Chapter 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.
He was focused on the dress shop, so he didn’t see me in the shadows of the café.
His gun was in his right hand – the closest arm to me.
I figured Adriano would want him alive for questioning, so I only shot to wound.
BLAM!
I hit the bicep of his gun arm.
Blood exploded from the black leather.
The thug howled in pain –
Then dropped down behind the Cadillac.
Shit.
I ran towards the trunk of the car, ready to circle around the side –
But the guy’s left hand came up over the top of the car.
He was clutching the revolver.
BLAM BLAM!
He was using his left hand, and he was shooting blind, so I wasn’t in too much danger –
But it still freaked me out. A stray bullet can kill you just as easily as an aimed one.
I crouched down on the passenger side of the Cadillac as bullets blasted chips off the stone facade of the café.
BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM –
Click.
Out of bullets.
Definitely not the sharpest knife in the drawer.
Still, he could have a second gun, so I made my way around the back of the car carefully.
When I heard the door open, I stepped out, gun aimed.
The thug was on his knees, trying to crawl inside the car.
The cobblestones beneath him were spattered red.
“FREEZE!” I shouted.
He cursed and flung the revolver at me.
Again, he was a right-hander using his left hand, so the throw went wild –
But after I ducked, I ran to the open car door and shut it as hard as I could.
Of course, he was in the way –
But the door only hit his back. No broken bones, unfortunately.
He bellowed in rage and forced the door open by twisting his oversized torso.
That’s when I used the handle of my Glock to hit him in the side of the head.
Unlike Maurizio, the gorilla was made of sterner stuff.
The blow stunned him and opened a gash on the side of his head, but he was still conscious.
He struggled to stand –
So I hit him again.
And again.
Third time’s a charm: the last one finally knocked him out.
He collapsed face-down on the driver’s seat, his knees on the cobblestones and his ass sticking out in the air.
Suddenly, there was the Crash! of breaking glass.
I looked up to see the shattered front window of Bianca’s dress shop.
Orange flames and black smoke billowed out.
Oh shit.
I felt sick.
No wonder she’d freaked out.
All her dresses – months of hard work –
Gone.
In the distance, I could hear sirens.
Fire trucks.
I was wondering how the fuck I was going to explain all this when a car roared up in the street behind me.
I swung around, gun aimed, heart hammering wildly.
I was expecting more Camorra gangsters –
But it was one of ours.
A black Mercedes. Vincenzo was behind the wheel, and a new guy named Amadeo was in the front seat beside him.
The Mercedes skidded to a stop beside me. I lowered the Glock as Adriano jumped out of the backseat, a gun in his hand.
“WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED?!” he shouted.
“Camorra. Two torched the shop – they’re dead – ”
“WHERE’S BIANCA?!”
“In the café.”
Adriano raced inside.
Vincenzo and Amadeo got out of the car, their eyes wide as they stared at the unconscious gorilla.
“Is he dead?” Vincenzo asked.
“No.”
“Are you sure?” Amadeo asked doubtfully. “He looks dead…”
Before I could answer, Adriano raced out of the shop, his arm wrapped around Bianca. Lucia and Emilia followed close behind him.
Bianca was weeping softly – but as soon as she saw the flames billowing out of her shop window, she became hysterical again.
“ADRIANO!” she screamed.
“Get in the car!” he yelled, forcing her towards Vincenzo’s Mercedes.
“But – that’s my entire life!” she sobbed. “I’m burning up in there…”
“I’m sorry, baby, but we’ve got to go!”
Adriano gently pushed her into the back seat, where she collapsed in tears.
“What about him?” I asked, pointing down at the gorilla.
Rage filled Adriano’s face as he glared at the slumped figure. “Get him in your car and meet us at the warehouse!”
…get him in my car?
“He must weight like, two TONS – ”
“Vincenzo, Amadeo, help him!” Adriano snapped, then turned back towards the sidewalk. “LUCIA, LET’S GO!”
“Take Emilia!” I shouted.
Lucia nodded, grabbed Emilia’s hand, and tugged her towards the car –
But Emilia resisted.
“I can’t,” she said, almost like a zombie. “I have to stay – ”
“Come on!” Lucia pleaded.
“Babe, you gotta go with them!” I yelled.
“But – ”
“GET IN THE FUCKING CAR, NOW!” Adriano screamed at the top of his lungs.
I was angry at him for speaking to Emilia like that –
But it had the desired effect.
She stumbled in a panic behind Lucia, and they both piled into the back of the Mercedes beside Bianca.
I was guessing Emilia didn’t think my boss was a ‘sweetheart’ anymore.
Adriano raced around to the driver’s side and pointed at the gorilla.
“Take him to the warehouse!” he shouted, then got behind the wheel of Vincenzo’s Mercedes and sped off down the road.
I looked at Vincenzo and Amadeo, who stared back at me in shock.
The sirens were getting closer. We only had a few minutes, if that.
“I’ll back up the car,” I said, as I pulled out my keys. “Get him ready.”