Veil - 02 - The Hammer of God (40 page)

The cardinal, dizzy and weak, grabbed the lever, and with all he had left in him pulled. “Arrrrrrrh!” He collapsed to the floor. Everything went black. Cardinal Polletto heard the deck give way and the splash of water. He smiled as hell opened its doors, blood pouring from his mouth.

“It is done,” he whispered.

T
he door to the casket opened. Samuel was lifted out of the coffin, his vision blurry, and his feet touched the deck. His eyesight cleared and quickly surveyed the area. Behind him, he saw a horrifying sight.

Children, around his age, were tied up, mouths taped, piled up on the backside of the deck, wiggling like fish out of water.

Samuel looked over at his brothers. They looked as terrified as he felt.
Be brave! Stand strong!
Eduardo and Felipe’s backs straightened.

Samuel felt his stomach churn. He took several deep breaths through his nose, fought it off, and looked around the stage. They were exactly where he imagined. His eyes landed up front. Cardinal Polletto was staring straight at him.

Samuel kept his eyes firmly on the cardinal, who looked away and raised his hands in the air. The stadium fell silent. Samuel surveyed the crowd in the stands, not able to see everyone clearly. The faces he could make out had their eyes glued on him. He let his gaze fall down to the front row, and almost collapsed at the disturbing sight of his mother in the front row wearing a black hooded robe like all the others, standing next to a frail old man with scary yellow eyes. Alison saw him looking, smiled and blew him a kiss.

Samuel’s hearing fell hollow, his eyes watered. Cardinal Polletto walked over to Father Tolbert with a tray in his hand, but Samuel had stopped paying attention.
Mommy, how could you?

Samuel looked over at Felipe and Eduardo. Both looked down at their hands, signaling that their bounds were loose enough to make a break for it.

A commotion brought Samuel out of his stupor. Father Sin walked by him toward the stage.
Good, it’s time.
Samuel pointed his head toward the rail to the left. If they made it over, he guessed the drop was about ten to fifteen feet down to the water. He looked at his mother, heartbroken, but her attention, along with everybody else in the stadium, was on Father Tolbert, who had broken loose from the wooden plank, and was now slashing a knife back and forth at anybody who tried to get close to him.

Two men grabbed Father Tolbert, but he kicked and stabbed them, sending both of them to the ground. The crazed priest reached down for a thick necked man, whose face Samuel remembered, but whose name he couldn’t recall, and stabbed him in the chest several times, to the horror of Samuel and the now panicked crowd.

“Father Sin, get him!” cried Cardinal Polletto, looking frightened.

Father Sin pulled a knife from under his robe, but Father Tolbert didn’t notice. His eyes were fixed on the cardinal, as he spit and cursed.

“Stop him!” Cardinal Polletto screamed.

Father Tolbert rushed the cardinal, who put his forearms in front of his face and screamed as Father Tolbert sunk the knife into his stomach.

All of the adults around them, including Sister Bravo, rushed forward, leaving the boys alone.

Samuel eased over to Eduardo and Felipe, removed the rope from his wrists, and helped his brothers do the same. The boys ripped the tape from their mouths, then stared in awe at the heap of children writhing at their feet.

Samuel saw Cardinal Polletto stumble over to a large wooden handle and look over at him.

“Let’s go!” shouted Samuel.

Cardinal Polletto pulled the lever. The deck collapsed, and seconds later, Samuel was underwater fighting for air, as the children who were lying on the deck kicked and squirmed all around him.

Samuel couldn’t breathe. His chest ached. He felt dizzy and weak.

The longer he fought, the faster his strength abandoned him. He felt himself losing consciousness, as tiny hands and feet clawed at his face.

R
obert watched in horror as the deck Samuel stood on collapsed.

Samuel, his brothers, and all of the bound and gagged children stacked behind them, crashed into the dark lake.

Robert picked up speed. “Thorne, I’m going in after Samuel!” He looked toward his partner, who didn’t answer, and saw her deep in hand-to-hand combat with two men.

Bam! Somebody hit Robert hard around the neck, knocking him head over heels to the floor. He dropped his guns, but adrenaline pumping, immediately sprang to his feet. A burly, thick-necked man stripped off his robe in front of him, revealing a white collar, black shirt and pants.
Father Sin!

