Chapter 11 – The Countdown
The steady beeping echoed through the underground chamber.
08:58... 08:57... 08:56...
Marco didn't waste a second.
"Search everything!"
Security officers spread out, sweeping their flashlights across the ancient stone walls.
Alessandro held the Raven Accounts ledger tightly beneath his arm.
"If this room was built as a hiding place," he said, "there has to be another exit."
Marco nodded.
"Churches this old almost always had escape tunnels."
Above ground, Sophia grabbed Emma and backed toward the sanctuary doors.
"Where's Father Michael?"
The elderly priest stepped between them and the side entrance.
His eyes followed Aunt Lucia and Isabella disappearing into the churchyard.
"They've gone to the cemetery."
Sophia frowned.
"Why?"
Before Father Michael could answer—
The first explosion shook the stained-glass windows.
Dust rained from the ceiling.
The bomb wasn't detonating yet.
It was breaking apart the supports beneath the church.
"They're trying to bury them alive," Father Michael whispered.
Below ground, cracks spread across the ceiling.
Small stones tumbled onto the floor.
One of Marco's officers shouted.
"Over here!"
At the far end of the chamber stood an enormous wooden bookshelf.
It looked far newer than everything around it.
Marco pushed.
It didn't move.
Alessandro examined the floor.
Fresh scrape marks.
"It slides."
Together they shoved with all their strength.
The bookshelf groaned.
Then shifted just enough to reveal a narrow stone passage.
Cold air rushed toward them.
"A tunnel!" Marco shouted.
Meanwhile, outside the church...
Lucia and Isabella reached a waiting black sedan.
Lucia glanced back once.
"I never wanted Alessandro involved."
Isabella started the engine.
"He involved himself the moment he found the file."
Lucia sighed sadly.
"I raised him after his parents died."
"I loved him."
Isabella looked at her.
"Love doesn't change the mission."
Lucia didn't answer.
For the first time in years...
She looked uncertain.
Emma suddenly pulled away from Sophia.
"No!"
Sophia caught her hand.
"What is it?"
Emma pointed toward the bell tower.
"They forgot Grandpa."
Father Michael looked up.
"The caretaker."
Old Thomas.
The eighty-year-old church caretaker lived in a tiny room beneath the bell tower.
He had no idea what was happening.
Without hesitation, Father Michael ran inside.
The underground tunnel was barely wide enough for one person.
Its walls were damp.
The air smelled of earth and stone.
Marco checked his watch.
06:41.
"Keep moving!"
The tunnel twisted beneath the cemetery.
Behind them, the beeping grew faster.
One of the security officers stumbled.
The ledger nearly slipped from Alessandro's hands.
Marco caught it.
"We lose this, everything Daniel died for is gone."
Alessandro nodded.
"I know."
Back inside the church, Father Michael found Thomas struggling to stand.
"What happened?"
"No time!"
The priest helped him toward the exit.
Halfway down the aisle—
They heard footsteps.
Isabella.
She calmly stepped into the sanctuary holding a pistol fitted with a suppressor.
Father Michael froze.
"Move aside."
"No."
She raised the weapon.
"I won't ask twice."
The old priest stood his ground.
"This is God's house."
Isabella's expression remained cold.
"So is the cemetery."
She pulled the trigger.
A deafened shot echoed through the empty church.
Father Michael staggered backward, clutching his shoulder.
Thomas screamed.
Sophia heard it from outside.
"No!"
She handed Emma to a security officer and ran toward the church doors.
Underground, Marco saw daylight ahead.
"We're close!"
The tunnel ended beneath an old stone crypt at the edge of the cemetery.
Together they forced open the heavy slab covering the exit.
Fresh air flooded in.
Everyone climbed out.
Marco looked back toward the church.
Smoke was pouring from beneath its foundation.
His watch read—
00:19.
"Run!"
The explosion tore through the underground chamber with terrifying force.
The earth shook violently.
The church floor collapsed into the hidden vault below.
Ancient stone columns shattered.
The bell tower leaned dangerously before crashing through the sanctuary roof.
The sound echoed for miles.
When the dust finally settled...
Half of Saint Agnes Church was gone.
Sophia emerged from the smoke, supporting the wounded Father Michael.
Thomas stumbled beside them.
Marco rushed forward.
"Is everyone out?"
Sophia looked around desperately.
"Emma?"
For one horrifying second...
No one answered.
Then a tiny voice called from behind a marble angel statue.
"I'm here."
Emma stepped out, still clutching Bunny.
Alessandro dropped to one knee and wrapped his arms around her.
For the first time since this nightmare had begun...
His composure broke.
"You scared us."
Emma looked at him with innocent eyes.
"I found something."
She held out a small brass key.
Marco frowned.
"Where did you get that?"
"The bird lady dropped it."
Alessandro examined the key.
A number was engraved on one side.
317.
And beneath it...
The name of a private bank in downtown Chicago.
Marco's eyes widened.
"A safe-deposit box."
Alessandro looked toward the burning ruins of Saint Agnes.
"The ledger tells us who they paid."
He closed his hand around the key.
"But whatever is inside Box 317..."
"...will tell us who leads the Raven Society."
Far down the highway, Isabella watched smoke rise into the sky through her rearview mirror.
She reached for her phone.
"The church is destroyed," she said.
A calm voice replied,
"And the ledger?"
"They escaped with it."
There was a long silence.
Then the voice spoke one final sentence:
"Then I'll handle Alessandro myself."
The call ended.
Isabella slowly lowered the phone.
For the first time...
She sounded afraid.
May you like
Because she knew exactly who had just entered the game.
And even the Raven Society feared that person.
