Chapter 1
The pretty young woman was walking wearily down the hotel hallway a security detail both leading the way and trailing behind her. Her ball gown felt like it weighed a ton and her tiara was digging into her scalp giving her a headache. A heavy sigh emitted from her lips as they approached the door of her suite. The door opened from within just as she reached the portal. She gratefully walked through the door as the guards remained outside.
"Long night, my dear?" the older yet still attractive woman asked as she saw the wilting young woman walk in.
"The longest. The French ambassador was at his most verbose." She said as she plopped inelegantly onto the couch.
"Oh no, you don't young lady. Stand up before you crease that gown any more than it already is. Let's get you changed and you'll feel much better." The young woman was pulled upright and led into the bedroom of the suite.
She reached up and pulled the tiara from her head and dropped it carelessly on the bed. The combs that had secured it left her hair in disarray, pulling the short strands straight up in several areas. The older woman just rolled her eyes affectionately and helped the young woman to disrobe.
A few short minutes later, the young woman was swathed in a comfortable night gown and tucked snuggly in her bed. With her face washed she looked younger than her 18 years.
"Get some sleep, I'll see you in the morning." The older woman said as she turned off the light and closed the door as she exited.
xoxo
As the young woman finished her breakfast the next morning, the same woman from the night before walked in and said, "If you are done, let's go down to the park for a walk. I have a need for some fresh air."
Her first inclination was to decline as it was mid-March and quite chilly, but when she saw the urgent look on the older woman's face she silently got up and said, "Fresh air sounds just lovely."
Once away from the hotel and with only one well trusted bodyguard within hearing distance, the two women stopped and sat on a park bench. "It has happened."
"Oh, no. Is everyone…..?" She couldn't finish.
"Your father is alive, but there was a shot fired before the guards were able to get him to safety. He is recovering with your mother right beside him."
"Oh, Aunt Cat. Are you certain he is alright?"
"Yes, Genny. He will be fine." Cat gave her a reassuring smile. "But, we must now think of protecting you. The next step of their planned takeover is to marry you to Rupert's nephew."
Princess Genevieve and her mother's sister Catherine hugged tightly but quickly. Ever since Cat's sister had married the crown prince who later became king, Cat had been her lady in waiting. Then after Genny was born, she had been her nanny. As Genny outgrew a nanny, Cat had become her secretary and traveling companion. They had been together all 18 years of the Princess's life and were as close as two relatives could be. Cat would do anything to protect her niece and Genny would do anything her favorite Aunt asked of her.
"What did you and Henri come up with as a plan?" Genny asked. Henri was Cat's husband and also Genny's head of security. The same trusted guard who was the only person within hearing distance.
"You cannot possibly marry Rupert's nephew if you are pregnant with someone else's child." Cat smiled serenely at her niece.
"But Cat, I'm not……ah, sorry, I am a little tired from last night yet. Who is the lucky father?" Genny smiled back.
"There is only one possibility young lady. This has to be at least possible, right?" Cat reminded her.
"Yes, that's true." Genny still waited for the answer.
"How does Genny Partridge sound?" Cat smiled.
"Oh, Cat. How can I do that to poor Keith?" Genny finally realized that not only was her life being turned upside down, but a boy that she had really come to love in such a short time of having known him could also have his life altered drastically.
"Well, hopefully you won't actually have to. We will just tell your Uncle that you are pregnant. The hope is that he is uncovered long before anything needs to be done and young Mr. Partridge will never be aware that you temporarily used his name for protection." Cat pointed out.
Genny reflected on her short history with Keith Partridge and could only hope that he was not hurt by her having to use him for this short period of time. He'd been so good to her, doing everything she'd asked of him to give her the feeling of being a normal girl if only for one short date. It hadn't worked the way they'd hoped, but she had gotten to kiss him and spend one more relatively short date with him the night of the Family's performance. After Keith's Mother had shamed the diplomats into giving them the opportunity to spend time alone together, she and Keith had been allowed to spend several hours in her hotel suite with just Cat as a chaperone in the next room. It had been wonderful and relatively innocent, but she would have to rewrite history in her favor to help protect her father's life from an overthrow attempt by her father's half-brother.
"Please forgive me, Keith." She whispered to herself as she headed back to the hotel with her aunt.
xoxo
It was April 1st, 11 days before Keith Partridge's 18th birthday. His friends, with Laurie's help, had planned a surprise party at the taco stand. He was going to be out of town with his family performing in Vegas over spring break and his birthday would take place during that week, so they'd had to compromise and plan it early. They would have chosen the 31st of March, but that was their Mother's birthday and plans had already been made to celebrate that event long in advance. Eventually it was decided that it was the only weekend that he'd be around until after his birthday and you couldn't celebrate someone's 18th after the fact. He would be on guard considering it was April Fools Day, but they'd had no choice. It was decided that Laurie would be the one to bring Keith to the taco stand. Keith was laying low for the day as Buzz had promised to get him back for last year's trick. It had gone down as the best prank ever in San Pueblo High history.
