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She quickly bent down and retrieved Tyler's phone from Mike's pocket, handing it to Daniel, before pocketing the flash drive.
“Get in,” Daniel ordered. “I’ll drive.”
“I’ll drive. You can barely see.” Ellie quickly undid her belt and pulled it from her waist. “Owen’s in the back. Get in there with him. Second bench seat.”
To her relief, Daniel didn’t argue. Maybe he realized how close he was to passing out. He cradled Owen in his strong arms as Ellie quickly used her belt to secure the baby to Daniel’s seat belt, similar to how a child under the age of two was secured in an airplane. Daniel grinned at her, his busted lip painfully swollen. “Smart.”
“It’ll hold in an accident. Let’s pray we won’t need it.”
She stole one more kiss from Daniel and ran her hand over Owen’s sweet curls before jumping into the driver’s seat. She pressed the biggest button on the built-in visor and was relieved when the garage door in front of them rumbled open.
And then she got a look at the world outside.
Fire and smoke poured from the woods and into the house. Gunfire erupted from the front lawn as men in camo raced toward the burning inferno. They were caught in a turf war. Momentary panic stole Ellie’s breath as she realized the gravel drive she’d taken to get here was blocked. The estate was an unknown to her. “I don’t know where to go.”
“There’s a road to the north,” Daniel said. “I used it to approach the house. It’ll mean going off-road, but the Jeep can handle it.”
Ellie shoved the vehicle into Drive and hit the gas. “Hang on!”
The Jeep shot out of the garage. Stones spun as she whipped around the corner with the skill of a race car driver. Muzzles flashed as men began firing at them. Ellie ducked, pressing harder on the gas, and then realization dawned. None of the windows were shattering.
The Jeep had bulletproof glass.
She raced toward the north side of the property as men scattered to get out of the vehicle’s way. More gunfire followed. The path ahead was clear for exactly thirty seconds. Then she saw the roadblock. A wall of flames spreading rapidly across the grounds, the inferno fed by wind that pushed it hungrily toward the house. The blazing barrier was too wide to circumvent.
They had to go through it.
Ellie gritted her teeth and gripped the steering wheel. “Daniel, hang on tight to our boy.”
TWENTY-EIGHT
Daniel opened his eye and groaned. Every single part of his body ached, including muscles he hadn’t known existed. The scent of antiseptic and, strangely, warm apples hit his nose. Machines beeped. He fumbled with the device attached to the hospital bed, hitting the button that would move him into a sitting position.
“Morning, sunshine.” Jonah sat in the chair next to the bed, his feet propped up on the railing. He winced. “Oof. I didn’t think it was possible to make you look any uglier, but those guys managed.”
He grunted in reply. “El…” It hurt to talk.
“She’s with Owen. He’s fine, but the doctors admitted him for monitoring since he missed so many doses of his antibiotics.”
Daniel vaguely remembered a conversation with her about that, but he’d been swimming in pain medication at that point and not quite with it. Jonah dropped his feet, poured water into a cup, and helped bring the straw to Daniel’s mouth. The cool liquid eased the ache in his vocal cords and instantly made him feel better. He held the cup on his own and drank more.
Jonah stretched his neck. His clothes were rumpled, and he desperately needed a shave. “I’ll pretend my feelings aren’t hurtthat you immediately ask for Ellie, although I’ve been camped out next to your bed all night.” His palms landed on the railing. “But deep down, I am. Hurt, I mean.”
Daniel chuckled and instantly groaned. “Shut up. Do not make me laugh.” He drank more water and, as the fatigue and drowsiness faded, his strength returned. Along with hunger. His nose lifted. “What’s that smell?”
“It’s you, man. You haven’t showered in two days.”
Daniel laughed again. The pain was less intense this time, but it still hurt. “I’m gonna hit the call button and make the nurse throw you out if you don’t stop cracking jokes.”
Jonah grinned. “I’d like you to go ahead and try it, old man.”
“Watch who you’re calling old. There are some grays in your beard.”
He self-consciously rubbed a hand over the scruff on his face. “You turn thirty-seven and it all goes downhill.” Jonah reached for a bakery box on the nightstand. “Homemade apple fritters, courtesy of your mom.”
Daniel spent the next few hours pulling himself together. After eating, he took a shower, and with Jonah’s help, put on sweatpants and a T-shirt. The nurse offered more pain meds, but he refused them. They made him groggy. His face was a mass of bruises, but his nose wasn’t broken and he still had all his teeth. He considered that a win.
During the process of getting ready, Jonah filled him in on everything that’d occurred with the case. Every member of the Iron Fist, along with Tobias’s crew, had been captured, effectively destroying both groups. It’d helped that many of the gang members were at Mike’s house, shooting it out with one another. The rangers, along with the state tactical team, swept in and arrested anyone who wasn’t already dead. Gideon Voss was pulled from a fancy dinner party and slapped in handcuffs.