Chapter 13 - The Midnight Escape Through The Snow And The Trap In The Driveway
“Momma, where are we going? It’s almost midnight! It’s my birthday!”
Lily’s sleepy, confused voice echoed softly down the stairs as I rushed her and a still-sleeping Maddie—bundled tightly in her winter snowsuit—toward the back door leading out to the garage.
“We’re going on a little adventure, baby,” I said, my voice shaking despite my best efforts to keep it steady. I tossed a heavy winter jacket over Lily’s shoulders, checking to make sure her left arm was comfortable inside her newly removed cast. “Mr. Whitmore needs to check something at his office, so we’re going for a late-night drive.”
“In the snow?” Lily rubbed her eyes sleepily, clutching her favorite stuffed rabbit in her right hand.
“Yes, sweetie. In the snow.”
We stepped out into the freezing garage.
The heavy wooden door of the garage automatically began to lift as Daniel pressed the wall button, letting the pale, moonlight-reflected glare of the snow-covered driveway flood into the interior.
Daniel’s black Mercedes was parked in its usual spot, its engine humming quietly as he let it warm up.
“Get in the back seat. Fast,” Daniel ordered, holding the rear door open wide for us while keeping his eyes glued to the street outside the open garage doors.
I strapped Maddie’s car seat safely into the rear bench, shoved Lily in beside her, and climbed into the front passenger seat, slamming my door shut.
“Daniel,” I whispered, pointing through the windshield.
At the end of our short suburban driveway, half-buried in the falling snow, two unmarked black SUVs had just rolled silently to a stop, their headlights completely off.
The doors of the SUVs swung open simultaneously.
Six men in heavy black tactical gear and ski masks stepped out into the snow, their assault rifles raised, fanning out across our front lawn with terrifying, military-like precision.
“They’re already here,” I gasped, my blood turning to ice.
“Hold on,” Daniel said, his face carved out of granite.
He slammed the Mercedes into reverse, burning rubber against the slick concrete floor of the garage, backing out into the driveway at breakneck speed.
The tires shrieked as they hit the snow, spinning wildly for a fraction of a second before biting into the ice and sending the heavy car fishtailing backward down the driveway.
“Fire!” a voice shouted from the lawn.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Bullets tore through the sheet metal of the garage door behind us, shattering the remaining glass and chewing up the snow around our tires in a flurry of white powder.
“Get down!” Daniel roared, spinning the steering wheel hard to the left, throwing the Mercedes into a violent slide that carried us past the two black SUVs and out onto the unplowed suburban street.
The rear window of our car shattered inward in a cascade of glittering glass shards as a rifle bullet punched straight through the trunk.
“Momma!” Lily screamed from the back seat, burying her face in her lap while Maddie began to wail at the top of her lungs.
“I’ve got you, babies! Keep your heads down!” I screamed back, tears of pure terror blinding my vision as I turned around to check on them.
Daniel didn't look back.
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His jaw was set, a dark, dangerous fury burning behind his eyes as he shifted gears, flooring the accelerator and sending the Mercedes roaring down the snowy, winding roads of Oak Creek at over ninety miles per hour.
The black SUVs came screaming around the corner behind us, their high-beams suddenly snapping on, blinding us in a wall of harsh white light as they gave chase through the winter storm.
