Page 99 of The Medici Return

He reached back and found the Beretta. He needed to draw the other man out, make him move. Richter still clutched the candle. He reached over and took hold of it and focused across the nave. Yes. There was enough darkness there for the candle to be mistaken. He arched the wax cylinder across the open space betweenthe pillars, flipping it end over end, hoping the diversion would attract attention.

And it did.

As the candle passed midway, the other man stepped out.

Cotton leveled the Beretta and sent a bullet into the man’s thigh, which caused a groan of pain. He raced across, gun leveled. The assailant lay sprawled on the stone floor, bleeding, but he’d live.

“Let’s go.”

They cautiously climbed the steps back to ground level. No one there. The wounded man was crying out in Italian for help. Cotton motioned and they headed for the main doors, which he eased open. Richter carried the pledge and he held the Beretta. The outer courtyard was dark and quiet. Six cars were now there, including theirs.

A lot of people for a place that was off-limits to visitors.

They hustled to their vehicle, climbed in, and drove off.

CHAPTER 68

STEFANO SAW THE FACES OF THECARTHUSIANS WHO’D FLED THEmonastery office. Concerned. As was the prior who stood before one of the windows.

“This facility holds the recipes for all of our liqueurs,” the prior said. “Those are precious secrets that many have tried to obtain. We have to protect them.”

“This is not about your recipes,” Ascolani said.

“Please enlighten me, Eminence. What is this about?”

“As I made clear, this is Entity business.”

“Inside my charterhouse.”

They watched as the two fleeing men disappeared through one of the cloister doors.

“They went into the church,” the prior said.

Two of the Carthusians followed, the third headed for the door from which the other two had emerged. More people now exited from another door. One a woman. Inside a restricted monastery where females were never allowed? And quite the crowd. Six people, along with the other Carthusian. A downright party in the middle of the night.

The klaxon continued to wail.

“Holy mother of God,” the prior muttered, then he fled the office.

Stefano moved to follow, but Ascolani grabbed his arm and shook his head.

“Let him go.”

Ascolani turned and headed out the office’s front door, away from the cloister. Stefano followed. They hustled down the path back to the entrance courtyard.

Two figures emerged from the church.

Darkness blocked faces but Stefano could see that one held a gun, the other something large and stiff, like a piece of cardboard. They climbed inside one of the cars, the engine cranked to life, and they sped through the gate.

“Who is that?” Stefano asked.

“The American, Malone, and Cardinal Richter.”

Ascolani found his phone and tapped the screen.

THOMAS’S PHONE VIBRATED WITH A TEXT.

A car is emerging. Take it out. Use your toy.