Chapter Twenty-One #2
She glanced at him, pity in her eyes. “I refuse to eat potato salad of questionable age.”
“Uh huh.”
“It’s a matter of food safety.”
Right. He didn’t believe a word of that but didn’t call her on it. Elias knew better than to challenge his woman’s honesty and integrity. Besides, he had a feeling this sudden desire to prepare potato salad and baked beans had more to do with one-upping Trish than food safety. “Of course.”
She stopped in the middle of the aisle and looked at him.
Elias held up his hands and backed up a step. “Food safety is important.”
With a snort, she spun on her heel, consulted her list, and headed for the next aisle. She reminded him of a heat-seeking missile intent on reaching its destination, and no, he wouldn’t admit that to her in a million years. He didn’t have a death wish.
Two minutes later, Iona dropped a last item into the cart. “That’s it.”
He perked up. “We’re finished?” When she nodded, he steered the cart toward the checkout area. A smile curved his mouth when he noticed Rayne and Grant were still scouring the store for items on their list. “We beat them.”
Iona laughed. “We did.” She unloaded the cart with one-handed help from Elias. “Hurting?”
“Some.” Ha. Understatement, that. His shoulder once again throbbed like a bad toothache.
She handed the clerk Elias’ card, then turned to study him. “You’re pale again. Violet will be angry with me.”
“Why?”
“She’ll say I’m not taking good care of you, and she’d be right. I’m sorry. I should have paid more attention to you instead of being so focused on checking off items on our list.”
He shrugged his good shoulder. “We finished faster than I expected, so I’ll take that as a win.”
Rayne and Grant got in line behind them and checked out.
“Grant, you and Elias have already done your duty by pushing the cart all over the store. Rayne and I can push the carts to the truck. You can unload for us.”
Her teammate picked up the hint. “We’ll make sure no one tampered with the vehicle while you follow us with the food.”
Grant released the cart. “Sounds like a bargain to me. Come on, Elias. Let’s scan the truck for GPS tags or bombs.”
As he and Grant approached the vehicle, Elias scanned the nearly deserted parking lot. He still felt eyes on him. Who was watching them and where were they hiding that he couldn’t spot them? “Do you feel that?”
“Oh, yeah,” Grant murmured. “Can’t see him, though. You?”
“Nope.” He held out his hand to stop Elias from walking closer to the truck. “Stop here for a second.” Grant pulled the key fob from his pocket and started the engine remotely.
Nothing blew up, always a good sign in Elias’ book. “Let’s scan the truck and get out of here. I don’t like the way this feels.”
“Same.”
Elias turned and caught Iona’s attention. Using hand signals, he told her they were under surveillance and to stay alert while they waited for him and Grant to clear the truck.
They split up, pulled out their electronic signal detectors, and slowly circled the vehicle. By the time the men met at the nose of the truck, an almost overwhelming desire to whisk Iona away from this parking lot filled Elias. “Get Rayne, and let’s go.”
Grant didn’t argue, just signaled Rayne.
The women joined them a moment later. “Well?” Rayne asked.
“No bug or tracker.”
“Don’t have to use those when you use the old-fashioned method of tailing someone,” Iona said. “Do you know where he’s hiding?”
“The bushes on the right side of the parking lot. Can you see him, Elias?”
He shook his head. “Too dark. I see a shadow moving, but that’s about it. I can’t see his face.”
Rayne glanced at Iona. “Want me to flush him out?”
Iona and Grant said no at the same time.
She rolled her eyes. “You guys never let me have any fun.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Grant grabbed several bags of groceries at once and loaded them into the truck bed. “You don’t need to put yourself in more danger. We’re in plenty of hot water without you turning the temperature higher.”
She sighed. “Too bad you’re right. I want to go home and check on my garden.”
“Now, that’s a plan I can get behind.”
“You just want to get at those watermelons.”
“They should be ripe soon, and I like watermelon.”
“Wrong. You love watermelon.”
“At least it’s healthy.”
They continued their banter until they’d loaded the bags into the truck bed. “Get in,” Iona murmured. “I’ll try to get a picture of our peeper as we’re leaving the parking lot.”
Grant opened Rayne’s door and lifted her onto the passenger seat.
Elias motioned for Iona to climb into the backseat, then followed her inside and closed the door. “Get that picture fast. I have a bad feeling.”
“Copy that.”
Grant drove away from the parking lot and headed out of town. “Did you get it?” he asked Iona.
“Nope. By the time I turned around in the seat to snap his picture, he’d already disappeared.”
Not good. Elias’ hand clenched. “Step on it, Grant.”
“Yep.” The truck surged ahead as Grant pressed the accelerator to the floor. “I hope the local police are on their coffee break.”
“Based on what we’ve seen when we’re in town, they’re always on a break.”
Grant chuckled. “Can’t argue. Keep an eye out for trouble.”
Halfway to the cabin, headlights flashed in the rearview mirror. Elias turned to look out the back window. “Got a tail.”
“Got more coming straight at us.” Grant settled deeper into the driver’s seat and adjusted his grip on the steering wheel. “Classic pincer move.”
