The Princess and Her Mercenary: A Driven Hearts Novella

by Nikita Slater

  “Can’t talk right now, Princess,” Keane said chidingly. “Plenty of time once we get outta here.”

  “But…!”

  A quartet of guards came hurtling down the hall toward Keane and Ndari. Keane shoved Ndari behind him and lifted his weapon, aiming at windows, shattering them and drawing the guard’s attention as they lunged in different directions trying to escape the bullets that weren’t being aimed at them.

  “Amateurs,” Keane muttered.

  Normally he’d be shooting at the guards and taking pride in a growing body count, but he remembered Ndari telling him that some of the palace guards were cousins and figured she might be a wee bit upset if he killed them. It was a wrench to his ego, but he could manage one operation without murdering someone. He hoped.

  He picked Ndari up by the waist and tucked her into his side, retracing his steps. Feathers flew everywhere, some of them into his mouth. He spat them out as he ran and wondered why such expensive-looking material was so badly sewn together.

  He’d have to take another route than he’d originally planned, the back way out was now cut off. He knew the entire palace layout, including the private residences, offices, servant quarters, kitchens, the jewelry room; everything. Originally, he’d wanted to take Ndari straight from her bedroom, but quickly realized he’d be trapping himself in a heavily guarded section of the palace. According to his source, the jewel room was not as heavily guarded as people might think. Each case had its own alarm and the room itself was located at the center of the palace, one door in and out and no windows. It was rarely guarded by actual people.

  He heard guards in the distance, coming toward them, closing off their current escape route.

  “In there,” Ndari chirped from his arms.

  He looked down, then hurtled toward the door she had indicated. He hoped she was on his side of her kidnapping or he’d be really embarrassed when she trapped him in a corner.

  “It’s locked,” he grumbled after trying the knob.

  “Code,” she snapped.

  He set her on her feet and she immediately punched a code into the panel underneath the knob. A clicking sound heralded the lock sliding back. Keane pushed her to the side and shoved the door open. Even if she was leading him into a trap, he wasn’t going to let her go first. Who knew how trigger happy these guards might be? They could shoot their own Princess without even realizing.

  Keane was surprised to find himself stepping into a massive empty room. The Princess stepped in behind him, slammed the door shut and locked it again. She crossed her arms over her chest and demanded, “Explain.”

  Keane was busy admiring the unexpected room. It was a huge boardroom with a table that ran the entire length, cushy chairs surrounding it. A screen took up one entire wall and another hosted floor to ceiling windows overlooking the small village outside of the palace walls. The view was stunning, and the room was a modern breath of fresh air in a heavily opulent and oppressive palace. If he had to guess, he’d say this was some kind of strategic planning or war room.

  “We’re leaving,” Keane answered her, looking around the room. He pointed at the wall opposite. “Where’s that door go?”

  “The roof,” she said, then shook her head. “I can’t go with you, Keane. My place is here in the palace. I’m not interested in a fling.” Then her eyes lit up. “Unless you’re taking me to see Jaya, and then, by all means. She changed the plan on me, which is really bad form, but I’ll take it up with her when I see her.”

  “Nobody sent me,” he growled and, grabbing her arm, dragged her toward the door leading to the roof. “I assume this’ll lead to a helicopter pad? The men that use this room leave that way?”

  “Yes, of course,” Ndari said impatiently.

  “Well that’s just fucking perfect. Blows my original plan to hell,” he said as he hurried her through the door and up a flight of stairs. He pulled a radio off his belt and spoke into it. “Keane here. We’re moving to plan B, need a rooftop extraction. Wanna see the chopper in the next five minutes.”

  A crackling voice responded with, “Yes, Commander. We’re four minutes out.”

  As they burst onto the roof and out into the blinding desert sunlight, Keane grinned his pleasure. “Fucking destiny is what this is.”

  Chapter Three

  Ndari wasn’t sure Keane understood what the word ‘destiny’ meant.

