friend, il Sacchi.” Masseria folded his arms. “Maybe this is something I should be discussing with your boss. How’s about we get Agosto down here, and we—”
“My uncle doesn’t need to get involved in anything,” Salvatore barked back. “This is between me and you, Masseria.”
“Sure it is.” Masseria sounded bored now. “Then if you ain’t hiding anything in there, how’s about you show me?”
“You want to see?” Salvatore gestured at the warehouse. “You want to have a look around and make sure nothing in here is yours?”
Danny didn’t catch what Masseria said, but it sounded like a yes.
“Fine. Fine.” Salvatore gestured sharply for one of his men. “Hey, Al. There’s an open case of liquor inside the door. Bring that out here.”
“What is he doing?” Giulia asked.
Danny shook his head. “I don’t know. But as unhinged as he is… I need to get in there. We have to get Carmine and James out.”
“I know, but we’re—what is he doing?”
Up ahead, Salvatore had moved to the doorway of the warehouse, and he had a case of liquor at his feet with a few bottles poking up from the straw. He gestured at the man who’d brought the box and said something Danny didn’t hear.
Then the man struck a match and handed it to Salvatore.
Salvatore took it along with the matchbook, and let the match ignite the rest of the book.
“What are you doing, il Sacchi?” Masseria asked impatiently. “You gonna threaten to burn your own merchandise?”
“No.” Salvatore eyed him. “But if you’re so concerned I’ve got something of yours…” He dropped the match into the case, where it quickly ignited the straw. “Go get it yourself.” Then he gave the case a shove with his foot, sending it sliding into the warehouse. There was a crash and the sound of shattering glass, and Danny’s heart dropped as the glow of fire illuminated Salvatore, who was now engaged in an agitated shouting match with Masseria.
Giulia gasped. “Did he just—”
“Yes.” Danny’s heart was thundering now. “Forget the plan—we have to get in there now.”
Chapter 42
Moments after Salvatore had been summoned outside, James turned to the guards who’d been left to keep an eye on them. “You boys know he’s going to kill us, don’t you?”
The men exchanged glances, but they didn’t look at James or Carmine.
“We all know it’s the truth,” James said. “So the least you could do is let me give this man last rites.”
Carmine blinked.
The guards stiffened, glancing at each other again.
“What?” one of them asked.
“Come now. You’re both good Catholic men, ain’t you?” James smiled weakly. “The lot of you may be enemies here on earth, but are you really going to deny another Catholic man”—he nodded toward Carmine—“the chance to be right with God before he dies?”
Neither man looked at him, but one finally sighed. “All right. All right.” He came closer. “Don’t try anything funny.”
“I’m a man of God, my son,” James said on a weary sigh. “I’m only here to do right by the Lord.”
The guards eyed each other again, and they both shrugged. While one stood back, watching them uncertainly, the first untied James.
James gingerly shook out his hands. “Thank you, my son.”
The guard mumbled something in response, glancing toward the front of the warehouse as if he thought Salvatore might suddenly return. To James, he said, “Make it quick.”
“It won’t take long.” James started to get up, but he faltered and grabbed the knee Salvatore had hit with the crowbar. “I don’t suppose you can offer me a hand.”
The guard hesitated, but he came closer and offered his free hand to James. James clasped his hand around the man’s forearm and gingerly got to his feet.
“Thank you.” James wavered a little. As he found his balance, he loosened his grasp on the guard’s arm.
The guard glanced at the other again, and they both shrugged once more as if they still had no idea what to make of what was going on, and—
James seized the opportunity, grabbed the chair he’d been sitting in, and swung it into the guard’s leg. The man’s knees buckled, and he dropped with a shout, his hand letting go of his gun on the way down.
James lunged for it, and by the time the other guard had made sense of the situation and had his weapon trained on James, James had the other pistol pointed at him.
For a moment, everyone was still. Carmine stared slack-jawed at the scene in front of him. James was clearly in pain, favoring his injured