Chapter 12
(Pt 2)
With Christian unconscious in her arms, Xandrie stared at the dead body of her would-be killer lying a few feet away from her. She was still shaking from the events of the few moments before. She truly believed that she was done for when she saw Henri�s gun trained squarely on her chest.
And then Christian appeared out of nowhere, coming to her rescue once again, risking his own life to save hers.
My knight in shining armor.
She remembered how pale, how fragile he looked standing there on weak, unsteady feet, holding a gun that seemed almost too heavy for him. She remembered the horrified and broken look on his face, as he watched the man he shot fall to the ground. She knew exactly how he felt. She felt the same sense of nausea when she made her first kill; the sense of loss of innocence, of something deep inside her that she knew she�d never be able to regain. And she hated the fact that Christian had to go through it as well; hated herself for forcing him into the position to kill.
Her hands tightened involuntarily around his still form, as she forced her mind back to the situation at hand. She needed to find a way to cover their tracks from Debray and from the police.
An idea came to her, and she rose slowly, gently lifting her precious cargo, and moved him over to the nearest tree trunk, setting him carefully down against it.
�I�ll be back shortly,� she assured him unnecessarily, as if he could hear her. Placing a quick kiss on his forehead, she walked over to where Henri lay in a lifeless heap. She reached down, grabbing the dead man by the hand, and hurried in the direction of Robert�s house, unceremoniously dragging her former colleague behind her.
Once inside the house, she dragged his body into the hallway, dropping him by the bedroom door, as she ran into a small back room Robert used for storage. She reemerged a few moments later, having found what she was looking for � a nearly full gasoline container and a lighter. Her jaw set in a tight line, she went to work, spraying gasoline all around her on the floor, the walls, the furniture, the bodies of the three killers.
She stopped in front of the old man, the now empty container discarded at her feet.
�I�m sorry Robert,� she whispered, her voice shaking slightly, her resolve wavering. �I�m sorry I brought all this upon you. You�ve been nothing but good to me, and I � I messed up � as usual.� She bit her lip, struggling to force back the tears, the dead silence of the room weighing too heavily on her. �I have to do this now,� she continued in a low voice. �I know you�d understand.� She paused again. �I�m sorry.�
She turned on her heels, walking swiftly toward the exit, as she flicked on the lighter and threw it behind her just as she stepped outside.
The gasoline-soaked wooden construction burst into flames like an old matchbox. Xandrie watched the flames for a while, brushing away a stray tear for an old man who made the past 20-some years of her life just a little more bearable.
"Adieu , Robert. May you rest in peace.�
***End Flashback***