by P. G. Van
“I can’t imagine the time and effort it took for people to build this structure. It’s amazing.” Sid shut the mirrored door and let the metal bar door slide shut behind it.
“We need to talk, Sid. I need to know why we are doing this,” she demanded refusing to take a step further and slapping away his hand when he reached out to her. “Are you messing with me? Are you part of the plan, the plan to…”
She lost her voice when she wondered if what he told her and what he expressed to her was real or was it part of his duty, and how it involved her.
“Amy, I love you. I liked you for who you are even before I knew who you really were.”
“Who am I, and why do I need to believe you?” she growled unable to contain her emotions.
He moved closer to her and placed her hand on his chest. “This heart would stop beating the moment I realize I cannot protect you, and that’s just not because it’s my duty, but because you are my everything.”
Her body responded to the sincerity in his voice and the love in his eyes.
“Amy, your real name is Amyra, Princess Amyra Jane Charles, the future Queen, Regina of The Kingdom of Edenridge! You are the only person who can save the people captivated in the region ruled by the Barkha Group.” Sid planted a kiss on her cheek.
Chapter 14
“I don’t believe you.” She shook her head and pushed him away from her.
“Amy, have you wondered why you know so much about a country most people haven’t even heard about?”
“I… It was part of my…”
He didn’t let her finish. “Did you know about Edenridge by the time you were as old as Aaron?”
“Sid, what are you trying to tell me?” She raked her fingers through her hair that was still damp from the shower.
“I will explain everything. We need to get past one chamber, and I’m told we have a place to wait until dark.” Sid took her hand in his and led her toward the last door.
The door opened up to what seemed like a small studio. Amy walked around the room in awe as Sid secured the room.
“Sid, this is my old bunk bed and my dresser. I thought we donated these.” She pulled open one of the dressers and found her clothes neatly stacked. She realized there were clothes for everyone in her family.
“Where are my parents and my brother, and why did they leave with Hanna?”
“Hanna is your double, Amy. It’s amazing your father had thought through everything for a situation like this. You ideally wouldn’t have needed me if you had known everything you needed to before this day.” He opened the mini fridge taking out a bottle of water and throwing it her way.
She flopped her body on a chair next to the bunk bed. “Will you tell me what it was I needed to know and why I am the princess when I’ve never been to Edenridge.”
“Remember the history of Edenridge? The King who made the pact with the people of that region was your grandfather, and the King who came close to getting the princely state resolved was your father. Mr. Watson and your father were best friends, and your mother was his sister.”
“My dad is my uncle?” She shook her head in disbelief.
“Yes, they brought you here when you were only six months old after both your parents were killed at the feast massacre.”
Her body shivered, and the warm room suddenly felt like an icehouse. She started pulling all the information she was told by her Dad and Sid together and saw how everything fell into place, but she couldn’t digest it. “I don’t care, I don’t want any of it. I want my life back. I don’t want to be someone I’m not.”
“Amy, you have no choice.” His voice was commanding.
“I do have a choice. I refuse to leave my home.” She held her chin high adamantly.
“I won’t let that happen, Amy. I can’t,” he growled.
“I’m not someone’s property not to have a choice. Why should I do what you want me to do?”
“You are breathing today because of the sacrifices of many people, one of them being my mother.” His voice faded toward the end of the sentence.
“What?”
“You heard me, my mother lost her life trying to save the six-month-old baby who she thought was the future of the country. You are here in safety because of the sacrifices your uncle and aunt made, and Daren gave up his life to protect you.”
“No, don’t say that.”
“This is the truth whether you accept it or not.”
She drew her knees into her chest and hid her face in her knees. Daren’s smiling face flashed in front of her, and all she could think was to cry, and then something else started to brew. Anger, the need for revenge not just for Daren but for the pain it caused the man she loved. She wanted to seek revenge and fight back, not because she was told she had a title, but because they hurt her loved ones.
“How do you not hate me for making you lose your mother.” Her voice was muffled in her jeans, as she hid her face unable to find the courage to look him in the eye.
She felt him right next to her. She welcomed the warmth his embrace offered and held to him burying her face into his chest. “I’m sorry you lost your mom. How do you not hate me?”
“Because I love you, and it’s not your fault my mom is not around. It was a choice she made, and I’m proud of her decision. I spent years unable to accept the fact that my mom didn’t think to hide or get away when she should have known how much it would hurt me, but… the day I realized why she did it, that was the day I told my dad I wanted to be the government’s eyes and ears in that region they had no control over.”
“Sid, I love you, too. I feel bad for making life so difficult for so many people including you.”
“It’s mine and their honor to protect you, baby.” Sid hugged her.
She pulled away slightly to look at him and caught some movement on the monitors. “Are those people in the house?”
Sid turned to look at the monitor and walked closer observing the men. “These guys are not from Edenridge. It looks like the group has a way bigger presence here than we thought. They probably figured you were here because your mom was from here.”
