A Royal Spy

I really didn't know what category to post this in, I hope it's the right one. There isn't a lot o sex in this story, just the one scene. And I know the epilogue seems like the set up for another tale. Well, who knows?

******

I looked at my watch for the umpteenth time in the past ten minutes. Princess Emma was taking too much time. Although she was supposed to be inside the embassy room I was outside, the ladies lavatory, I knew she wasn't. And if she didn't reappear soon, other people, Security people, might begin to suspect something was up. Scratching my nose, I spoke into my wrist-mike.

" Princess, you need to be back here now."

"I am back. I just can't get this damn dress zipped up. Didn't I say it was the wrong choice?"

I smiled to myself for a moment, not listening to the tirade about men not realising how hard it is to do up a ballgown in a confined space. "Slip out now and I'll do it up for you. It's safe; no ones about." I said quietly. The door opened and a red-faced Princess Emma eased out. I grasped the zip and pulled it up, covering the all-over cat suit she wore beneath. Emma pulled the long gloves back on and the suit was gone from sight. "Did you get it done?" I whispered as I took her arm and escorted her back towards the party.

"No problem." She grinned, and passed a micro drive to me. "And our little bug is ready for activation any time soon."

"Keep it down will you? This is supposed to be a covert operation." I hushed her. The problem was, Emma was always as effervescent as this after a mission, not that there had been many so far. As I led her back to the reception I thought back to the events that had led us here.

***

I had become one of the royal protection squad after failing my physical re-evaluation as a secret agent. I had been badly injured on a mission, shot in the stomach and in the leg by my long-time nemesis, a man code-named 'Stardust'. The stomach wound had taken a long time to heal and the leg still wasn't as strong as it needed to be. I had been assigned to Princess Emma's detail as her personal bodyguard instead. I had tried to stay dispassionate but the princess's joy-de-vivre was infectious and I found myself talking to her more and more about my previous life. After bad weather forced us into a particularly long stopover somewhere, Emma became fascinated with the idea of being an agent. I told her it could never happen; there was no way she could go undercover for a start, there being literally thousands of pictures of her readily available. She just said that would make a perfect cover, as no one would believe she was a spy. I could see the sense in that, but talked it down. She looked so disappointed (a ploy I later discovered) that I offered to take her to our shooting range sometime. That was my first mistake. She badgered me until I gave in and arranged the visit.

On the shooting range Emma proved to be an excellent shot with both handgun and rifle, but a bit erratic with any sort of automatic weapon. After that, whenever I visited the range for my monthly assessment, Emma came too, 'to keep her eye in.' I had the feeling that she had some long term plan, but didn't know what.

Her next interest was unarmed combat. Once or twice a week the protection team met for a little training. Emma managed to get herself invited, and this time it wasn't my doing. She proved to have some natural talent in the art of self-defence. After that she began to look at our communications and other electrical devices. I had known she had an electronics degree, but didn't realise she had a natural aptitude for today's micro-electric devices. It had taken her six months, but Princess Emma had managed to get herself the basics of spy training.

Her next step was to forward a proposal to the intelligence gathering section of MI6, again without my knowledge, outlining the advantages she had as a princess in gaining entry to certain sensitive areas and asking if there some way she could aid them. MI6 called me back and asked if she was serious. I looked through the document Emma had sent them and couldn't fault her reasoning, so I reluctantly had to concede she was serious and she did have a point, she could gain access to some places quite easily. The only thing I insisted on if the plan went ahead was that I, as a former agent and her current bodyguard, was to be her handler.

***

That had been nearly a year ago. Emma and I had both received some more specific training for our new roles and then completed five or six easy missions to ease us in. Tonight had been our first operation on foreign soil but it had seemed to go well. Now all we had to do was get back to our embassy with the micro drive. As we returned to the reception I gave Princess Emma a little nudge.

"Your Highness, you seem a little flushed." This was true, she was still a little red around the cheeks. "May I suggest we reluctantly leave?" I was playing, almost over-playing, the conscientious bodyguard.

"I must say I do feel a little woozy. Perhaps I am a little jet-lagged?" Emma stumbled against me to emphasise the point. "Very well, call my car." The ambassador solicitously showed us out of the embassy to our car and we drove sedately away, leaving them none the wiser about our secret intrusion.

