Fires of Autumn (33 page)

She nodded
seriously and he continued. “Russ Talbot took money from Columbian drug lords
and used his position as governor of the state of New Mexico to allow drug
shipments to come in and out of his state,” he whispered. “From 1987 through
1999, we've been able to trace over $900,000 in payments to Swiss bank
accounts.  It’s my job to find the source of those payments because we have
information that the Columbians are putting pressure on Talbot again, now that
he’s President, to open up the borders again to allow for drug shipments. It’s
our understanding that Talbot is being blackmailed.  The Columbians are
threatening to make their relationship with the President public knowledge if
Talbot doesn’t comply.”

Casey
gazed at him, confused and in disbelief. “But…,” she shook her head. “That
can’t be. There must be some mistake.”

Colt shook
his head. “It’s our assumption that he needed the money for his boys’
treatment,” he said softly. “Remember how he told you that he took his boys to
France to try alternative treatment for their Cystic fibrosis? He couldn’t have
afforded that on an ordinary governor’s salary.  He took money from the
Columbians to finance the medical treatments.”

Casey’s
jaw dropped. “If that’s true, then you can’t blame the man,” she insisted. “He
had two dying kids. He’d do anything to save them. Maybe you don’t understand
that because you don’t have any children, but believe me when I tell you that
you would do anything and everything to save your children.”

“Even
illegal activities?”

“Even
that,” she fired back. “Colt, if I was dying and you needed money to save my
life, what would you do?”

His dark
eyes were intense. “Anything I had to do. I’d beg, borrow, buy or kill to save
you.”

She
believed him implicitly.  “So maybe you understand what Russ went through to
save his boys. Are you going to punish him for it?”

Colt shook
his head slowly. “That’s not my call, angel. If it was up to me, I’d leave him
alone. I’ve grown to like the man.  But my job is to either find a trail
leading to Talbot or exonerate him somehow, because if the Columbians really
are on to him, that just made my job as the Special Agent in Charge about a
thousand times more dangerous.  They’ll take Talbot out and anyone who gets in
their way.”

Her fear
was back.  “Then you were going through those files to find something.”

He nodded
slowly. “You made it easy. They were sitting right out in the open.”

She
thought on that a moment.  Then she hung her head. “Did you get close to me
just to see what I could tell you?” she asked softly. “I haven’t known Russ
that long, you know.  I can’t be much help to you.”

He
couldn’t help it; he reached out and grasped her hand, holding it tightly when
she tried to pull it away.  He leaned forward, kissing her fingers sweetly.

“I will be
honest with you,” he whispered. “My directive was to use whoever I could to
accomplish my task. You were perfect, as the personal assistant to the
President. I was encouraged to get close to you. What I didn’t anticipate was
falling so hard for you. Casey, whatever you may think of me, please know that
everything I told you about my feelings was God’s truth. I love you more than
anything. I would never knowingly hurt you and if I lied to you, it was to
protect you.  I didn’t anticipate you in the least and I have never in my life
had such feelings for anyone, so if I stumble while trying to navigate these
unfamiliar waters, then please know how sorry I am.  I fell in love with you
and I wasn’t supposed to.”

She was
watching his hand as he held on to hers, tears trickling down her cheeks. “Why
did you go to New Mexico?”

He kissed
her fingers again, with painful sweetness. “Because I needed to speak with the
reporter who initially broke the story about Talbot allowing drug smugglers to
land planes in Southern New Mexico.  The woman has had her life threatened and
wouldn’t talk to me over the phone. I had to go find her.”

She looked
up at him, her lower lip trembling and tears spilling out of her eyes. “Swear
it?”

He nodded
fervently, kissing her hand. “I swear on my life, Casey. I wasn’t cheating on
you in any way, shape or form. I would never do that to you, not ever. I love
you deeply and would never disrespect you that way.”

