Page 29 of Promises to Keep

I teased, “Wow, I have rarely seen you so ‘kingly’ and demanding, it’s kinda hot.”

Magnus pretended to whisper. “Kaitlyn, I am pretending tae be demandin’ tae get Colonel Quentin tae agree tae what we need tae do.”

I nodded conspiratorially. “Oh, of course, King Magnus, what do ‘we’ need to do?”

Magnus said, “We are not sure of the exact plan, but we are once again on high alert.”

Quentin said, “Do they know where we, meaning all of us, have the house in Florida?”

“I think we hae tae assume they do — we had tech in Riaghalbane that shrouded our location in secrecy, and Lady Mairead and General Hammond kept it cloaked, but if Lady Mairead is nae in the kingdom then I am nae sure.... Agnie’s sons kent where we lived, Agnie must ken.”

Quentin said, “Great, that sucks. So where do we go?”

Magnus laid out the strategy. “I need ye, Colonel Quentin, tae take the family tae a new safe place. This hotel is the height of luxury but it is goin’ tae be wrecked by all of us. We ought tae take the kids somewhere safe.”

I said, “Like a compound.”

“Aye. Emma, can ye look for one we can rent or buy for a time?”

Quentin said, “But, I don’t want to get sent to some compound, I want to be useful.”

Magnus said, “Once ye hae driven the van of tears, full of bairns and animals, tae a compound and kept them safe, ye can tell me how ye were nae useful.”

He groaned. “We need to fly,” he snapped his finger, “Emma, find a compound near an airport.”

Emma began typing on her laptop on the counter near the small kitchenette.

Beaty said, “But ye forget, Quennie, Mookie canna go on a plane! We ought tae go slow, we can stop and see many sights, I would verra much like tae see the White House of America, and maybe tae see the Grand Canyon.”

I said, “Your geography is not quite right, Beaty, you’d have everyone going in circles—”

Emma said, “Here’s one…” She clicked a button. “It’s freaking big, and...”

Magnus said, “Make sure it has stables.”

“It looks like it does...” She clicked and scrolled.

Magnus said, “And when you’re there, Colonel Quentin, I want ye tae get our munitions in order, prepare for possible trouble — we need weapons.”

I said, “Will a landlord rent to us when we’ve got everyone on high-alert and carrying weapons?”

James was looking over Emma’s shoulder at the property. “It says it’s for sportsmen, yeah, they’ll let us have weapons.”

Magnus ran his hand through his hair. “Good, because we hae Agnie after us, and some fella named Ian the Troublesome, and they are threatening and carryin’ on—”

Fraoch said, “We hae other things afoot as well — who was it that moved ye intae the stadium...?”

James said, “Easy, it was Ormr and Domnall.”

Fraoch said, “Aye, it could be, but now they are dead, who is holding the technology now?”

Magnus twisted his coffee mug back and forth, “If twas nae Ormr and Domnall, who else could it hae been?”

Fraoch said, “I hae been wonderin’, could it hae been Hammond?”

Quentin’s eyes went very wide. “No way, he is… no way. No way at all.”

Magnus squinted at Fraoch. Then he shrugged. “We canna take any possibility off the table. Hammond has been around for a verra long time, I feel we hae a stong alliance, I trust him, yet… he was at the stadium that day, he might be allied with someone else."

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