Excommunication Read online

  “His pleasure or displeasure does not concern me, Sister. Get on the plane,” Romano shouted back.

  “Only after the Raffertys have been released.”

  Romano shook his head. “You do not make the rules here. They will be released after we have landed in Rome. Get on the plane.”

  Alice knew that if Geraldine and the girls got on the plane, they would never leave it alive.

  As Romano signaled the guard to get the Raffertys on the plane, Alice strode past the boarding stairs and in front of Geraldine and the girls.

  “Sister—” Romano started.

  Alice whirled on him. “Even you, Signore Romano, would not deny my words of comfort to these innocent pawns in your game.”

  Romano squirmed impatiently. “Be quick about it.”

  She squatted in front of the girls and held their free hands. She leaned forward so her mouth was by their ears. “Both of you do as Alice says. Everything will be all right. I just have to fight with these bad men. When I do, you run and hide in the building you just came from, all right?”

  She pulled back and looked at each of them in turn. “Promise me?”

  They both nodded and she kissed each of them on the forehead and stood. She took Geraldine by the shoulders, kissed each cheek and then pulled her into an embrace. “Do you think you can handle the man guarding you?”

  Geri nodded and Alice said, “Stay here,” and pulled back to look her in the eyes. Alice let Geri go, turned and walked toward the men at the bottom of the stairs.

  Romano watched her warily. She had no doubt he would relax when she climbed the stairs.

  She watched the three men as she approached. Then she started up the steps toward the open door.

  On the fourth step, she turned and lashed out with her foot. It slammed into a guard’s throat. He clutched at his neck and collapsed.

  Geraldine slammed her knee into the crotch of the man guarding her. The girls ran toward the hangar hand-in-hand.

  Alice snapped her foot at the next guard. Her heel punched into the bridge of his nose. She felt a satisfying crunch and he staggered back.

  The last guard rushed at her. She braced both hands on the stair rails and kicked her feet into his chest.

  He dropped to the tarmac.

  She sprinted down the steps, stomped on his face and reached beneath his jacket. She ripped the gun from its holster and leveled it at the second guard, still bent over and clutching his nose. She squeezed the trigger. The round struck him in the top of the skull. He dropped, lifeless, to the tarmac.

  She lowered the gun and popped a round into the head of the third man on the ground.

  The first still clutched at his shattered windpipe. She ended his misery with a third shot.

  She spun to face Romano and his driver.

  The driver, his back to Alice, was attempting to get Geri under control, while her guard lay prone on the tarmac. Romano had backed up to the side of the limousine.

  Alice trained the gun on the driver but didn’t shoot for Geri was still fighting against his grip.

  Geri’s gaze met Alice’s, over the driver’s shoulder. She relaxed and dropped to the ground. Alice’s shot caught the driver mid-back and he dropped like a stone.

  That left just Romano.

  Alice whirled to face him. He stood in a combat stance, both hands clasped around the butt of his gun. Their eyes met. He pulled the trigger.

  The bullet caught Alice in the chest, and she cried out. It always hurt. The shot threw her to the tarmac, and the gun flew from her grip. Even as she lay there, she could feel the wound healing, the bullet pushing to the surface.

  Romano stepped into her line of vision, standing over her, a smile on his face. He looked down at the blood stain around the bullet hole on the front of her shirt. “I knew it. You’re as vulnerable to a bullet as anyone else.”

  He bent down, a sneer on his face. “Now that we will not be bringing you to face His Holiness, I cannot leave any witnesses behind.”

  Alice felt the bullet roll across the skin of her chest. She snatched the wrist of his gun hand and his throat. “That will not be necessary, Signore Romano,” she snarled through clenched teeth. “It is you who shall not be returning to see His Holiness.”

  Romano’s eyes widened. His mouth gaped. He flailed with his free hand against Alice’s hand at his throat.

  She pushed him back, sat up and got her feet under her. The bullet in her shirt trickled down to her waist, stopped only by the waistband of her pants.

  As Alice got to her feet, Romano tried to jerk away from her. It put his back to the boarding stairs. Alice took advantage of his position and snapped the back of his gun hand against the rail of the stairs. The automatic flew from his hand and skittered down the steps to the ground.

  Romano gagged as her hand clenched his throat. Again, he tried to wrench himself from her grip.

  She slammed a knee into his groin.

  He bent and staggered beside the boarding stairs, Alice’s back to Geraldine and the hangar. Alice’s gaze flitted to the airplane’s engine as it roared behind Romano.

  “You are the worst kind of follower, Signore Romano.” She seethed as she released him. “You do the Pope’s bidding only as long as it lines your pockets and keeps you ensconced in a private jet.”

  She reared back and punched him in the face. He staggered back a step.

  “Doing the Pope’s bidding is a lifetime calling of sacrifice and devotion,” she raged and thrust a foot against his chest.

  Romano looked stunned and weak. He stumbled backward.

  “It requires faith and commitment.” Her uppercut snapped his head back and left him perfectly positioned.