  “Destiny isn’t kidnapping,” she shouted at him, shoving her hair out of her face and mouth. The wind whipped up from the helicopter blades was playing havoc with the long locks. “Destiny is like fate, or when the stars align to bring something together. It isn’t forcing a situation on a person.”

  Keane’s shaggy red hair whipped around when he shook his big head and bellowed, “Can’t hear you,” then grabbed her arm and dragged her toward the helicopter as it landed. He wrapped his big hands around her waist and hoisted her in, following close behind. Before she could choose a seat, he pushed her into one. She landed awkwardly and twisted around to sit properly.

  Keane kneeled at her feet and reached around either side of her lap. She tried to bat him away, but he pushed her hands to the side as if she were a child.

  “What are you doing?” she snapped in annoyance.

  He either didn’t hear her or chose to ignore her, but she figured it out when he buckled her in. Then he plucked a feather out of her hair and took the seat next to hers, buckling himself in. He grabbed her hand and wrapped his big paw around it.

  Was he… holding her hand? During a kidnapping?

  Ndari tried to yank hers away, but he only tightened his grip. She placed her other hand on top of his and tried to push his hand away while pulling her trapped one out. Her efforts proved useless and left her frustrated while he looked as though he wasn’t exerting any effort at all. She gave up with a growl and stared pointedly out the other side of the helicopter, away from him.

  Seconds later she turned back to him. “The palace will organize and send out a search party. They’ll catch up to us soon, then what will you do?”

  Ndari actually wanted to know the plan. She didn’t really want to go back to the palace and felt somewhat duty bound to let Keane know they were going to be picked up pretty quick. Near as she could tell, the guards had been caught completely unawares and that’s how he got in and out so quickly. But that wouldn’t happen again. No way could his luck hold out. The guards weren’t stupid; they knew how to organize themselves and they tended to get a little bloodthirsty when a member of the royal family was threatened.

  Keane just shook his head at her and pointed at his ear. Then he turned to the man sitting across from them. A guy dressed in the same outfit as Keane, some kind of desert fatigues with a heavy jacket that had to be way too hot for the weather. Yet neither man looked uncomfortable. She thought they must be used to having to wear such hideous clothes in hot conditions. Ndari was happy she was wearing a lighter material dress, though she’d have to ditch the elaborate cloak at the first opportunity. It was only sensible when inside the air-conditioned palace.

  The men began gesturing to each other, hands flying as they mimed symbols at each other. Ndari watched Keane with a frown and then realized that they were using some kind of crude sign language to communicate with each other. Though she knew the Irishman was far more intelligent than he let on, she was impressed with this new knowledge. By either learning or developing a new language, Keane and his men could communicate silently. It would be a very useful skill to have in their line of work.

  She tried to decipher what they were saying through their expressions, but it was impossible to tell. Neither man actually had any discernible facial expression, unless stone-faced had become a legitimate way of expressing feelings.

  She turned her attention outside, trying to watch the passing landscape to figure out where they were and where they were headed. Again, she gave up after a minute, unable to recognize anything she saw. The truth was, she almost never left the palace. She got herself
in trouble pretty much every time she tried. Her brother kept her close to home, tried to amuse her within the palace walls without stifling her personality too much.

  Ndari was a never-ending trial for Sally. She wasn’t proper, wasn’t demure or regal. She was Princess Ndari, the wild younger sister to the Crown Prince. She loved to party but came from a country that prized conservatism. She loved art, nudity, self-expression. All things that were not highly prized among her family. Sometimes they sent her away, to get it out of her system. Ndari wasn’t sure if it was possible to get one’s personality out of the system. It didn’t help that Ndari’s sister, Alyssa, was determined to show the world what a perfect little Princess she was. The opposite of Ndari in every way.

  They flew for about half an hour before the helicopter began to descend. Keane finally released her hand and leaned toward the window, his sharp eyes scanning the desert below.

