“I promise, I'll be nice.”
“Don't scare Papa too much,” Christianna warned him, and with that the two men slid into the long, low, incredibly sleek-looking car. It looked almost like a bullet.
They closed the doors, her father waved with the window closed, and his eyes met hers for a moment. There was something sorrowful in them, as though he were telling her again how sorry he was about Parker. She knew he wouldn't change his mind, but he was sorry for the grief that he had caused her. As she looked at him and nodded, as though telling him she understood, she felt Parker's ring on her finger, and the highly sensitive machine took off, with Freddy's foot hard on the gas. She had never before seen a car start so quickly. She was about to go back inside because she was cold, but decided to stand and watch for a minute. She wondered if Freddy had managed to terrify her father yet. He too had liked fast cars in his youth— perhaps it was genetic—but in her father's case, never fast women, only her mother, even until now.
She was watching them, with a smile on her face, wondering when they would turn around, and as she stood there, Freddy slowed the car down, just enough to negotiate a turn in the road, and as he did, and the brakelight came on, there was the sound of an explosion so powerful that it sounded like the sky was coming down. At the same moment Christianna heard the sound, there was suddenly an enormous fireball where the car had been, and the car, her father, and Freddy literally vanished. Her mouth fell open as she looked at it, no one moved, and then suddenly everyone came running. The guards on duty flew down the road on foot as fast as they could, as others jumped into cars and sped toward the blaze, and Christianna began running. Her heart was pounding, and suddenly in her mind's eye, she saw Fiona lying in the mud … she kept running and running … there were suddenly sirens in the air, whistles blowing, men speeding past her, and the roar of the fire. She reached the place where the car had been almost at the same time as the men did. They were dashing everywhere, the palace fire engines came, and men with hoses, water was shooting everywhere, and someone pulled Christianna backward. She was dragged away as she stared at all of them. And all she could see was the fire raging, seemingly in midair, there was no car, and beneath where it had been, a huge burning hole in the ground. Her father and Freddy had disappeared into the atmosphere. Someone had put a bomb under Freddy's car. Her entire family was gone.
Chapter 19
Afterward Christianna could no longer remember what had happened, not unlike the day that Fiona had died. She remembered walking back into the palace, people running everywhere, two security guards taking her to her room and staying there with her. Sylvie appeared, other faces that she knew, and some she could no longer remember. Police came and went, bomb squads, soldiers. Trucks of men in riot gear arrived, Swiss police, ambulances, news trucks. The ambulances were unnecessary. Not even shreds of her father and brother could be found. In the early hours, no one claimed responsibility for the bomb, nor did they expose themselves later. Her father's act of courage at the UN meetings had come at a high price. They must have planted the bomb sometime between the time Freddy arrived and after dinner. But if they had put it under his car, clearly they hadn't intended to kill the reigning prince, perhaps only the crown prince as a warning to his father. With Freddy's excitement about his new car, and the friendly family dinner, they had managed to kill the reigning prince as well, by sheer blind luck.
The palace and the grounds were swarming with men in uniforms all night, and as though in a daze, Christianna insisted on leaving her room with her security guards and walked among them. And as soon as she left the palace, she saw Sam and Max running toward her. Without thinking or saying a word, Max took her in his arms and began crying, as Sam stood by with tears rolling down his cheeks. Both had been with the family for years, and all Christianna could do was stare once again at the still-burning blackened pit where the car had been when it exploded.
At first, only a few people had realized that Prince Hans Josef was in the car—they had thought it was only Freddy, which was bad enough. But news spread rapidly, passed by the guards who had seen him get in the Ferrari with his son. It had been a double tragedy and a double loss for the country, and the world, that night. Christianna was ringed with guards carrying machine guns, and Max and Sam on either side, as she wandered around. She refused to go back into the palace. It was as though by staying close to where they had been when they vanished into thin air, she could somehow bring them back or find them. It was impossible to understand the implications of all that had happened, and all it meant for Liechtenstein. She looked at Sam and Max, and seeing them cry, it began to dawn on her that she had lost her brother and her father. She was an orphan, and her country had no leader.
“What's going to happen?” she asked Max, looking terrified.
“I don't know,” he said honestly. No one did. Aside from the personal tragedy it was for her, it was a huge political dilemma for the country. Freddy was the reigning prince's only male heir, and women were not allowed to be considered for the succession. There was literally no one to take his place.
Christianna never went to bed at all that night. It was still impossible to understand what had happened. Newscasters were everywhere, wire services were sending reporters. After his breathtaking speech at the UN, Hans Josef was a major piece of news, and the car bomb was considered important world news. Inevitably, the two events were intimately linked. Mercifully, a fleet of guards shielded Christianna from the news teams.
At some point in the middle of the night, Christianna went upstairs and Sylvie helped her dress in somber black. She came back downstairs, and all of her father's assistants and secretaries were there, frantically making notes and calls. She had no idea who they were calling or what to do. His principal assistant came to her, as she wandered around like a ghost, and told her they had to make arrangements.
“Arrangements for what?” She looked blank. She was in shock. She appeared competent and sane, even calm, but she couldn't get her mind to understand what had happened. All she kept thinking was that Papa was gone. She felt five years old again, and could suddenly remember everything that had happened the morning her mother had died … and now Freddy … poor Freddy … for all his foolish ways, now he was gone, too. They all were. She was totally alone in the world.
She was sitting in her father's office with his secretaries and armed guards in the room when her father's members of Parliament arrived. All twenty-five of them, wearing black suits and black ties, with ravaged eyes. They had been up together, in little groups, in each other's homes all night, alternately watching the news and crying, and discussing what to do. They had an enormous problem, one the country had never had before. They no longer had a reigning prince, they had no one in line for succession, as he had died with the crown prince, and women could not even be considered, according to their constitution. Aside from the overwhelming personal tragedy that had occurred that night, it was a disaster for the country as well.
“Your Highness,” the prime minister spoke to her gently. He could see that she was in no condition to talk. But they had no choice. They had been together since four o'clock that morning, hours after they'd been called with the news, and had waited till eight o'clock to come to the palace. Everyone, including Christianna, had been up all night. The palace was ablaze with light in the November darkness. “Your Highness, we must speak with you,” the prime minister said again. He was the senior member of all twenty-five, and had been her father's chief confidant. “Will you sit down with us?” She nodded, still looking dazed, and they cleared the room of everyone except the guards carrying machine guns. No one knew what to expect next, or if the car bomb had been a single act, a precursor to a broader offense, or even an ambush on the palace. There were Swiss soldiers carrying machine guns outside and in the palace. The Swiss government had offered them immediately and sent them from Zurich.