A few hours ago at the royal house.
Charlotte walked along the corridor, looking around. Finally, she reached the right door and, opening it, slipped inside.
The room turned out to be a small hall with a throne at the end. She looked around and went up to him.
Suddenly, the door opened and the Saint's head appeared in the doorway.
— The Princess?
Charlotte put her hand on her heart and breathed a sigh of relief.
— What are you doing here?
— I decided that leaving the princess alone is not very noble for a gentleman like me... especially with your guards, as I see there is not even a castle near the throne room.
Charlotte looked at the Saint in disbelief.
The boy's voice subsided.
— Well, okay, okay, I was afraid you'd do something again.
Charlotte sighed.
— I didn't do anything...
— And also... I wanted to apologize.
Charlotte was surprised, but she smiled and said.
— Let's talk later, but for now, help me with one thing...
— Again, I don't want to burn down the palace, or rather I won't.
— No, you just need to find something similar here for a hiding place or a safe.
— It reminds me of something...
Svyat and Charlotte began to look around the hall. They went around the corners several times, but apart from decorative display cases and figures, they found nothing. The boy stood in the middle of the room and, putting his hands on his belt, spoke.
— Maybe there is no hiding place here?
Charlotte, once again looking at the throne, replied.
— I have to be, because if there are secrets that only the royal family knows, then there are those that only the queen knows.
— It's easier to become a queen than to find her hiding place...
— Hmm... A queen, you say?
The princess's eyes lit up and she sat on the throne.
The saint patted sarcastically. Charlotte rolled her eyes, but she concentrated anyway.
She scanned the room once more. Then she looked at the Saint, and then down.
— What about the carpet?
The kid looked at the carpet.
The carpet is like a carpet... well, red, what can you take from it?
— Pattern.
— Well, there are some lines, there's a flower, and there are animals around it...
The Svyat looked around and compared the figures of the animals, after which he looked at the carpet again and with some difficulty pulled it off. Charlotte came closer.
There was a keyhole on the floor in place of the carpet. The princess spoke.
— Now the key...
the saint grinned and took out a lock pick. He tried to pick the lock, but nothing worked, and then again and again, until the lock pick broke. Holy suggested it.
— Why don't we call Steve instead? He's better at it.
Charlotte took the boy's spare lock pick and tried to open the lock, she succeeded. They exchanged glances.
Suddenly, a secret passage began to open next to the well.
Stone steps appeared in front of them, going down.
Charlotte spoke up.
— Let's go?
— As long as the house doesn't get ruined again.
They went up the dark stairs. When the Saint saw the torch, he took out a flask of alcohol, poured it on the fabric of the torch and set it on fire with a lighter. Charlotte spoke up.
— Practical...
— Well, bad habits can be very useful.
They continued to descend until dark dungeons opened up in front of them, looking like a dungeon. Without looking at her feet, the princess stumbles upon a trap, which causes her to fall through. But the Saint managed to catch her and pull her out, but by inertia they rolled down to the bottom of the stairs. The saint asked.
— Is Your Highness okay?"
Charlotte, brushing herself off, replied.
— Yes. And you?
— Alive...
Said the kid, holding his right shoulder.
Surprisingly, the torch did not go out. Svyat picked it up and illuminated the area around him.
— It was more comfortable in the alley...
Charlotte, used the fabric on her outfit, bandaged the Svyat's shoulder. The kid spoke.
— You really look alike up close.
Charlotte looked at the Svyat without emotion and abruptly tightened the bandage, which made the boy look distorted.
They began to inspect the room. It really turned out to be a dungeon, just a place of cells – rooms with closed iron doors and signs and numbers.
Svyat asked.
— Are we looking for something specific or just an excursion?
— Preferably something that will help us with Richard.
Suddenly, the boy, looking at the next door, noticed some scuffs on the handles and, lighting up the sign, called Charlotte with horror. The princess approached the Saint and asked.
— Did you find it?
But the boy just silently pointed at the sign, Charlotte was also horrified.
On the plate "1898v3" was scratched "Bishop"
Present time
Control.
The group of Lawrence, Stephen, Dorothy and Beatrice split up. The guys went in for questioning.
There was another room in front of the interrogation room, which already had a colonel and a couple of assistants. The colonel, lighting a cigarette, spoke.
— Well, where the hell have you been?
Steve took out his pack and spoke.
— We listened to the concert. Is that one there?
— Where would he be?
Putting a cigarette in his mouth, Steve took the papers and, together with Lawrence, they went into a small room in which Browns was handcuffed. The man immediately spoke in fright.
— Sergeant, let me go, this is some kind of mistake.
Steve sat down across from her and spoke.
— Come on, don't compensate for the brains, it will be worse for you.
Steve started reading the documents.
— So... Robert... The Browns?
Lawrence, who was standing by the door with his arms crossed, spoke.
— BRO-WN, Brown...
— Can we give it to the colonel after all? Well, he'll shoot a couple of times, but it'll be faster...
— Hey, hey, hey, don't need a colonel, Browns, so Browns, at least Bruns, I'll tell you everything, just don't hit.