  “Your only commitment is to the money and power the Pope can bestow on you.” She roared to be heard over the massive engine behind him.

  He swung wildly at her. She ducked and avoided the punch easily.

  “And that, Signore Romano. Just. Will. Not. Do!” Alice planted one foot and thrust herself forward with the other, shoved both hands against his chest with all her might and all her anger.

  Romano stumbled back, caught himself and for a moment was perfectly still, his eyes locked with Alice’s.

  Then he was gone. Sucked into the great engine’s turbines as it thundered at his back.

  The monstrous engine belched a great burst of blood and tissue, splattering the tarmac and the underside of the airplane.

  Alice watched for the briefest moment while the engine warbled and shuddered, then returned to its mighty rumble. She crossed herself. “And may God have mercy on your soul, Signore Romano.”

  She slumped as she turned away. The tiredness from the healing of the gunshot had seeped into her bones. She could feel the need for sleep creeping up on her.

  Geri stood with both hands clamped over her mouth, eyes wide. When Alice staggered toward her, she rushed forward to catch her.

  “You are all safe, now,” Alice mumbled into her ear. “Let us get the girls and leave this place.”

  * * * * *

  That night, Alice slipped into Rafferty’s hospital room to find him awake and off the ventilator. He smiled weakly as he saw her come through the door.

  “Hey...” he said, “Look who’s come to dinner.”

  “You are looking much better than the last time I saw you, Constable.”

  “Not out of the woods, yet, they tell me.”

  “Never you mind.” Alice smiled and held up two vials of blood. “Alice will have you on your feet again in no time.”

  Rafferty gazed at the vials. “The doctor did say he was astounded at how quickly I came out of it.”

  “Quite so.”

  He watched in silence as she injected first one and then the other into the IV injection port and her blood cleared the tube into the vein in his arm.

  “Mike was by, before,” he said.

  “Is that right?”

  He met and held her gaze. “He’s become very fond of you, Alice.”r />
  She fidgeted, putting the syringe and test tubes into her handbag. “He seems to think that entitles him to--”

  “Common courtesy?” Rafferty chimed in.

  Alice dropped her gaze to the blankets. “I am not very practiced at these sorts of...arrangements.”

  Rafferty shrugged. “None of us are.”

  “I have avoided them over the years. The beginnings are enormously enjoyable, while the endings are too painful. And too plentiful.”

  Again, he shrugged. “Can’t have one without the other.”

  Alice smiled grimly. “Quite so.”

  * * * * *

  Alice knocked lightly on the door and waited. She hoped he was actually home.

  After a few moments, she knocked again. Her heart was in her throat. Given all she had faced in her long life, she found it curious that this, of all things, would make her nervous.

  She was on the verge of walking back to her car when the door clicked quietly open.

  Michael stood there. Their eyes met.

  “Michael,” she said.

  “Jacs.”

  She said, “Can we talk?”

  At the same time, he said, “Wasn’t sure you’d come.”

  For an awkward moment, they watched each other. Then he stepped back and motioned her inside. She stepped in and turned to face him as he shut the door. Their eyes met again.

  Alice rushed toward him, wrapped her arms around him and buried her face against his chest. When his arms came down around her, she smiled to herself and sighed contentedly.

  An hour later, they lay together in bed, Alice’s head nestled on Mike’s shoulder.

  All is right with the world, she thought as she drifted off to sleep.

  THE END

  ____________

  The next story in the Nun with a Gun series:

  The man who ordered her death lands in her lap...

  The Cardinal Secretary of State, Giovanni Buscaglia, arrives in Philadelphia, his four henchmen by his side. Sister Jacobine shows up at his hotel to put an end to his attempted grab for power within the church. She never imagined that the consequences of her actions would rip her heart in two.

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  About the Author

  Mark Posey is a thriller writer born, raised and living in Edmonton, Canada with his wife, author Tracy Cooper-Posey. He is a retired professional wrestler and father of four – Terry, Matthew, Katherine, and Ashley. He likes cooking, woodworking, and watching hockey when he’s not scrolling through social media or taking an afternoon nap with his three cats – Pippin, Merry, and Strider.

  Other books by Mark Posey

  For reviews, excerpts, and more about each title, click here.

  Thomas Billings Thrillers

  Saving Grace

  Fall From Grace (Coming soon!)

  Coup de Grace (Coming soon!)

  A Nun With A Gun

  Feet of Clay

  A Port in the Storm

  Excommunication

  Requiem Mass

  Den of Lions

  The Narrow Gate

  Copyright Information

  Published by Stories Rule Press Inc.

  Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

  Registered offices:

  1100-10020 101A Avenue NW

  Edmonton AB T5J 3G2

  This is an original work by Mark Posey

  Copyright © 2020

  FIRST EDITION: September 2020

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for third-party websites or their content.

  A Stories Rule Press publication

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  No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

  Posey, Mark

  Excommunication/Mark Posey—1st Ed.

  Crime Thriller—Fiction