Black smoke was boiling through the air.
“GET UP!” I screamed as I backed away from the liquid fire and holstered my gun.
Bianca and Lucia both stood up behind the counter and stared at the rapidly growing flames.
“Oh shit,” Lucia whispered in horror.
“OH GOD!” Bianca screamed.
“OUT!” I yelled as I grabbed them both by the arm and hustled them towards the back.
“NO!” Bianca shrieked in desperation.
I pulled them both into the storeroom. Bianca fought me all the way.
“GIORGIO, PLEASE – ”
“We have to get out of here!” I yelled, then kicked open the back door.
I pushed both women into the alleyway and slammed the door shut.
“NOOOO!” Bianca screamed.
I dragged her over to the café door and pounded my fist against it three times.
When Emilia opened up, her eyes were wide with panic.
“I heard a gun – oh my god!” she exclaimed as she saw Bianca bawling.
I pushed Bianca inside the doorway and motioned Lucia to follow. Then I shut the door behind us and bolted it.
Emilia held Bianca, who collapsed into her embrace and wept.
“Keep Bianca here,” I ordered Emilia and Lucia. “Do NOT let her back into the alley – unless you hear anyone come into the café. If you do, take her out the back door and RUN.”
“Where areyougoing?!” Emilia asked, her face white as a sheet.
“To get the last one,” I snarled as I pulled my gun and ran for the front of the café.
76
As I reached the front door of the café, I heard people screaming and running in the street.
I wondered if the getaway driver had split –
No. The Cadillac was still parked out front.
The driver had gotten out. He pointed a huge chrome revolver at the dress shop as he warily inched along next to the car.
The guy was a fucking gorilla – as big and muscular as Massimo, with a shaved head and five-o’clock shadow. He wore black pants and a tight black t-shirt under a black leather jacket.
With his boxer’s broken nose and a scar down his cheek, he was uglier than his two dead friends – and that was saying something.
Even though I was still inside the café, I could hear crackling flames next door. The entire dress shop had to be ablaze.
The gorilla stared at the dress shop in confusion, as though not understanding why his buddies hadn’t come out yet.
Probably not the sharpest knife in the drawer.