Keith had charmed Buzz's girlfriend, who was mad at Buzz for spending more time with his car than her, into giving him Buzz's locker combination. On Friday, April 1st, Keith had snuck out of study hall, gotten Buzz's car keys out of his locker, moved his brand new Mustang behind a van on the opposite side of the parking lot where it couldn't be easily seen, returned the keys to the locker and snuck back into the library. When school let out, Keith and his buddies all took up prime viewing spots to watch Buzz's reaction. It had been classic! He had completely panicked. He'd run back into the building, called the police and pulled the principal into the parking lot to witness the fact that his car had been stolen. Once the police arrived, he'd positively begged them to find it and the truth had come out that it wasn't really Buzz's car but his father's. He'd been secretively borrowing it while his dad was out of town on business and he was going to be in real trouble when he got home if someone had stolen it. Those who had ventured closer reported to Keith and his friends that Buzz might actually have been crying. Before things got too out of hand, the plan had been for Buzz's girlfriend to 'find' the car hidden behind the van. Right on cue, Tina walked up and asked what all the fuss was about. When she was told that his car was stolen she pointed it out to the cops and made it seem like Buzz had just forgotten where he'd parked that morning.
The plan was brilliant and had worked perfectly. Keith had sworn all of his friends to secrecy and had hoped that Buzz would never find out it had been he who had gotten him but good. Unfortunately Tina had ended up giving up the identity of Buzz's tormentor by throwing it in his face. Telling him that Keith was a much better kisser and that was why she'd given up Buzz's locker number so easily. Not only had she thrown it in Buzz's face, but she'd done it in front of a very large group of Buzz's friends. Poor Buzz had been completely humiliated and now, knowing the ring leader, he had sworn to get back at Keith the next year, thus Keith's plan to avoid everyone. But given the Family's schedule, the party just had to be scheduled for the 1st and Laurie would have to figure out a way to get him there. If Laurie was unsuccessful, it would be the first surprise birthday party at which the honoree was not in attendance.
Keith was up in his room trying to work out the arrangement of a new song he'd recently written. He was not having much success. Maybe a change of scenery would help. He'd purposely not made plans or a date for this day because he wanted to avoid any opportunity for Buzz to pay him back for last year's prank. One lonely night was definitely not too much to pay for not being the butt of this year's joke. It was San Pueblo tradition that one really good prank a year would be done. But it absolutely positively had to be on April Fool's Day and not a day before or a day after. So, 24 hours of loneliness was preferable to the alternative. So, he headed downstairs, guitar in hand.
Even with all of Keith's best laid plans of avoiding everyone outside of his family, he'd still been nervous all day expecting someone to jump out of any possible hiding place and get him but good. His nervousness had transferred to his Mother who had accidentally surprised him several times that day just by being somewhere he hadn't expected to find her. She'd suggested he get out of the house for a while, but he'd firmly declined. No way, no how was he opening himself up to the opportunity to get fooled.
Minutes after moving downstairs, Keith was vehemently replying, 'No way' to his Mom's request to drive Laurie to the taco stand.
"Why not?" Shirley was surprised by his refusal. He rarely refused any request from her.
"I am not setting foot outside of this house until midnight at the earliest." Keith replied and plopped down on the sofa as if he planned to stay there for quite some time.
"Keith, I need to get ready for my date and Laurie's date can't pick her up. He asked her to meet him at the taco stand. She needs a ride. Take her, please." Shirley tried again.
"She can walk." Keith stayed firm.
Shirley looked at her eldest totally flabbergasted by his denial. "Keith, she is dressed up for a date. She is not going to walk. Take her!"
"Mom, I told you, I'm not leaving this house until this date is history. It's a matter of life or death. Mine." Keith was sure that was a little over dramatic, but he was hoping that would put an end to the argument.
"Keith, I don't have any more time for arguing. Get up off that couch and drive your sister to the taco stand……now!" She added when Keith did not move immediately.
"Fine, but she better be prepared to jump out of the car while it's still moving." Keith said as he got up and went to the kitchen to retrieve the keys.
Shirley and Laurie winked at each other as soon as his back was turned.
"Well, come on. If I'm braving the world tonight I'm getting it over with." Keith said as he marched to the front door and held it open waiting for his sister.