She
sniffled and wiped at her eyes.  Then she pulled her hand out of his grip and
he watched her as she fumbled with a big basket at her feet.  She opened the
lid and drew forth something wrapped up in a plastic bag. 

“I made
you some turkey sandwiches because I felt so sorry for you,” she said, pulling
forth a big fat sandwich from the plastic bag. “I don’t know if they’re any
good still, but they should be if you want one.”

The
thoughtful, sweet gesture touched him deeply. But it also made him feel that
much worse, hurting this woman who was so wonderful and unselfish. He took the
sandwich and took a huge bite. It was delicious with cranberry sauce and
mayonnaise.

“It’s
wonderful,” he said, his mouth full.  “You were very sweet to bring it to me.”

She
wouldn’t look him in the eye. She was still wiping tears off her cheeks.  He
swallowed the bite in his mouth.

“Please
tell me what you’re feeling,” he whispered.

She
shrugged. “I don’t really know,” she replied, lifting her eyes to his. “What
you’ve told me is terrifying, Colt. I’m scared to death.  Maybe I shouldn’t
believe you but I do. I don’t think you’d lie to me about something as serious
as all of this, but it really makes me confused. “

“Why?”

“Because I
don’t know how to act now that I know the truth. Do I help you find something
to convict Russ? Do I not? What do I do?”

He lowered
the sandwich. “You just do your job and don’t worry about me, okay? You have
nothing to do with me or what I do.”

She fell
silent, looking at the sandwich in his hand, the floor of the car, the seat
back; anything but Colt’s face.  He watched her, concerned, hoping that their
relationship hadn’t been irrevocably damaged by all of this.  If it was, he
would do whatever it took to right it.  He wasn’t going to give up.  Just as he
was pondering his next question to her, she suddenly looked up at him.

“The truth
is that I love you and if I have to choose loyalty between you or the
President, I would choose you,” she reached out and took his hand, holding it
in her soft, warm grasp. “I don’t want you to sink Russ. He’s a good man who
did what he had to do to try and save the lives of his children.  If the
Columbians are really after him, then I want to help him. 
You
can help
him, Colt, if you can find out the truth behind all of this.  I believe you can
do it because I believe you’re a great man. I knew of your reputation before I
even met you, so I know you’re a very great man.  I’ll help you however I can
so you can get to the bottom of this.  If you need something, just ask.  You
don’t have to go through my files when I’m not looking.  I’ll give you what you
need.”

Colt could
feel the conversation taking a turn, becoming something hopeful and warm.  He
wasn’t sure it would ever reach this point and he realized there was a lump in
his throat. “I love you so much,” he whispered.  “I’m so sorry for all of
this.”

She smiled
faintly. “I love you, too. I always will.”

Colt put
the half-eaten sandwich back in the basket and pulled her into his arms.  Casey
collapsed against him, her arms around his neck as she burst into quiet tears
again.  Colt held her tightly, his eyes filling with a lake of tears, unable to
blink them away. He was still shaken up having come so close to losing her. Not
a praying man, he found himself giving thanks.

Trembling,
he pulled back to look at her, cupping her face between his two enormous hands. 
He just looked at her, studying her, thinking of how much he loved her.

“We will
get through this,” he whispered hoarsely. “I swear to you, we will survive.”

She
nodded, her eyes wet with tears. “Just promise me one thing.”

“Anything.”

“No more
lies.  No matter how scared you are, or how terrible it is, never lie to me
again. Promise?”

“I do.”

“I believe
you.”

He stared
at her moment longer before pulling her close.  As he held her tightly with one
arm, he pulled out his cell phone with the other and dialed Riley’s number. 
With Casey cradled against him, he had to pull the phone away from his ear when
Riley answered on the second ring, practically screaming into the phone.

“Riley,
it’s Colt,” he said, his tone soft with emotion. “I have her. She’s fine. I’m
taking her back to my place tonight so she can get some sleep.”

