Saving the Princess

by Helena Newbury

  But it was much, much heavier than I’d thought. And Jakov’s legs were failing, putting even more of the weight onto me. The damn thing just weighed too much: there was no way to safely get out from under it. If we let go, it would fall and smack into our spines before we could move out of the way. “You idiot,” panted Jakov. “Now we’re both going to die.”

  My knees began to shake and I couldn’t stop them. My back began to bend. I couldn’t catch my breath: there was too much smoke, too much heat. My head swam. And with every second the timber seemed to get another hundred pounds heavier. He was right. We were going to die here. I exchanged a look with Jakov. I’m sorry. But at least we saved her.

  Movement at the door. Emerik stumbled in, still wheezing. He looked at Jakov and their eyes locked….

  And then the older man ran across to us and got his shoulders under the timber. For the first time, we managed to raise it a half inch.

  “Lift it and roll it back,” croaked Emerik. “On the count of three.”

  All of us were shaking, our muscles close to giving out. I could hear the sweat dripping from me and hissing in the flames. But if we died in here, there was no one to protect her. She needed us. She needed all three of us.

  “One,” said Emerik. “Two. Three!”

  And we damn well lifted. We got it just high enough that we could roll it back off our shoulders like he said. We staggered forward and it missed our backs by an inch. We had to support each other just to make it to the door: our legs were like wet rope.

  We collapsed just outside, panting and gasping. I’ve never known exhaustion like it, every muscle screaming.

  Kristina was on her feet, coughing a little from the smoke but okay. She ran between us, checking us over, and for a second I just let myself lie back and rest. Emerik, Jakov and I exchanged glances. We’d done it. We got everyone out safe.

  Then, in the distance, I heard a shotgun boom three times. Everyone looked round.

  And then there was silence. We’d all gotten so used to the whistle of the mortar rounds passing overhead that it was eerie when they suddenly stopped. My dad had done it. Three shots from his shotgun: the two men working the mortar and the sniper. I let out a long sigh of relief. It was over.

  Then another shot echoed through the night. Not a shotgun. A handgun.

  Dad hadn’t been carrying a handgun.

  “Dad?” I could hear the fear in my voice. “Dad?”

  Kristina reached for me but I was off and running across the fields. My legs would barely support me between the aching muscles and the wound but I had to get there, had to know.

  I reached the trees and started searching. “Dad!”

  I found the mortar team first. Two men, like I’d thought. Then another man, a rifle next to him. All dead.

  “I got ‘em,” said a weak voice.

  Dad was sitting with his back against a tree. I stumbled over to him and fell to my knees beside him. That’s when I saw the glistening wet patch on his shirt. I could smell burned fabric. Someone had shot him point-blank in the guts and left him there to die.

  “Never saw the fourth guy,” wheezed Dad. “Not ‘till it was too late. He’s fast. Pale, creepy-looking son of a bitch.”

  Silvas Lukin. My hands tightened into fists. I could feel tears slipping down my cheeks. There was so much I had to tell him. That I was sorry I was away for so long. That I loved him. “Dad!”

  “You do whatever you have to,” Dad said. “But you keep that bastard away from her.”

  And his eyes closed.

  30

  Kristina

  We all worked as a team to get Garrett’s dad loaded into the pickup. Then we tore out of the ranch and off towards the nearest hospital. Emerik and I were frantically trying to stop the bleeding, pressing wads of torn-up shirt against the wound, but they kept soaking through.

  When we screeched up outside the emergency room, Garrett took his dad’s shoulders and the guards took a leg each. We carried him in like that, with Caroline and me running alongside and pressing on the wound. Doctors surrounded us and helped us lower him onto a gurney, then raced him into a trauma bay.

  “Outside!” snapped a doctor. “Let us work!”

  Garrett, Caroline and the guards moved reluctantly away. I went to step away too, but suddenly a hand gripped my wrist. I looked down. Garrett’s dad had opened his eyes. He’d been drifting in and out of consciousness since we got him in the pickup but just for a few seconds, he seemed lucid.