  If he could’ve heard her, she’d tell him that he wouldn’t see anything but sand. Her country was a desert country, small, largely unheard of, proud, patriotic and… sandy.

  The sand whipped up into a dust devil as the helicopter landed. The men waited for the blades to stop before opening the door, but sand was still in the air, waiting to infiltrate Ndari’s clothes, hair and skin.

  “I hate the desert,” she muttered as Keane unbuckled her and pulled her out of the helicopter.

  “No, you don’t,” he said, tucking her against his side and then striding with her toward what looked like a cluster of tents.

  Ndari dug her feet into the sand and pointed at the tents. “What are those? When did you arrive in my country?”

  “Couple days ago. We couldn’t move on the palace until everything was in place.”

  “Until what was in place?” she demanded.

  “Don’t worry about it,” he said gruffly, turning his back on her and reaching for the water bottle one of his men handed to him. He cracked it and handed it over to her. She took it impatiently.

  “Stop dodging my questions,” she snapped. “Are we going to go see Ivan and Jaya? My brother might think to look in Indonesia for us. He knows how attached I’ve become to Jaya.”

  Keane grabbed her free hand and pulled her toward one of the tents. She tried pulling away from him, but he dragged her inside. It was as small as she always assumed tents would be. There was a makeshift bed right on the floor that consisted of a pile of pillows and blankets, a backpack and a small table. There was also a faint musty odor that had her wrinkling her nose.

  “We’re leaving, right?” she asked.

  “Naw,” he said, sitting down on a chair she hadn’t seen. “Going to lay low for a while.”

  “For how long?” she demanded, panic leaking into her voice as she stared around the barren tent.

  He shrugged. “Few weeks. We need to camp out until the borders quiet down and we can get out.”

  “A few weeks….” she repeated faintly, horror in her voice.

  “Don’t worry about it,” he said, reaching out to take her hand and tugging until she was standing between his spread legs. “You’ll love camping with me.”

  “Camping!” she shrieked. She yanked her hand from his and stepped away from him. “Nope, no, no, not happening. I do not camp.” She began pacing the tent, her hands in angry fists on her hips. “You need to take me back to the palace until you come up with a better plan.”

  Keane stood, his full height extremely intimidating in such a small space. Especially when he took a step toward her, covering the distance between them in one stride. He pulled her against his body and gripped her face, tilting her chin so she had no choice but to look at him.

  His face was drawn in granite lines, serious and deadly. He looked like the second-in-command mercenary she knew him to be. She’d never seen this look directed at her though and it shook her to the core.

  “You’re with me now, Princess. You won’t be going anywhere.”

  Chapter Four

  Ndari paced the tent, wringing her hands together. “Now when you say with me do you mean just for now, or do you mean…” she trailed off, unable to finish the sentence.

  “Forever,” he confirmed, his tone final. “Get used to the idea.”

  He strode to the tent’s flap and left. Ndari followed immediately after him. She wasn’t going to stay all by herself in his cramped tent while he went to make plans without her! She ran into his back where he’d stopped on the other side of the tent. He looked down at her, his expression annoyed.

  “Back in the tent, Ndari,” he growled.

  She shook her head. “Uh, no thanks. It’s dirty in there.”

  “It’s not dirty in there,” he said with exasperation. “It’s a fucking dirt pit desert out here. Now get your ass back inside.”

  “Still no,” she said, crossing her arms in front of her. “I go where you go until we figure out how to get out of this situation.”

  “Get in the feckin’ tent!” he bellowed, pointing, his Irish accent growing stronger.

  She glared at him. “You don’t need to yell.”

  He shoved her through the flap. The last thing she heard was him shouting for someone to come keep an eye on his tent. Damn it, he was appointing a babysitter.

  She paced for a minute, eyeing the tent with disgust. She’d never camped in her life! The closest she came was the time she snuck out to meet with some of the local boys and got locked out of the palace when she returned. Ndari had slipped inside one of the guard houses and found an empty bed for the night, then returned to her quarters the next day, no one the wiser.

