Page 110 of Iron Unicorn

I understood how the ploy would work, and I wouldn’t even submit a report about it. Without doubt, they already knew.

I stood a high chance of retreating under those circumstances, too.

Shaking my head at the insanity, I kept cleaning until I reached an electric outlet. I roused my talent, kept on scrubbing at the dusty molding, and traced the metal in the building, making note of the primary electrical junctions. I understood why they didn’t mind me trashing the system.

Along the way, I found several faults, all of which could lead to a fire if left unattended.

Those spots would be destroyed during my opening volley to make certain the maintenance and electrical staff did not try to use old wiring. After a moment of thought, I decided I’d take out the entire system. With so many intermittent problems, I’d be burdened with additional guilt if I allowed them to remain.

I made a note to check the palace in New York for similar issues, although I wouldn’t take everything out in one fell swoop. Instead, I’d repair the critical sections first and eventually update the entire system.

As the RPS would cause me the most problems, I followed the electrical system to the largest concentrations of wiring. One of them would be the primary observation center for the agency, and once I took that out, they’d have to rely on low tech methods of communication.

There were three such hubs, and I started with the one farthest from my position to give the illusion I attacked the palace from the other side of the complex. I counted to twenty before taking out the central communication point, and then I eliminated the last one.

To make sure my destruction didn’t cause problems, I destroyed the metal wiring leading to the primary power sources for the building, making sure to ground them all in the process.

If I wanted to start a fire, I would do so intentionally.

As planned, the power went out, and Queen Jessica bounced, clapping her hands. “Wedoget to have some fun today, Pat!”

The king, who ruled over the deck of cards, did not seem impressed with his wife, and he got up to open the curtains to let in some light. “I had no doubt we were going to get some prime entertainment today. There is a reason I moved my operations to my office rather than entertaining Aanya’s parents. Terry is just going to have to deal with an entire party of us trying to escape the palace.”

Great. Well, in good news, my team had two pair of hands to deal with four royals, but at least one of them wouldn’t give me a hard time.

“We’re not supposed to be cooperating with him,” Olivia reminded the king.

“Why the hell not? It’s accurate. If someone comes in and politely asks us to leave with them, honestly… after a few questions, we’d probably just leave for the fun of it.”

I loved how honest the Texans could be. I got up, went to the cart, and rummaged around, locating one of the more practical tools in the cleaning arsenal: a battery powered lamp.

Palace cleaning staff always had lamps to make certain they could clean dark corners and under furniture.

Queen Jessica giggled, and she rubbed her hands together. “Do you think he’s going to take the cleaning staff, too?”

Had I been running the event solo, I would have been forced to add the cleaning staff into the chaos.

Someone knocked, and a moment later, one of the queen’s RPS agents poked his head into the room. “We are locking down for the scenario.”

The news seemed to thrill just about everyone except for Olivia, who sulked. “Spoilsport.”

The RPS agent maintained his neutrality before leaving and closing the door behind him.

With the lamp set up, I went back to work, finishing the molding and arming myself with a feather duster. I slapped it against my leg, much like I would with a riding crop. With the RPS agent freshly notifying the monarchs of a lockdown, if they followed general procedures, they would have agents outside looking outwards to prevent infiltrators, the agents in the hallway would be listening for disturbances in the room, and they’d trust the three stories to keep anyone from accessing the offices and royal bedroom.

After I finished with them, they would not be trusting the height to protect their monarchs.

To be fair to the Texans, the windows, constructed of hefty bulletproof glass that was replaced yearly, posed a problem to most. I would superheat a metal rod to carve a hole through the glass, and I’d do so at the frame. Once I decided the glass was going, it would take a trip down to the ground, assuming nobody was loitering where I expected it to fall. I’d apply a light coating of metal to prevent any debris from flying off upon landing, something I wouldn’t have done if a true hostile party.

Holly went over to the window armed with cleaner and a rag in one hand. She pushed aside the curtain, blocking the view of the queen, and as we’d discussed, she slapped on one of the queen’s suppressors onto the suspecting woman.

Queen Jessica blinked, stared at her wrist, and then stared at Holly, blinking some more. “You are definitely not Terry.”

Holly giggled, dipped into a bow, and replied, “I am not Terry.”

Olivia pointed at my accomplice. “Holly!”

“I am Holly.” She reached into her pocket and tossed Olivia’s suppressor to her. “Do not make me get into a fight with you today. I feel like winning.”

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