Previously: Mercenary Leon meets MI6 spies David, the Prince of Wales, and socialite Wallis Spencer. David abdicates the throne to marry Wallis. He becomes Bahamas governor. Leon dies and his son Sidney turns mercenary. David hires him as his valet. The years pass and the organization wants all three of them and the Royal family dead.
In the morning, the Duchess was all aflutter—Queen Elizabeth II was coming to tea, and one of the maids was missing. Sidney steeled himself when he saw her scurry toward him.
“Sidney, have you seen Aline?” she asked.
“Aline? I don’t know an Aline.”
Wallis shook her head. “No, no, I was thinking of someone else. Oh, what’s her name? Eileen—have you seen her this morning?”
“No.” His voice was flat.
“What shall we do without her?”
A smile flitted across his lips. “We shall survive, I think.
“I suppose you’re right.” She looked around. “Everyone is prepared. All that must be done now is picking up the Queen and her entourage—“
“I’ll take care of that, Madam.”
Wallis glanced up the stairs. The doctor is attending to David. Do you think I have time for a nice warm soak in the tub?”
“I think that would be a wise move on your part, Madam.”
“Thank you, Sidney.”
A couple of hours later at Orly Airport Sidney greeted the Queen and the others with the information that the Duke, due to his health, would have to receive them while seated in his upstairs sitting room.
Elizabeth said something to him, but Sidney glanced about the terminal at the growing crowd, knowing the possibility of one of the assassins being among them. Common sense told him an attempt at this juncture would preclude success in killing the Windsors. Yet, Sidney knew the organization was clever enough to try to eliminate himself early. Anything was possible.
Several women in the crowd screamed as a middle-aged man dressed in denim jeans and a blue shirt dashed by, grabbed the Queen’s purse and ran around a corner.
“Stop!” One of the royal security men shouted. He raised his revolver.
Sidney lowered the guard’s arm. “I’ll take care of this.” Then he disappeared around the corner just in time to see the man go into the men’s room.
Sidney arrived a bit later, slowed by the exit of several other men running out of the toilet facilities zipping their pants. Sidney spied the snatcher opening the purse, pull apart a capsule, drop it in the purse and snap it shut. Sidney jumped the man and wrestled him to the floor. With one hand, he grasped the man’s hair and with the other opened the purse.
Sidney rammed the man’s head into the purse just as yellow powder rose. Sidney’s eyes watered and he coughed deeply, scrunching his nose to avoid ingesting any more of the poison. Sidney struggled to keep the man’s head down until the assassin finally went limp. First Sidney snapped the purse shut, then dumped the body into an empty toilet stall.
When he returned, Sidney handed the purse to the head of the Queen’s security.
“The man escaped, leaving the purse behind. When I picked it up, I smelled something vile. I think you should have one of your men take it immediately to Le Surete to be examined for poison.”
The officer handed it off to another guard, whispering the instructions to him and sending him on his way. The officer then told the Queen the circumstances, and she nodded as though nothing was unusual.
Back at Bois de Burlogne, the butler greeted the guests at the door and took their coats.
“Psst! Psst!”
Hearing the hissing, Sidney saw Wallis at the top of the stairs waving at him to come up. She was dressed in a simple black, short sleeved dress adorned by a large bejeweled pin. Wallis was at her sartorial best, but her eyes were in a panic. Sidney dashed up the stairs to her. She leaned in to whisper.
“I think I’ve done something naughty.”
“What do you mean, Madam?”
“Follow me. I don’t want the Queen to know.” She led him into her bathroom which was a mess with water splashed all over the room. Also, there was a dead man submerged beneath the suds of Wallis’ bubble bath which was changing from pink to a dark red.
“I’d just settled in for a good soak when I heard the door open, and this strange man came in and stood at the top of my tub. His hands came down on me.” Wallis’ voice was calm. “I don’t know what made me do it, but I reached up and grabbed his arms and pulled him over top of me. I think I heard his head crack on the bottom of the tub. Anyway, I rose just enough to slide his head under my body and I sat on it. When he tried to struggle I hit him in the crotch. I kept doing it until his body went limp. I think before he died I farted in his face.” Her eyes widened. “Oh, I’m sorry. I don’t think I’ve used that word since my days in the Blue Ridge Mountains.” She touched Sidney’s sleeve. “What are we going to do? I killed him in self-defense, but still….”
“Don’t worry about it, Madam.” He smiled. “You go down stairs to greet your guests and I’ll let the water out of the tub. When he dries out, I’ll remove him from the property tonight. Oh, and I’ll give the tub a proper scrubbing so you can have your bath tomorrow without worrying about traces of his blood being left behind.”
“But why did I know do that?” Wallis persisted. “Wait, I just thought of something—Shanghai. I was in Shanghai as a young woman. What was I doing there?”
“Don’t worry about it now. You have the Queen waiting downstairs.”
“Oh yes.” She paused. “Now is that Elizabeth or Lillibet?”
“Lillibet, I believe,” Sidney replied.
“Oh good.” Wallis sighed. “If it were her mother, then I would have big problems.”