Steve picked up a pen and listened intently.
— Well, that's it: I'm going to my place of work, to the factory. I worked until noon, so they called me to headquarters for lunch and said that you were "honored" to monitor the safety of pipes in the royal house at the ball, and I was just an ordinary guy and studied...
— More specifically...
— Dressed up, it means I'm going outside, and then there's a carriage.
— Just for you?
— Of course.
— Mgm... That's how we'll write it down – you're an important person, so you'll answer for yourself.
— Hey, well, a couple of dandies and a guy were sitting there, I thought maybe I didn't go into any chapters. In general, initially there were 8 of them...
— Listen... I understand a person who speaks 4 languages at once better than your babble. Just tell me who hired you, what you promised, and why you went to the basement.
— That's what I'm getting at, boss, they covered us with a canvas so we couldn't see anything and drove off, and outside the window there were rivers, forests and fields...
Steve threw a pen on the table and stood up, Robert clumsily took it and tried to remove the handcuffs, and Steve came up behind and pushed the chair with the Browns into the table, and then He dropped it back, which left Robert in limbo. He was restrained only by tightly tightened handcuffs and Steve holding him by the back of a chair.
Brown snorted in pain, but tried not to say anything. Lawrence spoke up.
— Tevez, let's go out for a while.
Steve put the chair back in its place, and himself. He left the room.
The sergeant spoke.
— We need to think of something else, otherwise he will grow old ahead of time.
— Do you have an approach to such people? Even if it's very tough, there are fewer restrictions.
The colonel intervened in the conversation.
— What did you find out?
— Dryly.
— At least not one of them has worked, but he doesn't work with anyone.
— Then use all the methods from the toughest to the most sophisticated.
Lawrence slapped Steve on the shoulder.
— Did tabby come up with something?
— Listen...
— It's a little inhumane, but when has that ever stopped us, right? Let's go before he dies of boredom.
At this time, somewhere in control.
Dorothy and Beatrice were waiting in the hallway. Beatrice, holding Dorothy's hat, spoke.
— Do you think there's something serious there?
— I doubt it... It's a pretty ordinary bomb, like the ones that blew up the royal house–only bigger and with cavorite.
—Oh, good... In that case, wouldn't they be stronger and more explosive?
— Yes, they will...
— And are you satisfied with that?
— It's fine, I can't influence it, so there's no point in worrying.
— That's wise.
"7" came out of the door and stood near the door. Dorothy and Beatrice exchanged glances and followed her.
Once in a large room that looked like a garage, the girls were taken to a table with a bomb.
"7" started talking.
— So, the device you seized has an explosive component consisting of cavorite. The structure is
quite clear to us, but you have some questions.
— What's that?
— How did you remove the component without causing an explosion?
— Well, we just took out this component using a key ball.
— Hmm... perhaps the energy from the key ball did not unite with the component, but on the contrary. Otherwise, the circuit would have closed.
— So if we hadn't used the key ball, the whole royal house would have exploded? Beatrice said, startled.
— It is quite possible.
— Or they deliberately made it non-detonating so that we could try to defuse it and bring it here.
They looked at the disassembled device. "7" she said.
— Such an outcome is also likely. "D" follow the original plan for now, we will send you further instructions later and please... — "7" in a whisper — be more attentive than ever, it seems that something very serious is coming soon.
— There is.
Beatrice glanced at her watch.
The Interrogation room
Lawrence slammed on the table and spoke loudly.
— SPEAK, YOU BEAST!
Brown was taken aback.
— If you keep your mouth shut, I'll personally pull it out and rip it out!
Steve pulled Lawrence away and spoke.
— So let's not be fanatical. — and he came closer — moreover, it seems to me that our friend will speak much better if he is not threatened over his soul, right?
Brown nodded frantically. Steve continued.
— Well, that's it, so come on.
— Well, I think I stopped at the carriage... S-so you took me somewhere and s-said it was coming out...
Lawrence shouted.
— Don't whine!
—Shut up already, beetroot, — Steve said and pushed the sergeant away. — Go ahead.
— I went into the house, and this one is sitting there... re-ed-hand.
Steve took a long drag on his cigarette.
— He said that I can participate in the reconstruction of our state.
— And...
— And under the barrel of a beautiful lady – it didn't take long to persuade me.
Steve sighed.
Brown spoke, sobbing.
— Don't beat me up, please, I have a wife, I'm going to have a baby soon, if you want, I'll name it after you.
— No one will kill you.
— We are at least...
Steve looked at Lawrence.
—Well, that's right. Steve
took another drag, then left the room with Lawrence, and several agents entered on the contrary.
The Colonel is loud.
— Well?
— With a high probability Richard and possibly Zelda.
— It can't be. Richard is behind bars, and Agent Z has another assignment. Escape is not possible!
Steve blew out a big cloud and spoke.
— Well, they somehow pulled us out...
the colonel thought about it.
Steve and Lawrence left.
— We'll send you the details later, don't waste time... vigilance. — said the Colonel, rolling a cigarette.