“I said get down on the ground!”
Raphael said, his voice calm, “We’re breaking for the third door on the right. Get ready.”
“Get the hell down on the ground right now!”
“Get your hands up! Get your hands where I can see them!”
“Get down!Get down!”
Flicka’s hands were shaking so hard, and she looked around, trying to see who was there.
Julien, Romain, and Luca’s black-clothed bodies blocked her view. One of them said to the Monegasques, “We won’t shoot if you don’t. Lower your weapons, and no one will get hurt.”
“Get down on the ground!”
“Drop your weapons! Throw them away!”
“Hands on your heads!”
“Lay your guns down onthe ground!”
“Get down now or we’ll shoot!”
A man from down the hallway yelled, “We won’t let you kidnap our princess! We will die for her!”
That was an opportunity.
Flicka bounced to her feet and yelled back at the Secret Service agent, “Iwantto leave with them! I divorced Pierre because he beat me and raped me. I will never go back to him,never.If you have any loyalty to me, let me gowith them. I’m not being kidnapped.I’m escaping!”
The yelling stopped.
The Secret Service men glanced at each other, still pointing their weapons at Flicka, Raphael, and theWelfenlegionmen.
One of the other agents yelled, “What if that guy told you to say that?”
“He didn’t tell me to say anything, I swear,” Flicka called back and leaned out from behind Julien Bodilsen. “I ran away, andPierre kidnapped me back. I want to leave. They’re rescuing me. If you have any personal loyalty to me as the Princess of Monaco,help us.”
“But those pictures, and what you said—”
“Lies,” Flicka told him. “Pierre coerced me. These men are rescuing me.Help me leave Monaco.”
The Secret Service men’s guns wavered.
Beside her, Raphael whispered,“Good.Keep talking.”
One guy said to another,“I didn’t sign up to keep someone prisoner who doesn’t want to be here.”
“Yes!” Flicka called to him. “I want to leave with these men. Please lower your guns and allow us to leave. As the Princess of Monaco, I demand you let us pass.”
“Oh,” one of the guys said to another. “She hasn’t been crowned as the princess. It’s not official yet.”
Beside her, Raphael straightened. He still held his gunin his hand. Julien, Romain, and Luca still held their guns at the ready position.
Flicka yelled, “As a Monegasque citizen, I’ve done nothing wrong, I’ve committed no crime, and thus you can’t hold me!”
Another one of the Secret Service guys nodded. “Now, that’s true.”
Two guys lowered their weapons to point just beyond their toes.
