The Ambassador's Daughter

Chapter 7

The decision to stay at the palace past curfew cost Louise dearly. Essentially, she was grounded. The ambassador confiscated her phone and gave Gordon and the other two drivers strict orders that they were not allowed to drive Miss Louise anywhere unless she was accompanied by one of her parents under pain of dismissal.

Louise was miserable for the two weeks that her father's punishment lasted. She sulked about the Mansion in her best clothes hoping to appease her father by her appearance and her penitent attitude. In her own room she fumed at her father calling him nearly every name in all eight books.

One evening her father came to her room shortly after she had retired for bed. Louise looked up, startled, when he entered. William Brandt hardly ever came to her room and being alone with him like this often made her feel trapped. And she had the unsettling feeling that was exactly how he wanted her to feel tonight.

Ambassador Brandt sat on his daughter's desk chair and glared at her sternly for a moment before beginning his lecture. "Louise. You are a citizen of the United States of America. Even more importantly you are a representative of that great nation." Louise rolled her eyes, she hadn't heard this lecture in years, but she remembered it well. "You cannot be acting like a child on holiday. Wakanda is a new country, at least, new to having people from other countries in it. It is not safe for you to be running around doing as you please."

"Dad," Louise broke in, "Sorry, to interrupt you, but I wasn't 'running around' doing anything! I was at the palace with His Royal Highness King T'Challa. At His Majesty's request, even. So I don't see-" The ambassador glared her into silence. Louise ducked her head and stared at her blanketed knees. "Sorry," she apologised.

"None of the other ambassadors' daughters spend nearly as much time at the palace as you do." Only two of the other ambassadors have daughters at home Louise thought, "Nor nearly as much time with the king as you do. You must think how your actions reflect on our country. I'm here to lift your sentence as long as you agree to steer clear of the palace for a few weeks." As if to emphasise his point, the ambassador pulled Louise's phone out of his pocket and held it just out of her reach. Louise stared at him, dumbfounded. She wanted, no needed, her phone back, but she couldn't agree to his terms. When she'd left to palace last, they had been discussing how to rebuild and reattach Bucky's arm. That conversation had to mean they were almost ready to wake him up. She'd already been gone for two weeks, if she stayed away any longer Steve and T'Challa might decide to proceed without her. And that would mean all that time she'd spent in that huge nearly-empty room, basically talking to herself, would be a waste. She would not let that happen.

"But Dad, the king and I are working on something together. I have to be at the palace on a regular basis. King T'Challa would prefer if I could come every day, but I told him I couldn't." Not yet, anyway she added silently. The ambassador's eyes narrowed as he stared at his daughter. He didn't know when she got this defiant, but he didn't like it. She needed to remember her place. She did not answer to the king. She answered to her father.

The ambassador slipped her phone back into his pocket. "Fine," He said coldly, turning on his heel and starting for the door, "I'll just keep this for a while, then." Louise jumped out of bed. She was quicker than her father and had taken him by surprise with her sudden movement, so she beat him to her door. She stood with her back against the wood and her arms stretched over it.

"Daddy, I need that phone back. Please. I'll do anything you ask except stay away from the palace!" Ambassador Brandt smiled at his daughter.

"Very well, dear," He drew her phone out and passed it to her, "Here you go." Louise took the phone and stepped out of his way. She didn't like how easy that had been, but she wasn't about to argue about it. She was sure that promise would come back to haunt her, but right now she didn't care. For now, she had what she needed.

"Thank you Daddy." As soon as her door was closed again, Louise went to her desk and pulled the back off her phone. She didn't trust her father any more than he appeared to trust her. Louise had a good enough understanding of the mechanics of a cell phone to know what belonged inside and what didn't. And sure enough, upon close inspection of her cell phone, she found the tap her father had installed. The SIM card didn't look quite right. It made her furious that he would stoop so low, but she also knew that she couldn't simply remove the tap. Her father would be expecting some activity, especially after she had practically begged him for it back. She couldn't remember the last time she had called him "daddy". Sighing, she replaced the backing and turned the phone on. She immediately erased Steve as a contact name, leaving only his number. That would make it harder for her father to track, she hoped. How likely was it that Steve Rogers, fugitive from the UN, would have a number that would be easy to track?

She also hoped that the tap would only let her father know she was using her phone, not who she was contacting or what she was saying. Although, the likelihood of being that lucky seemed pretty remote. She sent Steve a quick text: Finally got my phone back. Don't call me, I'll call you. She then immediately turned her phone off and got back into bed. Once again, sleep eluded her.

Howdare hetreat me like this? She silently fumed, Iam his daughter for crying out loud!Her thoughts continued in that direction until she finally managed to fallasleep.