Chapter 12

Damien

It’s happening.

The call came in only moments ago. My cue to get out now before shit gets real.

I run through everything in my mind. Where I’m supposed to go, where the vehicle will be waiting for me. I’ve run through the plan every day for the last nine months, anticipating this exact moment.

So, what’s stopping me?

I grabbed everything I needed from the suite this morning, but I can’t help feeling like I’m missing something important. No matter how many times I mentally run through it, I can’t shake it.

Instead of heading out like I’m supposed to, I find myself heading in the direction of the main house.

What am I doing? I think as I bound up the stairs and turn toward the hallway my suite connects to. My heart races in my chest, bumping hard against my rib cage. I need to hurry. I need to get out. But I can’t.

Throwing open the door, I step inside wild-eyed, seeking what I know I’m missing. I find it. Or rather, I find her. Seated on the couch with her legs tucked under her and a book in her hands.

She looks up at me and swallows hard.

“Tony,” she whispers breathlessly, pulling me out of my trance. I blink once, twice, and then I move. I know what I’m missing.

Her.

Crossing the room, I throw open the door to the bedroom and beeline to the closet. All I can think about is how crazy I must seem to her, grabbing a plastic bag and using it as a makeshift suitcase to stuff her clothing in.

She walks into the room, stopping at the door to watch me. I feel the uncertainty of her gaze, but I keep moving. Grabbing whatever clothing my hands touch.

“Tony, what’s going on?”

“Penny, I need you to trust me.” I pause long enough to look at her face, hoping she sees that she can trust me. “Something is about to happen, and you need to come with me.”

She teeters, wanting to trust me but frightened about what is happening outside. The sound of gunfire somewhere on the grounds rings through the night air. Her eyes widen with fear, and she moves further into the room, stopping next to me, looking at the mess I’ve made.

“Didn’t they bring any kind of bag with your wardrobe?”

She shakes her head but runs over to the bed and removes both pillow cases from the large king-sized pillows. She walks over to the dresser before tossing me one of the cases and ransacks the drawers. I follow suit, heading back to the closet.

A deafening boom fills the room, causing the room around us to shake and shudder, knocking us both to the ground. I call out to her, but the sound of ringing fills my ears. Trying to shake off the effect of whatever just happened, I get to my feet and look around the room for her. She’s standing by a pile of rubble that moments ago used to be the ceiling.

Needing to waste no more time, I grab her case along with my own and take her by the hand to get out of here. I pull her toward the door of the suite, but the moment I open the door, a cloud of black smoke billows in around us.

Fuck!

“Tony,” she chokes and sputters as it fills her lungs.

“This wasn’t supposed to go down like this.” I shake my head, worried we might not get out of here alive. Looking around, I try to think of another exit. We’re on the second story, and I don’t want to risk her getting hurt if we must jump out of a window.

“I don’t understand. What’s happening?”

“A raid.” I pull her back into the bedroom, trying to escape the smoke pouring into the room. Remembering her idea with the pillow cases, I come up with one of my own and pull the sheets off the bed, planning to lower her down safely to the ground.

A quick look about the room reminds me there isn’t anything I can tie the end to, so I will have to physically support her weight and find another way down for myself. Spotting a group of bushes a few feet in front of the building, I know aiming for them to soften my fall is the best chance I have to avoid severe injury.

I knot the material and reach for a heavy chair to shatter the window with, since there is no way to open the single pane of glass.

“Step back,” I tell her before lifting the chair and striking the window with it. It shatters from the force. The hot desert air greets us, but it also drags the smoke quicker into the room, as it can now snake out into the night.

I clear as much debris as I can, then another explosion sounds off; this time, I can see it from my vantage point at the window. The building the women are kept in has been blasted. My stomach drops, and I look over to Penny, who is now standing beside me. Screams and shouts ring out across the property as the sound of wicked hot flames lick the building and dark billowing smoke fills the air.

