A/N- Happy Fourth everybody! To celebrate this country's birthday, I decided to give ya'll another chapter. And you guys are way too smart for your own good. Either that or you watch too many cop shows like me. Starts with Michael's POV and switches once.
Chapter 9
Hans drove me back to the Plaza as fast as legally possible. When I burst through the door, everyone was crowded around Laurel's laptop. "Heading east," She reported.
"It's still moving?" I asked as I approached the group.
"Yes. Approximately thirty minutes now."
I looked at the digital map on the computer and watched the little red dot maneuver its way on the streets. Then a picture of Mia beaten and bloody popped in my mind and I shivered.
"What's wrong, Michael?" Ms. Thermopolis asked.
"I saw Mia," I said quietly.
"You saw my baby?" She asked quietly. Now I had the ears of everyone in the room.
"Yeah."
"How was she."
I hesitated. How can I explain this to her mother? "She…"
"Yes?"
"She…didn't look too good," My voice cracked. "She didn't look too good at all."
I didn't need to say anything else. Everyone got it.
The room was uncomfortably quiet, as unspoken speculations of Mia's current condition ran through the minds of everyone who was close to her. The severity of the situation had finally reached even Clarisse, who was sitting in a chair with a grim expression, refusing to talk to anyone.
Four hours passed in silence. I couldn't sit still anymore and I went back to my bad habit of pacing. Finally, there was a soft, "Wait…" from Laurel as she brought her face closer to the laptop screen. "He's finally stopped moving."
"Where?" Maloney asked, pulling out a piece of paper.
"Hold on," She said as she typed something. "He's in Stanford, Connecticut. 1202 Lanbar Street."
"Alright," He said. "We'll take the helicopter."
"I'm going with you!" Ms. Thermopolis cried.
"NO," Half the room replied.
Suddenly the phone rang. Immediately the FBI agents got into place as Maloney slipped on his headphones. Philippe picked up the phone and said tentatively, "Hello?"
"You know what's really funny about tracking devices, Your Highness?" The same raspy voice from before asked softly. "They blink bright red."
I heard Philippe gulp. "What?"
"I knew you'd try to pull a pathetic trick like that on me," He said. "So I pulled a little trick of my own. You've been monitoring an eighteen-wheeler for the past four hours."
"Goddamn it," I heard Maloney whisper angrily. Laurel looked at her computer sadly and turned the tracking device off remotely with her computer.
"I'll always be one step ahead of you," He whispered tauntingly. "Did you read the note?"
"What note?"
"The note that was given to the messenger," The voice said angrily. A small wail came from the background. "Tough guy should have given it to you."
I mentally smacked my head as I pulled out the closed envelope from my trench coat pocket and handed it to him. "Yeah, I got the note."
"Do what it says." And with a click he was gone.
Philippe ripped open the envelope and unfolded the letter inside. "It's a speech." He said quietly. "It's the apology that I have to make to the Monacoan government." He skipped the next page and read the footnote at the bottom. "'Every word must be said exactly as it was written.'"
Clarisse shocked everyone by getting up and reading the letter carefully. After several minutes she looked up and said in a sharp voice, "You will not under any circumstances say this in public."
"But Clarisse! My daughter is in danger!" Ms. Thermopolis cried out.
"Nevertheless, Philippe has a duty to his country. He cannot disgrace it by saying that the Monacoan government is superior to Genovia, it would cause public outrage!"
"I can't believe you!" Ms. Thermopolis screeched. "You care more about that stupid principality than you do for your own granddaughter!"
"Don't you EVER accuse me of not caring for Mia!" Clarisse roared. "I care for that girl more than you know!"
"You sure have a funny way of showing it."
"SHUT UP!"
We all glanced in shock at the currently red dowager princess. She had never uttered those two words in her life, insisting that it was a vulgar phrase, only exchanged among commoners and lesser people of society.
She took a deep breath and said in a shaky voice, "I love Mia. She is my only granddaughter. I am harsh because she is the only one left to the throne of Genovia.
"But when someone gets in the way of the two things that I love the most and makes me decide between them, what choice do I have? I will always choose Genovia. Genovia gave me a home, she gave me a life, a love, and hope. Who can I choose? One person whom I love, or fifty thousand people I love?"
I watched Clarisse closely. The words seemed to pour out of her heart instead of her head. The corners of her tattooed eyes were glistening with unshed tears, and her mouth was quivering with emotion.
The room sat in a heavy silence. Then Ms. Thermopolis asked huskily, "What will we do, then?"
"Hold a small press conference," Laurel said quietly. "A very small press conference. This guy said you had to make it public. He never said how public."
Suddenly, a thought came to my mind. "My sister has a cable access show in London. Not many people watch it, maximum twelve people, including her stalker."
Maloney nodded. "Invite some of the other smaller news shows. News shows that people don't watch."
We all turned to Clarisse to see if she approved. She thought carefully for a few minutes, then nodded slowly.
Philippe turned to Laurel. "Can you send an e-mail to some of the smaller shows and tell them that there's a press conference tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow?" She asked as her eyed widened.
"Yes. That way there's less time to let the news leak out."
I woke up only to find myself bound to the same chair I was bound to earlier. It seemed like every part of my body seemed to ache, right down to my toes. I looked up, only able to see out of my right eye. "Morning princess," That voice I had grown to fear whispered. "Did you sleep well?"
I didn't say anything. I just looked down.
"Oh, by the way, princess. I would like for you to see this."
He turned on the television and brought it closer to me. Sitting in the middle of a long table was my father and on his left was Grandmère. Dad was looking intently at a piece of paper and brought the microphone closer to his face. "I'm glad that you were able to make it here today. Dowager Princess Clarisse Renaldo and I have an announcement to make."
He cleared his throat and looked at the microphone. "I wish to apologize for the terrible slander that the Monacoan royal family has suffered at the hands of our own. In truth," (by now, father's teeth were clenched, as if this were torturous pain) "we were envious of their obviously superior government. And their princess' obvious beauty, so much more compared to my—"
That's when he lost it. "I'm NOT SAYING THIS!" He screamed into the camera. "You, Civilian, if you're watching this, you BETTER AS HELL LEAVE MY DAUGHTER ALONE! I WILL FIND YOU AND WHEN I DO, I WILL KILL YOU!"
My captor switched off the TV angrily and turned to me. "We can't have this, can we?" He asked dangerously as he pulled out a syringe.
Dear Prince Philippe,
I must say, that wasn't the cleverest move you've pulled. If you can't apologize to the Monacoan government, I know you can't denounce your daughter's claim to the Genovian throne. So your daughter's going to run into some…misfortune.
However, you might be able to save her. I injected her with a delayed reaction poison. In other words, it takes three days to for the poison to fully spread in the bloodstream and stop her heart. I'm giving you three days to find her.
First clue: it's not poison, but it is to her. Largest institution of its kind.
Remember…three days.
Yours truly,
The Civilian
A/N- AAAAHH! SHORTNESS! I'm sorry I couldn't make it any longer, but I just knew when I wrote it that this was the place to stop. I can't promise that the next chapter is gonna be longer, but the next few chapters are going to be all Michael's POV. Seeing as Mia's poisoned...she can't exactly give her version of events or anything.
Please review! Mia might die if you don't.