Chapter 24 - Blood on the Steering Wheel
Daniel carried Mason down the staircase, taking two steps at a time, deliberately stepping wide over the puddle of dark blood spreading beneath Julian’s head. He didn't look to see if the man was breathing. He didn't check for a pulse. His only goal was the heavy fire-rated door leading into the attached three-car garage.
He kicked the door open, slammed it shut behind them, and turned the interior thumb-turn lock.
The garage was cold, smelling of gasoline, rubber, and damp concrete. Daniel’s black SUV sat in the center stall. Daniel reached into his coat pocket for the key fob, his fingers trembling so violently he nearly dropped it. He hit the unlock button.
*Chirp.* The amber parking lights flared, illuminating the garage in a warm, electric haze.
Daniel opened the back door, set Mason onto the rear passenger seat, and buckled the harness across the boy's chest in record time. "Stay down, cheetah. Keep your head low beneath the window."
"Daddy, look," Mason pointed a small, shaking finger toward the driver's side front tire.
Daniel’s stomach bottomed out.
The tire was completely flat, slumped pathetically against the concrete rim. Two deep, jagged slashes bled stale air near the valve stem. Daniel sprinted around to the other side. The rear tire was shredded too. Julian had dismantled their escape before he had even set foot inside the storm cellar.
"Damn it!" Daniel slammed his palm against the hood, a scream of frustration tearing through his throat.
*BANG.*
Behind him, the heavy door between the house and the garage shuddered under a massive blow.
Daniel froze, all the air siphoning from his lungs.
*BANG! BANG!*
The lock cylinder twisted. The wood around the deadbolt groaned.
*He survived the fall.*
Through the small reinforced glass viewport of the garage door, Daniel saw the silhouette of Julian Vance. One of his shoulders hung unnaturally low, clearly dislocated from the tumble down the stairs, and blood entirely coated the left side of his face. But his right hand was gripping the iron dog chain, swinging it like a morningstar against the door hinges.
"DANIEL!" Julian's voice was a demonic roar muffled by the steel door. "YOU THINK A FLIGHT OF STAIRS CAN KILL A VANCE? OPEN THIS DOOR OR I'LL BURN THE ENTIRE HOUSE DOWN WITH BOTH OF YOU IN IT!"
The scent of lighter fluid began to seep through the rubber sweep beneath the door.
"Daddy!" Mason cried from the back seat, panic finally cracking his fragile composure. "He's going to hurt us!"
"No, he's not," Daniel said, his voice hardening into steel. "Cover your ears, Mason!"
Daniel scanned the garage walls. Hanging on the pegboard above his workbench was a five-pound sledgehammer and a red canister of automotive starter fluid—pure pressurized ether.
Daniel grabbed the starter fluid in his left hand, picked up a heavy brass blowtorch lighter from the welding bench in his right, and walked straight toward the shaking garage door.
The heavy door burst open with a deafening splintering of jambs. Julian stumbled through the breach, his tactical jacket torn, his dislocated shoulder bleeding profusely through his sleeve. He raised the iron dog chain, preparing to lash Daniel across the throat.
"Say goodbye to your boy—" Julian snarled.
Daniel didn't let him finish. He depressed the nozzle of the starter fluid, spraying a wide, continuous cloud of aerosolized ether directly into Julian's face, and sparked the blowtorch.
*WHOOSH!*
A roaring, three-foot cone of orange flame erupted from the nozzle, engulfing Julian’s jacket and hair in a sudden, blinding fireball.
Julian shrieked in agony, dropping the iron chain to swat frantically at his burning sleeves and face. The intense heat forced him backward into the house hallway, his boots slipping on his own blood.
Daniel slammed the garage door shut, shoved the emergency release handle on the main garage bay door, and hauled the heavy overhead metal door upward with a screech of rusted springs.
Cool night air and driving rain slammed into Daniel’s face.
He didn't have the SUV, but he had the open road. Daniel reached into the back seat, unbuckled Mason, and pulled the boy into his arms, wrapping his own jacket around them both.
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"Hold on to me, Mason! Hold on with everything you've got!"
Daniel sprinted out of the open garage into the pitch-black storm, his bare feet hitting the icy asphalt of the driveway, racing toward the winding suburban road that led down the mountain toward civilization. Behind them, through the shattered garage windows, the faint orange glow of a fire began to lick against the walls of the home he had built with his bare hands.
