Page 83 of Iron Unicorn

“The RPS? Not so much. Dad? More than I care to think about. He feels if he has to deal with it, so do all of us of legal age to drive. I’ve seen videos of Dad’s driving before the RPS started training him. It wasbad, Terry. He decided none of his children would bring such shame to Texas. I wasn’t allowed to get my permit until I satisfied Dad—and satisfying Dad meant surpassing the base requirements for the RPS. Don’t tell him I said this, but he can be a tyrant sometimes.”

I laughed at the thought of the Texan king tricking his future son-in-law in such a clever way.

“Have you been boxed?”

“In numerous surprise scenarios. Sometimes, I was behind the wheel, sometimes Dad was—and that one time, Mom was. Mom does not like being boxed, Terry. Mom goes out of her way to escape. If I never have to get into a car with her behind the wheel again, that would be fine by me.” Eddie glanced at his rearview mirror. “Looks like I’m going to have to shake six sets of worrywarts. Hasn’t anyone told them you can take care of yourself? And if you can’t, you have a Montana princess more than willing to take care of you.”

I grinned, understanding that the young man was the one the team worried about. “I’m old, frail, and sickly, Eddie. They change colors if I look like I might sneeze right now.”

Eddie snickered. “Old, frail, and sickly my ass. You’re pulling tricks like everybody else right now, and you bounced back from the crab affair with remarkable speed.”

Much to my relief, I had. “Are we being recorded?”

“Probably, but they won’t check the audio unless they’re actually concerned something has gone wrong. It’s not a good scenario if they cheat too much.”

I translated that to mean we had active monitoring but our agent wouldn’t betray our schemes unless there was a reason for legitimate concern. “We’re going to trick them into thinking we’re headed for Dallas. In reality, we’re going towards Austin and seeing how far we get before they realize we’re headed for the border—and I don’t mean Mexico.”

“California works. There are a ton of trails for riders that head that way. Ranches, hostels, and hotels all have stables, too. We probably won’t make it far before we’re apprehended, but I do know a few trails that look like they head to Dallas but can be routed to Austin. If we ride hard the first day, we can take a turnoff and hit one of the royal ranches—one of the ones Dad keeps quiet and doesn’t have RPS coverage on unless he’s there.”

That would work for our needs and keep Eddie safe while evading the Texans. “We should hit up every taco joint we can on the way.”

“I am always game for tacos. If we take pictures of us scarfing down the cheapest tacos money can buy, we’ll drive Dad bonkers by the time we’re apprehended and brought into custody.”

“Your thoughts, Olivia?”

“My brother will be endlessly jealous over that stunt, so it has my approval. He will want to be the one busting out and going on a taco bender. Whichever one of us eats the most tacos on this trip wins.”

“What’s the prize?” I asked.

“A horse that the losers must acquire from an auction,” Eddie suggested.

“Wager made,” Olivia announced.

As Daphne would sell me for a penny if it got her a horse, I had no doubt Olivia shared the family’s love of all things equine. Without her nose obstructing her, I expected an immediate transformation into a competitive rider. While I wasn’t a match for Pat, I had a decent eye for horses, and I bet I could find her a champion from an auction.

Most forgot that breeding only played a small part in the success of a horse, and a lot of people offloaded potential champions solely because they didn’t have enough time for training more than one or two animals. While her brother would give her plenty of work in New York, the princess would have time to pursue training horses if she wanted—and knowing her, she wanted to.

“Is there an auction near Austin?”

“There’s a slaughter exporter there, yes,” Eddie replied, and he eyed the navigation panel. “If I shake the tails, we could be there in three hours.”

I considered the young man with interest. “Want me to drive?”

He grinned, bobbed his head, and threw off his seatbelt with amusing enthusiasm. “I’ve heard things about your driving and want to see it for myself.”

“Chart a route on your phone. Olivia, give him your phone in case we need a backup route. You can set my phone up for a third route. I’m going to get an earpiece and clearance to practice a kidnapping scenario. Olivia, do you want to be my victim or accomplice?”

“Victim, please. Grab suppressors for both of us and we’ll play at them being maximum security.”

Laughing, I got out of the vehicle and headed for the nearest in the line, waiting for Carl to roll down the window to lean down and peer inside. The RPS agents within regarded me with delightful wariness. “I need an earpiece, a pair of suppressors for Eddie and Olivia, and clearance to play kidnapper. It seems we’re feeling rowdy, and with us in this mood, you don’t want us on horses quite yet. We need to run some energy out with a vehicle, and I get the feeling Eddie doesn’t feel like being boxed in or driving today.”

Carl laughed, leaned over, and opened the glove box and retrieved one of the spare earpieces along with two sets of suppressors before handing the lot over. “You’re kidnapping your princess and taking Eddie along for the ride?”

“I figure he’s got to be worth something to somebody,” I quipped. “But Olivia has opted to be a victim. I gave her the option to be an accomplice. We’ll be pretending that they’re maximum security suppressors, which will make them almost manageable.” I paused, rolling my eyes. “Almost.”

“Do you want to shake us or get a head start?”

“I want to shake you. Eddie wants to see me work. I could use the practice in case I’m driving with my queen anyway. She’s not ready for the scenarios yet. Tip the cops off so we don’t make them too anxious with our speeding.”

---