Robert chopped the behemoth’s throat, kicked him hard in the head, and brought his foot down hard on the inside of the priest’s knee, busting the kneecap, breaking his leg. The priest hit the deck hard. Robert looked over at Thorne. Both men she was fighting were down on the ground, still, lifeless. Behind her, Father Kong, Detective Reynolds, and the others rushed onto the scene. A woman tackled Thorne to the ground and punched her in the face.

Samuel!
Robert turned, ran to the end of the deck, stripped off the robe and dove into the wet blackness.

Robert felt kicks and bumps as he entered the water. Small hands grabbed at his face and body. He reached for them, pulling the small bundles to the surface. Each time he reached the surface, which was crowded with kicking and struggling children, he found himself holding a child other than Samuel. Frantic, he untied the child, ripped the tape from their mouths, then went down for another, each time bringing up a child other than his godson.

He looked up at the stadium. Father Kong and several of his people dove in the lake to help. Robert went back under. As his eyes adjusted to the blackness, he could make out the mostly lifeless forms of children.

His lungs burned. He felt a surge of anxiety.
No, please don’t let him die!

Most of the bodies Robert swam through had stopped moving. He grabbed them in pairs and pulled them to the surface, crashing into others on his way up. Each time, his heart sank.
It’s not Samuel.

Lake water mixed with the tears in Robert’s eyes. He saw Father Kong and the others pulling children to the shore, as more of the members of Il Martello di Dio jumped in to assist. Robert dove down again and again. Each time he came up holding another dead child, his heart sank a little lower, and his soul emptied a little more.

“Samuel! Samuel!” he screamed.

F
ighting through kicking feet and butting heads, Samuel fought his way to the surface, threw up a stomach full of lake water, and sucked in air that felt like piercing needles in his lungs. Some of the children that were tied to the deck had slipped out of their ropes and were clawing for anything they could hang onto, including Samuel.

Several times, panicked children pulled him under, almost causing him to drown, but each time Samuel punched his way free and clawed back to the surface, amongst terrified screams, wet fleshy mounds, some dead, others wiggling desperately.

He finally gathered himself and swam away from the crowd towards Trevignano, just as he and his brothers planned. Along the way, he searched the faces of dying, drowning children, knowing he would see Eduardo or Felipe.
We can’t die. You’re my only family now, and without
you, I’d rather be dead.

Samuel swam clear of the crowd, but could still hear splashing and crying. Mixed in the noise, he thought he heard someone call his name, but ignored it. Arm tired, legs weak, Samuel moved slowly across the lake, his energy almost gone. He ripped off the heavy robe, but it only helped a little, and he struggled to keep going.

“Samuel! Samuel!” he heard a weak voice call.

Samuel turned. Felipe, with Eduardo at his side, swam up to him, both crying with joy. The three floated in the water, hugging and kissing each other on the cheek.

“We made it,” said Eduardo, holding Samuel tight.

Samuel felt a surge of energy. “Yes. Now let’s get to shore. We can make it the rest of the way.”

The three boys swam hard toward the shore. Samuel’s body throbbed with pain, but he didn’t care. He kicked and pulled at the water even harder, with Felipe and Eduardo on each side.

Thirty minutes later, Samuel saw the dark outline of Trevignano and its hillside cottages. He smiled, then laughed.
We made it!

Samuel and his brothers lumbered out of the lake, fell down in the sand, and threw up lake water and bile. Samuel felt the muscles in his legs knot up, and his stomach cramp. Felipe and Eduardo cried out in pain. Samuel relaxed. The pain continued, but his mind floated elsewhere. He’d lost everything and everyone he ever cared about.

Everybody he trusted had let him down, and now, right there on the beach, Samuel changed forever.
I’ll never trust anyone outside of my
brothers again.

He stood. “We have to keep moving. Let’s go.”

“Where?” asked Felipe. “We have nowhere to go.”

“We’ll make a way,” Samuel told them, confident and sure. “But we have to get away from here now.”

Felipe and Eduardo pulled themselves up, and the three of them walked into Trevignano, which was dark and deserted, except for a few lights in scattered houses on the hillside.

“Rome is this way,” said Eduardo, pointing.

