I lunged at him, but he caught my fists as I slammed them against him. ‘Just go!’ I yelled. ‘What are you waiting for?’
‘Calm down!’ he snapped. I thrashed against him but he held firm, dragging me towards the server line behind the till. He pulled his phone from his pocket. Whoever he was calling answered on the first ring. He spoke low and quickly, his eyes darting around the diner, ignoring my mother as she started groaning. ‘They’re on the move,’ he said. ‘Three.’ Another pause, and then, ‘Watch the front, but I’m guessing they’ll come around the back.’
I glanced over my shoulder. Through the window, in the distance, a flash of lightning illuminated three dark shapes at the very far end of the parking lot. The Falcones were coming. We were caged in.
Jack pulled me back into the kitchen. A strange part of me was glad my mother was out cold for this. If our doom was rising to meet us, at least she wouldn’t have to suffer the terror of it. At least she hadn’t seen those switchblades, the ring, the truth. At least she didn’t realize how depraved her husband really was – how we had both been conned. At least her heart was still whole.
Across the kitchen, the back door was shut and locked. It was heavy and metal – and impenetrable.
‘What are you going to do now?’ I asked, trying and failing to pull him back to the serving section of the diner – to the diner phone.
‘We’re going to kill them,’ he said. ‘And finally teach you the meaning of loyalty.’
His eyes were fathomless pools, polluted with his scheme. I tried to twist out of his grasp but he clamped down harder. He stalked to the other side of the kitchen, through to the serving area, so he could glance through the windows again. Sheets of rain crashed against the windows, but outside all was still.
Or so it appeared.
I had to get out. If I could get out, I could flag someone down. I could get us out of there. I struggled against him.
‘You can go,’ he said. ‘But you’ll have to take your chances with the assassins outside.’
There was a deafening crash from the kitchen – something was colliding against the metal door. Jack had been right – the Falcones had come around the back, where their attempts to get at him would be hidden in the darkness of the alleyway.
I seized this distraction and bolted into the serving area. The furious thudding of Jack’s pursuit jolted me faster. I sprinted across the floor, pulling tables behind me as I went, hoping to slow him down. He bounded over them with wild abandon.
I reached the front door and managed to free the lock with fumbling hands. Jack grabbed my T-shirt. We tussled and he yanked me backwards, clenching my shoulders. ‘They’ll kill you!’
I stomped on his foot. ‘Let go!’
Two loud cracks rang in the air outside. Closer than thunder, more frightening than lightning. I stumbled backwards, hitting my head against Jack’s chest. He gripped my arm again and pulled me with him, knocking over a table.
Another crash rang out back in the kitchen, the door clanging against their attempts to demolish it.
They were everywhere.
The front door swung open in front of us and Donata Marino swept into the diner, bringing a flurry of wind and rain with her.
‘There you are,’ she said, holding her gun high. ‘By happy coincidence you are already exactly where I want you to be.’
‘You lied to me!’ I spat. ‘You used me!’
‘Like a carrier pigeon.’ She took a step closer, blocking my way. I could see the beads of rain sliding down her face. ‘As if I would ever expect you to betray the boy that gives you flowers and looks at you like you’re worth something.’
I gaped at her.
‘I have eyes everywhere, Sophie.’ She shook her head. ‘And I am no fool.’
‘Why? Why send me there?’
‘Don’t you understand power structures, silly girl?’ She lowered her gun and tucked it in her pocket. Her smile was a patronizing slash of red lips. ‘Our strike tonight is only as good as the highest-ranking member we kill.’ Her smile grew as she saw comprehension move across my features.
She knew she could never get to Valentino. But Valentino was one half of a whole.
So …
‘Luca is the target,’ I whispered.
She nodded. ‘I wanted the underboss to know we were coming so he would come out of that mansion and stand with his brothers, where I can get at him.’
As she shut the door behind her, I caught a glimpse of Gino Falcone slumped against the doorframe, his gun held limply in his hand as rivers of crimson pooled across his T-shirt.
I knew in that split second that I had made the gravest mistake of all, and that tonight we would all pay for it.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
THE GAS