Stand By Me Darling
Chapter 410: Meeting Face to Face

Chapter 410: Meeting Face to Face

The big truck slammed into the cars covering Talia’s car before she could finish asking when the drivers of the cars are getting off.

It seemed like they weren’t planning to get off. The cars were armoured cars with a heavy build and they could withstand the impact from the truck and they were still running. The drivers pushed the truck farther from Talia’s car, fearing there might be explosives.

"Hold on to this, Your Highness. And protect yourself using any means possible. Don’t care for others and use them as shields to protect yourself," Mr. Ed placed the handgun Louis gave her in her hand. She had asked Mr. Ed to hold on to it for her. He then helped her wear a Kevlar vest.

"And remember Princess, I will be the last line of defence protecting you, but if you see me get hurt, don’t stop to give me first-aid and run! Run as far as you can towards the village we just left."

Talia felt the seriousness of the issue she is facing only after this. She is not in a place where when her bodyguards get immobilised, the cops might reach her to help. A wave of fear washed over her.

Fred is definitely not near! I must protect myself!

The truck didn’t explode making everyone sigh in relief and they got orders to move forward. The Ranger with them said that there will be more attacks since the militia targeting them are known for their Guerrilla Tactics.

With already half of the motorcade damaged, their defence has pretty much weakened. But they can’t be sitting ducks and they started moving to the front.

But before they even moved a hundred meters, they saw bursts of sand popping from their side and before they could get a sense of what was going on, they were showered with bullets from automatic weapons.

"Did they pop out from underground?" Talia was surprised, but she was pushed to the floor of the car by Mr. Ed and he placed a helmet on her head. They were in an armoured car, but that doesn’t mean it is impenetrable. The glasses could only take so much and so they needed to get out to protect the car before the glass breaks.

Talia was stunned by the loud noise made by hundreds of bullets hitting the car and it seemed like it would never stop. Like hailstones falling from the sky, the bullets kept on hitting.

As Mr. Ed covered Talia, the other bodyguards got down with their guns blazing. Talia hugged her knees as she sat safe in the little spot on the floor of the car. She heard the sound of tens of guns blazing. She’s been in dangerous situations before, but this is the first time she’s in between the fight between two groups. She got an idea how real warzones would be like and why some develop PTSD.

Her heartbeat became erratic and she felt shivers at the pit of her stomach. If possible, she wanted to disappear from here and teleport to Fred’s arms. Or she wished this was just a dream.

Yes, Please let me wake up from this dream!

She heard the screams of the men around her and the loud bangs of bullets. The Ranger who was sitting in the back seat of the seven seater car, suddenly made an observation.

"Everyone’s attacking from one side and the next side is very calm. This is suspicious."

Before the ranger finished, there were attacks coming from the front of the car.

Amidst the chatters of the comm devices, the sound of bullets and the shouts of the men around her, Talia felt numb, like she was detached from the reality. She didn’t think she’d escape this unscathed. She faced death a lot of times, but this attack was too strong and well-planned, she didn’t have any hopes of survival.

This is it! She thought. This is where I die!

She filtered all the noise and took in a deep breath.

Death... It really came for me...

Curled to a ball, she remembered her life. She was loved by many and she loved some very deeply. Surely they’ll miss her after she’s gone.

I did have a fulfilling life.

And thinking back, she only had a single regret.

She put her hand in her dress pocket and opened the box inside the pocket and got the ring out.

It’s light as a feather now!

She carefully wore the ring fearing she might accidentally drop it. She didn’t make any movement and she heard one bullet getting inside the car. She looked up to see the windows to her right were entirely shattered and the windshield was cracked hard.

I’m dying here...And why the hell did I wait to wear this ring? Even if I weren’t Fred’s wife, I would’ve at least been his fiancée.

Hugging her knees, she kissed the ring and ended up silently weeping.

I’m sorry, Fred... I’m sorry for being stupid. I now understand... Instead of thinking that you might die, I should have thought that we were blessed with one more day to live together.

Why did I focus so much on the ’death’ part when I could have concentrated on the ’living’ part? I thought I can’t handle you dying before me, but when in a situation that I might die before you, I’m totally not pleased.

I want to live with you, Fred! Live a long life!

She felt a knock over her helmet.

"Pull yourself together, Princess! We have to get down of the car."

Mr. Ed said and Talia felt her heart freeze with fear. But she knew she’d be a sitting duck sitting in a car waiting to be killed.

"Why are the reinforcements talking this long?" Talia asked.

Even f they are in a foreign nation, it is the duty of the nation to provide reinforcements.

"The bridge leading here has been blown up and help through air will take an hour to arrive."

Mr. Ed covered Talia and got down.

"We’re losing ammo while they seem to have an infinite supply...tch!" Sir Robert was not pleased with the situation.

The gun fight continued and Talia was hiding safely behind Mr. Ed.

"Run!"

One of the cars had caught fire and the ranger grabbed Talia by her wrist and ran away from the road. The road was in an elevated plane and they had to run down along a steep way to get away.

"I can run by myself, Thank you." Talia freed her wrist from the ranger’s hand. Grabbing her at the wrists was one of her pet peeves. Only Cyrus would do that when it is absolutely necessary.

"Mr. Ed!"

Talia screamed looking back. Thick smoke rose up from the road and the sounds of bullets were still blazing.

"I’m here, Princess!" Mr. Ed waved his hand.

"Get here-" Talia shouted, but before she could finish her sentence, she saw the Ranger standing beside her, shooting at her foot and the next moment she felt a snapping noise beneath her feet. Talia instinctively tried to grab on to something, but having nothing to hold on to, she fell inside a hole.

She fell on her butt and her back felt like it had snapped. She felt immense pain, she thought she might faint.

She tried to look up but sand from above fell in her eyes and she bowed her face, trying to get the sand out. Her eyes got irritated as a lot of sand got in her eyes and she couldn’t even open her eyes. Using the soft material of her dress, she tried to wipe off the sand in her eyes. She could vaguely see that she is in an underground tunnel that is getting deeper as it progresses.

The tunnel seemed to have been carved in the underground dried mud and it extended to a large distance.

Am I getting kidnapped?

The ranger... He knew the exact location of the trap!

"Princess Talia!!" she heard Mr. Ed’s shout and she shouted back.

"In here..."

Her eyes watered because of the sand and she winced as she was dragged on the floor by a rough hand gripping her shoulders. She wanted to scream in pain, but in her fear, her voice didn’t come out. She heard another rumbling noise as if the tunnel is collapsing where she fell.

"Hey there, dearie..."

She heard a voice from her back and she started to wipe her eyes in a faster pace. She knew this was not the voice of the ranger and everyone here spoke English with an accent. But the voice she heard didn’t have any accent and she figured he must me someone from Esteria.

She turned to see a bright blinding light and she squinted her eyes. By now she had removed most of the sand and although her eyes burnt and watered incessantly, she still could see somewhat clearly.

"Oops, sorry..."

The voice she heard was soft and gentle, but it gave her chills.

She searched for the satphone she had in her hand and in the light she could see the phone smashed to pieces under a small rock that cut off the hole from above ground to where she currently was.

"Your phone broke. Sorry, you can’t contact anyone," the voice said with mockery and Talia turned to look at that person. Having adjusted to the lighting inside, she saw the face of the person clearly.

Ralph!