Chapter 8 - THE TICKET TO NOWHERE
Smoke began to curl under the rusted metal door of the lighthouse.
Vanessa wasn't bluffing. She had ordered her men to pour gasoline around the base of the structure.
Inside, the air grew thick and heavy. Leo coughed, burying his face in Maria’s shoulder.
"We have to get out," Maria choked, covering her mother’s mouth with a damp cloth she tore from her skirt.
Luca paced the circular room, his eyes scanning the stone walls. "The windows are too narrow. The door is blocked by fire."
He looked up. The old iron spiral staircase wound up into the darkness toward the lantern room.
"Up," Luca ordered. "Move!"
He carried Elena while Maria guided Leo up the terrifyingly steep, rusted steps. The metal groaned under their weight. Below them, flames began to lick through the floorboards, illuminating the tower in a hellish orange glow.
They reached the top. The lantern room was a glass dome overlooking the freezing, black waters of Lake Michigan, fifty feet below.
The fire was roaring up the shaft like a chimney. They were trapped.
"Luca," Elena wheezed, her lungs struggling with the smoke. "The ticket. The one in the necklace."
Maria pulled the silver swallow from her chest, opening it to reveal the old train ticket.
"It's just a baggage claim," Luca said, smashing a pane of glass with his elbow to let in fresh air.
"No," Elena coughed, her eyes fixing on Luca. "Isabella knew the Russians would check the lockers. She didn't put the real evidence in the box. The box was a decoy to keep Vanessa busy."
Luca froze. "Then what is the ticket for?"
"Turn it over," Elena whispered.
Maria flipped the faded paper.
Written in faded ink on the back were coordinates. Latitude and longitude.
"Isabella hid the real ledger on your family’s private island," Elena said. "The one you haven't visited since she died."
Luca’s mind raced. He had the location. But he was about to burn to death in a lighthouse.
The flames roared closer, the heat becoming unbearable. The wooden trapdoor below them burst into fire.
"There’s no way down," Maria sobbed, holding Leo tight.
Luca looked out the shattered window at the churning black water below.
"Yes, there is," he said, turning to them. His eyes were completely calm, the eyes of a man who would do anything to save his family.
He stripped off his heavy coat and wrapped it tightly around Leo, tying the sleeves securely.
"Maria," Luca said, grabbing her face, forcing her to look at him. "You trust me?"
"Luca, it's too high! The water is freezing!"
"I will not let you die," he vowed, his forehead resting against hers for a fleeting second.
He picked up Elena, hoisting her over his shoulder.
"When I say go, we jump," Luca commanded.
He kicked the remaining glass out of the frame.
The fire burst through the floor, engulfing the room.
"Go!" Luca roared.
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Together, they leaped into the dark, empty air, the freezing water rushing up to swallow them whole.
TITLE: The Coat in the Water
