Chapter Thirteen
WITH HIS WEAPON up and ready, Elias quartered the area, alert for more enemy combatants. Had this man, dressed in black from head to toe, brought friends with him, or was this a one-man show?
Their teammates returned, weapons in hand.
Blackthorn Riders ran into the room from every direction and halted when faced with armed Fortress operatives and a dead body.
With his teammates surrounding him and blocking his movements, Elias used his phone to snap a picture of the man’s face and sent it to Zane for him to run the picture through their facial recognition database. Afterward, he drew Iona into the shadows and scanned the faces of Blackthorn’s members.
Last to join the party was Dutch. He scowled, looking from one Fortress operative to another. “What happened here?”
Elias stepped in front of Iona. “You tell me. I trusted you with my Old Lady’s safety.” He pointed at the dead man. “This guy tried to kill me. Who is he?”
“Not one of ours.” Dutch looked at each of his men in the room. “Who dishonored me by allowing a killer into our midst to assassinate a guest?”
No one said a word.
Seth looked at Elias, who signaled that the tall linebacker in the corner with a smug look on his face had something to do with it. With a single hand signal from Seth, Noah and Andre slipped through the crowd and forced Linebacker to stand in front of Dutch.
Seth motioned to Linebacker. “Why don’t you ask him how the enemy slipped into your compound?”
Dutch froze. “Heath? What have you done?”
“What you should have taken care of yourself.” Heath raised his chin and stared at his president.
Elias moved into a better position to protect Iona as his mind raced. What did this mean? Did the Blackthorn Riders know who he was and that he’d walked away from the Reckoners?
“I gave my word,” Dutch roared. “That means something to me.”
“We shouldn’t be protecting him. He’ll bring trouble.”
Dutch looked at his vice-president. “Red, get him out of here. Heath is not welcome in our compound anymore. And no more holes in security. We have obligations to fulfill in a couple of days. If something like this happens again, you won’t like the consequences.”
Several of the Blackthorn Riders exchanged grim glances, but none of them interfered with Red and an enforcer when they grabbed Heath’s arms and forced him to leave the clubhouse.
Dutch turned to Seth. “I apologize. I didn’t know this would happen.”
“I’m not the one you should apologize to.”
The Blackthorn leader turned to Elias. “I’m sorry,” he said simply. “When I agreed to offer you sanctuary, I assumed my own men would honor my decision. If you want, I can arrange for you to have sanctuary with a brother MC. They’re good men. I’d stake my life on that.”
Elias remained silent for a moment. “Does Heath have loyal friends?”
“Two.”
“Tell them to stay away until my Old Lady and I are in the clear. If you do that, we’ll stay where we are.”
Dutch smiled. “Good. I’ll see to it myself. Go. Get some rest and don’t worry about the garbage.” He motioned to the man on the floor. “We’ll take care of it. We’ve got you. You’re safe, Elias.”
Right. He didn’t intend to take anyone’s word on that. He and his teammates would set up a watch rotation so that they weren’t surprised.
Bad enough that he had to stay in place, risking Iona and the rest of their teammates in the quest to find out when and where the weapons and ammunition would be sold.
The last thing he wanted was to take the people he cared about into another unknown situation, but they must confiscate the weapons and ammo before they hit the street.
The lives of innocent people were at stake, as well as the lives of his friends.
He must get the information they needed to stop that sale.
“Elias.” Seth inclined his head toward the door.
With his weapon still in hand, Elias nudged Iona into motion. He waited two beats before he fell into step behind her, using his body to cover her vulnerable back.
Outside, Blackthorn Riders stood in clumps around the yard near the clubhouse.
A general air of discontent gave Elias a clue how much Dutch controlled the Blackthorn Riders.
Not much. The MC members’ voices couldn’t lie.
Blackthorn wasn’t happy with their president’s decision to protect Elias, and that made him curious. Why would they care?
Elias thought about that as he crawled onto the truck’s passenger seat. Based on their behavior so far, Blackthorn shouldn’t care if he stayed among them or not. So, who had stirred them up?
Dutch was correct. His MC members weren’t giving him the respect he deserved as their president. So who had infiltrated the organization and turned them against what their president stood for?
Iona cranked the truck and drove toward the cabin. “What do you think about that ambush?”
