Chapter Twenty-Six
WHILE IONA KEPT her teammates updated on the positions of the invaders, she listened for Elias’ voice.
Although she wouldn’t admit it out loud, she worried about him.
His shoulder wasn’t in good shape, and to take on two men by himself meant he’d need medical treatment to repair the damage done to his shoulder by the time this mission ended.
Grant said, “Two down.”
Elias whispered, “One down.”
Iona breathed easier, relief sweeping through her. He sounded good. He must have taken down his target silently without too much strain on his shoulder.
She worked quickly for the next few minutes, watching the security screens and passing information to the operatives. The minutes flew by until Teagan broke in.
“Teagan and Rayne, joining Seth, Noah, and Andre,” Teagan reported.
“You have three bogies coming up on your six.”
“Copy.”
Iona watched her teammates split up and circle around behind the trio closing in on Seth, Noah, and Andre. She smiled. Looked like Seth and the others would be bait for this party. She appreciated their willingness to appear unaware in order to use Artemis best in this situation.
Too bad she couldn’t join them. Iona had had enough of ambushes. The question was, who instigated this mission? Was it Dutch and his cronies, or did the blame for Elias’ trouble hang on Eddie Knight?
Iona noticed two people moving away from the center of the action at a fast clip.
Her eyebrows rose. Had two of their opponents bailed from the conflict?
She watched until they moved beyond the Fortress perimeter.
At the last second, she noticed one man was carrying someone.
Perhaps one of their teammates injured an ankle or leg.
When the three people were beyond the range of the security cameras, Iona turned her attention to her teammates. She remained silent while Teagan and Rayne tracked and targeted the three men bearing down on Echo unit, one at a time. Ten minutes later, Rayne reported in. “All three down.”
Seth broke his silence. “Grant, report.”
“Both targets down. One minute from your position.”
“Hold. Elias, report.”
Silence.
Iona’s gut knotted as the seconds ticked by without a response. He should have answered by now. Her man had already taken down Thug One with ease. No way taking down Thug Two would have taken this long.
She activated her comm device. “Elias, report.”
Still nothing but silence.
Iona scanned the screens filled with camera views and didn’t see him anywhere. Where could he be? Something was very wrong, and she’d missed it.
She stiffened. The two men. What if the two men carrying who she thought was a comrade-in-arms were actually carrying Elias from the woods? “I’m contacting Zane.”
“Do it,” Seth said. “What about the first thug who caught our attention?”
Riley said, “Got him wrapped up. Violet and I are waiting for a couple of you to frog-march him to the cabin.”
Andre said, “We’re two minutes out, sweetheart.”
“Copy that.”
The conversation between team members of Echo unit and Artemis became a buzz in the background as Iona grabbed her phone and called Zane.
“Yeah, Murphy.”
“It’s Iona. Activate one of Elias’ trackers.”
“What happened?” he asked, voice sharp. From the phone’s speakers came the sound of Zane’s fingers tapping on his computer keyboard.
“Bring Brent into the conversation. I’d rather not waste time reporting twice.”
“Hold.” A minute later, Zane said, “Brent has joined us.”
“Sit rep,” Brent snapped.
She gave the two men a rapid-fire report of the events.
“How long has Elias been missing?”
Iona’s hand clenched around the phone. “Too long. Something happened to him, Brent. I know it.”
“Nine men.” He growled. “How did nine men get the drop on ten of my finest operatives and bag one of them?”
“This is my fault, sir.”
“Explain that, Byrne.”
“A few minutes ago, I noticed two men leaving the battle zone. What I didn’t see until the last second was that they were carrying a man. I assumed they were carrying a fallen comrade. I’m afraid it was Elias, sir.”
“You screwed up.”
Her cheeks burned. “Yes, sir. Through my carelessness, I unwittingly aided the enemy. I believe Seth had it right, sir. This was a trap set especially for Elias.”
“Explain.”
