THE GOLD CRUCIFIX IN THE RAIN

The explosion reverberated through the concrete floors, rattling Maria’s teeth. Dust and debris rained down from the ceiling in the pitch-black warehouse.

Someone was shouting in Italian. Flashlights cut through the dust like frantic laser beams.

Maria dropped to her hands and knees. She grabbed Bianca’s arm in the dark.

"Move!" Maria hissed.

"I can't see!" Bianca sobbed, crawling blindly beside her.

"Follow my voice," Maria ordered.

They scrambled behind a massive stack of steel shipping containers just as the emergency backup lights flickered on, casting an eerie red glow over the warehouse.

The two guards were disoriented, scanning the room with their weapons raised.

"The boss said Dante came alone!" one guard shouted over the ringing in their ears.

"He did!" the other replied. "That blast came from the perimeter!"

Maria crouched in the shadows, her heart hammering. The explosion meant Dante hadn't been as foolish as Salvatore thought. He had brought a vanguard, or he had rigged something himself.

She looked down at her hands. She still held the small switchblade.

She grabbed Bianca’s zip-tied wrists and sliced through the plastic.

Bianca rubbed her raw skin, staring at Maria in absolute shock. "You freed me. After everything I did to you."

"I'm not doing this for you," Maria whispered fiercely. "I'm doing this because I refuse to die in a warehouse because of my husband's mistakes. Now stay quiet."

Maria peered around the edge of the container.

The steel door leading to the basement flew open. Salvatore burst into the red-lit warehouse, his tailored suit covered in dust, his face twisted in pure rage.

"Find the women!" Salvatore roared at the guards. "Dante’s men are breaching the outer gates! Use the wife as a shield!"

"They're gone, boss!" a guard yelled.

Salvatore pulled a handgun from his shoulder holster. "They didn't evaporate! Tear this place apart!"

Maria shrank back into the shadows. They were trapped. The shipping containers offered cover, but there was no exit behind them. It was only a matter of time before the guards found them.

She looked at Bianca. The beautiful woman was trembling violently, completely paralyzed by fear.

Maria looked down at the floor. Resting in the dirt near the edge of the container was a discarded flare gun, likely dropped by a dock worker years ago.

It was a desperate, stupid idea. But it was all she had.

Maria picked it up. She checked the chamber. One thick red shell remained.

"When I say run, you run for that side door," Maria whispered to Bianca.

"What about you?"

"Just run."

Maria stepped out from behind the shipping container.

"Salvatore!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.

All three men whipped around, their guns raising instantly.

Maria didn't hesitate. She pointed the flare gun directly at a massive stack of wooden pallets covered in grease and old tarps near the center of the room.

She pulled the trigger.

The flare shot across the warehouse like a brilliant, blinding meteor. It slammed into the tarps.

Instantly, the grease caught. A massive wall of fire erupted in the center of the warehouse, creating a blinding, roaring barrier of heat and smoke between Maria and the gunmen.

"Run!" Maria shouted.

Bianca sprinted for the side exit, disappearing into the smoke.

Maria turned to follow, but a heavy hand grabbed her by the hair, violently yanking her backward.

Salvatore had bypassed the fire.

He threw her to the ground, pressing the barrel of his handgun directly against her forehead.

"You die first," Salvatore snarled.

Before he could pull the trigger, a gunshot rang out from the shadows.

Salvatore gasped, his eyes going wide. He dropped his gun and collapsed onto the concrete, clutching his shattered kneecap.

Maria scrambled backward, her chest heaving, staring into the smoke.

A figure stepped out of the darkness.

It was Dante.

His face was bruised and bleeding. His white shirt was torn and stained with dirt. But his eyes were locked onto Maria, burning with a ferocious, terrifying relief.

He didn't look at Salvatore groaning on the floor.