Page 35 of Sinister Savior

"Whoa, lady. Don’t you know they shut that part of town down? There was some sort of bomb there." The cabby looks at me over his shoulder, and I wish I had that gun I took from Mario right now. I'm livid.

"My partner is there. I have to make sure he's okay." I'm frantic, hanging on the back of the front seats, pleading with this man who doesn’t seem to care.

"That'll be a hundred bucks." He holds out his hand as if I will pay him cash right now, but I'm broke. I have nothing at all, not even a penny.

"Please, I need to know he's okay. I'm freaking out." I'm still heaving from the run, and I may yet throw up now. "Don’t you have a wife, or a partner? Can you tell how upset I am?"

He rolls his eyes at me and turns around. "Dammit, lady…" He sighs. "Buckle up."

The trip goes faster than I think it will. With so many people headed away from that side of town, and so few moving toward it, our path is mostly clear. Until we get to a spot still several blocks from the actual church and police have a roadblock up. There are uniformed officers standing behind their cars parked in the middle of the intersection.

"Road ends here, honey. I hope you find him." The man sounds nicer now than he did before, but I’m still just as panicked.

"Thank you!" I blurt out as I open the door and dart out. The cops at the intersection seem to take notice of me, but I won't be stopped. They’ll have to gun me down if they want to keep me from getting to that church.

I take off running, dodging the back end of one of the cop cars as the two officers scream at me. I'm fast, though, slipping past them and darting between parked cars to get to the sidewalk. My feet slap the concrete. I’ll have blisters before this is all over with. But that doesn’t stop me. I tear up the street, managing to hide from a few more police who stand guard at the next intersection, though I'm sure by now the first set of cops has warned them. They seem to be looking in the wrong direction, which is good for me.

I approach the block the church sits on, and there is nothing but a row of cops, ambulances, three fire trucks, and several news vans. They clog up the street with barricades now surrounding everything. This wasn't like this when I saw the news video from the helicopter. There are way more first responders here. How will I ever find Mario in all of this mess? What if he's not even here? What if they've taken him to a hospital? God knows, he already needed one.

What if he's dead?

My heart is pounding so hard I can't see straight. I'm dizzy, and I push past a few reporters, only to be stopped by a big, burly police officer.

"Hey, lady, you can't go in there." His arm curls around my waist and pins me back, and I claw at him and scream.

"Mario! No! Please… I have to go in there." I'm leaning, straining against his thick bicep, and he still holds me back.

"Honey, you can't go in there. The church exploded. We can't let you in."

"Please," I plead, leaning so hard he stumbles and has to take a few steps to keep himself upright, but he still doesn't relent. "Please," I sob.

"Let her go," I hear, and I know the voice.

The crowd parts, and I see him, bloodied, ice pack on his head, seated in the back of an ambulance with two EMTs seated next to him. He looks pale, like he's lost too much blood, and my heart is so relieved that he's alive.

The cop lets me go, and I am in Mario's arms in seconds. It has never felt better to be here, either, and no one will ever tear me away again.

26

MARIO

Alice practically climbs on top of me. I wince and grunt against the pain as she wraps her arms around my chest and lays her head on me. They gave me a shot for the pain, but it's still awful. I wrap my arms around her and kiss the top of her head as she sobs and her tears roll across my skin.

"Hey, it's okay. I'm safe. I told you everything would be okay, and it is." My words do little to calm her shaking body, and I gesture for the emergency techs to leave the back of the ambulance. When they're gone, I nudge Allice off my chest. I need to get out of this bus before they force me to go with them to the hospital.

"My God, Mario. I saw the fire at the church. I didn't know it was a bomb. Are you okay?" I'm not surprised she's seen it already. The news helicopters have been circling overhead since the first police sirens were heard. The sheer number of gunshots fired told everyone around for several city blocks that something huge was going down.

"I'm fine, okay? We need to get out of here." I sit upright and wince as a stabbing pain shoots through my stomach. I know I'll need to take iteasier for the next few days, but the war is over. Paolo is in the back of a police cruiser now, and there is no way he's getting out.

"Shouldn't you stay here? They will want to get you treatment." She looks worried, but I keep moving. The EMTs took my shirt, but I'm still wearing my pants, blood stain and all. The new bandage they put on the surgery wound is clean and dry. The bleeding has stopped for now, too.

"I don't want to stay here. I want to go inside with you and talk. I can rest inside, and I promise you if something else goes wrong, I will drive to the hospital myself." Again, I wince as I slide off the gurney and take her hand, but the pain meds are really kicking in now.

Alice follows behind me obediently, holding my hand as I weave through the cop cars and investigators on scene. I've given my statement already too, to a blond-haired man with a thick mustache. The hundred-dollar bill I slipped him to secure his silence as to a few matters I need handled discreetly was just a promise of more to come when he delivers, a lot more.

I pass a slew of reporters who shout after me and Alice, trying to get our attention, but we ignore them. The fire in the church following the explosion is out. Firefighters are still on the scene making sure there are no residual hot spots, and while I haven't seen the inside of the church, I know in a few months, the remodeling will be complete and they will be hosting services here again. I promised Father Thomas I would help in any way I could, even if it meant emptying Paolo's bank accounts to fund the entire renovation.

"Mario, we can't go back here. They said there was an?—"

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