***

Emma sighed with relief as the car began its journey and relaxed a little, something I couldn't do until we were safely back in the confines of the embassy. She chattered away, unconcerned by now about my lack of response, knowing I was still on the lookout for trouble, my original appointment. We were about halfway back when I felt the hairs on the back of my neck rise.

"Renton," I spoke to the driver, "be ready."

"What's the matter?" Emma asked, sensing the change in my demeanour.

"Nothing concrete; just a feeling. Make sure your seat belt is done up princess."

As we passed an alleyway a blacked-out SUV shot out of it and rammed into our side just behind the front wheel, spinning us around and bouncing us off the wall of a building, leaving the car facing the SUV. Four men jumped out as another SUV pulled around it, another two men jumping from it. They were all armed. Renton and I pulled out our weapons in response.

"OUT! Princess, get out!" I shouted, just in time. The six assailants opened fire, spraying the car with bullets. She scrambled out on the side away from them and then I dove onto top of her as the bullets zinged over our heads. Renton unluckily had been on the wrong side of the car and succumbed to the hail of fire. "Move!" I said, rolling off Emma and firing blindly under the car at the legs of our attackers while at the same time pushing her towards the building. "Inside!" I shouted as she looked back at me, unsure what to do.

"What about you?"

"I'll follow." I said, popping up and bringing down one of the gunmen with a couple of shots. Emma had got into the building, an old office of some kind, and was waiting as I dove through the door after her.

"I wish I had a gun too." She shouted as several rounds pinged off the outside of the wall.

"It might have been an idea in retrospect." I grinned before firing again. The surviving gunmen, now more cautious, were all crouching around our wrecked vehicle. Suddenly it exploded, wiping them out.

Emma and I picked ourselves up and dusted ourselves down.

"Fuel tank?" Emma asked.

"I don't think so. I think Renton activated the self-destruct." I said sadly.

"But I saw him go down."

"So did I, but I still think it was him. Come on, let's go and have a look."

"I don't know as I want to see." Emma was looking a little sickly now.

"We need some answers princess." I said as kindly as I could.

"About what?"

"Were they after two spies or were they after one Princess?"

"Oh, I see. All right come on then."

We poked around the bodies of the gunmen, looking for clues.

"Emma, does this guy look familiar?" I asked, pointing at one of the corpses. She came over and had a quick look, turning away quickly; he was not a pretty sight.

"Wasn't he at the reception?" She replied, gulping down air.

"One of the staff I think." I agreed.

"That one over there has a remarkable similarity to our ambassador's equerry." She pointed. I trotted over and saw she was right.

"So what do we think princess?" I said.

"There seems to be some evidence of collusion," She replied, "but not who they were after."

"I agree. That means it may not be safe for us to return to the embassy." I was uneasy; this had the hallmark of Stardust on it, but why?

"So what will we do?"

"Well, first, I'd like you to find any guns and ammo you can. I have to make a report. And I have to remember the correct code words."

Emma set about her task as I scribbled a few notes on a piece of paper and then spoke to our man at the embassy by tweaking my comms system. I sent him the code words for 'man down', 'mission compromised' and 'going off grid'. The last thing I sent was 'implement plan active sigma gamma', a plan only a very few of us knew. I took off my comms and ground it under my heel. Emma came back and I did the same thing with hers too. She made no comment. The princess had found an assault rifle and a machine pistol undamaged in the explosion, with a reasonable amount of ammunition for both. I took the machine gun from her.

"Hey! I wanted that." She exclaimed.

"I'm sure you do, but I've seen you fire one, remember?" I grinned as her face fell. "That second SUV still running?" I added.

"I doubt it. Part of our cars engine is embedded in it."

"Then we walk." I shrugged and began to stride off away from the scene of carnage, Emma trotting to catch up.

"Slow down a bit will you? It's hard to walk quickly in this dress and these shoes." Her first complaint since we started.

"It is?" It hadn't occurred to me. "We'll have to do something about that then."

"This spy suit thing is becoming a bit warm too."