  “He’s a big lunk,” he croaked, staring up at me. “But he’s got a good heart. He just needs something to fight for.”

  I nodded, tears rolling down my cheeks.

  The doctors put a mask over his face and his eyes closed.

  I walked into the hallway just in time to see Garrett slam his fist against the wall. His whole body had gone hard, every muscle taut with helpless fury. A nurse arrived to dress the wound on his leg and managed to coax him into a chair, but he barely seemed to know she was there. He just sat in silence as she worked, the anger and guilt rolling off him like a physical force, pushing all of us away.

  “It’s not your fault,” I whispered when the nurse had gone. I put a hand on his back but he twisted away. He blamed himself for his father’s injuries, but if it was anyone’s fault, it was mine. I should have died on that plane, I thought bitterly. How many people were going to die, or be injured, protecting me?

  And then I saw the police officers talking to the nurse at the reception desk.

  I looked at Garrett. I knew what I needed to do but...God, I couldn’t. I looked at the guards. They shook their heads. Neither of them dared approach Garrett, not when he was going through this. It had to be me.

  I swallowed and walked around in front of him. He was staring at the floor and didn’t even acknowledge me.

  “Garrett?” I said hesitantly. “Garrett, I can’t believe I have to ask you to do this but...the police are here. There are three dead bodies at the ranch. They’re going to take us into custody, all of us. We know there’s still a leak, high up. Sitting in a cell somewhere, we’ll be vulnerable.”

  He finally looked up. The anger in his eyes almost made me step back. But I met his gaze: after all he’d been through for me, I could take it.

  At last he dropped his eyes, marched past me and out of a fire exit. The rest of us raced to catch up. Seconds later, we were in the pickup, roaring away.

  We’d lost everything. All our luggage had been in the house when it burned down. Our clothes were singed, tattered rags, our faces stained with smoke. Worst of all was the fury in Garrett’s eyes. I’d done the right thing but that didn’t make it okay. If his dad dies, if he’s not there….

  The miles rolled by in silence and I watched Garrett’s anger harden and focus. His brow furrowed, just like it had back in the motel room when he’d spotted the broken vase. He was figuring something out, working through the possibilities.

  And finally, he came to a conclusion.

  I let out a scream as Garrett stamped on the brakes and the pickup went skidding sideways along the highway. He swerved us off the asphalt and onto the dirt. We bounced, leaned, and finally lurched to a stop facing the wrong way. Everyone was panting and cursing in fear.

  Garrett was out immediately. He stalked around to the rear door and hurled it open. Then he reached in, grabbed Caroline by the neck and dragged her around to the front of the car. She screamed as he threw her down in the beam from the headlights.

  Then he drew his gun and pointed it right at her head.

  31

  Kristina

  “Stop!” I flung open my door, jumped down and ran to him. “Stop! What are you doing?”

  The barrel of Garrett’s gun never wavered. “Someone told the assassins we were at that motel,” he growled. “Someone told them we were at the ranch. It wasn’t Emerik. It wasn’t Jakov. She’s the only one left.”

  Caroline was sobbing, hysterical. “This is crazy! I’m her friend! I’m he
r best friend.”

  I nearly grabbed Garrett’s arm but I was too scared the gun would go off. “Garrett, she’s right!” I told him.

  He wheeled to face me. “Your Highness, let me handle this! If you want to help, search her!”

  “Garrett, it’s not her! She’s my friend!”

  “We all threw our phones away,” he said. “She must have another phone, or a radio. Some way of contacting them.”

  I raised my hands in defeat. Doing it might placate him. “I’m sorry,” I told Caroline. “It’ll be okay.” I helped her stand. She was still wearing the jeans and t-shirt she’d fallen asleep in and I passed my hands gently over them. Nothing. Of course there was nothing. It was crazy to even think—

  Wait. What was that, deep in her back pocket?

  When I pulled out a phone, I nearly dropped it.

  “It’s not what you think,” said Caroline.