On the
other end of the line, Riley was freaking out. “What happened?” she wanted to
know. “Where was she?”

Casey
could hear her sister yelling.  Before Colt could answer, she took the phone
from him and put it to her ear.

“Hey,” she
said to her sister. “It’s a long story, Ry. Tell mom and dad I’m fine, and tell
the boys I’m fine.  I’ll see you guys tomorrow, okay? I need to spend a little
time with Colt.”

Riley was
flabbergasted. “So that’s it?” she demanded. “We’re freaking out all day and
this is the only explanation we get?”

Casey
sighed, feeling very exhausted and short on patience. “Honey, I’ll talk to you
tomorrow, okay?” she sounded firm. “I’m fine and everything is okay.  Cut me a
little slack, will you? Just back off.”

“Okay,
okay,” Riley backed down, but she wasn’t happy about it. “You’re sure that
you’re okay?”

“I’m
sure.”

“Okay,
then. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Casey hung
up the phone and handed it back to Colt.  He climbed out of the back of her car
and took her with him.   Casey stood up, stretching out her stiff muscles,
looking at her broken driver’s side window.  Colt could see where her attention
was.

“Sorry,”
he grunted. “I’ll call the Auto club tomorrow and see about getting it fixed.”

Casey
didn’t say anything about it. She didn’t have the energy.  Colt reached in to
the car and collected her purse, and the picnic basket, taking them in one hand
and Casey in the other over to his still-running car.  He packed everything in,
including his girlfriend, and took off back down the parking structure.

Casey was
silent as they drove the couple of miles to his brownstone.  He pulled up the
dark driveway and into the dark garage, taking the picnic basket, the purse and
Casey out, in that order, and bringing everything upstairs to his townhome.  It
was dark inside as he opened the door and ushered Casey in, flipping on the
foyer light and setting her purse and the picnic basket down just inside the
door. 

Casey just
stood there and yawned as Colt moved in to the townhome, flipping on lights as
he went. 

“Come on,
angel,” he paused by his bedroom door, turning to look at her as he pulled his
jacket off. “Let’s go to bed.”

She
followed him, groggy, into the bedroom, where he began pulling off his
clothing.  Casey sat down on the bed and pulled off her suede jacket, her
boots, and then the rest of her clothing piece by piece.  Colt was standing in
his closet, hanging up his coat and pants, emerging from the closet to find
Casey already in bed.  She was burrowed under the covers, eyes already closed,
and he flipped off the lights and removed his briefs, getting into bed next to
her. 

He pulled
her into his big, warm embrace and she snuggled down against him.  Colt didn’t
say a word; he just held her, stroking her back and gazing off into the
darkness, wondering how things were going to be from now on. He’d told her
things that the best interrogators in the world couldn’t wrest from his lips. 
He doubted she really understood the seriousness of what he’d told her, but she
would come to understand it in the days to come. He would make sure of it.  Right
now, however, she was safe in his arms and that was all he really cared about.
The rest he could deal with when the time came.

“Colt?”

Casey’s
soft voice floated up between then and he pulled away from her a little so he
could look down at her, snuggled against his chest.

“What,
angel?”

“Is your
life really in danger with this work you do?”

“Yes.”

“Will they
try to kill me, too?”

“Nobody is
going to kill you. Don’t worry about that.”

“But I’m
really scared for you.”

“Don’t be
scared,” he said softly, “but understand just how serious this is. You know
something about me that only a handful of people know. I trust you to keep that
knowledge safe.”

She sighed
faintly, gazing up into his handsome face. “Will our life ever be normal?” she
asked softly. “You want to get married but I’ll be terrified for you every
second.  I’m not sure if I can live with that kind of fear day and night.”

He stroked
her back, his dark eyes serious. “I’ve been thinking about that,” he murmured.
“This is going to be my last task for them. I want to settle down with you and
raise a family like any other normal human being. I’m not going to do this kind
of thing anymore. I’m done with it.”