Chapter Twelve #2
“Watch your backs. Report in six hours. Maddox out.”
Elias glanced at his watch. “We should join the others. It’s almost time to go.” They walked out of the room and downstairs, where their teammates gathered.
Violet looked Elias up and down. “When was the last time you took pain medication?”
Resentment surged to the forefront. He wasn’t an idiot. He could take care of himself. “Six hours.”
“It’s time to take two more capsules.”
Elias’ face burned, and his hands clenched. He was over two years old and capable of fending for himself, including taking meds when he needed them.
Noah stepped in front of his wife. In his eyes was a promise of retaliation if he made a move on Violet.
That would never happen. First, Elias respected the medic too much to shoot off his mouth, even if he felt justified in doing so.
Second, Noah would wipe the floor with him.
After that, Seth would kick him off of Echo unit.
That couldn’t happen. These men were his family, his life.
He might blow off steam now and then, but he’d never take his frustration out on the women of Artemis.
Elias held up his hands, palms out. “I’m sorry. I was out of line.”
“Stay between the lines or you’ll answer to me,” Noah murmured.
“Yes, sir.” Elias turned to Violet. “Do you have those pain pills handy? If not, I can go back upstairs and dig them out of my bag.”
“Would you get my mike bag, love?” Violet asked Noah.
He gave Elias a long and hard stare of warning before he grabbed his wife’s mike bag and set it on the couch.
She unzipped it, pulled out a packet of capsules, and shook two onto Elias’ palm. She also handed him a small bottle of water, which she pulled from the mike bag.
“Thanks.” Elias swallowed the capsules and guzzled the water to wash down the medication.
“Anything we should know about this dinner before we head out?” Seth asked.
“Be careful to show Dutch respect. His Old Lady, too. We’ll be under scrutiny every minute we’re in their company. Answer their questions, but don’t volunteer information.”
“Standard stuff,” Noah said.
“There’s more, but we don’t have time for MC politics school.”
“Watch you?” Andre said.
“Yep. Let’s hope these guys follow protocol this time.” Elias frowned. “They didn’t follow protocol during our trip to the grocery store or in the parking lot.”
“Do they have a different agenda?”
“With this crew, who doesn’t?” Seth said.
They should have followed standard MC behavior. That they didn’t bothered Elias. “We should go, Seth. To show up late for an appointment or meeting with Dutch is the ultimate insult.”
“Copy that.” He glanced at the rest of the group. “Let’s move.”
Elias and Iona climbed into the truck while the rest of the operatives mounted their motorcycles. The group rode away from the cabin and retraced their route to the clubhouse. Five minutes later, Iona parked the truck directly under a security light a short distance from the motorcycles.
“Be sure to lock up.” Elias reached for the door handle. “Someone will probably search the truck anyway, but I don’t want to give him an open invitation. I want him to work for it.”
“Does anything in here identify the vehicle as belonging to Fortress?”
“I don’t think so, but I’ll check to be sure.” Elias unlatched the glove compartment and sifted through the contents. When he finished, he sat back. “We’re clear.”
“One less thing to worry about.” Iona opened the door and slid to the ground. She met Elias at the hood of the truck where their teammates gathered.
Seth looked at him. “Who goes in first?” he asked softly.
“You first, followed by Noah, then Grant and Andre. I’ll come in last after the women have entered the building.”
“Is this a sexist organization?” Teagan hissed.
“Nope. However, it is an old-fashioned organization. The men going first is to protect their Old Ladies and girlfriends.”
Seth bent and brushed his mouth over Teagan’s. “Watch everything you say. We’re on display.” He straightened, glanced at Noah, and inclined his head toward the door.
With a slight smile on his face, Noah opened the door for Seth, then followed him through the door into the clubhouse.
Grant gave them a few seconds and walked inside, followed quickly by Andre.
“Your turn, ladies.” Elias held the door for them, then escorted Iona inside the clubhouse.
Lights burned in every room, and Blackthorn members lined the path to the dining room where Elias and Iona could see their teammates mingling with a few members of the MC. He rested his hand against Iona’s lower back and nudged her toward the others. Elias paused in the entryway to the dining room.
A second later, a Blackthorn Rider greeted them by name and introduced himself. “I’m Digger. Come with me.”
Iona’s eyebrows rose as she glanced at Elias.
He shook his head slightly. Although she wanted to ask about the significance of Digger’s name, this wasn’t the time or place. They could discuss the names later when they didn’t have ears listening to every word spoken.
Digger led them to Dutch. “Prez, this is Elias and his Old Lady, Iona.”
Elias shook Dutch’s offered hand briefly. “Iron Wolves Enforcer. Road name is Ghost. City of Origin is Hartman.”
Dutch gave a curt nod, then shifted his gaze to Iona. “Welcome, my dear. This is my Old Lady, Trish.”
Trish stared at Iona with no acknowledgment of her presence.
Wow. The ultimate insult. Elias inclined his head toward Dutch’s lady. “We’re glad to meet you, Trish.” Total lie. He’d rather have Iona all to himself without having to worry about MC politics.
Still nothing.
Dutch offered them a frosty smile. “You must excuse my lady. She is unwell tonight.”
From what Elias could see, Trish was just crabby. “I understand, sir.”
“Good, good.” He turned toward Seth, who had watched the encounter from close by and motioned toward the table. “Seth, join us at the table with your group.”
As Elias had coached his teammates, they allowed Seth and Teagan to approach the table with Noah and Violet a step behind. The others soon joined them.
