Chapter 19

Casey wasn't sure exactly what woke her up, but she was suddenly awake and in the middle of Armageddon. Her head was throbbing so viciously her first thought was that someone had embedded an axe in her skull while she was sleeping, which was both unrealistic and not a very nice thing for her imaginary attacker to do. Then she registered the dull sound of bullets and men shouting, though the sounds were coming from a distance. Next, it occurred to her that she was in someone's arms and that the someone holding her was running at top speed through the downstairs corridor of her home.

Casey forced her eyes open, but piercing light penetrated her sensitive vision throwing a shard of imaginary glass straight through her already splitting brain. She let out a strangled scream and automatically clutched at whomever was carrying her and buried her face in his broad chest. His arms tightened around her as he ran. She heard his harsh breathing thundering above her head and felt his heart thump against the side of her face. She wondered if it would be impolite to ask him to either put her down and let her die in peace or to stop breathing and beating so loudly until her migraine had passed.

Then something exploded next to them and she felt fire rip down her arm as shards of marble flew through the hallway they were running down. A trickle of blood ran down the back of her arm and dripped off her elbow. Casey whimpered quietly and held onto for dear life. She was certain now that it was her Alonzo who was carrying her. He swore, shifted her against his side, allowing her legs to slide to the floor and reached for his gun holster.

Casey clutched him, attempting to hold herself upright while he covered them and edged around a corner holding Casey tight against his solid body. Her legs refused to hold her up and every time she closed her eyes fatigue threatened to overtake her. Why the fuck had he forced her to take that sleeping pill? It was going to get them both killed because she couldn't even work her own damn legs. Slowly she sank to the floor, her knees bending under her weight, her eyes firmly closed against the light and her fingers clinging desperately to Alonzo's shirt. He kept one hand on the top of her head while she huddled against his legs.

Alonzo shot down the corridor a few times then scooped Casey back up in his arms and began running toward the back of the house again. They raced out the back door so fast the door banged against the side of the house shattering the glass in the window next to it. The driving rain from the raging storm pelted down on them, soaking Casey in a matter of seconds. Alonzo didn't slow down. He flung Casey over his broad shoulder where she was forced to brace herself against him if she didn't want her already intensely splitting head to bang against his back. She lifted her face and tried to see through the fall of her tangled hair, the pouring rain and howling wind, but it was a blur. She had no idea how Alonzo knew where they were going and prayed they didn't end up in the pool. She was pretty sure she would happily drown right at this exact moment.

Alonzo crashed through another door and straight into the pool house smashing into the far wall. The entire structure shuddered under his weight. He'd turned before hitting the wall, taking most of the hit against his shoulder, but her head jarred so badly that Casey felt bile rise up in her throat and had to swallow several times so she wouldn't throw up on him. She clung weakly to his soaked shirt as he strode through the pool house with her still slung across his back. She wondered what his plan was, there were no other exits that she knew of, when he crouched on the concrete and set her down. She moaned and curled onto her side, holding her head with both hands.

Casey watched as Alonzo used his bulk to move a massive shelf holding soft white towels and shoving it aside. She curled tighter into herself as it crashed sideways, smashing into the wall across from them, littering the floor with towels. Without pausing he reached down and wrenched open a trap door in the floor. Casey stared in open-mouthed astonishment. She had no idea there was an escape route in or around the mansion. She supposed it made sense though.

When Alonzo reached for her she went eagerly into his arms, recognizing now that he was trying to get them the hell out of whatever shit-storm was raining down upon Ignacio's head. And while Casey was smart enough to know exactly who was storming the compound, intent on killing her husband, she didn't have the capacity to work out her own part in Reyes' plan. She felt better off going with Alonzo and working out the rest later.

Alonzo scooped her up and plunged them through the darkness of the hole in the floor of the pool house. Casey hid her face against his shoulder, crying out when his feet hid solid ground and her head smacked into him. She knew it was a shallow wish, considering men were dying all around them, but she wanted her head to stop fucking hurting until they were safely away from the danger so she could just think straight.

Alonzo strode easily through the damp darkness of the underground tunnel with Casey held firmly in his arms. He seemed to know exactly where they were going. Silence surrounded them now that they were away from the mansion. She desperately hoped he was taking her to a car where they could drive away from the deadly chaos aboveground. Where they could wait out the storm until news of its outcome trickled their way and she was able to figure out what to do next.

Casey expected them to continue until they emerged from the tunnel but the eerie echo of Alonzo's shoes dully hitting the rough concrete abruptly ceased. He stood still in the darkness holding her, his breaths puffing in and out of his mouth above her head. Casey tilted her face back and tried to see him in the inky darkness, but she couldn't see a thing. Her skin felt icy and shivers wracked her body.

"Al-lonzo…" she whispered. "Wh-where are we?"

"End of the line," he whispered back.

