A God will Always Love His Princess

"Right, Sir. You can all sit and relax. We don't know that anything is imminent. Once they confirm who is collaborating with the terrorists, they will take them into custody and give us the all clear."

"Thank God, your mother is in London," Allen sighed. We agreed.

*****

"I think it's Meaney," Michael said looking at the monitors.

"Christ!" Allen groaned. "He was in the room with Jen all day. Are you sure?"

"No," he answered. "He's acting oddly. He should be at the window keeping watch, yet he keeps moving to the hall, looking for us to come back. Banham's told him twice not to leave his post. They're arguing about it again."

"Do you think..."

"Christ!" I was cut off by Michael shouting, then running to the gun safe and unlocking it. He threw a handgun to me and said, "It's on. Meaney just shot Banham."

I went and grabbed a bulletproof vest, one of the high-powered rifles they have stored there, and two additional bullet proof vests. I tossed one to Allen as I walked by him and I put one on Jen, who was silently crying.

"We're going to be fine, baby," I whispered, then kissed her cheek.

Michael walked over with another vest, "Wrap him," he said and handed it to me. "Make sure to overlap it," meaning for me to wrap the Prince.

I couldn't help but think the worst at that point. Allen huddled his daughter and grandson behind him in the corner of the room. I noticed he had a handgun pointed at the floor and thought about what was about to happen. Could they get in that room?

Michael pulled out his earpiece and said, "Com's been cut off."

I looked at the monitors and didn't see any movement. Meaney was standing in the window with Banham's bloody body at his feet. I was worried that I didn't see any other guards on the screens. It should have been pandemonium out there.

Then we saw them. Two other security men walked down the hall towards our room. Meaney turned and ran to meet them in the hall. They spoke briefly and made their way toward us.

"Where the hell are the rest of your men, Michael?" I asked as we watched them get closer by the second.

"They must have been taken out. Could've been Skaggs and Morris there, with the help of snipers. If they had suppressors on their guns, it may have been quiet enough where they could have methodically moved through the house taking out everyone with no warning."

"Who has the code to the door?" Jen asked out of nowhere, making our heads spin to her.

"Change it now!" Allen yelled and Michael ran to the computer.

I looked at the monitors and said, "Too late," as the three were at the door and four more men came from the other end of the hall.

"Seven men total," Michael said to the room, then took a defensive position behind the desk. I ran to the couch next to where Jen and her son were cowering.

"Allen, up!" I shouted, then slid the couch in front of Jen and Walter, just to give them some cursory level of further cover.

Allen, pretty spryly for an older guy, jumped over the back of the couch to get back in front of his wards. I took a position behind a chair farther away so as to not draw any shots in Jen's direction if I could help it.

Then all hell broke loose as the door opened. If there were smoke it would have been like the scene in A New Hope, where they cut open the door to the rebel ship and started blasting blindly into the corridor.

That's what Meaney and the other's did. Gunfire was wildly firing around the room, while Michael and I picked off him and the first two that entered the room. Two others ran in and scattered, desperate to find Jen and Walter, while the other two pinned us back.

It was all happening so quickly; I could hardly react fast enough. I heard Allen yell, as he too shot round after round at any target he could hit. Then I saw the couch slide towards me. I spun around and ignored the guy at the door to shoot the assailant moving the couch to get to Jen and Walter. He fell to the floor after receiving my shot to the head.

I didn't see Allen, I hoped he wasn't hurt. I spun around and saw a bloody Michael crawling on the floor trying to reach for his gun. I stood and dove in front of him as the guy in the doorway finished reloading and took aim. The bullets hit my stomach and my leg, but I got off one final flurry of shots to take him out as I hit the floor in a heap. I knew I was in trouble when my stomach became wet.

I managed to get up on a knee, every movement hurt, and looked around the room. None of the bad guys were moving. I crawled across the room and found Jen and Walter covered by Allen. He wasn't moving either.

"Allen," I said and turned his body. He was unconscious. There was a wound on his arm where the vest didn't cover. It didn't look life threatening, but what did I know?

Jen was consoling a crying Walter as I said, "Put pressure on Allen's wound." Then I sat back and put my hand on my stomach under the vest.

