Chapter 9 - The Devil in the Pulpit
The rumble of engines died outside, replaced by the unmistakable sound of half a dozen car doors slamming shut in unison. Footsteps crunched over the broken glass in the churchyard, deliberate and unhurried.
"Jax!" a voice boomed through the shattered windows, echoing off the hollow timbers of the sanctuary. It was deep, rasping, and carried the heavy drawl of a man accustomed to commanding killers.
Reyes.
Jax drew the captured nine-millimeter from his waistband, his thumb easing the hammer back. He knelt beside Toby, pushing the boy down into the hollow behind the broken pulpit. "Stay here, Toby. Whatever happens, do not stand up."
"Are you going to shoot him?" Toby whispered, his eyes wide.
"Only if he steps through that door," Jax lied. He had six bullets left against an entire crew.
Jax stepped into the center aisle, silhouetted against the morning light bleeding through the high altar windows. He stood tall, his broad shoulders squared, forcing his wounded body to project the cold, unyielding menace of the enforcer he used to be.
The heavy doors groaned open completely. A tall, broad-shouldered man in an immaculate black leather jacket walked in, his long gray hair pulled back in a tight ponytail. His face was lined with cruelty, but his eyes—pale hazel, exactly like Toby’s—were sharp and calculating.
"You look old, Jax," Reyes said, stopping twenty paces down the aisle, his hands resting casually on the heavy silver buckle of his belt. Behind him, four armed men fanned out, their rifles aimed at Jax’s chest.
"You look like you're still stealing other men's lives, Reyes," Jax replied, keeping his weapon lowered along his thigh, out of immediate sight.
Reyes laughed, a dry, rattling bark. "Elena stole from me first. She took the boy. She took the ledger." He pointed a gloved finger toward the open crypt beneath the altar. "She thought she could hide my business in a hole in the ground and run to the law."
"The ledger?" Jax asked, his eyes narrowing. "You chased your own sister to her grave over a book?"
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"Not just a book, brother," Reyes smiled, a terrifying baring of yellowed teeth. "The distribution routes. Every judge, every senator, every shipment from Tijuana to Calgary. That box isn't just money, Jax. It's an empire. And the boy is the only one with the second key."
Jax froze. He looked down toward the pulpit where Toby was hidden. The boy had only given him one key.