“Tony, the girls.” She lifts a hand to her mouth, unable to say anything more. I say nothing either, because I’m hoping with everything in me that what both she and I are thinking isn’t true. I knew the building was rigged with explosives for an event like this; we all did. So, I can only hope the girls were saved before someone managed to set the explosion off.

“There’s no time,” I tell her, wrapping the sheet around her waist and securing it. “We have to get out of here.”

She nods, blinking back her tears and any emotion she’s feeling. I cup her face in my hands for a moment, wanting the words to take away her fear, but I can’t give them to her yet. When she relaxes her hand into my hands, I know we’re good to go.

“Who’s going to lower you to the ground?” she asks as I let go of her and she turns toward the window.

“Don’t worry. I’ll find a way to tie my end of the sheet off and be right behind you.” It’s not a complete lie. I will be right behind her, but it’ll be a little different than I’m sure she’s imagining.

When I help her over the window sill, she gives me a nervous smile before allowing me to carefully lower her to the ground. The moment her feet touch the ground, I toss the sheet and the pillow cases out the window.

“Tony!” I hear her yell, and I stick my head out of the window to find her staring up at me with worry crinkled in her brow. I place a foot on the sill, and she steps aside, her eyes widening with fear. “You can’t jump. It’s too far. You’ll hurt yourself.”

I chuckle to myself before lunging my body out of the window and into the large bush behind her, hoping like hell it doesn’t hurt too bad. My body hits the shrubbery, and I tuck into myself, protecting my head. The branches break and scratch along my skin, and as my body hits the ground, the impact of it hits my body, pushing out the air in my lungs.

Penny rushes over to me, and I drag a rough breath into my lungs.

“Are you crazy?” she shrills while trying to help me up and out of the bushes. I shake my head, unable to answer her at that moment.

I scramble to my feet and limp over toward the cases with her things. She follows closely behind, picking debris from my body. I bat away her hands, and another explosion rings out, this time from above us. I lunge for her, pulling her to the ground to cover her body from the debris. Chunks of stone and wood fall around us, striking me in the back like bee stings.

“We have to get out of here,” I yell and haul my body off hers. She looks up at the window we just came from. The room is engulfed in flames. She stands, entranced by the sight. I tug at her hand. “Penny, please, we have to go!”

She looks away finally and nods. I can only imagine what is going on in her head, but I’m sure her thoughts are like my own.

If I hadn’t come back, she…

No, I can’t think about that right now. There’s still too much at stake, and I need to get her to safety.

We break out into a run, dashing along the pathway leading to my planned exit. I only hope we get there without any difficulties. We’ve already been through too much in the last few minutes.

You should have planned this better, I tell myself. But then, she was never planned for, and when I was told of the “honor” Armando was granting me, she never factored into all of this. After what just happened to our suite, I’m damn glad I listened to my gut.

The time it takes us to get from the compound to the exit gate goes by in a blur. I don’t remember the trip, and I look behind me to make sure Penny’s still there. She is, and just like me, her chest is pumping hard for breath. Between the physical exercise and the smoke, my throat is burning for water.

I bend down to pick the lock on the gate, which is surprisingly easy, and clasp her hand, pulling her through it with me. She stumbles a step, and I stop to take in the area around us. We aren’t too far from the vehicle planted for my getaway, but standing still is too risky.

“We don’t have to go much farther. Do you think you can make it?”

She nods, and I notice her tear-streaked face. Fuck! When did that happen? I reach out and pull her in for a hug, wrapping my body around her. “It’s going to be all right. I promise to explain everything once we find safety. Let’s go.”

Instead of an all-out run like before, we walk hurriedly through the streets. Stopping only when I see the small blue beater I was instructed to look for.

After finding the keys where I knew they’d be, I toss Penny’s stuff in the trunk and open the passenger door for her. Letting myself in the driver’s side, I chance a look behind me, spotting instantly the cloud of black smoke signaling the location of the compound.

I hope and pray that every sick fucker involved with the operation either meets their fate at the end of a bullet, or they burn to death.