The last thing I heard was Jen screaming as other voices entered the room.

*****

In an all too familiar manner, I woke to the bright stream of light snaking its way into the room from a small gap in the curtains.

I looked around and saw my leg elevated and wrapped. My stomach hurt like hell, and I had a headache that rivaled any hangover I could imagine.

I couldn't believe I was alive. I was sure I was going to bleed out in that room regretting I never got a chance to tell Jen I loved her one last time.

I saw the standard IV in my arm, and as my eyes adjusted, I looked around the rest of the room. The amount of flowers scattered around the room were ridiculous. I worried when I saw a chair and a couch and neither had Jen there waiting.

I thought the worst and a tear fell down my cheek. Those last voices I heard must have been a second wave of assassins and Jen's scream was terror as she realized she had no one left to protect her.

I started to sob and felt the blood pressure cuff wrapped around my arm as it did its job. I must have been too high, as it didn't take long for a nurse to appear in my room.

"Mister Carlton, it's all right. Take it easy."

Her accent was British which surprised me. I should have been in Switzerland.

"Where am I?"

"London. You were brought here yesterday for surgery."

"Jen..." I croaked.

"I don't know. The news said she and the prince are alive, but there's no talk of what condition anyone is in."

I wondered about Allen and Michael.

"What about..."

"Mister Carlton, I have no idea about anyone else. They aren't telling anybody anything. What happened over there?"

"Don't say anything," Roger Quinn said as he walked into the room. "Nurse, please give us privacy."

She nodded and left.

"Are Jen and Walter okay?" I asked.

He responded with a nod. "Allen as well."

"What the hell happened, Roger?" I asked.

"We had a mole in the organization that's behind all this. They told us there were more inside men, and they were at your location. We didn't know who, so we had to be careful."

"How did you know it wasn't Michael?" I asked.

"He's my nephew."

I shook my head.

"Most of the guards were drugged with the evening meal. The ones who were on duty, were taken out by Meaney and his men."

"How in the hell did they get inside?"

I couldn't understand how there could be such a large gap in their background checks.

"Blackmail, extortion, kidnapping their family, could be anything. We don't have that information yet. Hell, it may just be for the money."

"I want to see Jen."

"Out of the question, I'm afraid. She's been moved to secret location, and we can't risk her leaving to see you or you going to see her and being followed. Besides, you'll be here for a while by the looks of you."

"Yeah, right," I sighed.

"Who is behind this, Roger?"

"I'm not at liberty to be that specific with you, Andrew. I'm sorry."

"Come on!" I shouted. "She's in danger, man!"

He frowned, "Andrew, my entire life's purpose is to protect that family. No one is more aware of what is at stake than I. I assure you; we are working to put an end to the threat, and as soon as the time is right, you will be reunited with Princess Jennifer. She is as desperate to see you as you are for her."

"Now, going forward, the protocol will be the same. When the doctors clear you, you will be taken to a secure location and will remain under our protection. Michael will remain at your side, even through his recovery. His wound was superficial, and he will be fine."

"Okay, that's good news."

He nodded, "Thank you for saving him, by the way. That won't get any accolades in the public eye, but my family gives their sincere appreciation. My wife's sister and her husband wish to see you, but that's not possible. I'm afraid they are responsible for most of the flowers around here. My wife's family tends to go overboard."

I said, "Tell them, it was my honor."

He nodded and left the room. I was left to jump at every sound I heard and not sleep more than an hour at a time. I couldn't wait for it to be over.

*****

Four weeks later, Michael and I were watching a soccer match in a small apartment somewhere in London. I wasn't able to talk with Jen and wasn't given any updates about any of our situations. There were no other guards staying with us, as I demanded since no one could be trusted, and I had Roger's required training.

I hoped Michael and I would be enough.

The Queen, while injured, continued with her duties, although the rest of the family put everything on hold and were in seclusion. Any news I got, was from the television, and there wasn't much there. Jen and some other Royals were recording messages to let everyone know they were okay and hoped for an end to their nightmare soon. I was also able to send and receive recorded messages through the RPS to and from Jen. Those messages were the only things keeping me sane.

