Chapter 10 - The Horizon
Inside the room, the afternoon sun was breaking through the winter clouds, casting golden rays across the polished floorboards.
Keo was sitting up in bed, happily drawing a picture of Captain Galaxy standing atop a massive fortress with two figures beside him—a boy in a cape and a tall man in a dark suit holding an unbreakable shield.
Linda was sitting on the edge of the mattress, running her fingers through Keo's growing stubble of hair, laughing softly.
When she saw me, her laughter ceased, replaced by a radiant, overwhelming peace. She stood up and walked toward me, closing the distance until there was no space left between us.
"He's going to live, Lorenzo," she breathed, tears of sheer joy spilling down her cheeks. "Dr. Vance told me. My baby is going to live."
I reached into my overcoat pocket and pulled out the battered plastic toy Keo had given me. I held it out to her.
"Captain Galaxy held the line," I said softly.
Linda didn't take the toy. Instead, she threw her arms around my neck, burying her face into my chest, weeping with the unburdened release of a mother whose nightmare had finally ended.
I hesitated for a fraction of a second—a man who had spent a lifetime avoiding human contact—before wrapping my arms tightly around her waist, holding her close against my heartbeat.
From the bed, Keo waved his new die-cast toy in the air. "We beat the monsters, Mr. Gallo!"
"Yes, kid," I said, meeting the boy's bright, resilient eyes over his mother's shoulder. "We beat them all."
My enemies had searched for the one weakness they could use to destroy me. They had thought Linda and her dying boy were the crack in my armor, the fatal flaw that would bring down the Gallo empire.
They were wrong.
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They hadn't found my weakness.
They had found the only thing in this godforsaken world that made me invincible.
