Chapter 207: Flaminia’s Story

Saturday, July 10, 1971

It was decided that Princess Grace and Caroline would spend the night in Anna and Luisa’s room. Fortunately, the princess’s assistant, Brigit, had been able to comb through the rubble of the Imperial Suite and bring both royals what they would need for the night. Meanwhile, the hotel management had quickly boarded up the two shattered windows, and then sealed the room. Decisions on where to locate everything else were put off until tomorrow.

It was early morning now, and still there was activity on the streets below me. I was standing in front of the floor to ceiling windows in the sitting room, staring out at the awakening Manhattan skyline and scanning about every ten minutes.

Ileana and I had talked to the rest of our family and assured them that all was well, before Ileana finally went to bed, as had both of the other princesses. Agent Rivera was at the desk in the corner busily making notes for her report. I could tell that she was desperately trying to figure out how to tell what happened without actually lying.

I looked at Anna and smiled. “You okay?

“Yeah, just a little tired. It was pretty hectic there for a few minutes,” she sighed.

“The babies?”

“I’m sure they’re just fine, Michael,” she replied.

“I was worried when you took off after those last two guys. I should have put my shield around you but I just didn’t think of it at the time.”

“Don’t let it worry you. We’ll talk about all the things that happened and what we could have done differently in the debriefing. That way, you’ll be ready if it ever happens again,” Anna explained.

“The debriefing?”

“Yeah. And I’d like to include Kip and Karla too, so we’ll probably have to wait until tomorrow to do it. I guess it’s a good thing you can just replay it for them, huh?”

We were both quiet for a while, each of us lost in our own thoughts.

“What do you think of Miss Rivera over there?” I thought to Anna.

Anna just looked at me for a moment and then her face broke out in a smile.

“J. Edgar is gonna get a little upset if you keep hiring away his top female agents,” Anna thought back with a giggle. “But I did hear Penny say that she was looking for more female operatives.”

“You think she’d want to come to work for me?” I thought to her. “And do you think she’d fit in?”

“I’m not sure if she would leave the bureau just yet. She hasn’t been there long enough to hit the glass ceiling. But, as for fitting in, I think she’d fit in just fine.

“Well, based on how she did tonight, I certainly think she’s qualified!” I said.

Anna looked from me to Luisa and back to me, arching her eyebrows as she finally figured out what I was up to.

“You’re TRYING to see if she can overhear your thoughts, aren’t you?” she asked.

I just looked at her and grinned.

“I hope that our children are as smart as their mother,” I replied aloud. “And that they have their mom’s looks too!”

The chaos of getting three princesses and two other women ready to visit the UN was not strange to me. Heck, it was just about the everyday norm of my new life. As Anna, Luisa, and the three princesses, along with an entire royal retinue of assistants scurried in and out of the suite.

I wisely elected to stay out of the fray, just sitting there and contenting myself with connecting to Candy and Sunny out at Seven Oaks.

“I miss you, Michael,” Candy told me.

“Yeah. I miss you too, Daddy,” Sunny told me. “When are you coming home?”

“Soon, Sweetheart. Soon.” I told her.

“Did you talk to your big knife yet?” she asked me.

There had been much more to our conversation, but her question stayed with me and as soon as I let them go, I headed for the bedroom to retrieve my “big knife”. After that, I simply sat on the small loveseat in the sitting room as the chaos around me only seemed to intensify.

“Sorry about all the people coming in and out of your suite,” Princess Grace said as she passed by once.

“Can I get you anything?” Ileana asked later. But she was in such a hurry, she didn’t even notice when I didn’t reply.

Finally, I engaged my heavy-duty shield to block out all the distractions. Funny, but none of the others even noticed when I just disappeared. Once my shield was in place, I simply relaxed as the old ones had taught me and focused on the sword.

I wasn’t sure what to expect. The sword had not come with a users’ manual, so I was truly winging it. But I trusted Sunny when she said that the sword was trying to talk to me. I decided to see what would happen if I just listened.

Nothing happened at first. So I decided to increase the power of my focus some more, and began to chant my now familiar mantra...