Simon addressed his teams, “This agent has gone rogue. He has twisted facts and lied to me and to his superiors. He is running an illegal operation using his own authority without the knowledge or sanction of MI6, The Crown, or the Government. We owe it to our country to find out if these claims of Royal birthright are true.” He turned back to a seething Colin Brown, “You’ll have to shoot all of us before we let you shoot the boy.”
Walter Bracken’s words rang across the clearing, “You heard the chief. Lower your weapon, sir.” He swung his SIG Sauer 516 semi-automatic at the furious MI6 agent, his eyes leaving no doubt at the seriousness of his intentions.
Brown said nothing, but knowing he was out-gunned, turned his pistol sideways and bent forward, placing it on the ground.
“And your rifle, sir. Don’t forget that.”
Colin reached for his carbine’s sling and slowly removed it from his shoulder and laid it down next to the pistol.
“That’s very good, sir. Now if you would, take two steps back, away from the guns.”
Again, Brown complied, remaining silent.
Walter Bracken marched forward, his aim not wavering from his target, and picked up the two surrendered guns.
Simon nodded in approval to his senior field officer, and turned to his men, “I think we can all stand down now.”
On his words, the MI5 teams lowered their weapons and holstered their sidearms.
Walter turned his attention to Patrick and his group of armed Irishmen, “Now if you good gentlemen could do us all a favor, and put your weapons down too? Guns make me nervous,” he smiled.
“We’d be happy to do so,” grinned Patrick. He hoisted his gleaming AR-18, “Been sometime since I fired this beauty in anger.”
Patrick clicked the safety on, grabbed the strap running from the barrel to the stock and slung the Armalite across his back. His nine friends quickly followed suit.
The tension gone; his men cheered. Hearing the locals’ pleasure, even the hardened MI5 field squad broke into a relieved series of smiles. There would be no blood spilled here today.
Patrick grinned at Eddie, “You must know we’re not much for Kings and Queens down here, but should I start calling you, Your Majesty?”
The boy smiled, “That might take some getting used to. I think we stick with Eddie.”
As they continued their jovial exchange, with everyone’s attention focused on this strange, and possibly royal, history-making teen; unnoticed by the others, Colin reached behind his back, pulled a concealed pistol and swung it at Eddie.
Only one person saw the hidden gun appear, Alex.
The professor had no hesitation and leapt in front of Eddie as Colin fired twice. The hollow-point bullets from the 9mm tore into the academic and spun him around in midair, knocking him backward into the boy, sending them both sprawling.
Colin adjusted his aim, and a third shot rang out. The MI6 agent stood there, his pistol locked on Eddie’s head, then faltered and fell forward, dead before he hit the ground.
Simon lowered his smoking handgun and raced to Eddie and Alex. He pulled the heir to the British throne from beneath the unmoving body and saw he was covered with blood.
“Are you all right?” asked Simon.
“It’s not my blood, it’s his.”
Alex lay motionless, face down, his two bullet wounds staining the heather red.
Simon barked an order to his men, “Get him in the helicopter now. Evac him out of here.” He turned to Eddie, “You too.” He apologized to Cate, “No room for you, miss. My men will take you back.”
“No, we’ll look after our little Caitlin. She can come with us,” interrupted Patrick.
“How about him?” asked Warren, pointing to Colin’s body.
“Put him in the back of one of the Land Rovers and clean up this whole area before you leave, blood, shell casings, everything. None of this happened here today, understood?” instructed Simon.
“Understood, sir.”
“We’ve forgotten already,” said Patrick, as he and his men escorted Cate back to their cars parked behind the trees.
Before they had reached their vehicles, the black helicopter clawed its way into the sky making its rushed seven-minute flight to St. John’s Hospital in Limerick, carrying with it the future King of England, and the victim of a tragic hunting accident.
Four Weeks Later
Cate exploded into the room, a ball of energy and excitement, “Did I make it? The traffic is crazy! All of London is shut down. I had to jump out of my Uber and run the last three blocks. Sorry if I’m sweaty.”
Alex looked up from his hospital bed, “You’re here just in time. It’s starting in five minutes.”
“Great. I wanted to be with you to see this.”
“I thought you received an invitation to be there in person? I did, but obviously I can’t go like this, not yet.”
“Yes, I did too,” confirmed Cate. “But I wasn’t going without you, no way. How’s the rehab?”
“Painful. My shoulder is beginning to get back some movement. They replaced my glenohumeral joint and they say it’ll last longer than I will. The good news is the surgeons were finally able to remove the remaining bullet fragments from my spleen and my spine, and now I’ll be allowed to get up and start walking again. Apparently, after ten days of physiotherapy they’ll let me out of here. I can’t wait. It’s been four hospitals in as many weeks.”
