Chapter 12 - A Meeting Among the Dead
St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 looked unreal before dawn.
Rainwater ran down white tombs like sweat.
Thomas entered alone through the side gate.
At least fourteen men waited inside the Rousseau family enclosure.
Captains.
Lawyers.
Two judges.
And Jacques Baptiste, standing beside Celeste Rousseau's tomb with Father Lucien on his knees in front of him.
The priest had blood on his collar.
Thomas stopped.
"You always did need an audience."
Jacques smiled.
"And you always mistook silence for loyalty."
The captains shifted uneasily.
Thomas looked at them one by one.
"He kidnapped children."
One captain, Victor Sanz, frowned.
Jacques laughed.
"He means his child. Suddenly Thomas discovered morality because the victim shares his cheekbones."
The words landed.
Whispers moved through the group.
Thomas did not deny it.
"Yes. Rosa Williams is my daughter."
More whispers.
"And I signed the order that put her in that clinic because I did not read it closely enough."
Jacques's smile faded slightly.
Thomas continued.
"That is on me."
Father Lucien looked up.
The captains looked uncomfortable.
Men like them understood threats better than confession.
Jacques stepped forward.
"This is pathetic."
"No," Thomas said. "Pathetic was letting you do my thinking for me."
"I kept you alive."
"You hid a diagnosis."
"Because weakness spreads."
"You searched for marrow donors among children."
"Because your bloodline was useful."
Thomas heard the transmitter beneath his shirt and prayed Price heard every word.
"And Gabriel Bennett?"
Jacques's expression changed.
"A reporter who should have minded his own business."
"You killed him."
"Of course I killed him."
Thomas took one step closer.
"Then drugged me and put me on camera beside the body."
Several captains turned toward Jacques.
Jacques shrugged.
"Insurance."
Victor Sanz swore under his breath.
Thomas looked around.
"That is your new boss. A man who keeps insurance on all of you."
Jacques's face hardened.
"Search him."
Two men grabbed Thomas.
They found the wire.
The cemetery went silent.
Jacques ripped the transmitter from Thomas's shirt.
"You brought federal ears into my meeting."
Thomas smiled.
"Your meeting?"
Jacques struck him across the face with the transmitter.
Thomas staggered against his mother's tomb.
"Kill the priest," Jacques said.
One gunman raised his weapon.
Thomas lunged.
The first shot hit marble.
Then the cemetery exploded with gunfire.
Victor Sanz tackled the gunman.
Three captains drew on Jacques's men.
Others ran.
Sirens screamed outside the walls.
Federal agents poured through the gates.
Jacques grabbed Father Lucien and dragged him behind Celeste's tomb.
Thomas followed.
He rounded the corner just as Jacques pressed a gun under the priest's jaw.
"One more step," Jacques said, "and God gets an employee back early."
Thomas stopped.
Then a child's voice came from behind him.
"Put the gun down."
Thomas turned.
Rosa stood in the cemetery gate.
And Maya was nowhere beside her.
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