Laurie hugged her mom and whispered, "Thanks Mom. I'd never have talked him into it myself."
"I wasn't sure he was going to do it for me either." Shirley admitted before she waved her kids out of the door.
xoxo
"Keith, for pete's sake. You can't run Gordy over." Laurie said as Keith was yelling out the window telling Gordy to step away from the car.
"Watch me." Keith said as he let the car roll forward another couple of feet now almost touching Gordy's legs.
"Keith, look." Laurie gestured towards the taco stand.
"At what?" Keith said without taking his eyes from Gordy.
"The sign, you…..." Laurie stopped herself just before losing all patience.
That brought Keith's attention away from speeding off and he finally noticed the crowd of people under a sign that read 'Happy 18th Birthday, Keith!"
"Oh." Was all Keith could get out. He was stunned.
"Now, pull the car into a parking space and let's join your party." Laurie suggested.
"This is not going to end well." Keith muttered but did as Laurie suggested.
"Geez, Partridge. I thought you were going to end my football career for sure." Gordy said as he pulled the door open on Keith's side of the car.
"You don't play football, Gordy." Keith reminded him.
"Well, if I did, you would have." Gordy finished lamely.
"Come on. You've totally ruined the surprise let's not ruin the rest of the fun by sitting in the car all night." Laurie said as she got out to join the large group of kids waiting for the man of the hour.
"I am so going to regret this." Keith said again as he finally got out of the car to join the well wishers.
xoxo
Keith really was trying to have a good time. No matter how hard he tried to relax, he was as tense as could be. He couldn't help feeling that every present he opened held a ticking bomb. Or that every person who walked up to him was going to throw a pie in his face. So it was no surprise that he almost jumped out of his skin when Laurie tapped him on the shoulder.
"Geez, Laurie. Why'd you have to sneak up on me like that?" Keith asked trying to still his wildly beating heart.
"Sorry." Laurie said looking not in the least apologetic. "I'm gonna catch a ride home with Sally. I forgot to ask Mom for an extra hour so that I could just go home with you. But Sally's curfew is the same as mine so we're gonna head out."
"Alright, hey does that mean it's almost midnight?" Keith asked finally seeing an end to his torment.
"That it does. Have fun! See you in the morning and Happy almost Birthday brother dear." Laurie said as she gave him a quick hug. Laurie's friend Sally took the opportunity to wish Keith happy birthday too and who could fault her when she pulled him into a quick hug herself.
"Thanks, both of you. Goodnight." Keith said as he watched them walk away.
"Alright Partridge, now that the sister is gone, let's have some fun!" Gordy walked up and swung Keith back into the middle of their friends. Keith, who thought he had escaped the day without Buzz being able to get back at him was finally starting to relax and have a good time.
Not five minutes after Laurie left but still a good 15 minutes before midnight, a San Pueblo police car pulled into the parking lot followed by a dark sedan with no markings. The group celebrating Keith's birthday didn't even notice it.
Two officers exited the cruiser and walked back to the driver side window of the other vehicle. A man from inside the car instructed them to, 'bring the Partridge kid over here. We'd rather not make this too public."
The two officers shared a look that said they still weren't sure what to make of this whole thing but had been instructed to work with the men in the vehicle. They walked up to the loud group of kids and made their way towards Keith. The crowd started to quiet down as one by one they noticed the officers. Keith was opening one last 'present' from his buddies. They had gone off to the side for the presentation as it was girlie magazines that Gordy's older brother had compiled as a special treat for Keith's birthday. They were the last ones to realize the police were in their midst but quickly shoved the magazines back in their wrapping once they did.
"Um…..hi, Officer Mulvaney, Officer Metscur." Keith greeted them. He had become quite familiar with most of the police officers through their frequent appearances around the city that required police protection.
"Keith." Officer Mulvaney returned. "What have we here?"
"Oh, nothing really. Just a little pre-birthday celebration." Keith answered.
"Ah…I see. Well, keep those hidden would you please? There are ladies present, you know." Officer Mulvaney pointed out.
"Right. No problem." Keith answered. "What brings you here?"
"Could you come with us for a minute Keith?" Officer Metscur finally spoke.
"Why?" Keith asked puzzled. "Did something happen to my Mom or Laurie?" Keith suddenly had a sinking feeling in his stomach. Had Laurie had an accident on her way home?
"No, No. Everyone in your family is fine." Officer Metscur quickly reassured Keith. "We just need to talk to you for a few minutes."
"Ok, sure." Keith answered. "Gordy, could you, I don't know, go put these in the car or something?"
Gordy gathered the magazines and watched Keith walk away with the two officers. In fact, the whole group of kids stood around quietly and watched the scene unfolding in front of them.
