The office was the only place the smoke hadn’t yet gotten to; we pedaled backward, then turned and ran for it. Halfway there, I peeled off and headed for the Mercedes. I needed that rope and the note. I knew now why Spada left it behind. He intended to burn the car, the note, the rope, and me in this dilapidated garage. He knew I wouldn’t let things go. He had to know that once the laundromat got cleared out, this would be my next stop. He planned the fire, knowing it would obliterate everything, including me.

“Cass, c’mon. Leave it.”

“Go.” I reached the trunk, dove in. “I’m coming.” I stuffed the note into my back pocket, the rope under my belt, then turned and sprinted for the office, meeting Whip at the door.

“That was stupid. Nothing’s worth your life.”

“There could be evidence on it. DNA. He wants it all to go up in the fire.”

My eyes burning, I searched for a landline, but didn’t find one. And why would there be? I thought. This was a chop shop. Who were they going to call? Who’d be calling them? I could hear the fire roaring now and see the dance of reds, blues, and yellows reflecting off the glass in the office door. The fire crackled, hissed, whooshed, the dangerous sounds enough to make a person’s blood run cold.

Whip faced me, the neck of his shirt pulled up over his nose and mouth. It was a temporary solution. The fire was hungry, eating up the oxygen we needed in big, fat gulps. Soon it would take it all. I shut the door, but that wouldn’t give us more than a few more seconds of living. We were in trouble. Big trouble.

* * *

Smoke slowly rose from the oily floor. The ravenous flames would follow. They’d quickly hit the Mercedes, and if there was gasoline left in the tank, the two of us were going to go up like bottle rockets. I thought of my car and the Molotov cocktail. What was it with Spada and fire?

I tugged on Whip’s sleeve, pointed up. “The skylight.”

He followed where I pointed and gave me a thumbs-up. The small window in the ceiling was the only shot we had.

“We need a ladder,” Whip said. “Stay here. I’ll go look for one.”