Page 109 of The Prince of New York

The young RPS agent needed to see the beginning of the terrorist group’s end as much as I did.

I sat at my chair, grabbed my office phone, secured the connection, and dialed the Texan monarchs, aware I’d speak with both of them.

The terrorism incident had changed everything despite the young man still working in California not knowing everyone in his life wanted Deidre to act, for herself and for him rather than those around her.

She’d made it back to Texas to stay, but she continued to hesitate to follow in her parents’ footsteps and claim the one man everyone knew she wanted and needed.

I hoped to solve all our problems in one fell swoop.

A light tap at my door indicated my conspirator had likewise escaped his home to join in. Terry stepped into the room, but I realized there’d been no escape for him.

His rather pregnant wife had come along for the ride, and I smiled and waved at her.

“Good morning, Ian,” Pat greeted. “I’ve got the wife with me.”

I pressed the speaker button. “I have Terry and Olivia with me. I know I’m about to ask a lot of you both, but I’d like you to hear me out. If you say no, it’s okay. I’ll ask Will for a few extra conspirators.”

I’d already asked Will for permission to steal his cousin for one last strike at terrorists with the end game goal of eliminating my parents once and for all. Not only had he offered Daphne, I would get to take two of her brothers and several of the family’s Eds.

Even Daphne’s Ed would be joining us. He would be our radio coordinator, and Daphne had spent the past few months training him.

In truth, with how my talent had developed and grown since the trip to California, I could go in and handle the whole affair alone with little risk to myself or the hostages. But safety in numbers applied, and Royals existed for a reason—and that reason was to safeguard those in our care.

The terrorists meant to destroy everything Pat and Jessica had built, and I refused to stand idle and watch that happen.

“All right. It has to be important if you’re luring us out of bed at this hour, likely to keep your woman from catching you. How is she doing?”

“She rather shyly pitched a wedding date last week, as I’ve been rather ruthless regarding any kneeling and begging I have to do,” I informed him, grinning at the memory. “She does not like the kneeling and the begging, for the record. In fact, if I never do the kneeling or begging thing ever again, she’d be happy with that. Apparently, she accepted the ring I offered strictly so she wouldn’t have to be subjected to such horrors ever again. I immediately agreed to the date she wanted, and I handed her the bank card and credit cards I had drawn in her name the instant we’d gotten back to New York. I told her to put any wedding expenses on it and suggested she use watercolor painting sets of her favorite brand as gifts for attendees along with the coloring books I like because I have no artistic talent but enjoy painting. So, I’m assuming I haven’t screwed everything up quite yet, as she ran from our suite with the cards, but I might not make it when she finds out what I’m up to.”

Jessica laughed. “What are you up to?”

“I want to borrow Eddie to go with us to take out a terrorist cell, one being headed by my parents. I have Terry and Daphne on board, and judging from the fact Olivia is in here and she hasn’t mimed me losing my head to her wrath, I think she’s on board.”

“I’m on board, and I’m going to be the coordinator on this side of the pond. I’ll be handling the RPS elements while they’re overseas.” Olivia came over to my desk, and she decided to occupy my lap. “I can’t see my feet anymore, and the first and last time I slipped off Terry’s desk, he banned me from sitting on desks.”

That explained why she’d opted to use my lap. The guest chairs had arms, her belly was already hitting the unmanageable stage of pregnancy, and while minecouldhave arms if I wanted them, I usually kept them in the upright position or removed them, which meant she had plenty of space. If she wanted to use me as a chair, I would accept my role without complaint.

One day, I hoped I’d be in the same shoes but with my wife instead of Terry’s.

Terry mouthed a thank you before he sat on my desk. “We have a plan, and it’s a stealth one. We know where they’re at, we have active tracking in place, and we have an opening. We know when they’re going to be leaving, and we can get there, strike, and get out. Eddie should be safe enough, but he’d be quite useful.”

“You want to cultivate him to hate terrorism,” Pat observed.

Terry sighed. “Yes, we do. I’m sorry. I know you want him to have limited exterior experience, but we already had the choice taken from us. He didnotappreciate the airstrip incident, and he yearns to do more. It’s eating him alive. The terrorists have hostages, and we need to get them out. Eddie will shine under these circumstances. Ian and Daphne are all the offense we need, we’ll have a full crew from Montana with us, and I’ll be leading the operation. Ian will be the one responsible for dealing with the former New York monarchs. With his developing talent and ability to unleash his talent as he can, he’s the only one who can realistically take them out at the same time.”

“I’m so sorry, Ian,” Jessica said in a subdued tone.

“It’s not your fault, Jessica, but I won’t say no if you want to come to New York with Pat to feed the ridiculous number of pregnant women in this palace,” I replied, careful to keep my tone gentle. “Having a welcome home party, where we get to eat yams and chicken, would be much better than coming back to my sister having found out what we’re up to and ready to murder me. I need a strong Texan woman to save me from my sister, my fiancée, and my children.”

“Ah. Madelyn doesn’t know?”

“Madelyn doesn’t know. I’m hoping that while we’re going to our target, you will, perhaps, fib a little and suggest that I am running an errand with Eddie as a favor for you. In exchange, I am going to work with California to stress Eddie enough Deidre is finally forced to act. It seems our current stress plans are not stressful enough, and he needs a plethora of stressful things to crack his shell enough Deidre goes running straight his way.”

Jessica squealed and clapped her hands. “Now we’re talking business. If you can keep Eddie as safe as possible, you can take him.”

“Pat?”

“I promised I would not hold Eddie back because of my personal fears, and I mean to keep that promise. If you feel that he needs this, Terry, then you have my approval as well. I’ve been briefed on how dangerous this group is. Cutting the head off the serpent might not be enough.”

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