They seemed to have put a lid on Reggie, as I hadn't seen him on any of the shows where he normally appeared. I wondered if they continued to look into him and his 'sources.' Good riddance to bad rubbish anyway.

The public demanded to know who was behind the attacks on the Royal Family, yet no answers were provided, and no one was claiming credit publicly.

That's what I feared the most. If they weren't going on TV claiming credit for the attacks, what was their end game? Would they not stop until they killed the entire family? Were they just after ransom money? Were they just after Walter? No one seemed to know, at least they didn't tell me.

What I did know was that it had to be a huge organization with almost unlimited resources. Where was their funding coming from? The only other option would be that it was another country, but that seemed unlikely to me.

Russia or China would have had too much to lose starting World War Three. At least I thought they did. And certainly, it wasn't the uppity colonists back home.

Michael's tablet rang with the sound of Roger's ring tone.

"Yes, sir," he answered. Roger's face had a forced smile, and he had his hand on his tie.

"Michael, we are moving you to another location. In ten minutes, a car with two men will arrive and take you to location Zed."

"Understood," Michael answered.

"Andrew, there's nothing to worry about. This is a standard move to keep the enemy off their toes. Just continue being your Thor self and you'll be fine."

I hung my head. I was in no condition to fight anyone. I was still limping from the shot to my leg and my wounds from the stomach surgery were still healing.

Michael ended the call and said, "He gave me the code to take out the guards coming."

"Fuck!" I groaned. "Michael, I don't know how much help I can be to you."

"Don't worry about that. We're not going anywhere with them, and we're going to see if we can find out what the hell is going on. We're taking them alive."

He left the room and came back with an odd-looking gun.

"My uncle doesn't know I brought this. It's strong enough to knock out a horse."

I nodded. "Then what?"

"Then we question them...as aggressively as needed."

It turned out to be easier than I anticipated to turn the tables on the men that came to get us. They didn't know we were on to them and had their guard down.

Once Michael shot them with the knockout darts, we restrained them and waited for them to wake up. During that time, we accessed their phones, but there wasn't any helpful information.

Michael said, ""Did you ever notice that the calls that give you your code always come from my uncle?"

"Yeah, I didn't think anything of that though."

"There are two levels of command and control directly above me. Then, there's a layer between them and my uncle. Why isn't my immediate supervisor or his boss the one calling?"

"He doesn't know if they can be trusted."

"Or he already knows they can't," Michael added solemnly.

"You've got all these signals worked out with him, why isn't there one for that?"

"Oh, I think the 'trust no one' overt statement is enough for that. The thing is, I believe he knows he's under surveillance and can't do anything to let the cat out of the bag, so to speak, so he has to use some signals with us."

"So, what do we do now?"

"We wait for them to wake up and see if they tell us anything, then we go rescue the Princess and Prince."

"What!" I shouted.

"If they made a move on us, they're bound to be planning a move against her as well. It's more difficult, because they are better guarded, so we may still have time."

Just then one of the sedated bastards woke up.

"What the fuck, Michael?" He groaned.

"Who are you working for, mate?" Michael asked the restrained guard named Evans.

"Let me go, you, stupid sod. Are you trying to end your career?"

"No, yours. Now, who are you working for?"

He looked around the room, at us then, his partner.

"You can't win, Michael."

Michael punched him in the nose, then repeated the question.

Evans shook his head and then I heard Michael say, "No! Don't!"

I looked back and Evans was foaming at the mouth.

"Shit!" Michael yelled, then went to the other guard whose mouth was foaming as well.

"I didn't even see Baker was awake," he scolded himself.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Suicide capsules in their teeth," Michael said with a scowl.

"That shit's real?" I asked.

He nodded. "Grab their guns and extra ammo. We need to get on the road."

*****

"How do we know who to trust when we get to Jen?" I asked after we'd been driving for an hour.

"When we reach the perimeter guard, if they call our superiors to confirm our story, they're with us. That's protocol. If they do anything else, especially if they try to kill us, they're the bad guys. They would already expect us to have been killed."

I guess it made sense. "What about when we get inside though?"

"Same thing. The bad guys will expect us to be dead and assume it went bad and try to kill us. The good guys will question that we are there with professional curiosity, they would assume we were already cleared at the perimeter."

