Chapter 9 - The Leap of Faith
Luca did not think; he did not hesitate; he did not allow his damaged nerves to dictate his limits.
With every ounce of life left in his reviving body, Luca sprinted across the iron gantry.
His boots pounded the metal grating with explosive, desperate power.
He launched his six-foot-two frame across the ten-foot gap above the open furnace pit.
Luca caught the top steel chain of the falling cage with his left hand, his shoulder tearing in its socket with blinding agony.
With his right hand, Luca caught the edge of the safety catwalk, his boots dangling mere inches above the roaring white-hot coals.
The heat scorched his trousers and blistered his skin, but his grip remained like forged titanium.
"Elena! Take her!" Luca roared through gritted teeth.
Elena dashed along the catwalk, leaning over the safety rail and reaching her arms through the top bars of the cage.
"I've got you, baby, reach for mommy!" Elena sobbed.
Maya reached upward, and Elena hauled the little girl up onto the catwalk just as the bottom bars of the cage began to melt.
Across the platform, Viktor Petrov raised his revolver to put a bullet through Luca's head.
"Goodbye, Costello," Viktor sneered.
Before Viktor could pull the trigger, Tommy swung from an overhead hoist chain like a pendulum, kicking Viktor squarely in the chest.
Viktor lost his footing on the slick iron grating, his revolver falling into the incinerator.
Viktor stumbled backward, his arms flailing wildly as he tumbled over the guardrail into the fiery abyss below.
Luca pulled himself up onto the catwalk with a final, massive heave of his arms, collapsing onto the metal grating beside Elena and Maya.
Maya threw her arms around Luca's neck, burying her face into his soot-stained collar, weeping with pure relief.
"You caught me, Daddy," Maya whispered, trembling against his chest.
"You really caught me."
Luca wrapped his arms around his daughter, holding her with a fierce, protective tenderness he had never known existed.
Tears cut clean paths through the grime on Luca's cheeks as he kissed her forehead.
"I will always catch you, Maya," Luca choked out, his voice thick with emotion.
Elena knelt beside them, wrapping her arms around both Luca and Maya, completing the circle.
Tommy dropped down from the hoist, wiping his nose with his sleeve and grinning from ear to ear.
May you like
"You guys look terrible," Tommy said with a laugh.
In the distance, the sirens of federal law enforcement cut through the night, but for the first time in twelve years, Luca felt entirely at peace.
