Chapter 5 - The Shield and the FlameHe didn't hesitate. He didn't look at the burning roof or the crumbling beams. Daniel dove through the line of fire, his leather jacket smoking as he crashed to his knees beside me in the dark corner of the cabin.
"Judith, oh my God, Judith," he sobbed, his strong arms immediately sliding beneath my back and knees, lifting my dead weight off the blistering floorboards. "I'm here, Jude. I've got you. I've got the babies. Hold on to me."
"Daniel," I gasped, my fingers locking into the fabric of his shirt as he turned back toward the inferno. "Vanessa... she took... the phone..."
"I don't care about the phone," he growled, his voice thick with rage and tears. "I don't care about the money. Just breathe, Judith. Don't leave me."
He lunged back through the kitchen area of the cabin just as a massive support beam gave way, crashing down onto the iron bed frame we had occupied moments before, sending a volcano of white-hot sparks into the air. Daniel took the brunt of the heat against his back, his teeth grithing as he carried me through the shattered front door out into the cool, damp night air.
The contrast was shocking—the cold mountain wind hitting my scorched skin made me gasp, my lungs clearing of the toxic smoke. Daniel carried me straight to the passenger seat of his truck, laying me down gently across the leather interior before sprinting around to the driver's seat. He slammed the vehicle into reverse, the tires spinning wildly in the mud as the cabin behind us completely collapsed into a towering pyramid of fire.
"The lawyers called me while I was boarding the connecting flight in Tokyo," Daniel said, his hands shaking violently against the steering wheel as he tore down the mountain trail. "They sent the video to my terminal, Judith. I saw... I saw what she did to you. I saw my mother standing there. I swear to you, Jude, I didn't know. I didn't know they were capable of this. I thought they just didn't like that you were smarter than them. I never thought... I never thought they would try to kill my children."
"The twins," I whispered, a fresh wave of wet warmth spreading down my thighs. "Daniel, they're coming. The contractions... they're changing."
He looked down at my stomach, his face turning a sickly shade of white in the green glow of the dashboard lights. He pressed his foot harder against the accelerator, the truck roaring at ninety miles an hour down a winding county road that was never meant for speed.
May you like
"We're fifteen minutes from the regional medical center," Daniel said, his voice dropping into a desperate, pleading prayer. "Stay with me, Judith. Fight for them. Fight for me. I’ve already called the chief of surgery from the road. They’re waiting for us in the bay."
I closed my eyes, the rhythmic thumping of the tires against the asphalt matching the frantic beat of my own heart. The world was spinning out of control, but for the first time since Vanessa dropped the forged withdrawal form on my kitchen island, I wasn't alone in the dark.
