haul himself up using a nearby shelf, but Danny shot him again.
Salvatore went down.
And he didn’t get back up.
“He’s down.” Giulia appeared beside Danny and grabbed his arm. “Come on—let’s find Carmine and James!”
As they stumbled through the darkness and debris, Giulia nearly fell. He grabbed her arm, and once she was righted, they kept going. It was nearly impossible to see—the smoke was thick and opaque, and his eyes stung so bad he had tears streaming down his face alongside the sweat—but they had to press on.
They had to climb over some fallen debris. As they crested the small pile, something gave under Danny’s foot, and when he stumbled, something else bit hard into his thigh, driving a cry of pain out of him. He nearly fell, but Giulia caught him, and he found his balance enough to hurry—sort of—after her. His leg hurt like the devil, and he could tell from the dampness of his trousers that he was bleeding, but he gritted his teeth and limped after her. They had to find James and Carmine.
A shadow came out of the smoke, and the first thing to resolve itself into something recognizable was a familiar strip of white—James’s collar.
“James!” Ignoring the pain in his leg, Danny hurried toward his friend.
James stumbled, leaning hard against a crate, and he motioned weakly back the way he’d come. “Carmine. I couldn’t…” He shook his head. “I tried. I couldn’t hold the both of us up, but he’s—”
“Hold him up?” Panic surged through Danny. “Is he hurt?”
Grimacing, James tapped his chest. “Shot.”
Danny’s heart dropped into his feet.
Giulia sucked in a breath. “We have to get to him.”
“No.” Danny turned to her and gestured at James. “You get him out of here. I’ll get to Carmine.”
“No, I’m not—”
“James can still walk,” Danny snapped. “If your brother can’t, can you carry him?”
She opened her mouth to protest, but quickly closed it. “Go. I’ll take care of him.”
“Which way is—”
James pointed over his shoulder. “About twenty paces. Thirty at most.”
Danny nodded, opening his mouth to speak, but Giulia beat him to it.
“Go, Danny. I’ve got James.” She turned to James, gesturing for him to put his arm around her shoulders.
Satisfied they were safely on their way out, Danny darted through the wreckage and debris in the direction his friend had indicated, limping as pain tore through his leg and coughing and squinting against the smoke and heat. “Carmine?” he called out between coughs. “Carmine? Can you hear me?”
Nothing. Just the sound of fire crackling and wood splintering.
“Carmine?” He coughed, his throat raw from the smoke and from shouting. “Carmine?”
The smoke was thick and low, making it even harder to see. To see where he was going, he had to nearly crouch, which was hell on his wounded leg, but he pressed on. He was either getting Carmine out of this building or they were both burning down with it.
“Carmine? Are you—”
“Over here.” The voice was weak, but it was Carmine, and Danny hurried toward the sound.
Through the smoke, he finally found him, and the sight of Carmine sent a bolt of fear through him. He was sitting partly upright against a shelf with his hand on his chest and blood all over his shirt, but he was moving. Writhing painfully and weakly, but moving. Alive.
Danny dropped to his knees at Carmine’s side, hissing at the pain in his leg, and ground out, “Come on, we have to get out of here.”
“I’m not getting out of here,” Carmine said. “Go. Get—”
“Close your head. We’re going.”
“Damn it, you’re never getting both of us out.” Carmine tried to shove him away. “Just go.”
Danny ignored him, and he pulled Carmine’s arm around his shoulders.
Carmine groaned in pain. “Danny…”
“I ain’t leaving you here, so quit your arguing.” Gritting his teeth, Danny rose, dragging Carmine up with him. Danny may have been taller, but Carmine was broader, and he leaned hard on Danny. He might’ve tried to argue, too, but he was either in too much pain or he knew it was pointless.
But as Danny dragged him toward the far end of the warehouse, Carmine did manage to sputter weakly, “The doors… They’re all chained.”
“Not anymore,” Danny ground out, and he kept going, following the wall as his lungs burned and his body ached from trying to bear both his and Carmine’s weight. His leg hurt and kept wanting to collapse under him, and the way his head spun told him he was bleeding badly, but he gritted his teeth and