By then, nurses and orderlies were running out of the hospital.
Sam stood between them and the limousine. “Stay back! It’s too dangerous.”
A siren wailed in the distance.
Daniel shrugged out of his suit jacket, laid it over the broken window and dived into the back of the limousine. He crawled over the back of the leather seat and shoved open the window between the back and the front. Pushing his bulky shoulders through the narrow opening, he reached through and checked the driver for a pulse. For a moment, he could feel nothing, then a faint throb bumped against his fingertips. “He’s still alive!”
Shimmying through the window, Daniel dragged his body into the front seat and hit the switch to unlock the doors. Nothing happened. “Take the tire iron to the other side!” he yelled, the smoke making him cough and his eyes fill with tears.
Thad rounded the vehicle and jammed the bar between the door and frame. Sam joined him with another tire iron. With the three Winston brothers on the outside pulling, Daniel kicked as hard as he could.
A scream rent the air and Daniel glanced up long enough to see flames shoot toward the sky. If he didn’t get the door open, he’d cook inside the limousine with the driver.
* * *
Flames engulfed the engine and driver’s side of the vehicle. Shelby screamed and pushed forward. If her grandfather had not been beside her, she would have joined the men at the door. “Don’t! You’ll be hurt,” he said, his arm catching her around her waist.
Her heart lodged in her throat, Shelby stood by helpless as the drama unfolded. “Where is the fire truck? Why isn’t it here yet?”
“They’re coming as fast as they can,” her grandfather assured her.
“They’re not going to get here in time. If my boys don’t get out of there...” Kate started to walk forward.
Patrick snagged her arm. “The best thing you can do is stay safe and away. If they’re worrying about you, they won’t be concentrating on their own safety.”
Kate pressed her hands to her face. “I can’t stand by and do nothing.”
Shelby pushed her grandfather’s arm away. “I have to help.” Before she could take one more step, the door to the limousine flew open. Smoke billowed up into the air as fire devoured the fuel.
Get out, get out, get out! Shelby screamed inside, but Daniel didn’t appear. Her chest squeezed tight and her breath caught and held in her throat as fire consumed the vehicle.
Then a leg came out, followed by another, and Daniel backed out of the limousine, dragging the limp body of the driver.
Trey and Thad took over, dragging him the rest of the way out and as far away from the burning vehicle as they could before they laid him on the ground.
A fire engine, lights and sirens blaring, pulled up next to the hospital.
Firemen leaped to the ground and dragged hoses from the side of the truck. A rescue vehicle stopped behind it, along with four police cruisers. Soon the bystanders were herded back into the hospital.
Trey ushered Debra inside, but Shelby, Patrick and Kate refused.
“Those are my sons,” Kate insisted. “I’m not going anywhere.”
The firemen extinguished the blaze and the hospital’s medical staff carried the injured driver into the hospital on a gurney.
Once the driver was taken care of and the flames doused, the Winston sons and Daniel joined Patrick, Shelby and Kate.
While the Winstons checked out their mother, Daniel touched Shelby’s chin. “You should have that cut looked at. Are you okay?”
With his fingers warm on her face, Shelby couldn’t think straight. “I think so.” Shelby pressed her palms to her ears and flexed her jaw. “But you sound like you’re in a tunnel.”
“Concussion from the blast.” Daniel’s hand dropped to his side. “It’ll take a while before your hearing returns to normal.” He faced Shelby’s grandfather. “Maybe we should get everyone back inside the hospital to be treated.”
Patrick nodded. “I agree. Starting with you.” He turned Daniel around. “Looks like you collected some shrapnel from the explosion.
Shelby looked at Daniel’s back and gasped. “You’re coming with me.” She grabbed his arm and dragged him toward the door.
He pulled free of her grip. “I’m okay. I’d rather get everyone back to the Winston Estate and out of range of anyone else targeting you or Mrs. Winston.”
Kate and her three sons gathered around them. “What the hell happened?” Kate looked at the destroyed limousine.
“It appears someone got to the limousine and planted a bomb in it,” Daniel said.
“How? I thought the drivers were with them at all times.”
Thad wrapped an arm around his mother’s shoulders. “I’ll have security camera footage checked. Maybe it’ll shed light on whoever did this. Main thing now is to get you and Shelby home.”
Kate shook her head. “I can’t leave now. I have to stay and see to the well-being of my driver.”
“No.” Sam took his mother’s hand. “You have to get home. If someone is willing to bomb a vehicle at a hospital, he’s not concerned with collateral damage. By being here, you’re putting others in danger.”
Shelby watched as Kate’s brows pulled together. “I’m so damned tired of my family being terrorized. Who is doing this?”
“We don’t know, but I’d prefer to get you out of here before someone tries again.” Sam nodded toward Shelby. “And Shelby could use some recuperation time after what she’s been through.”
Kate reached toward her. “I’m so sorry. This is all my fault.”
Shelby stepped away from the woman’s hands, not yet willing to accept her as anything other than the person who was going to host her and her grandfather for the next few days. “I don’t understand why I’m a target, or why it’s because of you. But I agree standing around here isn’t going to solve our problems.” And she didn’t want to let on that she had a splitting headache. Not when Daniel was cut and bleeding and willing to forgo medical attention to get Kate and her to safety.
“I can take a total of five in my SUV,” Trey said. “I’ll bring it around.”
“Sam can take the rest in mine,” Thad offered. “I’m staying to help gather evidence. This is now a crime scene.”
Daniel stepped in front of the women. “We need to search the vehicles before anyone gets in.”
“Daniel and I will handle that,” Thad said. “Patrick, could you take Mother and Shelby into the hospital and have the staff give them a once-over?”
Kate shook her head. “I’m fine.”
“As am I,” Shelby assured him.
Thad shrugged. “Hardheaded women.”
Kate’s lips quirked and Shelby couldn’t help but think the men were tough and hardheaded like their mother. Not an entirely bad thing in this case.
A few minutes later, Shelby was in the backseat of an SUV with Daniel riding shotgun, her grandfather at her side and Trey Winston at the wheel. Kate rode in Thad’s SUV with Sam driving and Debra sitting beside her in the backseat. They’d decided to leave the second limo behind in case it was similarly rigged to explode.
Once they were away from the hospital, Shelby noticed Daniel didn’t sit all the way back in his seat.
She