Free thebodyguardsprincess M47 annmayburn 2 by Ann Mayburn Page A

Jerry shot Asher an apologetic look. "And I'm your life preserver, so start talking, boys."
    The men explained all that had happened while Lalita sat between them and rubbed her fingers against the edges of her shorts. After a demonstration of her hypnotic state, Mr. Jerry had turned deadly serious and began asking pointed questions.
    Her mind whirled between what they were telling Mr. Jerry and what Mr. Jerry had said about the men. Her father wouldn't hire criminals to guard her. What the hell had happened that would get them kicked out?
    Mrs. Jerry came into the room at the end of the conversation and sat on a battered leather chair. An older woman with dyed bright red hair, she still had lovely faded blue eyes that matched her thick robe.
    Holding up his hand to stop Asher, Mr. Jerry locked his eyes on his wife. "Willa, what did you do?"
    She twitched on the chair and gave Lalita an agonized look. "Jerry, we have to get them out of here."
    "Damnation!" Mr. Jerry began to swear up a storm. "I told you not to call the police!"
    "What?" Kent and Asher hauled her off the couch.
    "I'm so sorry!" Mrs. Jerry wailed. "I heard you ask them why they brought a terrorist to our home. I thought you were in trouble--that your past had finally caught up to us."
    Lalita's heart pounded in her chest and she felt sick. It was happening just like she thought. There was no place left on earth where she would be safe. Even Asher's arm supporting her didn't bring her any comfort.
    Swearing in several languages, Mr. Jerry rolled over to the far wall and lifted a picture of President Regan giving him a high-five. Pressing on the wood paneling, he popped a hidden latch and opened the electronic safe inside.
    "Kent, Asher, please forgive me." Mrs. Jerry helped her husband sort through the safe.
    "How long do we have?" Kent rumbled out and twitched aside the curtain, looking out into the yard.
    "Fifteen minutes, tops. We're pretty far from the closest sheriff's office, but there might be a state officer cruising the freeway," Mr. Jerry said in a brisk voice. He tossed a map and a small notebook to Asher. "Directions and disarming instructions for our compound."
    Ken barked out a laugh. "You finally built it?" He looked over Asher's shoulder at the map.
    "You betcha. Look at that lot of hot-headed happy crappy assholes in power."
    Mrs. Jerry placed a kiss on both men's cheeks. "I'll make this right, I promise."
    "Head north out of here and follow the directions on the map. Whatever you do, don't fuck up on the disarming or it'll take forever to clean the splatter of your bodies off the ceiling." He turned to Lalita and patted her hand. "I'll find a way to get in touch with your daddy and let him know what's going on. In the meantime, try to find out what your trigger word is and break down those barriers. The hypnotic state one should be easy, but the suggestion is going to be a royal bastard to get rid of. You know something important, or they wouldn't be losing their cool trying to kill you in public."
    With those words of comfort ringing in her ears, she found herself alone in the back of the SUV, barreling down the country road with their lights off. Spinning in her seat, she watched a series of headlights race down the hill in the distance and head toward Mr. Jerry's house. "Where are we going?"
    The SUV lurched as the road turned from pavement to dirt. In the front seat, Kent cupped his hand over a penlight and read the map to Asher.
    Kent clicked off the light and gripped the dash as they hit a huge hole. "Mr. Jerry has a thing about the end of the world. We're going to his survivalist bunker in the Appalachian Mountains."
    "Great," she said in a faint voice and barely avoided amputating the tip of her tongue as the SUV rocked and rolled through the countryside.

Chapter Six
     
    The bing from the car doors being opened mixed with birds singing as they piled out of the SUV. Lalita groaned and rubbed her lower back, taking a deep breath of the