Chapter Twenty-Five
“MY FATHER HAS been setting this in motion for years.” Elias paced to the other side of the room and back as his teammates watched him move. He couldn’t sit, not with this much fury burning in his veins. How could he have been so stupid?
“Explain.” Seth leaned one shoulder against the wall. “Make it good, Elias, because it’s two in the blessed a.m., and my watch shift doesn’t start until three.”
Right. He gave his teammates the short version of what he and Iona had hammered out since the phone calls to Zane and Maddox.
“Wait a minute.” Andre scowled. “Your father groomed Dutch to be his successor, and Dutch bailed to be his own man?”
“Essentially.”
“Well, I really wanted to hate the guy, but at least he has enough smarts to get away from Eddie Knight.”
“Maybe,” Noah said. “Maybe Dutch feels obligated enough for Knight’s training that he wants to appease the old man.”
“How?” Grant asked. “From what I can see, Knight isn’t in the picture, just Dutch.”
Elias grimaced. “Dad is probably the one pulling the strings from the shadows. From what I’ve read of Zane’s file, Dutch doesn’t have the clout or acquaintances to pull off this sale of the weapons and ammo. That has to be Dad’s doing.”
“So why bring Dutch into it?”
“He’s the scapegoat,” Seth said. “I should have seen it sooner.”
“We all missed it.”
“So, your dad makes out like a bandit with this deal and leaves Dutch holding the bag.” Grant shook his head. “What would your cousin do if we warned him about the sword of Damocles hanging over his head?”
“Call us liars and continue on a straight path to his doom.”
“Is there any point in warning him, then?”
Elias turned. “If we were in his shoes, we’d want as much warning as possible.”
“Sure, but at least we’re wise enough to pay attention when we’re warned of trouble ahead.”
He snorted. “Not Dutch King. He’ll push forward and hope for the best. But I still can’t let him race toward his doom without at least giving him the information. What he does with it is up to him.”
Seth inclined his head. “Agreed. You want to tell him what’s coming, or should one of us do it?”
He thought for a moment. “I’ll do it. The outcome will be the same, but I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t at least try.”
Seth straightened up from the wall. “All right. The notification is in your court. If you want help to tell your cousin the truth, one of us will be glad to go with you.”
“While I appreciate that, I can handle it on my own.”
“One of us needs to be close at hand, Elias.” Seth held up a hand. “Don’t waste your breath arguing with me. This is non-negotiable.”
“Yes, sir.” He didn’t like it, but you didn’t argue with your team leader if you wanted to stay on that team, and Elias definitely did. These men were family to him.
“Teagan and I will relieve you and Iona in an hour.”
“You’ll have a fresh pot of coffee waiting for you when you get downstairs.”
Seth saluted him. “You are a loyal friend, Elias.”
“Remember that when I tick you off next time.”
“You’ve got it.” Seth and the rest of his teammates headed upstairs to their wives.
A minute later, Iona descended the stairs.
“How did the discussion go?”
“About like you’d expect. They don’t like the game we’re having to play.”
“Maybe it would be best if everyone went home and let me take care of this myself.” At least he’d know his friends were safe.
“Forget it, Knight.” Iona glowered at him.
“You will not be a martyr and throw yourself on Eddie Knight’s not-so-tender mercies.
We’re a team, and we’ll handle this like every other problem we’ve faced.
Together.” She propped her fists on her hips.
“If you persist in offering yourself as a sacrifice for the rest of us, you’ll tick off all of us. ”
His mouth curved upward. “Yes, ma’am.” Should have known Iona wouldn’t allow someone she cared about to use himself as a distraction. “Come on.” He held out his hand. “We should check the security screens.”
A moment later, they were back in the office, seated in front of the computer screens. “Anything?” Elias asked. When she didn’t respond, he glanced toward Iona.
She held up her hand, gazing at the screen.
He scooted his chair close to her and studied the screen. What did she see? Elias had studied the screen for hours, and from what he could tell, nothing had changed.
As he continued to watch the various camera views, a shadow moved. Elias leaned closer to the screen, gaze glued to the trees in the background. Was the movement his imagination or the result of the wind kicking up outside? “What did you see?”
“A man.” Iona pointed to the exact bunch of trees Elias was interested in. “Couldn’t see his face, but he’s about six feet tall and looks like he’s in good shape.” She turned. “He’s heading this way, Elias.”
“Monitor him. I’ll go wake the others.”
“Copy that.”
He jogged out of the room and up the stairs to the second floor. He gave each bedroom door a perfunctory knock, then waited in the hall. His teammates opened the doors at almost exactly the same moment.
Seth said, “Sit rep.”
“Company heading this way.”
“How many?”
“We’ve only seen one.”
“Doesn’t mean there aren’t more hidden around the perimeter.” Seth glanced at his teammates. “Gear up. Let’s find out what our visitor wants. One minute. Meet at the foot of the stairs. Go.” When Elias remained where he was, Seth scowled. “That includes you, Knight. Get moving.”
Surprise swept over him. He thought Seth would consider him too much of a liability to include him in the op. Elias would take it, though.
