Along Came A Prince (25 page)

Faster and faster
Ryan drove. The car swerved for a right turn, then a left, following the police
escort car with its red, blue and white lights rotating to the rhythm of the
shrill, screeching siren. She wanted to yank her headgear off. It was so
uncomfortable being bounced around in it. Better to suffer a little discomfort
than to be dead, she decided and kept quiet.

“We’re at the
airport,” Clay said. “Their security team’s ready to lead us to the plane now.”
He exhaled a huge sigh. “You did some great driving there, Ryan.”

“I’ll feel better
when you’re in the air,” he confessed.

“Can I sit up
now?” Stacia asked.

Ryan glanced in
his rear-view mirror. “You two seem pretty cozy back there. Are you sure you
want to?” he said and laughed. “God, it feels good to laugh again, after what
we just went through. But we made it. Almost, anyway.” Ryan stopped the car. “All
right, Clay, the rest is up to you. Take good care of my sister, okay?”

“Right,” Clay said.
“Thanks for your help. We couldn’t have made it without the cooperation from
your chief and his men and all the other security guards. Thank them for me.”
He opened the door, stood up and peeled off his protective gear.

Stacia sat up. She
felt stiff all over and couldn’t wait to stand. As soon as she could wiggle out
of her SWAT team armor, she joined Clay outside. He grabbed her hand firmly,
and surrounded by security, they began to run the short distance to the plane.

“Thanks for
everything, Ryan,” Stacia called out over her shoulder as she tried to keep up
with Clay’s stride.

“Call me tomorrow,
Stace,” she heard her brother shout back.

They climbed the
steps to the plane, and the door closed behind them. Clay showed her to her
seat, and she collapsed into it, oblivious to her surroundings. She closed her
eyes, relieved and happy that their escape plan had worked. How lucky she was
to have two heroes in her life.

“Thanks for
rescuing me,” Stacia said as the jet began its ascent into the midnight-black skies.
They were climbing toward the stars and the moon. Higher and higher. She closed
her eyes allowing her newly-found feeling of safety to surge through her. It
was over. Her stalker could no longer harm her. And Ryan and Clay were
responsible. She turned to Clay and smiled warmly.

He reached over
and took her hand. “It’s good to see you happy.”

“I can’t believe
I’m on my way to SwissDen again.”
How could his slightest touch generate
such heat inside her?
Her pulse quickened. She held her hand still, neither
encouraging nor discouraging him, just wanting the feeling of his hand on hers
to last forever.

“Are you sleepy?”
he asked.

She shook her head.
“I feel refreshed...revitalized...and mostly, free of fear.”

“I’m sorry you had
to go through that stalking experience.”

Stacia shrugged
her shoulders. “Some things are hard to reason out in your mind. As clichéd as
it sounds, you can’t help but think,
Why me? What did I do to deserve this?
I couldn’t figure out why people uttered those questions before. I always
thought they were complaining. Not anymore. Now, I realize they’re just two
questions you need to know the answers to in order to put everything into the
right perspective.”

“And are there any
answers to your questions?”

Stacia thought for
a second. “I have none. I believe there are some things you’re just given, and
you have to accept them.”
Like knowing the consequences if you decide to
marry.
She pressed her face against the window. “It feels like we could reach
up and gather those stars in a basket, they’re so close.”

Clay leaned over
and shared the window with her. “How about the moon? It seems as if it’s close
enough to touch too,” he whispered in her ear. “It all casts quite a romantic
glow on our plane ride, don’t you think?”

She could feel his
breath on her face, and she inhaled deeply. His musky scent filled her senses
until all she could do was close her eyes and enjoy his essence…and drift off
to sleep.

♥♥

Somewhere
in her dreams, she heard Clay’s voice.

“Wake
up, Stacia, we’re home,” he said, as he stroked her hair gently.

She
opened her eyes and realized her head had been nestled cozily on his lap while
she’d been sleeping. How long had she been asleep? And how did her head end up there
anyway? They’d been over the ocean, and now they were at SwissDen? The
rationale just wasn’t there. She looked up at him as if she could read the
answers to her questions in his face. She sat up, feeling the warmth and comfort
of him evaporate from her senses.

Clay
stood and shook his legs one at time as if to awaken them.

She
stretched and yawned.

They
glanced at each other, and Stacia found herself in the middle of a big bear hug
from her rescuer. A soft kiss melted on her lips. Hmm. Being awake and next to
him was much better than sleeping.

“Welcome
back,” he said.

