heigel?” Will said.
“Yes, I’m Father Heigel,” Kalen replied in English flavored with a thick Austrian accent.
“Just the person I was hoping to see.”
“Excuse me? Do I know you?”
“No, we’ve never met. I’m the one who left the message on your answering machine to meet me here tonight. Thank you for coming. As you can see, things are not going very well for me and my lady-friend,” Will said, gesturing to the captive Julie down the aisle.
Kalen shuffled down six steps from the altar into the nave. He hobbled slowly across the marble floor toward Will, leaning heavily on the cane. With his right hand raised in the air, palm facing forward he said, “Gentlemen, I’m not sure what is going on here, but you are in the Lord’s house. This is no place for violence. Please, put down your guns. We can end this peacefully.”
“I’m sorry, Father,” scoffed Raimond, “but that is not going to happen. Why don’t you just shut up and sit your holy ass down in one of those pews where I can see you.”
“Listen Zurn, you’ve got what you want. Why don’t you let Julie go, like we agreed? She can stay behind in the church with Father Heigel, and I will go with you.”
A. Archer—RS: Bio: “Social, report status of balcony sweep.”
A. Mesnil—RS: Social: “The balcony is clear.”
A. Archer—RS: Bio: “Roger. I’m in the west corridor, but I can’t see shit. Technical, I thought you told me that this EDGAR radar-scope could see through walls.”
E.VanCleave—RS: Technical: “Try adjusting the penetrating depth. Use the dial on the left to set the focal range. You’ll see the number change in the top left corner of the screen. That’s the focal depth in feet. If you turn the knob all the way to the left, past the detent, EDGAR will sweep automatically across a range of depths. I suggest you use sweep mode.”
A. Archer—RS: Bio: “Okay, I see it … going to sweep mode … It’s working … I’ve got two bodies, our Romeo and Juliet I presume … and there’s Foxtrot, and Physical … Bingo, I’ve got the shooter. EDGAR puts him directly above Foster and Immel. He’s on some sort of truss structure.
A. Mesnil—RS: Social: “There’s a scaffold in the middle of the church, on the West side of the nave. It goes all the way up to the top of the dome ceiling. That is the structure you’re seeing.”
A. Archer—RS: Bio: “This shooter has taken a bird’s eye position. Physical, this is Bio, you’ve got a shooter hiding in the scaffolding on the fifth level almost directly above you.”
E. VanCleave—RS: Technical: “Social, do you have a view of the shooter?”
A. Mesnil—RS: Social: “Negative. What’s worse is that his position is 100 percent defensible. It’s impossible for someone to approach the scaffold without traversing his line of fire.”
E. VanCleave—RS: Technical: “I have an idea. Bio, egress to the main entrance, and wait for me there. I’ll need your help.”
Julie gagged. Raimond was unconsciously ratcheting up the pressure on the piano wire around her neck, matching the rising tension in the air. A drop of warm blood trickled down her neck. The piano wire complicated the scenario. He had absolute control of her. She couldn’t crack him in the balls and run away. If he were to be shot, her head would almost certainly be severed from her body by the force of his body crashing to the ground pulling the piano wire with it.
She was trapped in a human guillotine.
“You’re choking me,” she rasped.
Zurn ignored her.
“I said sit down, Father,” Raimond repeated with vehemence.
Kalen had crept forward to the point that he was now standing beside Will in the center aisle.
“Okay, okay. But please put down your gun.” Kalen made a lowering motion with his free hand.
Raimond cocked his head and lowered his eyebrows. A disapproving look for a disobedient child. He removed the pistol from Julie’s cheek and took aim at the priest.
Kalen bowed his head subserviently, but did not move to take a seat.
Raimond tweaked his aim and fired a warning shot. The muzzle flare lit up the interior of the church like a flash of lightning, followed by the crash of thunder from the shot. The bullet whisked through the air and slammed into the back of a wooden pew with a splintering thud.
Will instinctively cowered.
Kalen collapsed on the ground at Foster’s feet in a quaking heap, holding his right hand over his heart.
Will glowered at Raimond. He looked down at the fallen, crumpled Kalen at his feet, and then extended his arm to help the impostor priest to his feet.
Kalen clutched Will’s right wrist with his right hand and pulled hard, yanking Will off balance. Will buckled at the waist and reflexively his left foot shot forward to catch his balance so he did not fall over. Kalen swung his body around, so his back faced Zurn. With his left hand, the priest pawed at Will’s waist, finding a handhold on Will’s right pants pocket. Will heaved Kalen up to his feet. Kalen feigned difficulty loading weight onto his supposedly bum left leg. He stumbled to the left, leaning heavily on Will.
“Help me to the pew, my son,” Kalen said to Will, trembling and eyeing the bounty hunter in mock terror.
Will lugged the groaning priest toward the closest pew. He could feel Kalen’s thick and sinewy muscles flexing with each movement beneath the black garments. A lamb carrying a lion. Kalen played his part with the dramatic flare of a seasoned stage actor. With great effort Will helped lower him onto the pew bench.
Raimond watched the proceedings with increasing agitation.
Will stepped back into the aisle and bent at the waist to retrieve the priest’s wooden cane from the marble floor.
“Leave it!” yelled Raimond.
Will froze, and then stood back up, leaving the cane to lie where it fell.
“Enough of these games!” Raimond snarled. “You lied to me, Foster. You have lied to me from the beginning. In your pocket, you have a glass vial. It contains something important. Important enough that you would risk your life, and Fräulein Ponte’s life, to retrieve it. I want to know what it is. Give it to me now!”
Will stood motionless. The vial was his insurance policy. Turning it over to Zurn would shift the balance of power. It was a move he could not afford to make.
“I will separate this woman’s head from her body if you test me, Foster. You have three seconds to show me the vial.”
Raimond increased the pressure on the piano wire around Julie’s throat. The metal strand sliced into her soft skin like a cheese cutter. She whimpered. A dark stain grew across the front of her white blouse as dual trickles of blood snaked down either side of her throat, creating a Y-shaped crimson necklace.