"Okay, okay." We were passing some houses now, one or two of which appeared to have no one home. "Come on then, over this wall." I crouched and held my hands together. Emma put her foot in them and I boosted her over the wall, scrambling up and over into the garden after her.

"Stealing doesn't seem right for a princess." She said uncomfortably as I picked the lock of the rear door.

"Needs must your highness." I grinned as I swung the door open. "Go and find some clothing that's more suitable while I gather up some supplies."

"What sort of supplies?" She asked, puzzled.

"Food and water, we're going to be on our own for at least two days. Now hurry up." She scampered off to look for something to wear. I looked around the kitchen. It was reasonably well appointed; the owners must have decent jobs. One of the first things I found was a set of car keys. I wondered if the car was in the garage and so picked them up. I found some bottled water and some energy bars, both perfect for my purpose, and then searched for some sort of holdall to carry it all in. I was about to give up when I spotted an old rucksack shoved to the back of one of the cupboards. I fished it out and began to put my ill-gotten bounty into it, wondering if the princess was going to be much longer. I saw a stack of envelopes and took the micro-drive out of my pocket and looked at it. I found a pen and wrote out the address of a drop box I'd used before on one of the envelopes, shoved the drive into it and sealed it. I franked it and stuffed it into my pocket. Hopefully we'd pass a post box. It was a desperate plan, but it might just work.

***

Emma reappeared wearing jeans and t-shirt with a pair of sneakers, carrying a bag with her dress and what she insisted on calling her 'spy suit' in it. In her other hand she was carrying an automatic pistol. She looked different but I couldn't put my finger on why.

"What's that for?" I asked, pointing at the gun.

"Well, you've got two guns, and I found this and thought it might be useful."

"I suppose we can always use an extra weapon." I sighed. "Will you be comfortable in those?" I indicated the clothes she had on.

"Comfortable enough. Couldn't find any underwear that would fit though." She grinned at the look of discomfort that crossed my face. I realised now what was different about her. Before she had looked like a princess, despite the spy suit under her ballgown, but now she looked like anyone else. And she still looked damned attractive too. I put that thought aside.

"You might need some sort of jacket, it'll get cold at night."

"Thought of that." She said and grabbed the denim jacket that had been hanging on the coat hooks by the back door. She slipped it on and then tucked the pistol into the waistband of her jeans before picking up the bag with her gear in it.

"We'll need to lose that somewhere." I said.

"We'll pass some sort of trash bin sometime soon." Emma smirked. For an amateur she often had some good ideas. "Come on, let's get walking."

"Let's see what's in the garage first." I said, dangling the keys and then walking to the door into the garage.

***

The car was almost perfect, nicely non-descript but capable of running away if necessary. We piled in and drove carefully out of the garage and were soon on our way, pausing only to drop the bag with the princess's clothes into a large refuse bin someway down the road.

"Are you going to let me in on your plan?" The princess asked after a while.

"We head toward the airport." I said.

"And catch a plane?"

"And find another car. Then we head for the coast."

"Why the coast?"

"Because in thirty six hours your tracking device will activate and the naval helicopter on board the frigate off-shore will be able to find you."

"You mean, 'find us'. And what tracking device? You smashed the only one I had, in the comms." She was genuinely puzzled.

"You have an emergency tracker implanted..." I sighed, not wishing to tell her where, but knowing she'd nag at me until she found out. " It's in your left arm. One of the injections you got before travelling wasn't an inoculation."

"But why?" She looked at me open mouthed.

"Because you are a Princess. Captured spies are usually left to fend for themselves; no rescue. But I wouldn't let that happen to you. So I devised an emergency plan with the rest of our team. If I implemented it, whoever heard the call sign would get to the frigate and turn on your tracker and then come and get you within thirty six hours." I couldn't look at Emma in the face while I told her this.

She went silent for a while, and then spoke again.

"You make it sound as if I'll be on my own when this rescue occurs."

"It may be that you are. If I have to, I'll stay behind to let you escape. It's my job remember? And if that time comes I want no arguments from you, promise?"

"I promise." She said, a little unenthusiastically.

