Page 29 (2/2)

To "You do that I’ht Run, Forrest, run"

I flip hi after o

I leave the car with Tommy at the pub and hoof it back to the palace To take ation into Lady Olivia and Prince Nicholas’s stalker We still haven’t caught the fucker It’s like he’s a ghost, dropping his nasty notes here and there, then evaporating into the ether And it’s escalating The last one caardens, picnicking with her friend, Simon Barrister’s wife, Lady Francis, and their three-year-old boy, Jack

The photos weren’t taken with a long-range lens--which rounds And that’s why he sent them: because he wanted us to know he’d slipped inside That he’s getting closer We pumped up security around the peri worry As Winston said, obsessed nutters come with the territory They’re common for people as well known and powerful as the royal family--for every thousand subjects who adore them, there’s one ants to see them burn like witches

But this one’s uncomfortably persistent And bold Gives me a bad vibe, and I make a note to follow up directly with Winston tomorrow

Around dinnertio home I can’t--too many temptations there The priests always said ht the way it is

Instead, I go to Katy’s Pub I’rab a pint at the bar and head into the back room to shoot some pool The roos from the outside, to pass the tietand hide

I play a few rounds with the regulars Then shoot ona billiard ball into the cup It’s relaxing, centering--sort of like ht ball in the corner pocket, I straighten up and stretch my neck I head back out to the bar for another pint

But when I step into the outer roohter in her arathered around the bar Silent and serious--they’re all focusing on the small television screen mounted to the wall in the corner

The cue in my hand drops to the floor with a crack

For abreathe

Because of the i out the s of The Horny Goat Of red-hot fla it--devouring it--obliterating it from the world Like it had never been there at all

"Poor Macalister," soht"

And it’s as if rating in the breeze Because I know--I know it in my bones--Ellie is in there

In a heartbeat, I’--sprinting faster than I ever have It’s like I’ for my lifebecause I a the paveelatin Like that nightmare everyone has--I push and lean and strain and reach but I can’t go fast enough

Move,Laughing Her dancing eyes and flittering gait

I prouard, her wall, so she could fly free And I will not fucking fail her

I can sray mist and the ash in the air, but I won’t look My eyes are on the ground, one foot in front of the next BringingAlmost there

There’s no space for sorrow or recrio How I’ll get to her, find her, wrap her in my arms--shield her from the heat Carry her away from the flames I’ll be there for her

I’ll save her

Because that’s who I am That’s what I do Why I’s to me