Page 104 of Red Hot Harmony

I bit my lip. Rubbed at my cheek. Squeezed my eyes shut. My blood simmered in my veins and my mind raced.

Pulse thrumming, I glanced at Ally again.

Beads of sweat coated her neck, and now that my initial panic was subsiding, my nose picked up the acrid smell of alcohol permeating the air.

“Hey, Bug?” I said, pushing the strands of damp hair away from her pale face.

She responded with a mumble.

“We’re gonna have to drive now, Hendrix,” Dante warned, starting the Jaguar. “You think you can handle it?”

The rumble of the engine swallowed Ally’s response, but I was certain beyond a shadow of a doubt that she giggled. My kid, who was possibly lingering between life and death, giggled.

Her shoulder beneath my palm shook slightly and I rubbed it gently, unable to make myself speak.

“Can you get directions for the hospital?” Dante tossed me his phone, peeling away from the curb.

With trembling fingers, I pulled up Google Maps, located the nearest ER, and started the GPS before returning the device to Dante.

We were just north of 23 and had to get to the opposite side of the freeway to Simi Valley to the medical center. The other hospital in the area—The Los Robles Regional—was much closer, but as of now, it was in the mandatory evacuation zone.

Dante set the phone into the cupholder and, following the directions, drove down the quiet street until we reached the next light. Then he turned right and merged with the evening traffic streaming toward the freeway.

No music played and no words were said, and the tension inside the car was palpable. My phone buzzed a few times in my pocket, but I didn’t have it in me to check who the messages were from.

Not until Ally was out of the woods.

“Make sure she stays awake,” Dante warned at some point.

I already knew that. He’d said that earlier, but I was grateful for the calmness in his demeanor. One of us needed to stay sharp and it just couldn’t be me.

Ahead, red flickered across the dark sky and the lane slowed to a painful crawl.

A fire truck stood on the side of the road. I spotted another one a couple of blocks farther down as we moved.

My panic came back tenfold when I realized the sky to my left was lit up.

I stared out the window at the bright orange flames licking the side of the hill, my mouth dry and my body frozen.

Suddenly, the car came to a full stop.

A shadowy figure clad in all yellow rushed to the Jaguar.

Dante rolled down the window and hot, acrid air streamed inside.

“You gotta turn around, boss,” the man said, making wild hand gestures. Smudges of dirt and ash covered the portion of his face I could see from my vantage point.

“We need a hospital!” I shouted over the racket of the helicopters circling somewhere nearby.

“You can’t go through here, ma’am! The fire jumped over. We have to close the road.”

My stomach churned. I glanced at Ally curled up on the seat next to me.

“We have to get her daughter medical help,” Dante insisted.

“Sorry. No can do, boss.” The firefighter shook his head. “Everything along the freeway is burning. You won’t get anywhere near the exits right now.”

“Simi Valley Hospital is the only one in the area.”

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