“We must rank as a top priority for someone because that was two ambushes in a matter of hours. Someone doesn’t want us to have sanctuary.”
“Did you notice the shooter tonight was dressed the same as the man who shot you?”
“How could I not?”
“What do you make of it?”
“Black clothes are easy to find. Some people dress like that as a fashion statement.” Could be a coincidence. Maybe. Not likely, though.
“Come on, Elias. You don’t find it the least bit significant that these men were dressed alike?”
“I noticed, but I’m not convinced it’s significant yet.” He didn’t want to believe someone was so determined to kill him that he followed Elias into a mission. If that was true, no one around him was safe, especially Iona.
The knot in his stomach tightened further.
Perhaps he should resign and walk away from his life in Fortress.
Intense pain pierced his heart at the thought.
He didn’t want to lose the life he’d built, but the only thing holding him back was Iona.
He was too far gone over that woman to turn his back on her, even to keep her safe.
So, what options did that leave him? He thought about that for a while and came up with nothing.
Elias realized he didn’t have a choice. He’d have to finish this mission while keeping an eye out for more assassins sent by his personal enemy.
He didn’t see how the unknown enemy could be connected with the mission to locate ammo and weapons, though.
“No.”
His eyebrows shot up. “I said nothing.”
“Didn’t have to say it with words. Your facial expression says it all.”
Huh. He needed to work on his poker face. “Is that right?”
“Yep.”
“All right, Byrne. What does my face tell you?”
“You want to send me away to keep me safe.”
He stared. That wasn’t possible. Elias knew he didn’t give things away like that. He’d worked plenty of undercover operations when he was a cop. So what was causing this sudden breakdown of his wall of indifference?
“Did I shock you into silence?”
He scowled. “Nope.”
After a few moments, Iona laughed.
“What’s so funny?”
“You don’t like that I know you so well, do you?”
“Maybe.” Definitely. Couldn’t a man have any secrets?
Iona coasted to a stop in front of the cabin and turned off the engine. She turned her head toward him. “Someone wants you dead, Elias.”
“I figured that out when the guy in the garage shot me.”
“Any idea why?”
“Your guess is as good as mine.”
“Know what I think?”
“You’ll tell me whether or not I’m interested.”
She ignored him. “I think your father has something to do with this.”
Elias froze. “My father? What brought you to that conclusion?”
“Think about it.”
“I have. My father has nothing to do with my life.”
“What if you’re wrong?”
Iona was wrong. Elias’ hands fisted. She had to be wrong.
He’d severed ties with his father’s world when he turned eighteen.
His dad had disowned him when Elias joined the Army instead of stepping up as the new Vice President of the Reckoners.
“I cut ties with the Reckoners and my father. I haven’t seen him in over twenty years, Iona. ”
“How did you get out of that life?”
He tilted his head. “You know how. The military.”
“A short while ago, I read an article about MC life. The author said the only way to leave an MC is in a body bag. Is that true?”
His stomach knotted. “Yes.”
“So, how did you get out?”
“I left the clubhouse when it was still dark. My father was the Master of Ceremonies at a party, and everyone was drunk. If I hadn’t left then, my father would have tried to beat me into doing what he wanted or killed me.”
Seth knocked on the driver’s side window, making Iona jump. “Take it inside. No need to make yourselves sitting ducks and invite another biker to try his luck at killing you.”
Elias opened the door and climbed out of the truck, grateful for the temporary reprieve. And, yeah, it was definitely temporary. Iona was like a dog with a bone. Once she sank her teeth into something, she didn’t let go until she got what she wanted. What she wanted was information he didn’t have.
He had to admit, though, that she had a point.
Elias had been too cocky as a high school graduate to realize he got away from the MC too easily.
Looking back on it, he should have had a more difficult time escaping that life.
Not only that, but the Blackthorn Riders had a sanctuary agreement with the Reckoners.
Was it possible his old man was mixed up in this somehow?
Was he the puppet master, orchestrating everything from behind the curtain?
Elias met Iona at the front of the truck and walked inside the cabin with her. He led her to the sofa and sat beside Artemis’ leader.
When Seth signaled for silence, Elias realized his teammates were doing a room by room search for more bugs and cameras. He’d have to scan his and Iona’s room before he could relax enough to sleep there.
Within minutes, the rest of the operatives returned. Each held cameras and listening devices.