  I wanted to throw up. Caroline?!

  “It’s not for the assassins!” she sobbed. “It’s for Sebastian!”

  The world seemed to stop. I stared at her, incredulous. “Aleksander’s assistant?!”

  Her eyes were full of tears. “We’re in love,” she whispered.

  “Why keep it a secret?” asked Garrett. “Why have a second phone?”

  “Palace staff aren’t allowed to fraternize,” I told him. “If anyone found out, they’d both be fired.” I stared at Caroline and felt my face fall as I figured out what had happened.

  “What?” she demanded. “Look, it’s not the assassins! It’s just Sebastian! And I know I should have thrown it away along with my main one but no one’s tracking it! I bought it for cash and I only use it for him! He’s the only one who even knows I have it!”

  Garrett and I exchanged looks. My stomach knotted. She doesn’t realize. Oh God, we’re going to have to tell her.

  “What?” Caroline begged.

  “You send this Sebastian guy a message?” asked Garrett. The anger had gone from his voice. His gun swung down to point at the ground. “You tell him we were at the motel?”

  “Yes,” said Caroline uncertainly. “He was worried about me.”

  “And did you tell him we were in Texas?” I asked gently. “Did you tell him we were at Garrett’s dad’s ranch?”

  I could see the realization start to form in her mind. “Yes...but…” She gave a choking, hiccoughing sob. “But…” She looked around at our faces. “But that doesn’t mean that….”

  I bit my lip and nodded sadly.

  “But we’re in love!” She stared wildly at me, willing it to be true. And then her face slowly crumpled and she went sickly pale. “Oh God. Oh my God. This is all my fault!” She took a stumbling step towards Garrett. “Your dad...oh my God, I’m so sorry!”

  Garrett just shook his head and turned away. He thrust his gun back into his waistband and let out a long, bitter sigh.

  I ran to Caroline and threw my arms around her. “It’s not your fault,” I told her. “You were used. You had no way of knowing he was one of them.” Inside, I was shaking with rage. Sebastian! That utter bastard! He’d exploited a naive young woman’s feelings and he didn’t care about her at all. She’d nearly died in that fire.

  We all climbed back into the pickup. For a second, we just sat there in silence. I still felt the anger rolling off Garrett in waves but it was directed outward, now, at the assassins and Sebastian, not inward at our little group. For the first time, we knew we were all on the same side. And that meant we could finally go to New York and get me home.

  “Send a message to Sebastian,” said Garrett. “Tell him we’re on our way to Chicago. By the time he realizes we’re not there, you’ll be on a plane.”

  I nodded and started tapping in the text message. “I’m going home,” I thought in wonder. Then I realized I’d said it out loud.

  Garrett slowly nodded. Then he looked at me and I drew in my breath when I saw the sadness in his eyes.

  That’s when it hit me. I was going home and I’d never see him again.

  32

  Garrett

  At the first gas station we passed, I pulled over and called Barney in New York. We hadn’t spoken in over a year and it took a while to convince him I wasn’t kidding about the Princess. But he agreed to help. He had a cargo flight going to Austria that he could sneak the Princess onto, and it could make a stop in Lakovia. Only problem was, it was leaving at ten the next morning. That gave us only twenty-four hours to get from Texas to New York.

  So I drove, for hour after hour. I couldn’t stop thinking about my dad. I called the hospital from each gas station we passed but each time, he was still in surgery. Finally, around noon, I managed to get one of the surgeons on the phone. Hunched over a payphone, trying to shut out the roar of passing trucks behind me, I closed my eyes and focused on his voice.

  “We got the bullet,” he said. The poor guy sounded as exhausted as me. “But it really tore him up inside. Heart, one lung, nicked a kidney. Whoever shot him knew exactly where to aim for maximum damage. He’d be dead, if he wasn’t such a tough old coot. It’s going to be touch-and-go for the next few days.”

  I thanked him and hung up. I had to resist the urge to smash the handset to pieces against the side of the payphone. Silvas Lukin. That son of a bitch. If I ever got my hands on him….

