Chapter 5 - The Breach at the Levee
"LILY!"
I dove through the curtain of flames, ignoring the searing heat scorching my
skin.
The rope binding Lily was coarse hemp.
I sawed frantically at the fibers with the kitchen knife from my apron.
Lorenzo charged through the smoke.
His coat was on fire.
He whipped it off, smothering the flames creeping toward Lily’s legs.
With one powerful slash of his combat blade, he cut the remaining bindings.
"Get her out!" Lorenzo shouted, hoisting Lily onto his broad shoulder.
Bianca was scrambling up the wooden loft ladder toward the second-floor crane.
She fired three blind shots down into the smoke.
One bullet ripped through Lorenzo’s left shoulder.
He grunted, stumbling, but didn't drop my sister.
"Go!" he ordered me, pushing Lily into my arms outside the flaming threshold.
"Get to the main house cellar!"
"What about you?!" I cried, seeing the dark blood spreading across his white
dress shirt.
"She doesn't leave this property alive," Lorenzo growled.
He drew his sidearm and climbed the burning ladder into the loft.
Outside, the storm reached its peak.
A deafening roar like a freight train shook the plantation grounds.
It wasn't thunder.
Down at the southern edge of the property, the earthen levee cracked.
A twenty-foot wall of muddy bayou water burst through the cypress trees, rushing
toward the carriage house like an avalanche of brown death.
The water slammed into the lower brick walls.
The foundation groaned.
The entire structure began tilting toward the raging river.
May you like
Up in the loft, Bianca screamed in terror as the roof collapsed.
And Lorenzo was still inside.