“Thank
you for bringing me here. There are no words to tell you how much I appreciate
all you did.” She wanted to cry in gratitude to him for helping to save her
life, and now he was protecting her from her still-on-the-loose stalker. She wrapped
her arms around him and hugged him as close to her as possible. Tears began to
float down her cheeks. She swiped them away, as the airplane landed and the
engine stopped.

They
exited the plane and Clay’s parents greeted them at the door of the palace.

“Did you have a
pleasant trip, my dear?” the queen asked Stacia.

“Yes, Your Majesty,
it was lovely and the best sleep I’ve ever had. Your son was wonderful at
protecting me.” She glanced coyly at Clay.

He smiled back at
her, and his eyes seemed to twinkle in response. “Well, I did have a little
help from her brother, the security team and the L.A.P.D.

“I’m happy
everything worked out fine,” his mother said.

“Everything but
catching the stalker is fine,” Clay replied.

“It won’t be long
before that’s taken care of also,” the king remarked casually.

“What do you mean,
Your Majesty?” Stacia asked. “How will it be taken care of?”

“I meant...” the
king started to say, then looked at his son.

“He means it won’t
be long before your brother catches your stalker,” Clay deciphered for his
father.

There he goes
again,
Stacia thought.
Just like Ryan, and he dodged my question when I
wanted to know why my brother called him in the first place. Now the king acts
as if he’s involved somehow.
She stared at Clay with total disbelief
painted on her face.
What don’t they want me to know?

“Maybe you should
take Stacia to her room, Clay, and get her settled in,” the queen suggested. “I’m
sure she’s tired.”

“Since I slept on
the plane, I’m fine right now. I would like to call my brother though, to make
sure he’s all right.”

“The jet lag will
hit you soon,” Clay said. “In the meantime, let’s head down to the shops and
pick up whatever you need, and then you can call Ryan.” He turned toward his
parents. “I only let her bring what she could shove into her pockets. We had to
move fast.”

“Will we see you
later for dinner?” the queen asked.

“Better not plan
on it. I have a feeling we’ll both be sleeping right through dinner.” Clay
covered his mouth as he yawned. “Shall we go, Stacia?”

She nodded, still
puzzling over what Ryan and Clay were trying to conceal from her.

♥♥

“
Hel...lo,”
Stacia mumbled, waking up to the sound of music on her cell phone. She tried to
focus on where she was and figured out quickly she was in SwissDen and her
brother had called her.

“Hi, Stace.”

“Ryan...are you
okay? I tried calling you earlier. I’ve been so worried about you.”

“Sorry. I just got
home.”

She was wide awake
now. “What happened after we left? Did anyone get hurt?”

“No. We think your
stalker figured there were too many cops around, and he’d better disappear.”

 “Now what?”

“We’ll keep
following up on the leads we have. The important thing is our plan worked and
you’re safe. All you have to do is stay put at SwissDen until we catch him. And,
Stace, we will get him and lock him up where he can never try to hurt you
again.”

“Ryan, when are
you going to tell me what you and Clay are trying to hide from me?”

“I don’t know what
you mean.”

“Yes, you do,” she
challenged. “You wouldn’t answer my question at home, and when I got here, I
figured out the king knows what’s going on too.”

Ryan laughed. “Your
imagination’s working overtime. Why don’t you just concentrate on having a good
time there and let me worry about everything else?”

“I wish you were
here,” she said sadly. “Then I wouldn’t have any worries.”

“By the way,
you’re front page news again. I called Mom and Dad and told them not to pay any
attention to what they read or saw. I told them where you were and that you
were safe. And I told the bodyguards, I hired before for them, to continue on
24/7, just in case.”

“Thanks. You think
of everything. Are they okay with all this?”

“Again, as long as
you’re safe, they are.”

“How much time do
you figure it’ll take to catch this killer? I hate holding up production on
London
Affair
. Nathan and Arthur won’t be able to finish the picture on schedule
if I don’t get back soon.”

“You have no
choice but to wait, Stace,” Ryan said firmly. “No matter how long it takes. Now,
get back to sleep, so you can have a great time with Clay in the morning. Don’t
worry. I’ll call you again when I have some news.”

Stacia hit the off
button on her cell. She tried again to figure out what it could be that they
wouldn’t tell her. But she was too drowsy, and her thoughts were straying in
too many directions.

And most of them
were centering on Clay as she fell asleep.

♥♥

A week later, Ryan
was sitting in his office at the police station, going over leads they’d
received on the killer.

“Saunders, get in
here,” Brannigan barked through the intercom.

Ryan hurried down
the hall to his boss’s office. “What’s up?” he said as he walked through the
doorway.

