Page 115 of Iron Unicorn

“You’ll thank me once the electricians pull out the wiring and find the spots I disconnected due to faults.” I grinned, walked over, and shook hands with him. “I stole a queen, two princesses, and handcuffed your king to his wife’s chair.”

“You’ve made his day, so thank you for that. But did you have to completely bust the electricity? It’s going to be days before the palace is brought back online.”

“Some of those wires might have caused a fire. If it makes you feel any better, I’m going to be doing that at the palaces in New York and Montana, although I’ll only break it where the wires are faulty instead of knocking out the primary wiring hubs, too.”

“I’ll thank you between the curses. Do you want your iron back?”

“No. You can do what you want with it. If you can’t locate me for the next few days, I’ve been kidnapped.” In my effort to bludgeon Olivia with yet another hint, I added, “I do not wish to be rescued.”

Olivia grinned and waved at Carl. “He’s now in my custody, and I’m not releasing him for at least three days.”

“We brought your clothes with us,” he replied, and when he waved his hand, a pair of agents came up hauling our suitcases. “Please confirm his status as alive and well, else Princess Melody might kill us. Keep a watch for exertion symptoms. He did a lot of work, and I can’t tell if he’s pale through all that makeup. I’m also disgusted at how well you pulled that off. Cleaning staff?”

“Yep. I recruited an aide out of Montana to do my makeup, and she was the one who slipped in to get the badges. I’ll do a write up of how she got the badges for us along with how we got into the queen’s office.”

“Oh, we know how you did it. Once the breach was discovered, we’d recorded who had gone to her office, discovering a pair of maids. Once the scenario started, the agents in the hall did as the scenario scripted, laughing and shaking their heads over how you had somehow transformed yourself into a rather pretty woman. We ran a database check on a laptop to identify your accomplice. I may have sent your brother a nasty text, Your Highness.”

Olivia giggled. “Have fun trying to scold my brother. Eddie was ordered to deliver us to our suite. If Pat wants to gift us with dinner, we won’t say no, but unless he’s delivering food for us, we’re unavailable.” Linking her arm with mine, she grabbed her suitcase. Carl took pity on me and handed mine over. “Have a good week, Carl. If you need to press kidnapping charges, wait a week first.”

“Good luck, Terry.”

I laughed, nodded as a way of wishing him well, and allowed Olivia to drag me to the elevators.

Eddie handled pressing the up button. “Thank you for making sure Mom and Dad had fun. They’ve been stressed lately.”

“You’re welcome,” I replied. “Iama little sorry about trashing the palace electrical systems.”

“I’m not. You’ll just have to accept Dad’s culinary offerings for giving him peace of mind.”

“I think I can handle that.”

Once inside the elevator, Eddie hit the button for the top floor. “I’m taking you to your floor, and you will just have to wage war against the room key on your own. Mom’s going to be causing trouble because she can, and I might be all that saves this hotel from the insanity.”

I made a mental note to make certain California was prepared to deal with Eddie’s anxiety. He’d done all right in Austin, but I suspected his ability to get back to Dallas quickly had played a crucial role in that.

California would change everything for the young man.

“We don’t need a babysitter, so go take yourself back downstairs. I’d say remind your mom that she’s not your boss, but technically, she is.”

“The green recruits in the RPS like saying I have a gross advantage, but every time they do it, everyone else breaks into hysterical laughter. They quickly learn the truth.”

“I’d say it’s hard being held to a higher standard, but I’m guilty of holding myself to a higher standard, so I can’t talk. We’re birds of a feather. I hate disappointing people, too.”

“Call me if you need to escape sometime, Terry. I’m sure we can throw together another kidnapping without the concussion next time.”

I heaved a sigh at the thought of a next time. “Is it the kind of kidnapping where I call, ask if you can come grab me, and I walk near the wall so I can vault over it and dive into the getaway vehicle?”

“Yep.”

“I’m in.”

Olivia cleared her throat.

“Would you like to vault walls and jump into getaway vehicles?” I asked.

“As a matter of fact, yes. I really would.”

“Eddie, I would like to book a kidnapping for two, please.”

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