The now darkened space was filled with smoke. I immediately moved toward where I knew Tia and Tess were and before I got too far, moving through people and wrecked furniture and falling down ceiling and light fixtures, there was a second explosion. It was happening over by the entrance to the bar, where we’d come in.
As the sound of that explosion and debris crashing around me pierced the air, I’d gone to the floor, turtling. When I rose, pieces of wall and ceiling or whatever falling all over me, there was coughing and screaming. Dust and smoke in the air was filling my lungs.
I glanced behind me and saw flames by that doorway. My eyes started to burn, but I had a single-minded goal. Get to Tia and Tess.
Leo Denarda deserved more credit than he’d been getting. Priority one: my wife and sister. Priority two: make Denarda pay. Fuck, I hoped that Nino and our other guys had managed to get away from that doorway in time and that our guy had him in the limo.
I moved through people and debris, smoke clogging my lungs but determined to get to the girls. It was all I could think about. I felt for my phone in my tux jacket pocket and squinted through feeling half blind to use the phone’s flashlight to light the way.
I could see people who were hurt and some who weren’t moving among the debris. The bar was half blown apart, some pieces of ceiling were down and there was stuff coming through from the floor above the bar. The alcove that led to the restrooms had people and furniture and other shit blocking it. I carefully moved through it.
“Can you help me? I think my leg’s broken,” a small female voice asked. I saw the black and white cocktail waitress uniform of one of Ben’s servers.
“I’ll get help. I have to get to my pregnant wife in the bathroom. One sec.” I started coughing, eyes still burning, mouth filled with dust
, throat itching like fuck, but I kept moving forward. She was talking to me as I moved, sounding in pain but still talking. I had no idea what she was saying because my wife and sister were all I could think of.
I heard more voices and saw spotlights from people’s phones coming through the dust and debris from multiple directions. The dust was settling a little bit but that fire by the door was spreading. People coughed, I heard weeping, both male and female. My cheek was wet, cut or something, but I was otherwise okay.
I fucking prayed that the girls were all right.
I walked right into Dex and he grunted. He was half slumped against the wall and half against the bathroom under a collapsed bunch of shit, including a beam. He opened his eyes a little, “Someone got her, Tommy. Can’t…”
My heart stopped.
“Who? Fucking who?”
“Tia. Guy got her, climbed over me, was gonna shoot me, I played dead. He got her and went that way,” He pointed deeper into the alcove, “I tried but I couldn’t get up. Tried to c-call”
His cell phone was on the floor beside him. He coughed and winced. Dex looked rough. Worse than rough. His playing dead must’ve been convincing.
“Tess?”
“Didn’t see her come out.”
I kicked shit out of the way that was partly blocking the door and pushed my way in. The bathroom was dark.
“Athena! Tess!”
“Tommy!”
That was my sister. I panned the light through the space until I found her. She was on the ground. She got up, holding her face.
“A guy came in here and dragged her out in the middle of that. What happened? A fire? An explosion?” She was coughing and she was suddenly in front of me.
“He pistol whipped me.”
“Fuck!” I grabbed her hand and checked her cheek. With my phone’s flashlight I could see it was bruised but she looked okay otherwise.
It was clearer in here but my eyes and lungs were still burning. I fumbled with the phone and found the app with Tia’s GPS from her engagement ring. She was not far. She was showing as right with me.
“One sec, Tess. One sec.” I shoved out of the room. Tess moved with me and crouched by Dex, who was trying, feebly, to get up but he was half buried under shit that had fallen on him. Further into the alcove was a supply closet.
“Stay here, Tessa. Tia!”
I heard my girl scream. The supply closet.
This part of the alcove was dark but unhindered so I grabbed the knob. Locked. I slammed my shoulder against it, while drawing my gun from my lower back holster.