BLOODLINES WRITTEN IN THE ASHES

The roar of the collapsing roof drowned out the screams of Reyes's men. Tons of timber, slate shingles, and splintered joists plummeted through the dust-choked air, smashing the pews into kindling. A massive cloud of white plaster and gray dust billowed outward, enveloping the sanctuary in an impenetrable fog.

Jax kept his body arched over Toby, shielding the child with his back as chunks of plaster and shattered lath rained down upon his leather vest. A heavy beam clipped his left leg, driving the air from his lungs, but he refused to yield.

When the groaning of the timbers finally subsided, the chapel was unrecognizable. The entire rear half of the nave was buried beneath a mountain of debris. The heavy bronze bell lay sideways in the center aisle, its rim coated in fresh blood, resting atop the crushed remains of two gunmen.

The silence returned, suffocating and heavy, broken only by the crackle of a small fire beginning to lick at the dry timber near the entrance.

Jax coughed, spitting gray soot, and pushed himself up. His body felt like it had been run through a threshing machine, but his mind was crystal clear. He looked down at Toby. The boy was covered in white dust, coughing softly, but uninjured.

"You alright, kid?" Jax wheezed.

Toby nodded, clutching Jax's leather sleeve with both hands. "Did we get them?"

"Not all of them," Jax muttered, his eyes narrowing through the swirling smoke.

From the pile of shattered beams near the fallen bell, a figure hauled itself free. Reyes was bleeding from a deep scalp wound, his leather jacket ripped to shreds, his face twisted in psychotic fury. His left arm hung limp at his side, but his right hand held a heavy, nickel-plated revolver.

"You... you bastard," Reyes croaked, leveling the revolver with a trembling arm, stepping over the corpses of his own crew. "You think you can bury me?"

Jax stood up, placing himself squarely between Reyes and the boy. He had no gun. He had only the combat knife clutched in his dirt-stained fingers.

"It’s over, Reyes," Jax said, his voice dropping into a deadly whisper that resonated through the ruined stone walls. "Let the boy walk."