Page 10 of Iron Unicorn

“All right, listen up, kids. Play nice with Terry. However much fun it is to tease the New Yorkers, he’s originally from Montana and he’s Queen Rachel’s head of detail. Our body is going to be a rough ride. We’re expecting at least one anxiety episode, and we have no records of how she responds under these circumstances. We’re also on alert for a potential cardiac episode. She has been at heavily reduced air intake, and she will not be intubated initially. Her blood oxygen levels will be monitored at all times, but the possibility of a cardiac episode is present.”

I grimaced at the alert; while Olivia was at low risk for a heart attack or another similar issue, it could happen. If it did happen, we had a set protocol to handle the incident. Dominic would reach out to the RPS team and request a Royal cardiac specialist while the hospital staff worked through their base procedures. The desk staff would begin running deeper checks into all medical staff on the floor, although I suspected that work had already been done.

The active agents would be on guard for anyone attempting to take advantage of the situation.

“The operation is expected to take up to four hours, although the surgeons have indicated that it could take as little as half an hour depending on the circumstances. The average for this procedure is ninety minutes, but the princess’s case is particularly severe. General anesthesia will be used, and the operation will begin after five minutes of monitoring her condition. She will be monitored, while under general anesthesia, for thirty minutes after completion of the operation. We are expecting the anxiety attack portion to happen as she is brought out of general anesthesia.”

One by one, he recapped team roles, and I listened to get a better feel for who would be on duty. The operating room lead went to a senior agent named Jules, someone I recognized from Queen Jessica’s detail.

“Terry, I want you on outward hallway duty until she is coming out of general anesthesia. Your job will be support once she’s becoming conscious, as we may be able to dodge the anxiety episode if you can get her to focus on you. You’re her known agent. Jules will call you in when it’s time.”

I lifted my hand, activated the microphone, and said, “Roger.”

“It’s showtime, ladies and gentlemen. Terry, stay in the room until she’s out before taking your station for the remainder of the operation.”

I picked a spot where Olivia could see me, clasped my hands in front of me, and assumed one of my more relaxed poses. In a way, I lied with my body. As long as she thought I lacked concern, she would follow my lead.

The last thing she needed was to see me worried.

Twenty minutes later, the anesthesiologist went to work. After ten minutes, once Olivia was down and out for the procedure, I slipped into the hallway, joining Quincy, the Texan RPS agent on guard.

He chuckled and said, “We have the easy job today. Nobody is getting through Carl and Eugene, who are at the intersection up ahead.”

I knew both agents from working with my queen, and I relaxed knowing Queen Jessica had sent her best along for the ride. “I can work with easy, especially as I had no idea I was going to be working a few hours ago.”

“We were briefed, but if we wanted to get the princess here, we needed the appropriate bait, and you were the best bait we could get.”

I allowed myself a grin at that. “The other option isn’t an option right now.”

Olivia would fly commercial for Daphne, too, without question or hesitation.

She’d do a lot more than fly commercial for her brother, but he hadn’t seen the necessity of her operation. I believed Olivia had hidden the truth from him. We’d talk about that, as I’d be on guard against her hiding health concerns in the future.

“You would be correct. In reality, we’re on hallway duty so we can have a chance to chat. I’ll be assigned to Olivia while she’s in Texas, which ultimately means I’m assigned to you as well. I know you can take care of yourself, you know you can take care of yourself, but Queen Jessica would flip her lid and King Patrick would indulge in anxiety if we did not return you to your queen in perfect health.”

As we did similar in Montana and New York, I nodded. “I can’t be awake all the time, and the last thing we need is my queen losing her temper.”

“Exactly. You’re going to be paid to have a vacation in the hotel next door, and you’ve got the nice suite at the top of the building. Both neighboring suites have been taken over by the RPS, as have the suites across the hall. There are a few that aren’t occupied by one of us, but the royalty in question have promised to stay out from underfoot. One suite has the twins, and the other has a dignitary from Nevada. The one from Nevada comes armed with her physician if she’s needed.”

“Specialty?”

“Respiratory. The royal has asthma, and her cousin is the king—he refuses to let her leave his kingdom without the physician in tow. Nevada is overreacting, but it’s easy enough to accommodate him. The physician is one floor down as he prefers a little distance from his ward. Our RPS is keeping an eye on her, and she has an alarm bracelet if she has an attack and can’t otherwise get help. The bracelet has two modes; it triggers with a held button and can trigger if it detects her blood oxygen level dropping.”

Sometimes, technology irritated me, especially when it made our job harder, but sometimes, it paid off, especially when the health of our charges was in question. “What is her relationship with Olivia?”

“It’s cordial, and she may make a good companion during recovery. She’ll be in town for the next two weeks. She has a light schedule, so it would be trivial to reach out should Olivia require some feminine company.”

I foresaw a great deal of trouble in the upcoming days; Olivia hated being penned in. Having company might help—or give her an accomplice for her troublesome ways.

“According to your expression, you have realized all hope is lost, you are on a nightmare assignment, and you might want a stiff drink.” Quincy raised a brow, and he gave me one of his smug grins before checking his watch. “The plan is to give her a sleeping pill to get her through today once we determine that she’s breathing normally. They’re trying to minimize her pain levels, but we’re just not sure how well it’ll work. If she can breathe but it’s uncomfortable, light sedatives and sleeping pills will be prescribed for the first five days. After that, she’ll be expected to go through light physical therapy to rebuild any lost muscle. That part should be easy.” Quincy’s expression turned pained. “She’ll run, and we’ll have to chase her.”

“I do wish, sometimes, that someone had warned me at an early age that signing up for the RPS was a rather rigid physical training program involving a great deal of running around.”

“I know, right? On the surface, it looks like a bunch of men and women in nice clothes standing around doing a whole lot of nothing. In reality, we stand around waiting for when someone goes after our bodies—or our bodies decide to bolt for freedom.”

“Just be glad you aren’t assigned to Montana. They have to practice sprinting, else Queen Mackenziewillescape.” I shook my head and laughed at the thought of the heavily pregnant queen managing to lose her RPS agents at least once every pregnancy. “Your monarchs at least attempt to limit how often they run away.”

“King Patrick has become bolder in later years. He’s run away several times after their herd was old enough to understand their daddy wanted their mommy to pay more attention to him.”

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