I laid six dollars down on the check that the waitress had left on my table. I headed out, walking to my car, just as a motorcyclist drove up in front of the place where I’d dropped off my last ride. He had his visor down over his face. I watched as he said a few words into the speaker by the door. I saw the door electronically pop open. The courier put his foot in the door. Then reaching into his backpack I saw him remove a bottle with a rag stuffed into its neck. He shook it once. He reached into his pocket. He pulled out a lighter. He ignited the rag. He hurled the bottle into the hallway. He jumped on his bike, gunned the motor and shot off into the street. All this took maybe five seconds tops. I heard myself yelling at him:

‘What the fuck …’

But my voice was drowned out as the entrance to the building exploded into flames.

six

THERE WAS A UPS van parked right outside, the uniformed delivery guy just getting back into his vehicle when the motorcycle courier slammed his lit Molotov into that building. As it detonated with a loud terrifying blast he froze behind the wheel for a moment, then hit the gas and shot off into traffic. I too froze. I thought of the woman I’d dropped off half an hour earlier. She might still be inside. I charged toward the doorway. But right before reaching it there was a second detonation – as if the fire had ignited something flammable inside. There was now a wall of fire in front of me, making it impossible to get in through the entrance. The heat was ferocious. I backed off, yelling to the people who had come out of the coffee shop to dial 911. I dashed down a side alleyway to a back entrance surrounded by garbage cans and a metal gate that was locked shut. I could hear screaming from inside as I desperately tried to pull the gate open. Then the door behind this gate flew forward and a big guy – armed with keys and a taser – was in front of me. He raised his gun, screaming:

‘Freeze, motherfucker.’

‘I dropped someone off here –’ I screamed back.

‘Get your fucking hands up.’

He kept the gun trained on me as he handed the keys to a woman and pointed at the lock. She scrambled to get it open as behind her I saw two women in hospital gowns and several doctors and nurses in scrubs desperate to get out of the now burning building. As she sprung the lock and threw open the gate, they rushed out.

‘Call the cops,’ he shouted. ‘Tell ’em I got the asshole who firebombed us.’

‘I’m an Uber driver. I was just trying to –’