The boys walked toward Rome, making sure they stayed off the road, close to the thick brush.

“We’ll get as close as we can,” said Samuel. “When the sun comes up, we’ll hide in the woods and sleep until nightfall.” His brothers nodded their heads in agreement.

Suddenly, an old man appeared out of the woods, startling the three of them. Next to him, stood a tall, much younger man, with arms that bulged and stretched his black knit sweater.

“You boys are out quite late,” said the old man. “And you’re wet.

Swimming this time of night?”

“What business is it of yours?” shot Samuel.

The old man smiled. “You made it out alive, so you are my business,” he told them.

Samuel looked at the frail old man curiously. There was something familiar about him that he couldn’t place. “What does that mean?” he asked.

The old man moved closer. “It means that if you chose, you can come with me, where you’ll be free and safe.”

“And if we don’t?” asked Samuel, calm and cool.

“Then life will be much harder for you,” said the old man. “You made it from the lake, so you will not die, that I can assure you. But why take the hard road? Mine is much softer and easy.”

“We don’t know you,” said Samuel. “How can we trust you?” The old man walked toward them. Eduardo and Felipe stepped back.

Samuel calmed them with a touch.

“Come with me, and you’re free to leave anytime you find the situation unpleasing. You have my word.”

“How do you know who we are?” asked Samuel.

“I know because I need to know,” said the old man.

“We don’t even know your name,” said Samuel, taking a step closer.

“I have many names,” the old man told him. “But you can call me grandfather, because I’ll never do anything but take care of you.” Samuel stood silent, thinking. The old man walked over to a black car, with pitch-black tinted windows. The tall man opened the back door.

The old man looked back.

“I’ll wait for ten minutes. If you don’t come with me now, I’m sure we’ll meet again sometime in the future.” He slid inside and closed the door.

“What will we do?” asked Felipe.

“We should go our own way,” said Eduardo. “He looks evil.” Samuel thought, b
ut it feels right.
He looked at his brothers. “We have nothing to lose. If we don’t like it, we’ll run.” Felipe and Eduardo took deep breaths. Felipe stepped closer to Samuel. “I’m not sure, but I’m with you.” Eduardo put a hand on Samuel’s shoulder. “We are we, and always will be.” He smiled.

Samuel hugged both of them, then walked over to the old man’s window and knocked on the glass. The door opened. Samuel and his brothers slid inside. The car started and headed down the dark road.

“If you lie to us, we’ll not only leave, we’ll find a way to kill you,” said Samuel, sure and matter-of-fact.

The old man smiled. “I would expect nothing less. Now rest. We have much to do ahead of us.”

Samuel closed his eyes, and left his past behind him.

F
ather Kong leaned down and helped Robert out of the water, as more of The Hammer of God members, along with Robert’s men, jumped in and helped pull children out of the water, most of them dead or near death.

“I couldn’t find Samuel or his brothers,” said Robert, exhausted and frustrated.

“Let’s check the children above,” said Father Kong, wrapping a blanket around Robert’s shoulders.

Up on the stage, the bodies of dead members of The Order, armed guards hired by Cardinal Polletto, and several of Robert’s men, were lined up in a row of death.

More of Robert’s team set up guard posts around the area, as Father Kong’s people inspected the dead, said prayers, and tended to the wounded. On the right side of the stage were rows of dead children, their bodies covered with white sheets. Robert leaned over the rail and vomited. A soft hand patted his back. Thorne and Detective Reynolds stood behind him, barely a scratch on either one of them.

“Did you find him?” Thorne asked, her eyes hopeful.

“No,” answered Robert. “We’re about to look at the bodies up here. I didn’t see Samuel or his brothers below.” He looked his partner over.

“You guys okay?”

“We’re fine,” said the detective, giving Robert a hug. “But I’m gonna be sore as hell in the morning.”

“I’m solid,” said Thorne. “Killed a few, including a woman who gave me hell, but I’m good.”

“That was Sister Maria Bravo,” said Father Kong, sadness in his voice. “She worked directly for Cardinal Polletto.” Robert looked over at the priest. “Is the cardinal?”

“Yes, he’s dead,” said Father Kong. “Stabbed to death.”

“And Father Tolbert?” Robert asked.