“They look like trained men, the way they are searching the place.” Amy observed.
“Do you recognize any of these men? Is the guy you rescued on any of the screens?”
She walked closer and went from one monitor to the other and shook her head. “I don’t see him. That guy was tall, almost as tall as you are.”
“What are you guys looking for?” Sid looked at the monitor for answers.
“I think they are looking for my pictures. Look, this guy is running through the family album.” She pointed at the man sitting in the master bedroom.
“You have no pictures of you in the house?”
“Nope, not my grown-up ones, and now I know why. He would not let me put my pictures anywhere online. The picture on my driver’s license… the more I think about it, my mom made me put on so much makeup I don’t even look like myself.”
“Your dad did all this for a promise, a promise he made to his friend and sister that he would be your godparent.” Sid’s voice was so soft it made her choke.
“That was the picture posted in my high school yearbook, and it’s on my passport… they did all this for me, and now they have to abandon their home for me.”
“Amy, they are safe, and they can return home as soon as we take care of these morons. For now, we need to get a sense of their presence.” Sid pulled his phone and frowned when he realized he had no signal.
“We had phone signal in the first room. Do you want to go back there?”
“No, we need to stay put until dark and get out of here.”
“Do we need to go back into the house?”
“Nope, I know the way out from here. Your dad told me we have three options for the exit… one is an ex-Army person’s house, another one is a barn, and the third is a bar a few miles out.”
“Where are we headed from here?”
“I need to take you back to San Francisco, and then to Edenridge before your birthday.”
“My birthday?”
“You will be crowned on or after your twenty-first birthday.”
“Sid, I don’t know how I feel about that yet, can we not talk about it right now?”
“Okay.”
“I still can’t believe my dad built all this and that bar is friggin miles away… for him to dig tunnels all the way, I just can’t believe it.”
“He was probably able to do it because of all the help you found him.” Sid smiled at her.
“Help?”
“I’m sure every homeless guy you shipped to the ranch was part of building this structure,” Sid declared.
“Sid, look… that guy is talking on the phone.” She pointed to a man holding a weapon standing on the front porch.
“How did they get to this location when your dad was so good at covering your tracks,” Sid wondered out loud running his fingers through his hair.
“Are you sure they came for me, I mean not Amy Watson, but do you know if they came for Amyra?”
“I’m not sure… what would lead them to the ranch and why…” Sid’s voice trailed off unable to find a solid link.
“Are they here looking for the owner of the minivan?” Amy pondered.
“No, the minivan has a fake address on the registration, and even if they were here for the owner of the minivan, why bring weapons, why hurt people?” Sid shook his head as he tried to connect the dots.
“How did they find the ranch when everything is so secure?”
Sid wasn’t listening. He was processing every detail he could pull together to establish the connection. Amy watched his expression change and knew he was on to something. “We had private investigators request footage from the surveillance cameras in and around the ranch, and the reason they gave was that it was for my security detail.”
“Huh? It doesn’t make sense. Don’t they follow you around like ducklings?” She tried to ease the situation.
“Fuck! It was me, I led them to you. I’m so sorry, baby.” He wound his arms around her unable to digest the situation.
“How?”
“The Barkha Group somehow found out I was here and either followed us or found out from someone where we were headed.” Sid walked around the room for a few minutes thinking of the link and stopped abruptly. “Did your intern friends post pictures of me on the internet?”
“That’s it, I’m sure they tagged you as #hotcommander, and it hit a million of their search results.” She laughed.
“Un-fucking-believable,” he growled. “Once they realized I was in San Francisco, they figured I was up to something considering your birthday is coming up soon.”
“Sid, it’s okay, although I think I would have wanted to hear everything from my mom and dad, but I’m glad we talked about Edenridge a little bit.”
“I know it’s not easy, but you did good, Amy. Are you hungry?” Sid walked to one side of the L-shaped room and came back with a few protein bars and juice packs. “I can’t stop praising your dad.”
“Sid, we should go to the bar exit. It’s closer to the highway. Do we have a car?”
“I have a car available about fifty miles from here, we might have to hitchhike until that point.” He laughed winking at her.
“Not funny.”
“I’m kidding, I can’t let my queen hitchhike.”
“Sid, we agreed not to talk about it,” she grumbled.
He took his lips to hers to lazily brush and caress her trembling lips. “I was talking about the queen of my heart.”
*****
“I thought I lost this t-shirt. It was my favorite.” She squeaked rummaging through the dresser. It was almost ten at night, and the house was dark. The group who invaded the ranch were gone, but Sid was convinced they weren’t far.
“We need to move, baby. We need to have enough time to walk to another exit if the bar is not a good option.”
“Yes, sir,” she teased.
“Don’t call me sir. It’ll make me want to do dirty things to you.”
“Really? Are you that kind of a guy?” She laughed.
