danger, but rather the person about to set a fire that would put them in harm’s way. Taking Uretsky’s suggestion, I made a trail of gasoline from the wood pallets to the door as quick as I could. When I exited the warehouse, I had to blink until my eyes adjusted to the light. My breathing was labored from all the gas vapors still swimming in my lungs.
I saw Ruby across the street, standing in position.
I held up my right hand—Get ready.
I checked my watch.
Two minutes until the deadline.
I lowered my hand as though starting a drag race. Ruby pulled the fire alarm, and I expected to hear a piercing shrill, but there was no sound at all. I reset my stopwatch and started it again. Five seconds later—ten at the most—I heard the sound of sirens in the distance. Ruby looked at me with a fresh concern. I couldn’t believe how fast the fire department had responded.
I struck a match and let it drop. I stood in the doorway with my mouth agape and watched as the burning trail of gasoline wound its way across the floor on a collision course with the gas-soaked pile of wood pallets. In an instant the darkness of the warehouse erupted into a bright and blinding fireball. There was a powerful whoosh sound as all the air in the room seemed to get sucked toward the flame.
A ball of fire shot upward, licking at the varnish on the wood ceiling above. Flames crackled and spit angrily in all directions. Soon I couldn’t see the wood pallets anymore. Smoke began to billow up from the fire and unfurled across the ceiling like a noxious black tide.
Meanwhile, the sirens from a fleet of fire engines sounded louder— help was on its way. Ruby and I needed to make our getaway, and fast. We couldn’t be seen anywhere near the fire I had just set. I raced across the street and grabbed hold of Ruby’s arm.
“Start walking,” I said, pulling down my handkerchief, taking it from a disguise to part of my wardrobe. “Just act normal. Just be natural.”
Of course, I was breathing heavy and hard on our leisurely stroll—nothing at all natural about that.
I could see the fire engines coming, racing toward us.
Take that, Uretsky!
Ruby and I walked nonchalantly down West Third, thinking the fire trucks would zoom right past, but before they reached our location, the trucks took a sharp right turn onto C Street as if headed for City Point, a Southie neighborhood near Castle Island. I looked behind me and saw black smoke seeping out of the warehouse’s broken first-floor window.
“John, what’s going on?” Ruby asked. The sirens began to fade off into the distance. “Why aren’t they going to the fire?”
My phone rang.
I answered the call.
“We’ve done what you’ve wanted,” I said. I didn’t have to ask who was on the other end of the line. I just knew. “Where’s Winnie? Let her go.”
“Aren’t you wondering why the fire trucks aren’t coming to save the day?” Uretsky asked.
My legs went weak.
Uretsky spoke again. “Did you know that when an alarm is struck, the fire department automatically dispatches three engine companies and two ladder trucks to the scene?”
“What’s going on?” I asked. “Where is Winnie?”
Uretsky ignored my questions. “Did you know that South Boston has two engine companies and two ladder trucks total? Total! A third engine would come from Columbia Road, maybe even Edward Everett Square.”
“Stop playing games!” I shouted, shaking. “Where is Winnie?”
Uretsky went on speaking. “But if two fires break out at the same time, the fire department won’t divert the trucks from one fire scene to another. The second call could be anything—a false alarm, even. Can’t risk sending engines from a real fire to a fake one. So if all the engines in South Boston are tied up answering a call when another fire in Southie breaks out, the dispatchers will send engine companies and ladder trucks from another firehouse farther away. Just so you know, the closest ones to you are on Harrison Avenue in the South End and maybe Atlantic Avenue in the financial district.”
“Why are you telling me all this?” I asked.
“Because it’s going to take at least another ten minutes for the engines from those locations to reach the fire you just started. Now, I bet you didn’t think I’d set another fire in City Point right before your deadline hit.”
My stomach clenched. I had to hold on to a parked car for