Page 74 of A Valiant Prince

Hans is standing by Lara’s bed. He looks startled when we enter.

Anna stops abruptly, causing me to run into the back of her. She flies forward and catches herself on Lara’s bed.

“Anna?” Hans says.

“Oh…uh…hi,” she stammers as she straightens herself, smoothing her shirt.

“Why are you back here?” he demands.

“I…I wanted to see Auntie Lara again,” she says, her words coming out quickly.

“Well, as you can see, she’s perfectly fine. Now, you should head back,” he tells her. I can see the strain on his face as he struggles to control his temper.

“Anna, why don’t you give Hans a few minutes? We can wait outside,” I say, trying to keep her away from Hans.

“I think I’ll wait right here,” she says as she walks over to a chair in the corner of the room and plops down on it, crossing her arms like a petulant child. My badass princess doesn’t like to be bossed around.

“Suit yourself,” Hans says. His eyes dart from me to Anna.

“Fine,” Anna says. “Take your time.”

Hans suddenly walks out of the room. Anna quickly walks up to her aunt, surveying her from head to toe.

“She’s fine,” I say to her. “See?” I point to the monitors which beep steadily.

All of a sudden, her hand flies to her mouth. “Hans!” she yells and darts out of the room. She’s back in the elevator before I can catch her. I see her cell phone lying on the ground, and I realize she took off her tracking bracelet before we came back here. There’s no way to find her.

“Where the fuck is she going now?!” Pete yells as he runs out of a stairwell door.

“Fuck!” Lucas yells simultaneously from behind Pete.

I shake my head.

“Let’s split up,” I yell to them. “She can’t get far. Any idea where Hans just went?” I ask.

They shake their heads.

“I’ll go downstairs,” Pete says. “Hans might have gone out back. Lucas, try the doctor’s cafeteria. I’m radioing Jack.”

“I’ll look on the roof,” I say. They both give me a look and I realize it was one of my father’s guards with me that day with my father. “There’s a sitting area up there.”

“Logan, you should stay here,” Pete says.

“Yeah, well, I should do a lot of things, Pete. But I guess I like to break the rules,” I reply as I throw open an exit door and run up the stairs.

I open the door to the rooftop garden. Again, it’s empty, devoid of everyone but two people, Anna and Hans.

My heart leaps as I see that Hans has Anna cornered. But it’s not his proximity to her that makes me stop breathing, it’s the Colt 45 in his hand.

Hans looks over at me. “Christ, another one,” he snarls.

“Put down the gun, Hans,” I say as calmly as I can.

“We both know that’s not going to happen,” he says.

“You’ll be caught if you use the gun,” Anna says.

“Who says I’m firing it,” he replies, an evil smirk on his face. “You know, out of everyone, I never thought you two would be the ones to figure it out. That’s why I had you sent so far away. I figured I’d deal with you later.”

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