He knelt down beside her. He put his fingers gently under the edge of her chin.
“This was very close to your jugular!” He gasped, horrified.
“Yeah, he was good.”
His face was out of her sight, so she couldn’t interpret the little hitching sound in his breath.
“Do it, Daniel. We have to hurry.”
He sucked in a deep breath, and then she felt the needle pierce her earlobe. She was braced for it—she kept it off her face and didn’t let her hands clutch into fists; she’d learned to localize her reactions. She clenched the muscles in her abdomen, letting the pressure vent there.
“Good,” she said as soon as she was sure she could keep her voice even. “You’re doing great. Now just fit the pieces together, and stitch them in place.”
While she spoke, his fingers moved quickly through the task. She couldn’t feel the needle in the severed bottom portion of her earlobe, so she only had to deal with the pain when he perforated the top half. Just three little stabs. It wasn’t too bad after the first.
“Do I… tie a knot or something?” he asked.
“Yes, in the back, please.”
She could feel the pull of the thread tightening as he worked.
“It’s done.”
She looked up at him and smiled. It tugged at her slashed jaw. “Thank you. I would have had a hard time managing that on my own.”
He touched her cheek. “Here, let me bandage this for you.”
She held still while he covered the wound with ointment, then taped a strip of gauze to her cheek. He wrapped her ear front and back.
“Probably should have cleaned it first,” he muttered.
“It will do for now. Let’s put Lola in the Humvee.”
“I’ll get her.”
Daniel gently lifted the sleeping Lola into his arms. Her long front paws and ears dangled out from his arms and wiggled with every step he took. Alex felt a bubble of inappropriate humor rising in her chest, and swallowed against it. There was no time for hysteria. Daniel laid Lola in the space behind the passenger seat. There were only the two front seats in the Humvee. Kevin had removed the rest to leave room for cargo, she guessed.
“What now?” Daniel asked as he walked back to where she was still sitting on the porch. He was probably wondering why she wasn’t doing something proactive. He didn’t know she was procrastinating.
She took a deep breath and steadied her shoulders. “Give me the phone. It’s time to talk to your brother.”
“Should we be moving?”
“There’s one thing more I need to do, but I want to tell him first.”
“What?”
“We really ought to burn the house down.”
His eyes widened as he stared at her. Slowly, he pulled the phone from his vest pocket.
“I should make the call,” he said.
“He already hates me,” she countered.
“But this was my fault.”
“You weren’t the one who hired a team of hit men.”
He shook his head and pressed the button to power up the phone.
“Fine,” she muttered.
As she packed up her first-aid supplies, she watched Daniel from the corner of her eye. He pulled up the only number that had ever called, but before he could touch it, the phone rang again.
Daniel sucked in a deep breath, the same way he had before making the first pass on her ear. She imagined this conversation would be the harder of the tasks.
He hit the screen. She could hear Kevin shrieking so loudly that at first she thought the phone was on speaker mode.
“YOU DON’T HANG UP ON ME, YOU—”
“Kev, it’s me. Kev! It’s Danny!”
“WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING?”
“It’s my fault, Kev. I was an idiot. I ruined everything. I’m so sorry!”
“WHAT ARE YOU BABBLING ABOUT?”
“Arnie’s dead, Kev. I’m so sorry. And some of the dogs, I’m not sure how many. It’s all my fault. I wish I could tell you how—”
“PUT THE POISON LADY ON THE PHONE!”
“This is on me, Kev. I messed up—”
Kevin’s voice was calmer when he interrupted now. “There’s no time for this, Danny. Give her the phone. I need someone who can talk sense.”
She stood up and reached for the phone. Daniel watched anxiously as she held it a few inches away from her ear.
“Are you secure?” Kevin asked.
Surprised by his businesslike detachment, she answered in the same tone. “For the moment, but we’ve got to move.”
“Have you torched the house?”
“I was just about to.”
“There’s kerosene in the closet under the stairs.”
“Thanks.”
“Call me when you’re on the road.”
He hung up.