44. Clay
Clay
The gunfire starts before Mason finishes the word.
Glass explodes inward across the front of the church.
“DOWN!”
I grab Hannah instantly and slam us both behind the stone altar as bullets rip through ancient wood pews behind us.
Russ fires back immediately.
Lucas drops beside the front entrance, controlled bursts punching through shattered stained glass.
Outside—
engines roar.
Doors slam.
Too many.
Way too many.
Sentinel found us fast.
“Hannah!” Gabriel shouts from behind the overturned pew near the center aisle. “Stay down!”
Another round tears through the wall inches above his head.
Mason swears hard.
“They brought a damn kill team!”
Of course they did.
Wu doesn’t want the list back.
He wants everyone in this church dead.
Hannah trembles against me—not panic.
Memory overload.
Her breathing comes too fast now.
Too shallow.
I grip her jaw gently, forcing her eyes to mine.
“Hey.”
Nothing.
Another burst of gunfire hammers the church.
Dust rains from the ceiling overhead. Glass is everywhere.
“Hannah.”
Her eyes finally lock onto mine.
There she is.
Barely.
“You stay with me,” I say firmly.
“You hear me?”
A tiny nod.
Good enough.
Russ ducks behind the far pillar while returning fire.
“We’re getting boxed in!”
Lucas checks the side windows sharply.
“Two moving east alley—!”
Gunshots crack instantly.
One body drops outside.
The second disappears behind a vehicle.
Gabriel moves fast toward the floor compartment, shoving notebooks into waterproof tactical bags.
“We are NOT leaving this here!”
Correct answer.
Very correct answer.
Mason reloads hard beside the doorway.
“We’ve got maybe sixty seconds before they breach!”
Hannah suddenly stiffens against me.
Completely still.
Oh no.
Her eyes lose focus.
“The basement,” she whispers.
I tighten my grip on her immediately.
“What?”
“The church has tunnels.”
Gabriel snaps toward her instantly.
“What tunnels?”
Another sharp pulse visibly hits her.
Pain flashes across her face.
But this time—
she pushes through it.
“There was an escape route for transport vehicles,” she says quickly, breathing hard now. “Wu used churches, schools, orphanages—places nobody questioned.”
Jesus Christ.
Russ points sharply toward the back hallway.
“Can you get us there?”
Hannah nods once.
Then freezes.
Fear flooding her face.
“Unless they already know about it.”
Outside—
headlights suddenly flood through the broken church windows.
More vehicles.
More operatives.
This wasn’t a recovery mission.
This was extermination.
Mason looks toward Russ.
“We move NOW or we die here.”
No argument from anyone.
Russ points hard.
“Clay, Gabriel—you take Hannah and the files. Lucas and I cover movement. Mason rear guard.”
Everybody moves instantly.
Training.
Controlled chaos.
I haul Hannah up beside me while Gabriel slings tactical bags across his shoulders.
The second we break from cover—
the front doors explode inward.
Black tactical armor floods the entrance.
Suppressors.
Night optics.
No insignias.
Professional killers.
“CONTACT FRONT!”
Russ opens fire first.
One operative drops instantly.
Lucas takes another through the shoulder before diving sideways behind a collapsed pew.
Bullets shred through hymn books and ancient wood all around us.
Mason launches smoke toward the entrance.
White clouds erupt through the sanctuary.
“MOVE!”
I drag Hannah through the rear hallway while Gabriel stays tight beside us.
Behind us…the church becomes a warzone.
Automatic fire.
Shouting.
Glass shattering.
Bodies hitting floors.
Hannah stumbles suddenly.
Another overlap hit.
Her knees buckle hard.
I catch her before she drops.
“Clay—”
Her voice fractures.
“I can hear them.”
Ice floods my spine.
“What?”
“The children.”
No.
No no no.
Not now.
Tears stream down her face as she grips her head violently.
“They’re screaming—”
Gabriel kneels instantly in front of her.
“Hannah. Look at me.”
Her breathing spirals harder.
“The red room—the injections—the tables—”
She’s not here anymore.
She’s back inside Sentinel.
And we do not have time for this.
Gunfire erupts closer behind us.
Russ shouts:
“GO GO GO!”
Gabriel grabs Hannah’s face firmly.
“Hannah!”
Her eyes jerk toward him.
“You survived it,” he says fiercely.
“You hear me? You survived.”
Another explosion rocks the church behind us.
Dust blasts through the hallway ceiling.
The building’s coming apart.
Gabriel points sharply down the corridor.
“Tunnel entrance is beneath the baptism room.”
Hannah blinks rapidly.
Trying to focus.
Trying to separate memory from reality.
I slide an arm around her waist and pull her tight against me.
“You lean on me,” I mutter.
She does.
Instantly.
Trusting me without hesitation now.
Dangerous thing to feel in the middle of a firefight.
We shove through the old baptism chamber doors—
and Hannah freezes again.
Because the room hasn’t changed.
Not really.
Same cracked tile.
Same rusted drain.
Same faded cross hanging crooked above the dry baptism pool.
And judging by the look on Gabriel’s face—
he remembers it too.
“Oh God,” he whispers.
Hannah points shakily toward the pool.
“There.”
Gabriel jumps into the empty basin immediately and slams both hands against the cracked concrete bottom.
Nothing.
Then—
click.
A hidden latch releases.
The entire floor shifts slightly.
Holy hell.
Lucas appears in the doorway bleeding from his shoulder.
“We’re out of time!”
The church groans violently behind us.
More boots advancing.
Closer now.
Russ backs into the room firing controlled shots down the hallway.
“They’re pushing hard!”
The hidden hatch finally jerks upward.
Dark tunnel below.
Cold air rushes out smelling like mold and river water.
Transport route.
Exactly like Hannah said.
Mason points downward instantly.
“Move!”
Gabriel drops first with the files.
Then Hannah.
I stay above long enough to cover Russ and Lucas as they fall back into the chamber.
Sentinel operatives appear at the far end of the hallway.
Weapons up.
Too close.
I fire twice.
One drops.
The second dives behind cover.
“Clay!” Russ barks.
I jump into the tunnel just as bullets slam into the hatch above us.
Mason yanks the heavy door shut.
Darkness crashes around us.
Then silence.
Except for Hannah’s ragged breathing beside me.
And somewhere far above—
the church bells suddenly begin ringing wildly in the storm.