  Footsteps behind me. I whirled around and the Princess was there, hands nervously twisting in front of her. “How is he?”

  That glass-smooth voice was like a cool palm placed on my forehead. I drew in a shuddering breath. “Alive,” I said.

  “I’m sorry. Not just for what happened with Caroline but...everything.” She looked down at her feet. “You must wish you’d taken a different flight.”

  It felt like my chest contracted into a tiny black hole. I closed the distance between us with one big stride. “Hey!” I growled. “Hey!” I took her chin between thumb and forefinger and tipped it so she had to look at me. “No. Don’t say that.”

  She nodded but her eyes were shining with tears. I had to show her I wasn’t mad at her. And then I remembered something, something I’d been meaning to ask her since that very first day.

  “That Rans Tagaka stuff,” I said. “When you took out that guy on the highway. Can you teach me?”

  She squinted through the tears: Really? Then she sniffed and looked away, blinking. Her chin was still in my hand and a few warm tears fell in my palm. “You were a marine,” she said. “You know much more about fighting than I do.”

  “I don’t know that,” I said. “And my squad leader always said, when you stop learning, you start dying.”

  She bit her lip and, instantly, that deep pull towards her took over. God, don’t do that! Not when your chin’s in my hand. Not when I could just lean down and kiss you—

  Her breathing went tight and I realized I was staring at her lips. We both looked away.

  “Alright,” she said, a little breathlessly. “Stand behind me.”

  I ambled around behind her. Emerik had lent her his suit jacket to wear over the nightgown. It meant she was halfway decent but her long legs were still tantalizingly visible through the gown’s gauzy fabric.

  “Put an arm around my neck,” she ordered.

  I stepped closer and the scent of her filled my senses. I hooked my arm around her neck. My sleeve was rolled up so it was skin on skin, her touch like silk.

  “Like you’re going to hurt me,” she said, her voice trembling a little.

  I could never hurt you. I cinched my arm tighter and felt her swallow. Her body was in contact with mine all the way from neck to ankle, her ass just grazing my crotch. There was a lull in the passing traffic and suddenly it was very quiet, the only sound the wind whipping our clothes.

  “You have to form your hand into a point, like this,” She pressed her fingers together into an arrowhead. “And then with your middle finger you have to strike just the right point….”—she reached up under my armpit—”...here. It’s only about the size o
f a...what are those coins you have? The tiny ones? Nickels! So you have to be precise.” She pressed very gently, then twisted around to check I’d understood.

  I nodded, but...when she’d turned, it had made one cheek of her ass press right against my crotch. And now my arm had half-dropped from around her neck and the underside was just kissing the top of her breast. Every time she inhaled, I could feel its soft warmth pressing against me. “That’s it?” I asked. I was trying not to get lost in her eyes again. “It doesn’t feel very dangerous.”

  I glimpsed something I’d never seen before: a wicked little smile. Her hand pulled back and then flashed up, faster than I could follow, and—

  My fingers twitched and then went loose and floppy: I couldn’t have closed my hand if my life depended on it. The feeling traveled up my arm in the time it took me to blink. It slid from around the Princess’s neck and just hung, dead weight. I couldn’t even stop it swinging back and hitting me on the leg and, when it did, I couldn’t feel it. It felt like a side of goddamn beef hanging in a meat locker. “What the hell?!” I grunted.

  She giggled. It was the first time I’d heard it: a beautiful, musical sound like water flowing over jewels. “I didn’t do it very hard,” she said. “The feeling’ll come back in a few minutes.”

  I gave her a mock-scowl and she grinned, and my heart just lifted. I was so relieved that I’d made her feel better. I did that. Me. Just for a second, it was like we were a couple.

  And then I remembered this was our last day together. Tomorrow, she’d remember she was really a princess. And I’d remember I was really a burned-out jarhead who was lucky to get a job tumbling drunk assholes out of clubs.

  It didn’t matter how good she made me feel. Tomorrow, she’d be gone.

  33