Chapter 5 - The Attack on the Chapel
The gunfire lasted less than thirty seconds.
But it was enough.
The chapel guards moved everyone toward the side exit.
Everett refused to leave.
He stood beside Willa.
“Stay behind me.”
She shook her head.
“I can help.”
“You've already helped enough.”
“I don't think so.”
She pointed toward the candles.
One flame was moving strangely.
Everett noticed a thin wire running beneath the altar.
A distraction.
The attackers weren't trying to kill anyone.
They were trying to destroy evidence.
Everett pulled Willa away as the altar exploded into smoke.
Mason rushed toward the burning table.
The envelope was gone.
Everett's eyes followed the smoke.
“Someone inside helped them.”
Mason looked around.
“Impossible.”
Everett shook his head.
“No. Predictable.”
Sterling was missing.
They found him outside ten minutes later.
He claimed he had run for safety.
Everett believed nothing he said.
But there was no proof.
Then Willa noticed something.
Sterling's cuff was burned.
Not from the altar.
From the wire.
She looked at Everett.
He understood immediately.
“Search him.”
Sterling protested.
Two guards held him.
They found a tiny key in his pocket.
Everett recognized it.
It opened his mother's old foundation archive.
Sterling's expression finally cracked.
“I can explain.”
Everett stepped closer.
“Then explain why you have my mother's archive key.”
Sterling said nothing.
Willa watched him carefully.
Then she saw something unexpected.
Sterling looked afraid.
Not of Everett.
Of someone else.
She whispered:
“Everett.”
He turned.
“Sterling isn't the one giving the orders.”
Sterling looked at her.
For the first time, his eyes showed gratitude.
May you like
Then he whispered:
“You have no idea who you're dealing with.”