“That’s because you’re special. Nothing but the best for you.”
“Tell that to whoever makes the hospital meals.”
“Not as good as my pizza and Starbucks?” laughed Cate.
“Not quite,” agreed Alex. “What have you been doing to keep yourself busy in London? I haven’t seen you for a week.”
“Research. I figured with all the resources here-”
Alex cut her off, “Sorry, Cate, it’s beginning.” He painfully raised his arm, pointing to the TV set on the wall, and turned the volume up with the control by his hospital bed.
The picture on the screen showed Buckingham Palace and the hundreds of thousands of people surrounding the Victoria Memorial and spilling down the Mall. The excitement could be heard in the normally restrained voice of the BBC announcer, “…it seems as though all of London and the most of the population of the adjacent counties are present today to see history made. Early estimates have put the crowd gathered here as the largest since VE day in 1945.”
The TV cameras panned across the unending sea of faces stretching far into the distance.
The announcer continued, “In just a moment we are expecting the Royal Family to appear on the balcony of the Palace to greet the crowd. And with them will be not only the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, but also the President of the United States and the American Secretary of State, along with the President of the Republic of Ireland. This is all to celebrate an event which will bring these three great nations closer together than they have ever been. The rea..” The announcer paused as the first of the Royal Family appeared, “And here they come now, making their way onto the balcony, and you can hear from the cheers how excited everyone is. With the Royals in place, the elected officials are joining them, and if we could have a shot of the crowd, you’ll notice it’s become a sea of flags as Union Jacks, Stars and Stripes and the Irish tricolor are all being waved frantically.”
The announcer stopped speaking to allow the spectacle of the flags’ colors to dominate the screen, “And here he comes, the reason for all of this celebration. The person whose bloodline joins together the Royal houses of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha directly with the Windsors, and for the first time, links that heritage to both the Republic of Ireland and the United States of America, making him truly an international Royal who knows no boundaries. Edward Albert York, who has now been graced with two titles created specifically for him, the Duke of Wessex and Prince Regent of the Commonwealth. And as the world knows, a third title awaits him at some point in the future, and that is King Edward the
Ninth.”
“It’s so good to see Eddie up there, with the crowd cheering for him, but I’m going to have to turn this off. I still don’t have my strength back and I get tired very easily,” apologized Alex.
“I understand,” sympathized Cate. She hesitated before continuing, “I want to leave this for you to read when you wake up and feel more focused.” She pulled out a thick file and placed it on the table by Alex’s bed.
“What is it?”
“Ummm…” She looked down, hoping he wouldn’t be angry, “It’s something I thought should be done. I know why you were in Prague. You were searching for your own family line, like many adopted people do later in life, and I know your research was interrupted by what happened that awful night, and you never went back to it, so I decided to finish it for you.”
This was totally unexpected, and Alex looked at her with surprise, and thought before he spoke, “Did you have any success?”
“You could call it that. I was able to trace your entire lineage and,” she hesitated, “while I was doing it, I came across something else…” her voice trailed off.
“What? What else?”
Cate got to her feet and bent over, giving Alex a brief kiss on the forehead. “I’ll go now and leave you to sleep. You don’t want to read this while you’re tired. Call me when you finish it. You have my new cell number. We’re going to need to talk about what I found, because as soon as you’re back on your feet I think we have some more adventures ahead of us.” She headed for the door.
Alex called after her, “Adventures? What do you mean? What kind of adventures?”
She shot a glance back at him over her shoulder, “Sleep well. And don’t worry about your passport; I’m holding on to it, because after everything I discovered, you’re definitely going to need it again very soon.”
THE END
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Richard Blade is the best-selling author of World In My Eyes, his autobiography, published November, 2017 and SPQR, published December, 2019. He is one of the most popular and best-known DJs in America, and hosts a daily radio show on both SiriusXM 1st Wave Ch. 33 and on KCBS.
Richard was born in England, educated at Oxford, and came to the United States in 1976. In the 1980s he was the top-rated morning drive DJ on KROQ, Los Angeles, and hosted and directed numerous TV shows and series including Video One, MV3 and VideoBeat.
He has won numerous awards including the Golden Microphone, California’s Best DJ, and the American DJ Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Richard has also appeared in many Network TV series and starred or co-starred in a number of feature films including Girls Just Want To Have Fun, Spellcaster, and Long Lost Son, which he also wrote.
Richard lives in L.A. with his wife, Krista, and their two dogs, and travels extensively as he continues to DJ live, and is in high demand as a speaker and host at events around the world.
Birthright: Pray your past stays hidden (Alex Turner Book 1) Page 23
