The Perfect Prayer

The city burned.

Orange fire licked the sky, reflecting off the glass towers that still stood, defiant against the ruin. Smoke curled upward, thick and black, blotting out the stars. The air was heavy with the acrid scent of burning metal, scorched concrete, and something worse—something human.

Jonah knelt on the cracked pavement, his black coat pooling around him like a shadow. Across from him, Father Elias stood trembling, his hands clasped together—not in prayer, but in something closer to desperation.

A jet roared overhead, its engines screaming as it cut through the sky. Jonah didn’t flinch. He had seen too much already.

“You have to listen to me,” Elias said, his voice raw. “It’s not too late.”

Jonah exhaled slowly, his fingers tightening around the pistol resting on his knee. “It was too late the moment you gave them the codes.”

Elias swallowed hard. His face was streaked with soot and sweat, his green trench coat stained with ash. “I didn’t know,” he whispered. “I thought it was just a warning. I didn’t think they’d actually—”

Jonah stood, his movements deliberate. “You knew exactly what you were doing, Father.”

Elias flinched at the title. He wasn’t sure he deserved it anymore.

“They had children,” Elias said, his voice cracking. “They had my sister. And her kids. They told me if I didn’t give them the codes, they’d execute them all. I had no choice.”

Jonah’s jaw tightened. “There’s always a choice.”

Elias looked away, his eyes flicking toward the ruined skyline. “You think I don’t know that?” His voice was hoarse, filled with something that might have been grief or fury. “You think I haven’t been replaying that moment in my head over and over? I thought I was saving lives. Instead, I—” His breath hitched. “Instead, I gave them the key to burn the city.”

Jonah took a step forward, his boots splashing through the shallow puddles of water and blood. “Then why are you still alive?”

Elias hesitated.

Jonah’s voice was cold. “If you really understood what you’ve done, you’d wouldn’t still be standing here.” Jonah jutted his chin toward the edge of the roof.

Elias’s hands clenched into fists. “Maybe I deserve to die. But not yet.”

Jonah lifted the pistol. “Then I’ll do it for you.”

Elias didn’t move. He simply closed his eyes, his lips forming silent words. A final prayer.

Jonah hesitated.

The sound of sirens wailed in the distance, growing closer. The city was dying, but it wasn’t dead yet.

Elias opened his eyes. “You don’t have to do this.”

Jonah exhaled sharply. “Neither did you.”

Elias took a step forward. “There’s another device.”

Jonah’s grip on the gun tightened. “Where?”

Elias hesitated. “You have to promise me—”

Jonah pressed the barrel against his forehead. “Where?”

Elias shuddered. “The financial district. An abandoned spur to one of the old subway tunnels. It’s already armed.”

Jonah pulled the gun away. He turned toward the skyline, toward the burning city. Was there still a chance at saving what was left?

He started walking toward the door down from the rooftop.

Behind him, Elias let out a shaky breath. “What about me?”

Jonah didn’t turn back. “You’re coming with me.”

Elias blinked. “What?”

Jonah glanced over his shoulder, his expression unreadable. “You want redemption? You’ll have to fucking earn it.”

Elias hesitated for only a second before following.

---

The Subway Tunnels – 43 Minutes Until Detonation

The subway tunnels beneath the financial district were suffocatingly dark, the air thick with the scent of damp concrete and old decay. The entire subway system had been shut down, the city engineers would have to inspect every foot of the tunnels and rails before powering it back up. The emergency lights flickered, casting long, shifting shadows against the walls.

Jonah moved with purpose, his footsteps silent, his gun drawn. Elias followed, his breath unsteady.

“They’ll have guards,” Elias murmured.

Jonah nodded. “Of course, I know.”

Jonah glanced at him. “You ever killed a man, Father?”

Elias hesitated. “Not in the way you mean.”

Jonah didn’t ask for clarification.

In the distance, they could hear two, maybe three men talking. Low, their words not distinguishable. Jonah and Elias moved quietly toward the sounds, turning here and there, always toward the sounds.

They rounded a corner, and Jonah held up a hand, signaling for Elias to stop. Fifteen feet ahead, two armed men stood by a rusted maintenance door.

Jonah moved fast. A quiet phhht of the suppressed 9mm shot took down the first guard before he even registered the danger. The second turned, reaching for his weapon—

Elias lunged, and grabbed the man’s head with both hands and driving it into the concrete wall as if he were trying to embed the man’s skull in the concrete. A sound like a watermelon being dropped on a sidewalk. The guard slumped to the ground, an expanding pool of blood forming behind his head.

Jonah raised an eyebrow. “Not bad for a priest.”

Elias wiped his hands on his coat. “I told you. I’m not the kind of priest you’re used to.”

Jonah didn’t argue. He pushed open the door, revealing a dimly lit room.

And there it was.

A steel case sat in the center of the room, cables snaking out from its sides, leading to a digital timer.

00:42:17

Jonah moved quickly, kneeling beside it, his fingers working over the device. “This is military-grade. Where the hell did they get this?”

Elias swallowed hard. “Same place they got the codes.”

Jonah shot him a look. “You had this?”

“No, but I knew how to find out where it was and how to get it.”

Jonah stared. “How convenient.”

Elias hesitated. “A government official. He was part of my congregation. He didn’t realize what he was doing.”

“What?”

Elias completed the thought, “He thought he was talking to his priest. He didn’t understand he was talking to a man whose sister and her children were being held hostage. I’m not proud of what I did.”

Jonah’s expression darkened. “And now he’s dead?”

Elias nodded. “They killed him the moment they had what they needed.”

Jonah turned back to the device. “Figures.”

00:39:52

Jonah exhaled. “I can disarm it, but I need time.”

Elias nodded. “Then I’ll buy you some.”

Jonah looked up. “What?”

Elias turned toward the door. “They’ll send reinforcements when they realize their men aren’t responding to their comms updates. I’ll hold them off.”

Jonah frowned. “You won’t survive.”

Elias gave him a small, tired smile. “That might be the point.”

Jonah stared at him for a long moment. Then nodded and handed the priest his Glock 17.

Elias stepped into the hallway, his hands steady. He wasn’t afraid anymore.

Jonah turned back to the bomb, his fingers moving faster.

00:37:10

The perfect prayer in a desperate hour.

---

Epilogue

The explosion never came.

The city still burned from the first explosion, but it was no longer beyond saving.

Jonah stood in the flickering light of the subway tunnel, his hands stained with blood and soot. He looked down at the body at his feet.

Elias had kept his word. Elias had bought him time.

Jonah knelt beside him, exhaling slowly. Elias was breathing was labored and interrupted by seizures. His right lung was punctured from a bullet wound and Jonah could hear the some of the wheezing was coming from the wound. He’d be dead in seconds.

“You wanted redemption,” Jonah murmured. “You earned it.”

Elias slowly held out one clasped hand and when Jonah reached for it, Elias dropped a small, battered gold cross in Jonah’s hand.

Jonah stared at it for a long moment, an unreadable sadness crossing his face. Memories of a past life. He slipped the cross into his pocket.

Then he stood and walked away, disappearing into the smoke.

There was still work to be done.