“I don’t know what you mean, but I know what I want, but I’m willing to wait.”
“You are so boring.” She threw one of her t-shirts his way.
“Agreed. You have five minutes to enjoy your room. I’m not sure if you’ll be able to come back anytime soon.”
“Don’t say that!”
“I will speak the truth, nothing but the truth.” He laughed, but she knew it to be true.
She watched him load up the cargo shorts he had on with a few power bars and a Swiss Army Knife.
“Can I have a weapon?”
“Amy, I know it’s a weird situation, but you don’t need a weapon tonight. This might be a fun carry.” He laughed trying to ease her mind and tossed her a small rectangular object.
She caught it and realized it was a mini Taser gun. She scrunched her nose and threw it back at him. “Give me a real weapon.”
“You will get to pick your weapon soon, not tonight, sweetness. Ready?”
She nodded and turned to look at the space that protected her today, the place her dad had built for her, a symbol of a promise made to a friend and a sanctum of fatherly love.
They walked in silence through the dimly-lit tunnel, each lost in their own thoughts, his mostly around her safety and hers around many others. She spent the time reflecting on her life, connecting the dots as she made sense of the security around the ranch, the perpetual construction, obsessive surveillance under the pretext of trespassers—everything her family had done for her protection.
“Sid, what would the rebel group do if they found me?”
“Amy, we have a long walk. Conserve your energy.” He kept walking with her hand in his without turning back.
“Sid… I need to know.” She let her hand out of his.
He stopped and hesitated before turning to look at her. “Based on what they have done to your family in the past, I expect it to be bad, and it would be worse if they held you hostage for ransom… their kind of ransom.”
“Idiots!”
“Are you okay?” He ran the back of his hand over her cheek.
“I’m fine. Just tired even after napping for hours. I don’t know where you get all the energy.”
“I’m trained for this, now hop on my back.” He turned around before going lower on the concrete floor.
“You are a pretty decent boyfriend.” She laughed putting her arms around his neck and climbing on his back.
“Glad to be of service.”
“Sid, what does my new identity mean to you?”
“Responsibility.” His voice was firm.
“What happens to us?”
“Sid loves Amy not Amyra. Sidney may end up working for Amyra, but all I care about is Amy.” He laughed annoying her.
“That’s not what I’m asking.”
“Amy and Sid will need to become Amyra and Sidney when we reach San Francisco.”
“I knew you would say something like that.” She ran her shin into his thigh.
“I may be tasked to do something else once we get to San Francisco. I will let my boss decide if I need to be your security or if he wants someone else to take care of it.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I’m going with you because my dad said I should,” she teased.
“Really?”
“Yup, the only reason,” she said, finally the gloom that had held her captive was leaving her.
Almost ninety minutes later, they saw the end of the hallway. Sid was out of breath from running with Amy on his back.
“I’m impressed, Commander. I feel like dumping my boyfriend for you!”
“Not cool!” He reached for the water bottle from his pocket and emptied it.
“Here, have mine.” She offered her bottle, which he gratefully accepted.
“Before we open that door, a few things to rem
ember. You always stand behind me. If I say run, you run as fast as you can without looking back, no matter what.” His voice was commanding, so commanding she nodded even though she didn’t agree.
Her heart thudded like it did earlier that day as Sid punched in the code and stuck her palm on the pad for the final exit. “Stay with me, baby.”
The door opened outward into the bar’s massive ice room. The other side of the door was made to look like the wall with graffiti covering the gaps.
“Great choice for escape, Dad.” She laughed as her teeth chattered.
Sid reached into a bucket of ice and threw a few cubes in his mouth.
“Sid, we should get a water bottle if you are thirsty.”
“Can’t risk it, let’s keep moving.” He opened the door to the outer room that was empty, and they managed to slip to the back of the bar without being noticed.
“Sid, I love that smell. I want to get some fries.” She drooled.
“Seriously, you want to eat fries from this place? The top rated food snob wants to eat fries?”
“Yes, eating those sweet power bars all day is no fun.”
“We can’t go into a crowded bar and think we are laying low.”
“Let me go get it, no one knows me,” she urged.
“I can’t let you out of my sight.”
“Don’t be this annoyingly protective boyfriend. I promise not to dump you for the Commander.” She ran her fist into his abs.
“I need to scope out the place first. Stay behind me.” He took her hand and led her to the side of the bar and stood by a window. He looked through a lens for a few minutes.
“I don’t see a potential rebel group member so we should be fine to go, but only if you absolutely need the fries.”
“I do. I’ll go by myself. Why don’t you pick a vehicle to break into while I get me some fries?” She laughed walking into the back of the bar.
“Meet me here in four minutes.”
“Dude, I’m not getting fries that have been sitting on the shelf for ten minutes. I’m going to have them make me a fresh batch. ETA is seven minutes.”
“Fine! I’ll find us a getaway car in the meantime.”
