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“Stop!” barked Shaw, and he grabbed Whit, who was lining up a shot. “He’s got other muscle, and they’re probably on their way right now.”
As soon as Shaw had finished speaking, three more armed men clattered down the stairs and saw them. They opened fire. The sleepy hamlet of Gordes probably hadn’t seen such aggression since the Romans had been in town two millennia before.
“This way,” yelled Reggie. She led them to the passage that would carry them to the doorway near the villa.
Kuchin ran toward his men and screamed, “Get them, but don’t kill the woman!”
Shaw turned and fired at the men. As the bullets ricocheted off the stone walls Kuchin’s guards scrambled for cover. Whit pulled a slender canister from his pocket, popped a tab, and tossed it into the room. Dense smoke formed a wall between them and their pursuers.
They turned and fled down the passage, steel-jacketed rounds chasing them every step of the way.
Fittingly for a church, they all mouthed silent prayers as they fled.
CHAPTER
59
DOWN THIS WAY,” Reggie told Shaw. “There’s another exit.”
“The one that lets out down by the villas?” said Shaw.
Reggie stared at him as they rushed along. “How did you know?”
“I can recon. But that door opens onto a public street.”
“And Kuchin knows about it,” said Reggie. “I had to show him that route earlier to convince him to go to the church today. Then I led him to the catacombs instead.”
Shaw said, “Then it’s no good for two reasons.” He looked over at Dominic, who ran bent over, clutching his injured arm. “Are you going to make it?”
Reggie took off her bandanna and wrapped it around the wound.
“I can make it,” Dominic said, grimacing.
Whit eyed Shaw. “What then? We can’t go back unless we want to shoot our way out, and those guys have a lot more bullets than we do.”
Shaw pointed to his left. “That way.”
Whit grabbed his arm. “There’s nothing down there. I checked.”
“At the end of the hall is a hidden door built into the stone. The passage there leads to the old fort.”
“How do you know that?” demanded Whit.
“Through
a little history reading.”
“What?”
“Catholic priests often had to run for their lives. Just like we are.
Now let’s go!”
They reached the end of the hall, Shaw pulled on a stone set in the lower half of the wall, and a slight gap appeared. He tugged on the section and old hinges creaked as the door swung open. They fled through and Shaw clicked the door shut behind them.
As he led them down a dark, musty passageway Shaw hit some keys on his cell phone and the electronic message flew off. They passed through another door and reached a hall through which sunlight eased in via slits in the stone block far above their heads. They were now in the old fort.
He reached one more door, tugged it open, and they entered a courtyard. The car screeched to a stop in front of them and Whit aimed his gun at the driver.
