Page 117 of Once a Hero

Beatrice wondered if the dust in the room was getting to him. “We have to get out of here.”

“No one gets out.” Molyneux kept her arm lifted, finger on the button.

Everyone froze.

“The whole church building will cave in,” Molyneux said. “We’ll be buried together with the crates behind the steel door—”

Beatrice’s jaw dropped when she saw someone from the crowd of armed soldiers throw a dagger. It spun its way toward Molyneux’s arm, piercing through her hand. She dropped the remote control.

Beatrice saw it fall and she ran toward it—and caught the remote in one hand.

She didn’t know how she did it.

Loud voices came through the tunnel. Russian spoken very quickly. Their weapons in front of them, the second team of people dressed in black Kevlar and combat boots marked toward Molyneux, execution style.

Beatrice stepped in front of Molyneux, who held her wounded hand in the other. Beatrice spread arms. “No! Stop!”

She could hear Jake’s voice, asking the Russians to hold their fire. Ansel translated Jake’s English words into Russian.

The Russian forces waited, submachine guns in hand.

“Enough killings,” Beatrice said. “Let her get a fair trial.”

“Step away from her,” one of the Russians said in English.

“No. She’s my mother—adoptive, but a mother, nonetheless. Someone please call the police who can arrest her.”

Ansel stepped forward to tie up Molyneux until the police came. He attended to her wounds and stopped the bleeding on her hand.

The Russians turned their attention to Molyneux’s guards, rounding them up and disarming them of their weapons, while Jake was all over Beatrice.

“We’ll get you out of this.” His voice was tense. “I need some tools!”

Benjamin came over, flashlight in hand.

With the help of Ansel and the Russian commander, Jake and Benjamin removed the vests from Beatrice and Dad.

The Russian commander sent someone to take the vests out of the church.

Nearby, Molyneux sat on the floor, watching everything. She was heavily guarded by Russian forces.

By the time Beatrice looked up, the cave was not as crowded as before. Molyneux’s guards were gone. She assumed they had been taken upstairs.

She heard a new set of footsteps.

The Polish police had arrived. They talked to Ansel and the Russian commander.

Jake went around Beatrice to Molyneux. “I didn’t throw the dagger.”

“I know. You wouldn’t have been able to do it.” Molyneux grinned. “Besides, it was Russian-made. How fitting, isn’t it?”

Jake had nothing to say.

“Take care of my daughter,” Molyneux said.

“I will.”

“I know you will because you love her.”

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