“It seems we have
a problem. Only a small one, I’m sure you’ll agree, but nonetheless a problem. A
dead body – or what’s left of it – was dropped off on our steps a short time
ago.”

“In broad
daylight?”

The chief glanced
out the window. “Yes, Saunders, I believe it was
broad
daylight.”

“Why are you
telling me this?”

“Two reasons. This
particular corpse reeks of the work of the Marcellini family.” Brannigan paused
as he snuffed out the cigar he’d been smoking into the ashtray on his desk. “Any
idea who the dead guy is?”

Ryan shook his
head.

“Then, that brings
me to reason number two. Right after the body was dropped off, my phone rang
and a hoarse male voice relayed a most interesting message. Ring any bells
yet?”

Ryan shook his
head again.

“The voice said
there was a package dropped off in front of the station, per the request of
Ryan Saunders.”

“Oh my God!” Ryan
exclaimed and struck his forehead with the heel of his hand.

“Your memory’s
come back, I see,” the chief said sardonically. “It turns out this dead guy was
a loner hit man and not a member of any of the mafia families. Marcellini’s
been trying to get him for years, because he’d killed a number of his members. But
the guy was diabolically clever. Each time they’d put out a hit on him, he’d
manage to do the hit
himself to whoever was sent to kill him.”

“Did your
informant identify him?”

“He said his name
was Al Jordan.”

“That name sounds
familiar,” Ryan said, trying to remember where he’d heard it.

“According to my
informant, his father was involved in a little kidnapping scheme back in
forty-nine. It involved an actress by the name of Audra Parker.”

Ryan snapped his
fingers. “Of course. Now I remember. That’s the only name Helen Ashley Shores
heard when she was kidnapped. Jordan. His father, huh?”

“Those three
kidnappers were killed by Santino, a rival family of Marcellini’s father. When
Jordan’s father was killed by Santino’s men, Jordan became obsessed with
revenge. He grew up hating the mob and became an assassin because of it,
causing many deaths in the Santino and Marcellini family, as well as others. Some
he was paid for, others not.

“When he saw the
movie
London Affair
was going to be remade with an actress who resembled
Audra so closely, he saw his chance. He planned to get rid of
Audra
again,
for his father’s sake. So we had a deadly combination on our hands – an
assassin turned stalker. He intended to do to Stacia exactly what his father
didn’t get to do to Audra. Rape and kill her. However, you were guarding her so
perfectly he couldn’t get at her. That’s when he changed his plans and decided
killing her would have to be enough. At any rate, your getaway derailed him, as
he wasn’t prepared for that strategy. It was over. He had failed in his
memorial to his father. ”

“How did your
anonymous tipster know all this?”

“The mafia has a
way of getting confessions out of people.”

“And you have a
talent for getting information out of informants,” Ryan said. “His death must
have been a violent one.”

“After what he did
to countless people himself, the world is better off without scum-bags like him.
Through the years he’s been convicted on anything the police could make stick,
but they couldn’t get enough evidence to pin a murder rap on him.” Brannigan
grabbed another cigar off his desk and bit the end off. He spit it out, leaned
back in his chair, and proceeded to light up. “Today,” the chief explained as
he puffed away, making smoke circles in the air as he spoke. “There are no
powerful studios to prevent the truth from coming out, so finally Jordan
thought his father’s death would be vindicated by killing Stacia. He thought
his father was some sort of hero and that this would bring him the fame and
honor he deserved. Sick mind, don’t you agree?”

Without waiting
for an answer, the chief continued. “The guy’s days were numbered. Marcellini
wouldn’t have given up until Jordan was dead. They were able to close in on him
this last week, because his mind was on Stacia or Audra, or whoever he
fantasized her to be. This caused him to get careless, and with the publicity
of Stacia’s escape, Marcellini’s men knew the general area he was in and
tracked him down quickly and easily. The only extra thing they did was force a
confession out of him before they executed him mob-style.”

“And Marcellini,
what about him?”

“We’ll catch him
one day, but not this time. I want an iron-clad conviction – one that will last
his lifetime. But then again, maybe I won’t need to get him. These rival
families have a way of rubbing each other out.”

Ryan took a deep
breath and expelled it. “My sister’s safe now. That’s what matters to me.”

“This was a tough
case. It’s the first time I’ve ever encountered a stalker and hit man combined.
While I think of both of them as psychotic, they both have different M.O.’s. What
made Jordan so dangerous was we didn’t know what we were fighting against.”

“Well, justice was
served anyway.”

“Mind telling me,
Saunders, how you were involved in this killing?” He set his cigar in the
ashtray. “Did you put out a hit on Jordan?”