"What will we do if they call your superiors?" I asked.

"I honestly don't believe that the perimeter guards are on our side. I think they'd have found a way to rotate their people out there to make sure there would be no advanced warning to the men inside if there was a firefight or someone called for help."

"How many will be at the perimeter?"

"Two at the gate, and two support men on ATVs somewhere nearby. Here we are now. Be ready."

We pulled up to a large estate with a gated entrance. Michael entered the code to open the gate and the guards walked out to meet us. Michael opened the door and stepped out, staying behind the door.

When they saw it was him, they drew their weapons, and he shot them both quickly.

As we drove past the bodies, I asked, "Did you know them?"

"Never seen them before," he lied. I wondered if he were killing men that were once his friends.

All of a sudden the ATVs shot out of the wooded area on our sides. They pulled up on either side and tried to take us out once they saw us.

In a move straight out of a movie, Michael hit the brakes and one guard shot the other on his opposite side as he was shooting at us. I shook my head and watched as Michael sped up and hit the other ATV, knocking the driver off.

In a flash, he was out of the car and fired two shots into the guard, before getting back in the car.

He said, "It's 50/50 whether they heard the shots at the house or not, stay ready."

When we pulled up to the house, there were two men at the door.

"Michael, what the hell are you doing here, mate?"

Neither man went for his weapon. I assumed they were good guys.

"It's going down soon. There was an attempt on our lives."

Both men stiffened and drew their weapons to ready themselves.

"No one called it in, Michael," the other guard said.

"No one knows. I wanted to get a jump on these guys. There are more compromised RPS here."

"Damn it," he moaned. "All right. Smith, go with them and watch out. We have no idea who to trust."

"Anyone that's with them will be surprised we're alive and assume something went wrong. We're running on the supposition that anyone compromised will shoot us first and ask questions later."

"Yeah, makes sense. I'll keep watch out here."

"Thanks, Jonesy. I was hoping you were on our side."

"We went through the house to the living quarters and found two guards on the floor with their throats slashed."

"Oh no!" I said and was held back by Michael.

"We don't know who it is," he warned. "Keep an eye out."

I fingered the trigger of my Glock, hoping Jen and Walter were okay. Then we heard Allen shout, "What the hell are you doing?"

Michael put his hand on my chest to make me stay back, then he and Smith ran ahead and stopped short of a door. Michael did some kind of hand signal, and they went into the room.

Shots were fired, Jen screamed, then I ran to the room.

Michael and Smith were standing over two bodies. Allen was laying on the ground with blood running down his cheek.

"Mister Wicke, we're the good guys," Michael said.

It was then that I rushed to Jen and Walter sitting frozen on the couch.

"Jen, oh my God!"

"Andrew!" she screamed and jumped into my arms. "They were going to kill us, Andrew. They were waiting for someone to come with a video camera to broadcast it over the tele."

A shot was fired from the door and Smith went down. I spun and pushed Jen behind me, and Michael shot Jones in the shoulder forcing his weapon to fall to the floor.

I dove to grab it and Michael shot Jones in the leg as he also went for the gun.

"Jonesy! What the hell?" he shouted as he walked over to his fallen friend.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," he groaned as he sat up.

"Who's responsible for this? Tell me?" Michael yelled as he kicked Jones in the leg wound.

Jones screamed in agony and rolled on the floor. He straightened up and groaned, "He threatened to have my daughter killed if I didn't go along with him. I'm so sorry."

Jones then told us who was the cause of our nightmare, and he was right. We couldn't believe it.

Three days later, we were sitting in the Queen's quarters at Buckingham Palace. Her Majesty had just returned to the room after she broke down in sobs she couldn't control and needed privacy.

Jen held my hand as we sat on the couch across from Prince George and his wife and waited for Roger Quinn to arrive and give us an update.

The door opened and Roger was escorted into the room with four men in suits and two uniformed police officers.

The Queen let out a deep breath, touched her wounded leg, and said, "There are many dark days in the history of this Monarchy, yet I can't imagine one that's worse than this."

"To what are you referring, Mum?" Prince George asked.