  “Ew, is that a bug?” she shrieked and ran to the other side of the tent.

  The flap moved and a guy she vaguely recognized as having been part of Keane’s security team from her time as Jaya’s companion stuck his head through the door. “Problem, Princess?” he asked.

  “Are you calling me a problem?” she asked hotly.

  “No, ma’am, I was asking if you were having a problem.”

  While his words were respectful enough, she felt they were lacking a certain regard for her station in life. “Then perhaps you had better use full sentences in future. It’s a crime punishable by death to insult one of the royal family in this country. You wouldn’t want to accidentally say the wrong thing to me, now would you?” Her voice was sweet, while her words held the venomous frustration of a kidnapped Princess who was faced with the possibility of having to camp in a desert. Ew. “Now, would you please fetch me a big, big drink, preferably a frosted margarita, but I’ll take whatever I can get. I would also like something to eat since I was kidnapped before breakfast. I will also require an extra bed, perhaps a chair, a couple of fans since I’m assuming these things don’t come with air conditioning.” She waved her hand around the tent before pointing at the offensive black spot in the corner. “And please remove that bug thing. In future I expect all crawly things to be removed before I arrive. I can’t believe I even have to specify such a thing.”

  He was staring at her as though he was wondering what the fuck his boss saw in this woman. To be honest, Ndari was wondering the same thing. Though her ass was truly fine, she was a pain in it. She was going to annoy the hell out of these mercenary types, and the sad thing was, she wouldn’t do it on purpose. Ndari annoyed people wherever she went. She was too much of an independent free spirit for the palace but too much Princess for everywhere else. She just didn’t fit in. And once Keane saw this, he would send her back home.

  This thought made her feel inexplicably sad.

  “I’ll get right on your… requests, Princess,” the guard said before backing away.

  Jacob, his name was Jacob, she remembered.

  “Jacob,” she called out. He turned back, a look of surprised pleasure that she remembered him. “You may call me Royal Highness from now on. Now, get going, fetch my drink if you please.”

  He made a snorting sound that could’ve been either amusement or disgust.

  “Okay,” she said, tu
rning back to the tent. “Where does one sit down?”

  Jacob returned ten minutes later with a very dissatisfying assortment of goods. He handed her a canteen, then opened a small camp chair and placed it in the middle of the tent for her.

  Ndari unscrewed the lid of the canteen and sniffed. “This is water,” she said incredulously. “I didn’t ask for water.”

  Jacob shrugged. “Boss says no alcohol. He wants clear heads tonight.”

  Her mouth fell open. Why would he want her head to be clear? What was happening tonight? “And what about my bed?” she demanded.

  He shook his head. “Boss says no.”

  “What? Why?” she spluttered. Surely he didn’t think she was going to be sharing that tiny cot with him? Or the floor. There were bugs on the floor. Even if she consented to having sex with him, which she was seriously on the fence about at this point since he brought her camping, where exactly were they supposed to do the deed?

  A loud cracking sound made her jump and whirl around. Before she could ask what he was doing, he did it again, stomping his boot down in the corner of the tent. “Got it!” he said. “Damn thing jumped when I tried to kill it the first time.”

  “Excuse me?” Ndari asked, her voice dripping in disgust. “There are jumping bugs here?”

  She actually had very little idea of what wildlife were native to the region; she hadn’t paid attention to that part of her curriculum while she was being educated by the palace tutor.

  “Apparently,” Jacob said, unconcerned.

  Ndari reached her limit of diplomacy. “Please fetch Mr. Keane for me, I’d like to have a word with him.” She was going to explain exactly how he was going to take her back to the palace and how he was going to do it effective immediately. Yes, she’d wanted to escape the boredom of the palace, but she did not sign up for jumping bugs. He could come back and kidnap her again when he had a better plan that included a mansion and enough staff to cater to all of her needs.