SALVE ROMA! A Felidae Novel - By Akif Pirincci Page 0,78

just rushed over the railing as if nothing had happened and had performed a sharp course correction downwards. Like a whirling knife it know vertically shot at us and threatened to destroy us in case the dash on the ground wasn’t going to manage this first.

Shortly before we dashed to the ground, Antonio gave up resistance and looked at me with his beautiful eyes. I read sadness in them, but also resignation to his fate.

»I forgive you!« I said and pressed his body under mine.

Antonio plunked onto Umberto’s laptop and was instantly dead. Just a nano-second later his soft body mass clasped me like an airbag and cushioned my fall to a certain degree. When I rolled to the side right away, I saw that the rocket was only a few inches away from my nose. With a desperate jump with my strong rear legs I catapulted myself out of the danger zone. That close to the finishing line even Miracolo wasn’t capable of speedy maneuvers. It crashed into Antonio’s body and exploded into a thousand pieces. On the marble floor, on which il mio amico had just been lying, now was nothing more to see than an annular trace of ash and tiny metal parts.

My ears were still partially numb, when I heard another squeal. I looked around and with horror I saw three new Miracoli take off. From hidden corners of the left and right naves and from behind the socket of the Cathedra Petri one rocket a time shot to the top of the dome. It looked like fireworks in honor of Saint Peter.

»Fuck, what does that mean?« the old general asked and, flabbergasted, he backed away from Umberto.

The priest with the angel-face also didn’t look that attractive anymore. He rather gave the impression that God for once had allowed him to get a glimpse of the place, which was already impatiently waiting for him. With uplifted hands he tumbled backwards, his head strangely bopped up and down like that of an old man, and he kept licking his lips. A flick of hair had broken away from the rest of his neatly combed hair and naughtily dangled in front of his eyes. It was hard to say, if Antonio’s explosive exit or the dancing missiles underneath the dome had thrown him for a loop.

»A safety measure«, he said, almost stuttering. »It is a safety measure.«

»Safety measure?«

The general now gave the impression that a lot of things were put together inside his skull. Obviously he didn’t like the result.

»I was shot last night, and I thought, maybe you were behind that, General. Maybe mighty governments don’t like that guys with my kind of knowledge keep living after they have developed a weapon of such importance. Maybe they think that I will pass this knowledge to ...«

»Jesus Christ, talk faster, dude!«

The military officer had already turned away from his high-tech-dealer and totally addicted himself to the observation of the ado at the dome. Meanwhile the three miracoli had ended their recon flight and formed for a nosedive.

»This is why I brought these additional three missiles for my personal safety«, Umberto went on. »They are fed with your biometric data and with those of the killers, who also were captured by the cameras at the Forum Romanum.«

»Call it off!« the general yelled and also began to tumble. »Do it, gosh darn it, call it off!«

»That, that, that isn’t possible. Antonio, my Antonio, fell on the laptop and activated the ignition. And the laptop is ...«

With his hands, which he had stretched like he was about to pray, he pointed at the ash trail on the ground.

»You goddamn son of a bitch!« the General shouted and pulled a pistol from a hidden holster under his tweed sports coat.

Then he flipped his fingers. Behind the statue of St. Peter the two CIA killers from the catacomb showed up now! They had their weapons with mufflers thrust out and approached Umberto cautiously. Despite the dull light the sunglasses with almost black glasses flaunted on their noses. But their cool ado didn’t keep them from casting worried glances on the missiles, which came rushing down from the dome.

»This is my safety measure, bastard!« the general yelled and flicked his fingers again.

The killers shot their clips almost completely. The angel-faced man of God was hit by so many bullets that for a while he didn’t even have a chance to fall down. Every time a bullet hit him and he was about to keel