He rushed to his room, geared up, and slid his Sig into his holster. Elias’ tight muscles relaxed for the first time since he’d been shot. He might not be one hundred percent, but he could shoot well enough to defend himself and his teammates.
Echo unit and Artemis met at the foot of the stairs. “Turn on your comm devices,” Seth ordered. “Echo unit with me.” He tapped his earpiece. “Iona, orders for Artemis?”
“Form a perimeter around the cabin. Let’s make sure Echo unit doesn’t have a nasty surprise waiting for them when they return.”
“Copy that.”
“Iona, one of you needs to stay on the security cams. We need someone watching our backs. I’ve got a feeling our visitor is a distraction.”
“Do you want us to follow you into the woods?”
“Negative. A secure perimeter is your priority.” He turned to his team. “Let’s go.”
Seth took the lead, turning off lights as he headed toward the kitchen.
At the back door, he stood to the side and peered out of the window.
After a moment, he opened the door just wide enough for them to slip outside and led them to the woods behind the cabin.
Once there, he signaled his team to spread out.
“Where is he, Iona?” Elias murmured.
She gave the coordinates. “He’s still heading straight for the cabin. No deviation.”
“How far out?” Seth whispered.
“Half a mile.”
“Copy that. Let’s find out who this is and have a conversation with him.”
Elias’ lips curved upward. Conversation? More like an old-fashioned interrogation. His smile faded. He didn’t like people sneaking up on them.
What if this guy had brought friends along? If Elias’ gut was right, those friends would attempt to take control of the cabin and those inside it.
Yeah, he knew the women of Artemis could take care of themselves. Didn’t mean he wouldn’t worry about each of them, especially Iona.
He sighed. Elias might make her angry, but he had to warn her. If he made her mad, he’d apologize. “Watch your back, Iona.”
Silence, then, “Is that your famous gut talking?”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll make you a deal. I’ll watch my back if you watch yours because I have that same feeling about your team.”
Huh. Interesting. “Copy.”
Elias kept moving ahead, careful to place his steps in such a way as to avoid making noise and giving his position away to the enemy, listening to Iona’s soft-voiced updates on the intruder’s position.
“Still no sign of friends?” Seth asked.
“Negative.”
Elias didn’t like it. Who was this guy, and why was he coming to their cabin?
He hoped it wasn’t Dutch. Cousin or not, Echo unit wouldn’t be gentle when dealing with an intruder already warned to stay away.
His teammates were protective of their wives.
Now that he had Iona in his life, Elias understood Echo unit’s all-consuming drive to protect their mates.
Didn’t matter that the women were tougher than many Special Ops teams Echo had worked with. They were still theirs to love and protect.
“The intruder changed his approach.” Iona gave the coordinates. “At his current pace, he’s fifteen minutes away.”
“Copy,” Seth murmured. “Moving to intercept. Elias, Andre, come in from the left. Noah, Grant, angle toward the right. I’ll circle around and come up the middle.”
“Copy that.”
A moment later, Andre emerged from the shadows and joined Elias. Together, they adjusted their angle and speed to cut off the intruder before he breached the inner perimeter.
Five minutes later, Elias held up a fist. Immediately, Andre stopped moving forward and listened.
Elias frowned, puzzled by the direction of the sound. If this was their intruder, he’d changed direction again. This time, he was headed straight toward Elias and Andre.
“Eight more men just joined the party,” she murmured. “Two are jogging toward Andre and Elias. Two are heading for Noah and Grant. The rest are going after Seth.”
“Noah, Andre, with me,” Seth said.
“Copy that.”
“Elias, Grant, continue the intercept course. Iona, can you spare two members of Artemis?”
“Teagan and Rayne, go.”
“Changing course now,” Teagan murmured.
“Violet, Riley, stay alert.”
“Copy that,” Riley said.
Elias increased his speed. Although he didn’t know what was going on, there were too many moving pieces for this to be anything except a boatload of trouble. Despite his shoulder throbbing, Elias pushed his speed a little faster.
“Elias, Grant, report.” Seth sounded angry.
“Approaching inner perimeter,” Elias said.
“Same,” Grant said.
“Watch yourselves. This is an old-fashioned ambush.”
“Copy.”
Less than a minute later, Grant said, “One down. Going after number two.”
A twig snapping nearby gave Elias a clue where his quarry was.
He melted into the dark shadows near a thick stand of trees and waited to see when his targets would appear.
Thirty seconds later, two men jogged into the small clearing.
The man in the lead checked his GPS and adjusted his course to make a straight approach to the back of the cabin.
Elias allowed the men to pass him, then fell into step behind them.
He inched up on the second man, who kept his attention focused on the man in front of him instead of paying attention to his surroundings.
Elias wrapped his arm around Second’s neck and squeezed.
In less than a minute, Second was on the ground, unconscious.
While monitoring One, he slapped a piece of tape over Second’s mouth and used zip ties to cinch his wrists together.
Aware his time was running out, Elias stood and closed in on One. Before he reached the man with the GPS, he felt someone come up behind him.
When he turned, Elias felt a pinprick on the side of his neck. Seconds later, the world went dark.