***

The surroundings were changing; we had been driving through residential areas but they were giving way to the tourist zone around the airport. I slowed the car slightly and began to take an interest in what the shops were selling.

"What are you looking for?" Emma asked, noticing this. "You can't be looking for souvenirs."

"We need a map of the country." I told her, continuing my scan.

"Why? The car has a built-in sat-nav."

"Which won't be much use when we change cars."

"Good point." She went silent for a while, peering at the shops as we passed. She suddenly pointed. "Just here." I pulled up and Emma jumped out, snatched a map from a rack and hopped smartly back in. I sped away quickly. Emma was grinning hugely. "Just like 'Bonnie and Clyde'." She giggled.

"Let's hope not; they got killed at the end." I grinned back.

"And we don't want that do we?" She laughed out loud, seemingly oblivious to the hazards we might be facing. Her mood was infectious and I smiled as I concentrated on the driving. Then I caught sight of something in the rear-view mirror.

"SHIT!" I swore for the first time in the princess's presence.

"What is it?"

"A police car. And it appears to be interested in us. One of our crimes is coming back to haunt us."

"Could we stop and try and bluff it out?"

"In a stolen car? Not really."

"Didn't think so." She paused. "What then?"

"Tighten your seatbelt, I'm going to lose them."

"Can you do that?"

"Let's find out."

I jerked the wheel savagely to one side, and threw the car down a side street, my foot to the floor. The tyres squealed in protest as I made a second high speed turn into a back alley. Emma peered around behind at our pursuers.

"I think it's working, they're losing ground."

My only response was a grunt of acknowledgement. I made several more sharp turns and we lost sight of the following police car. I slowed down again, now looking for somewhere to dump this car and for a replacement.

***

We left the car in a side street full of warehouses between two waste containers with the keys in the ignition.

"Why?" Princess Emma asked.

"Hopefully someone else will steal it and muddy our trail." I told her.

"Oh, I see." She didn't sound convinced. "What do we do now?" She asked.

"We take a look in some of these surrounding buildings. With any luck we should be able to find another vehicle of some sort." I replied.

It took us about half an hour and five of the buildings before we found what I was looking for; a battered-looking pick-up with the keys behind the sun visor.

"Perfect!" I clapped my hands. "An old workhorse nobody will look twice at."

"If you say so." Emma seemed dubious; it wasn't the sort of thing she'd travelled in. "Won't it be missed though?"

"Not until tomorrow from the look of things."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because it's now late afternoon and the place has the air of somewhere that work has finished for the day." I explained.

Emma looked around, taking in the way everything looked as if it had been tidied away.

"I see what you mean. I should have spotted that. Sorry."

"You saw what I meant quickly enough. Impressive for someone who's never done any manual labour."

"I wouldn't have thought a secret agent did a lot of manual labour either." She grinned.

"An undercover agent has to work in all sorts of places as part of their cover." I laughed. "And I meant what I said as a compliment, not an accusation."

"Sorry." She laughed back. "Again."

***

We had got out of he city and were heading along the highway towards the coast. Princess Emma chattered away, more or less to herself, as I was concentrating on not drawing attention to us. After a while she fell silent and I looked across to check she was okay; she was in fact sleeping. 'Good', I thought, ' she needs the rest'. Frankly I needed sleep sometime soon as well, but I wouldn't pull over for two reasons: Time and distance. We needed them both. There was a third reason; I felt that one of us should be awake at all times, on the alert, so I carried on driving.

An hour later and I found myself starting to nod off so I gave in to the inevitable and pulled into a rest stop. The place was already packed with lorries, vans and cars but I managed to find somewhere to park. I turned off the engine and slid over towards Emma, laying her head on my shoulder. Our proximity would provide her with some warmth through what was left of the night. Despite my misgivings, I knew I couldn't keep going and needed some sleep, at least a couple of hours. I dropped off within minutes.

***

When I awoke it was still dark, so I hadn't slept for more than a couple of hours, and I found that Princess Emma had changed her position. She was now snuggled up across my chest; and my hand was resting on her butt! I quickly pulled it away and then tried to extricate myself from her embrace without disturbing her. This worked for all of five seconds. Emma sat up and yawned, her eyes as bright as ever. She smiled.