“Jack, what is it?” Maddie interjected.
“Did he use my name, Meghan?” Jack pressed.
She shook her head. “No, I don’t think so. He just said it was for his good friend Jack. Yours is the only black Jaguar we’ve had in the last couple of days, so we all knew it was for you.”
“What did this man look like?” Jack demanded.
Meghan shook her head, obviously flustered by the flurry of questions. “Uh, um . . . tall, dark hair, black suit. And he had an accent. Russian, I think.”
Jack heard Maddie take a sharp breath. “Oh, God.”
“Does Manny have a radio? Phone? Some way to contact him right away?” Jack asked in a rush. “He needs to get out of the car immediately.”
Meghan nodded and picked up the phone, punching in a number. “Where’s Manny? Did he get the black Jag yet?”
She hung up and snatched up her cell phone, searching rapidly through her contacts, then dialing. “Manny, where are you? You need to get out of the Jag right now.”
Jack hung on to every word, gripping the edge of the counter until his knuckles were white.
She glanced up at him. “He’s already bringing it around. He’ll be out front any second now.”
Jack’s head snapped toward the front of the hotel and the wall of glass doors. The Jag pulled up to the curb in front of the hotel where other cars and cabs for guests checking out were lined up.
“Tell him to get out now!” Jack cried as he raced toward the doors. He waved his arm, motioning for Manny to get out. The man flashed him his wide grin and waved back, revving the engine playfully.
But then he must’ve seen the look of fear on Jack’s face and frowned, tilting his head down to hear what Meghan was telling him over the phone. He nodded and opened the door to step out of the car.
The second Manny stood, Jack realized his mistake. Flames instantly tumbled out from beneath the car in a rush, engulfing Manny in fire as it lifted the Jag into the air and pitched it over on its side, hurling Manny several feet onto the circular drive in front of the hotel.
Jack slid to a halt and instinctively ducked, bringing up his arms to block flying debris. But in the next moment, he was racing out the door toward where Manny’s body lay, barking out orders to the hotel employees rushing forward to assist, snatching their jackets from their hands and trying to smother the flames.
“Someone call 911!” Jack bellowed to the individuals who’d gathered around, their faces frozen in shock. “Don’t just stand there, goddammit!”
But even as he batted away the hands that tried to grab his shoulders and pull him away, Jack knew the man was dead.
“Jack! It’s too late!”
Maddie’s voice finally broke through his frantic efforts, and when she put her arm over his shoulder and pulled him back, he stumbled several feet before ass-planting on the cobblestones. He didn’t resist when Maddie pulled him into her arms, cradling him against her, rocking him and smoothing his hair as he clung to her, bone-deep sobs shaking him to the core in his sorrow and guilt.
A young man lay dead on the pavement, taken by the death that was meant forhim.