He crouched to set her down and she stiffened expecting to feel the hard impact of concrete, but was relieved when she felt the softness of a blanket against her body. She heard him reach for something in the darkness and sat in confused silence until a bright light flared up in front of her. She flinched and closed her eyes against the sudden glare and the stab of pain it created in her skull. She squinted and realized he was lighting candles. After a moment, as her eyes adjusted, she was able to open them and look around. She let out a moan of despair. They were in a room with no exit. He wasn't trying to escape the carnage happening in the mansion, he had just relocated them.

Then, as she continued to search the room, despair turned gradually to confused fright. Not only was she sitting on top of a blanket, but she was surrounded by rose petals. Hundreds of rose petals. She tried to force her throbbing, drugged brain to work through the problem at hand and what she was starting to suspect was a horrible truth. Finally, she turned pleading eyes up to the man that had been her bodyguard for almost a decade.

"It was you?" she whispered.

He nodded, his dark eyes bleak in the flickering light of the candles. "That Bolivian guy sent you the roses. I took the opportunity to finally show you how I felt with the petals. It was as close as I could get to touching you."

"Why?" she whispered, the word torn from her as though it hurt to ask. They'd known each other for many years. Had spent nearly every day of every one of those years together, yet never once had he indicated that he thought of her as more than an annoying child-like mistress of the manor.

He laughed grimly. "Knew our time was coming to an end. That Ignacio was about to give the order. Wanted the chance to tell you how I felt, even if you didn't know it was me."

"Alonzo…" she breathed, her heart breaking a little. How long had he felt that way? Maybe he was as fucked up as she was. "What order, Alonzo?" she asked, trepidation speeding the blood in her veins, making her head pound even harder in both pain and fear.

His terrible gaze told her everything she needed to know, a mixture of resignation, pity and love. "You know what order, Casey. His orders must always be followed. We both know that."

She shook her head, a sob crawling up her throat and escaping her lips. "No, Alonzo, they don't need to be followed, not this one. We can leave here together, try to run away. What if Reyes takes him out? Then he'll never know that you didn't follow this order. We can slip away during the fight, he'll never, ever know."

Alonzo just stared at her until she knew she was begging in vain. He wasn't going to save her. He was as broken as she was. Maybe worse. He was a soldier incapable of ignoring the orders of his superior officer. Either that or he truly believed she was better off dead and he thought he was doing her a favour. Tears trailed down her pale cheeks and more sobs leapt up her throat. His gaze turned truly agonized as he watched her cry. This was the most emotion she'd ever seen from him.

"Please don't cry, Casey," he said, reaching out to brush the tears from her cheeks. "Trying to make this special for us. You won't be alone. I love you too much to let you go by yourself, baby. I'll be there the whole way and then I'll follow you into the other side so we can always be together."

She stared at him in horror as she realized what he was saying and then her stomach lurched. Murder-suicide. He was going to kill her and then kill himself. Her teeth chattered as she begged for mercy for both of them, "Alonzo, d-don't do this. Please just think about it! P-please, for the love of god!"

"Shh, baby, it'll be fine. Just lay back and rest," he told her huskily and pressed her shoulders until she was forced to lay back on the blanket.

Casey let out a small scream and tried to fight him, surging up against him, but he easily held her down. "No, no, Alonzo, just listen to me!" she cried out hysterically, almost blind from the pain rising up in her head.

"Don't do this to yourself, Casey, baby," he said soothingly crawling over top of her and pinning her down with his big body. He gripped her throat and squeezed until the breath left her lungs and she was forced to stop fighting him. She let her fingers rest on his arm, but she stopped thrashing. She just pleaded with her eyes, knowing it wouldn't make a difference.

"It's okay, love," he said gently, sitting over top of her, making sure he wasn't crushing her with his weight. She wanted to laugh at the ridiculous concession. He was practically strangling her and about to murder her, but he wanted to make sure she was comfortable while he fucking killed her! "It's time. You've been in pain for so long, drifting along like a petal in the breeze. Never knowing where to land. I'm going to carry you home in my arms. We'll go together."

She really wanted to tell him that he sounded like a psychopath, but thought it wasn't the best time to mouth off while his hands were wrapped around her fragile neck and he was talking poetically about murdering her. "Just close your eyes, baby, and let the sleeping pill take hold again. Just drift back to sleep and I'll take care of everything."

A bitter laugh escaped her throat and she rolled her eyes. Because she was definitely going back to sleep under these circumstances. Her skimpy clothes were soaked through and she was in some kind of underground hideout with a splitting headache while a gun battle raged above. Oh yeah, and the guy she was hiding out with planned on offing her as soon as she closed her eyes. Then he made things even better by pulling his gun from the holster at his side and pressing it against the side of her head. The laughter died on her lips and she knew that this was it, she was about to die. Would their bodies ever be found or would they just rot here in this dingy room somewhere underneath the garage or the pool house?

"I've always loved you, Casey. I'm sorry I couldn't be a better man for you," Alonzo said, his voice taking on a tortured edge. He leaned down and pressed his cool lips to hers.