Novel Palace
Chapter 103
The rest of the way was hard-fought.
My men and I cut through a more traditional part of the cemetery filled with stone slabs in the grass. Then we took cover behind a tiny chapel with a domed ceiling.
We could have taken a more direct route to the church, but as Lars had predicted, gunmen were waiting for us at the end of the 150-foot-long corridor. There were at least five of them, and they fired at us from around a corner as we rushed into the graveyard.
They were funneling us towards the central pathway that led to the church…
So that Zollner could get at us.
Luckily, we were still shielded from him by a series of buildings – for now.
On our way through the graveyard, we exchanged fire with another three mercenaries. Two we killed, and one withdrew –
But I lost another man. Gerardo was shot in the leg and couldn’t walk, so we left him hidden in the bushes.
The entire time, I heard gunshots across the island –
And the sporadic but relentless crack! of Zollner’s rifle.
Every time I heard it, I winced…
Because I was fairly sure it meant one of our men had died.
Finally we reached the semicircular courtyard that led to the church.
The only way in was 80 feet of wide-open space.
I knew that there were mercenaries hidden around every corner –
But the worst threat by far was Zollner in the bell tower.
A sniper above us, and God knows how many gunmen waiting for us at ground level –
It was going to be like walking straight into a buzzsaw.
Adriano came running up from the west, directly across the open pathway from me.
He’d started out with six men on the boat –
But now there were only two remaining.
From behind us, another five men came running out of the graveyard, darting from tree to tree.Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.
Lars, Adriano, and I had come to the island with 20 men –
And only 8 were still standing.
Not good… especially considering that the hardest part of the battle lay directly ahead.
There was no sound in the cemetery. After all the gunfire, it was eerie… like the calm before the storm.
“What do we do?” Adriano whispered across the 20-foot-wide entrance to the courtyard.
“Lars?” I said as I ejected the clip from my Glock, popped in a fresh magazine, and jacked the slide to load the first round.
“I think I’ve got a bead on the sniper,” he spoke through the earpiece. “Does he wear some kind of hat, by any chance?”
“That’s him. What about Lucia?” I asked, my heart thudding fearfully in my chest.
“I see a girl’s head. I think she’s sitting in a chair. She’s got a black eye, but otherwise she seems okay.”
My blood boiled to hear that my cousin – or Zollner, or someone – had laid hands on her. “What about Aurelio?”
“He’s hiding inside the bell tower, so I can’t get a clear shot. And I only have one. Once I take it, they’ll hunker down and I won’t get another.”
“Alright… go after Zollner.”
“He’s lying on his stomach on the balcony. Because of the angle, I can’t see his body. I can see a bit of the hat, but just the top of it. Whenever he moves the gun to aim at a new target, he brings his head up slightly – so I need somebody to force him to move the gun.”
“So… somebody needs to go running out into the courtyard, is what you’re saying,” Adriano said.
“Pretty much.”
“I’ll go,” I said. “I’ve got the bulletproof shield.”
“How many times has he fired at you since you got off the boat?” Lars asked.
“Just once.”
“Then that’s no good. He knows he can’t penetrate your shield, so he’ll ignore you – and you’ll just end up fighting 20 mercenaries.”
“There are 20 mercenaries?!”
“Two or 20, it doesn’t matter – you’re not going to draw Zollner’s fire.”
I looked back at my sole remaining foot soldier.
I hated to send him out into what was quite possibly a suicide mission, but –
“Guess it’s me, then,” Adriano said.
“What?!” I cried out.
“You want the top job, you take the risks,” he said as he looked me in the eyes. “Get ready, Lars – I only wanna do this once.”
“NO – ” I shouted.