Spy Girl (Spy Girl #1)

And I’ll be damned if I’m going to let anyone kill him.

There’s a psychological phenomenon known as Stockholm Syndrome, where a hostage develops a strong emotional bond, almost a love, for their captor. These feelings are irrational in light of the danger endured by the victim. If the captor is kind to them, they mistake the lack of abuse for caring. It’s a form of traumatic bonding. Traumatic bonding can occur in numerous situations, like a hostage and his captor or even in a situation like the Prince and I have been in. Two people in danger together. It heightens the feelings and emotions and is completely natural.

Or so it was explained to us in school. What a good spy has to do, however, is use this closeness to his advantage.

I was taught to be emotionless and uncaring, but no matter how much they tried to drill that into my head, it never worked. I am motivated because of emotion. And it’s that emotion that will always drive me to succeed.





The Prince steps away to speak to someone in private. This worries me, but I see a Saudi Prince with numerous bodyguards join him.

When he is finished and meets back up with me, he’s agitated.

“What’s wrong?”

“The Saudis use the Strait of Montrovia to ship oil to the rest of Europe and the U.S. He offered to have his naval assets supplement ours. He is worried that we are vulnerable.”

“Are you?”

“Every country is vulnerable to an attack. An elite air force could destroy us, but terror organizations do not command those sorts of troops. When he left the meeting, things were tense. I mean, what did he expect? For me to turn our royal maritime unit over to him?”

“I don’t know. Did he say why this is a concern all of a sudden?”

“If you are going to spend time with me, you must know the risks. My own national security as well as the Americans have picked up chatter, an indication that something could happen in my country. I’m assuming his government has heard it as well.”

“Like a terrorist attack. Like at the race?”

“The intercepted chatter seemed to be more indicative of a threat to the throne—to me, personally.”

“Considering someone may have just tried to gun you down, that makes sense.”

He grins at me and takes my hand. “But you kept me safe. I’ll have to be keeping you close.”





We mingle for a bit longer then end up in a corner of the Amber Room chatting with a wealthy Indian man, who owns one of the race teams, along with his drivers. He’s hosting a party on his yacht tomorrow night and assures us that we will receive hand-delivered invitations in the morning. We’re all sipping champagne—except for Lorenzo who guzzled down his last drink, his conversation with the Saudi clearly weighing on his mind.

I’m nodding where appropriate about the upcoming race, but I’m mostly eavesdropping on the conversation behind me. Clarice is discussing the Terra Project with an actress who is a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador. She’s sharing her passion for the project and discussing an area in the United States where they’ve set up a successful trial community using all the Terra concepts. I wonder how this peaceful project in America could possibly be related to the threat to the Prince.

But then she mentions that the next step is to try it somewhere on a larger scale. What if that is her plan? To bring this project to her own country. The country she could be the queen of if just a few people were to die.

That comment alone moves her up to prime suspect number one on my list.

I excuse myself to use the facilities and give Ari a look that lets him know I want to talk in private.

We meet in the hallway to the restrooms.

“Ari, were you listening to Clarice? Did you hear what she said about the Terra Project?”

“I did.”

“Do you think that’s her plan? To become Queen and implement it for all of Montrovia?”

“I can’t imagine that. She seems passionate about a lot of random things.”

“That’s true. I heard her ranting earlier about the energy used by the cattle industry. She won’t eat meat.”

“But she sure likes the bone,” Ari fires back.

“What?”

“Ha! I don’t even know where that came from. Actually, I do. It’s from an oldie that one of my sergeants used to listen to. Get it?”

“Ari, you have a bone,” I say with a smirk. “Maybe you should barter her with it.”

“She has a boyfriend and seems crazy in love with him. I don’t like him though.”

“I want to know how she got to be such a tree hugger. How did she learn about this project? Who started the whole idea?”

“I don’t know, but we better find out,” he says.





Lorenzo is waiting for me in the corner of the room, chatting now with Peter and Allie.