By the time I reached the main floor, firefighters were on the scene. It didn’t hurt that we were just down the street from Ladder 15. Motioning his hands at me, one of the firemen said with a thick New York accent, “Sir, you need to get outside.”
“I’m the owner’s brother. I just want to make everyone’s out.”
“You need to leave that to us.”
When he started to shove me towards the emergency exit, I stopped him. “Don’t you know who I really am?”
“Yes, Mr. Neretti, I knowexactlywho you are, which is why I’m not going to have your ass flambéed on my watch.”
Part of me wanted to chuckle at his directness. At the same time, I didn’t want to have to answer to Rafe. In the end, I followed his orders.
Once I got outside, I was surrounded by chaos. I knew I needed to call Rafe, but there was no way I could do it out in the open. Thankfully, one of our SUVs sat on the curb. I knew the one at the back was probably destroyed.
Nodding my head at the driver, he scrambled to hop out to let me inside. “Take a walk,” I said as I took my phone from my pocket.
“Yes, Mr. Neretti.”
Once I was locked in the car, I dialed Rafe. It rang and rang until it went to voicemail, so I dialed again. This time he picked up, but to my surprise, it wasn’t him who answered.
“Maeve?”
“Yes. What’s wrong?”
“I really need to talk to Rafe.Now.”
“Okay. I’ll wake him.”
“Wake up. It’s Leo,” Maeve said to Rafe.
“Tell him I'll call him in the morning,” he grunted.
“No. He says he has to talk to you now.”
When he took the phone, he growled, “This better be fucking good.”
“A bomb went off at the employee entrance about fifteen minutes ago.”
“Are you sure?”
“The fire department hasn’t confirmed it, but yeah, I’m pretty sure.”
“I’ll be right there.”
After he hung up, someone knocked on my window. Rolling it down, I nodded at the Fire Chief. Instead of his uniform, he was in plain clothes.
“Thanks for coming down so quickly, Ron.”
“My wife and I were having dinner in the neighborhood. I got a debriefing on my way over.”
“It was a bomb, wasn’t it?”
“Without a doubt.”
“Any casualties?”
“Just one. From the clothing, they think it was security.” At my grimace, he added, “It would’ve been quick.”
“Thank God for that.”