As Keith walked he started to get a really funny feeling about this whole thing. Did Buzz have an in with the police department? Could this whole thing be an April Fools joke? It would be pretty elaborate, but it would have had to have been to get him. He'd been too on guard for something simple. The closer he got to the cruiser, the more he was sure this was a prank. He knew he hadn't done anything to get himself in trouble. Alright, he'd play along, but he sure wasn't going to be an easy target either.
Two men in dark suits got out of the sedan as Keith approached with the two officers. "This is him?" they asked.
"Yes, this is Keith Partridge." Officer Metscur assured them.
"What's this all about?" Keith asked again. These two guys were strangers to him and could easily be just about anybody. They could certainly be someone that Buzz had gotten to set him up.
"Officers, could you please give us a moment?" The taller of the two asked.
"I suppose so. We'll just be over there." Officer Mulvaney said as they went to stand over by their squad car.
"Mr. Partridge we need you to come with us." The taller of the two appeared to be the ring leader as so far he had done all of the talking.
"I'm not going anywhere with you. I don't even know who you are." Keith reminded him.
"We work with the State Department. I'm Special Agent Hicks and this is Special Agent Jones." He patiently explained.
Unfortunately for the agents, their story sounded completely hokey to Keith who was now almost positive this was an April Fools joke. "Right, and I'm Mick Jagger. Come on guys, get serious. Do you really expect me to fall for that one? Where's Buzz? Is he in the bushes with a camera?"
"Excuse me?" The shorter of the two, Agent Jones, was not amused by Keith's comments.
"Oh come on. You're actors right?" Keith continued and was very close to laughing in their faces.
"We're what? Listen, young man, you need to come with us right now." Agent Hicks tried again.
"Forget it. Not only do you two make the worst agents in acting history, but besides that it has to be after midnight by now. This whole thing needed to take place on the first. One minute after and it's not within the rules of the game." Keith reminded them.
The two agents traded confused looks and were starting to get very frustrated. "Look kid, Agent Jones is not known for his patience. Quit kidding around and get in the car." Agent Hicks tried one more time.
"Make me." Keith goaded.
This was the final straw for Agent Jones notoriously short fuse, "My pleasure." The next thing Keith knew he was spun around with his left arm forced up into the middle of his back so forcefully that he was propelled doubled over onto the hood of their car. His shoulder muscles were screaming in protest. A scant second later, he felt a handcuff lock tightly around his wrist and before he could even think about grunting in pain, his other wrist was locked firmly next to the first.
"Hey, what's going on?" That from officer Mulvaney who was not about to let one of the locals be mistreated by these out of towners.
"We're taking him in." Agent Jones said as he pressed down on Keith's back keeping him bent over the vehicle.
"For what?" Officer Mulvaney continued approaching his hand on his pistol.
"We can't divulge that to you."
"Why not?"
"You don't have proper clearance."
This whole conversation took place in front of Keith's stunned friends while Keith tried vainly to regain his equilibrium enough to process what was going on. "Step back" was said just as Keith was pulled upright by his locked wrists making him wince with pain from both his sore shoulder and his now throbbing wrists and numb hands.
Agent Jones had gone well past angry at this point. If his superior had been present he may have well lost his job. He'd been warned about his temper and the outcomes in the past, but up to now he'd only been written up. His partner noticed Keith's friends finally getting over their shock and starting to head their way in hopes of assisting their friend. They too were sure this was Buzz's idea of an April Fools joke and were no longer amused.
"Let's get out of here Jones before that crowd gets here." Hicks nodded his head toward the advancing group of teenagers.
"Come on punk." Jones propelled Keith roughly toward the back of the car, opened the door and shoved Keith toward the opening. In his haste, he did not make sure that Keith was in the proper position to enter the car and Keith had next to no control as his balance was off due to the agent's rough treatment and his inability to protect himself with his hands. The next thing Keith saw coming was the door frame of the car but he could do nothing to stop it. The impact between the frame of the car and Keith's face just above his right eye was quite loud. The results were instantaneous too. Blood gushed from the gash that opened just above Keith's eyebrow and the crowd, seeing this latest indignity picked up speed.
Jones pushed Keith in a second time, but made sure he was low enough this time before following him into the back seat. Hicks jumped in the front, put the car in reverse and whipped out of the parking lot. The two police officers also jumped in their car, but were now impeded by the crowd of teenagers who just missed the agent's car but now surrounded the police cruiser. By the time the officers were able to pull away, they had no idea where the agents' car had gone. There weren't even tail lights visible in the darkness. All they could do was radio headquarters and await instructions.