Dutch signaled to his vice president, who looked at a woman standing in front of a door that presumably led to the kitchen. The woman opened the door, and two other women entered the room bearing trays loaded with filled plates.
Elias studied the plate one woman had set in front of him.
Salad. Really? He’d never seen a green leaf except what grew in his yard during his chaotic childhood, and good old Dutch had enough class to serve a three-course meal?
He would have bet anything that Dutch hated salad.
Elias frowned. Was he guessing based on his own childhood or had he really met Dutch in his past?
He studied Dutch’s face. Definitely not one that he would forget, so why did his gut say he knew the MC leader?
The server set a pair of ceramic creamers in front of his plate.
Elias stared. He’d never seen ceramic creamers used for salad dressing.
Pretty ingenious use for them in his opinion.
Although he never saw the need for creamers, this use of the ceramic pieces made Iona and her team happy.
A good thing about having Artemis along?
They took semi-formal dinners in stride.
Elias and his teammates waited until their women served themselves from the ceramic creamers before following suit.
Dutch tried his best to keep the conversation going. His wife’s refusal to talk hampered his efforts. She just glowered at each woman on Artemis, especially Iona.
Despite her rudeness, Elias felt sorry for her. Trish was pretty enough. However, she couldn’t compete with Artemis. Each member was beautiful. He might be biased, but Elias believed Iona could have been a model.
His lady had class, though. She noticed Dutch’s struggle and used a hand signal to communicate with the rest of her team.
From that time on, they carried on the conversation at the dinner table, introducing neutral topics and engaging everyone in the discussion except Trish.
As soon as Artemis took over the conversation, the stilted awkwardness disappeared.
Iona talked about her favorite movies as dessert was served. “What’s your favorite movie, Dutch?”
He glanced at his wife to find her glaring at him. He cleared his throat and mumbled, “I watch little television.”
She smiled. “I understand. I’d rather read a book than watch television. I do like cooking shows, though. Are you a DIY guy, Dutch?”
His shoulders straightened. “I take care of my bike and help the others with theirs.”
“Oh, nice. That’s so handy. I’ll bet Trish finds you a tremendous help.” She studied him for a moment. “I can see you as someone who remodels his own house and who loves to rebuild vehicles, two wheels and four. Am I right?”
He chuckled. “You sure are.”
She shifted the questions to other members of the Blackthorn Riders seated at the table and those in the room acting as bodyguards. By the time they’d finished dessert, Artemis had successfully navigated the shark-infested waters of MC dinner conversation.
Dutch getting to his feet was the signal for everyone else to stand. Trish not only stood, she walked out of the room. The stiffness in everyone else’s shoulders fell away.
Teagan smiled at Dutch. “Thank you so much for hosting a dinner for us. We’re honored to spend time with you and your Old Lady.”
“We enjoyed getting to know you,” Iona said.
“My pleasure.” Dutch extended his hand to Teagan first and kissed the back of her fingers. He did the same thing to Iona.
While Elias appreciated old-world courtesy as much as the next guy, he didn’t like Dutch kissing any part of Iona.
“We should go.” Seth wrapped his arm around Teagan’s shoulders and tucked her against his side. When Dutch held out his hand to Seth, Echo’s leader shook it, then guided Teagan toward the door.
The rest of Echo unit paid their respects to Blackthorn’s leader and left with their wives.
Elias was the last man to approach Dutch with his lady.
Iona took a step forward and stopped. “May I approach?”
It took everything Elias had not to roll his eyes. Dutch, however, ate up that act of respect.
He smiled and held out his hand. “Of course.” Dutch drew Iona closer.
“Thank you,” she said simply. “For a marvelous dinner and entertaining company. More importantly, thank you for offering protection for Elias. We’ll never forget your kindness.”
Dutch shrugged. “In our world, we take care of each other.”
“We do in ours as well. I know Elias appreciates what you’re doing, but I wanted you to know that I’m well aware of the risk you’re taking in offering sanctuary to my man.
” Iona hugged him briefly, then stepped back.
“We’ll go now so you can take care of your lady.
Please convey our appreciation for the meal to Trish. ”
Blackthorn’s leader looked stunned. “Of course. I’ll tell her.”
Time for Elias to man up. He stepped closer, waiting for Dutch to extend his hand.
When he did, Elias shook it. “Iona is right. Thank you for offering me a place to stay. I was worried about Iona’s safety.
You know how law enforcement is. If they tried again to take me out, I didn’t want them to miss me and hit her by mistake. ”
“We’re family. Go rest and heal.”
“Thank you, sir. Good night.”
Dutch gave a nod and glanced at one of his men, who motioned for Elias and Iona to follow him.
Like they would get lost between here and the front door. Elias rested his hand against Iona’s lower back. As they walked to the door, the Blackthorn rider signaled someone in the shadows to their right.
Iona’s fingers curled into her palms.
For Elias, time slowed to a crawl as his mind mapped out what would happen before the execution of the plan. He gripped his Sig, slid it from the holster, and held it by his thigh.
Iona activated her wrist sheath, and a split-second later, a silver blade skimmed along her palm as Elias raised his weapon.
A man emerged from the shadows with a Glock 21 in his hand, the muzzle pointed at Elias. He raised the weapon and sighted his target.
“Gun!” Iona jerked her hand up and snapped her wrist. The blade of her knife sank deep into the attacker’s neck as Elias pulled the trigger.
The enemy flew backward and slammed into the wall. He slowly slid to the ground, leaving a trail of red behind him.