“We need to get out of it.”
“Have any ideas?”
Iona stared at her phone’s screen, adjusting the map this way, then that. “There’s a dirt road up ahead on your right. A quarter of a mile from there, you’ll take a fast left.”
“And end up where?”
“A dense forest.”
Grant smiled. “And maybe find a place to hide.”
“Exactly.”
“Elias, keep this woman. She’s sharp.”
“That’s the plan.”
A brief pause greeted his statement, then Grant said, “Wait. What did you say?”
“I’m keeping her.”
Grant and Rayne exchanged glances. “Do you know what that means?” Rayne asked.
He gazed deep into Iona’s beautiful eyes. “You bet I do. Get your gaze back on the road, Bowen.”
“Right.” Grant’s head whipped around for him to stare out the front windshield.
“Are you navigating, Rayne, or am I?” Iona asked.
“I’ve got it. Five hundred feet, then turn right, Grant.”
“Copy that.” When it was time, Grant slammed on the brakes, expertly guided the truck through a slide onto the dirt road, and plunged ahead, putting more and more distance between them and their pursuers.
“Get ready for the left turn,” Rayne said, her gaze locked on the screen of her phone. “Four hundred feet, three hundred, two, one, now.”
Grant whipped the wheel to the left this time and zoomed onto the tree-lined road.
As the suspension took a beating, Elias gritted his teeth and revised his description of the road.
Not a road, a cow path. Potholes deep enough to blow a tire littered the roadway and ratcheted up the pain in his shoulder.
Man, he’d give anything to get out of this truck and walk the rest of the way back to the cabin.
Didn’t care that he’d be walking for 30 miles.
“Hold on,” Grant called out. “Fast turn.”
Elias braced himself. Just in time, too, because his teammate slammed on the brakes and backed into the forest. After he shut off the lights, they waited.
Minutes later, three pickup trucks slowly motored by their position with their windows down and the passengers searching both sides of the road with flashlights.
Ten minutes passed before Grant looked over his shoulder at Elias. “I think we can go now.”
He gave his teammate a chin lift. “Let’s do it.” Elias was ready to get back to the cabin and put ice on his shoulder.
Grant cranked the engine and headed back the way they’d come. He drove the rest of the way to the cabin without incident, although the operatives remained on alert.
The closer they were to the cabin, the more relaxed Elias felt. As they slowed to park, Elias realized he had let his guard down too soon.
Six motorcycles were parked at the front of the cabin, a metal and machine barrier Elias and the others would have to cross to enter their temporary home. “Go around to the back. I’d rather not walk into an ambush.”
“I was thinking the same thing.” Grant drove around the side of the cabin to the back and parked. He glanced over his shoulder at Elias and Iona. “We’ll go in first.”
“I can handle myself,” Elias snapped.
“Yeah, you can. You’ll handle yourself better after you’re healed. You’re lethal when the situation calls for it, injured or not, but you’re a step slow right now. Let us go in first, all right? When one of us is injured, you and Iona can be the decoy.”
Although he hated giving in to weakness, his teammate was right. Elias was a step slow, and if he reacted too slowly, Iona might be the one to pay the price. That was unacceptable. He manned up and gave a slight nod.
“Let’s go, Rayne.” Grant met his wife at the front of the truck, and together they walked into the cabin.
As soon as they disappeared inside, Elias and Iona exited the vehicle and waited. In less than a minute, Grant returned with Andre. Even though Elias couldn’t haul groceries into the cabin because of his injury, he stayed on watch while the others picked up the bags.
“Six Blackthorn riders. One of them is Dutch,” Grant murmured. “He asked about you.”
Couldn’t see his cousin worrying about him.
They’d never been close. Even though blood should have been thicker than water according to Eddie, Elias had chosen the side of the law instead of embracing the MC lifestyle.
That made him a traitor in the eyes of some of his family. Was Dutch one of them?
Iona handed Elias a lightweight grocery bag. “For appearances. Don’t want you to lose your man card.” She winked.
He chuckled. “My ego thanks you.” Elias fell into step with her. “I hope the Riders don’t plan to stay for dinner. I don’t want to feed them tonight and tomorrow.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Neither do I.”
“Then let’s find out what these boys want and send them on their way.”
Iona’s gaze locked on him. “Are you going to tell Dutch that you know who he is?”
“Don’t know. He hasn’t identified himself for a reason. I may let it ride for now.” His cousin was up to something. Elias knew it to his bones. The question was, what did he stand to gain by keeping his identity a secret?
The members of Echo and Artemis unpacked the groceries and put them away under the curious stares of the Blackthorn Riders.
After putting away the last item from his bag, Elias turned to see his cousin staring at him. He stared back, eyebrow raised.
Dutch snorted and broke the staring contest between them.
A challenge? Bring it. Elias welcomed the chance to find out what his cousin was planning. Doug never could keep a secret, which made his success in keeping his identity concealed interesting.
What was so important that blabber-mouth Doug zipped his lips?