“There’s no way Dutch King came up with this scenario on his own. It’s well conceived and executed, which is not characteristic of Elias’ cousin. Dutch is a patsy, Brent. Someone else is pulling the strings.”
“Who?”
“I can only think of one person.”
“Well, don’t keep me in suspense, Byrne. Spill it. Who?”
“Eddie Knight.”
“Elias’ father?” Zane sounded skeptical.
“Elias hasn’t seen him in two decades,” Brent said. “What makes you think Eddie is behind this?”
“I believe he’s been setting this up for years. Elias said his father preferred Dutch to him during his childhood and teenage years, praising Dutch and tearing down Elias at every opportunity.”
“Then why kidnap his own son if his choice is Dutch?”
“Elias is Eddie’s blood kin and therefore heir to the throne.
His plan from the beginning was for Elias to take over the Reckoners, to continue the Knight dynasty.
When Elias joined the military and then the Ardmore police force, he thought his father had finally given up.
I think Eddie is determined to have Elias fall in line with his plan because no one tells him no. ”
“How? Elias is a grown man with the right to decide for himself the path his life takes.”
“I don’t believe Eddie agrees with you. What’s the one way to ensure Elias does exactly as his father wants?”
Brent snorted. “If his father thinks Elias will give in to pressure to spare himself pain from torture, Eddie is dead wrong.”
“Elias is as tough as nails,” she agreed. “As far as Eddie knows, I’m just Elias’ Old Lady.”
“I think you spoiled that illusion single-handedly when you put Dutch in his place.”
“Do you honestly believe Dutch will admit to Eddie that I bested him in a sparring match in less than two minutes? He’ll tell Eddie I got lucky, or he went easy on me because he didn’t want to make Elias angry.”
“All right. I’ll give you that one. Where are you going with this?”
“There’s only one way to force Elias to go along with his father’s plan for his life. Grab someone he cares about and use him or her as leverage. Elias and his teammates were trained to resist torture, so nabbing one of them won’t work. That leaves me.”
“What about his mother? Elias would do anything for her. Eddie knows that.”
“Joe took Naomi on a cruise. They’ll be at sea for the next two weeks.”
“And that takes his mother out of Eddie’s reach. Very good.”
Iona’s skin was crawling. What was taking Z so long?
He should have reported Elias’ position by now.
Unless he couldn’t, and the only reason she could think of for the trackers not to work didn’t bear thinking about.
To do so would paralyze her. She couldn’t bear to think of Elias suffering in silence while his father’s cronies beat him. “Zane, please tell me you have Elias.”
“I’ve got him. The signal is strong.”
Thank God. Now she had to plan a rescue and get her man back. “Where is he?”
“About twenty miles from your position and moving away fast.” He paused. “Too fast for a car.”
Oh, man. That wasn’t good. “Plane?”
“Based on the speed, I’d say yes.”
“Can you track him?” Brent asked.
“As long as the trackers are working, I should be able to.”
“Do it. Stay on him, Z. Where is the rest of the team, Iona?”
“Incoming. They should be here in two minutes or less.”
“Make it less. We need to move fast to stay on Elias’ trail.”
“Not we. Me.”
More silence from her boss, then, “Care to explain why you want to go after Elias on your own?”
Iona shivered. She recognized the voice that hinted if you weren’t very careful, you could be out the door with your walking papers.
“Respectfully, sir, if we take a team of nine to track Elias, we’ll attract attention.
They’ll see us before we see them, and that could be deadly for Elias.
Eddie will want me as leverage against Elias.
He’ll come after me no matter what we plan to do. ”
“And yet here you are, planning to hand yourself over to a man who will torture you to force Elias to cooperate. If I sanction that plan, Elias will come after me once he’s free. In what universe does that plan make any sense?”
“The one where I’ll be hunting Eddie while he’s hunting me.”
“Did you consider Eddie has surrounded himself with motorcycle club members who eat na?ve women for breakfast?”
“I’ve forgotten nothing, sir.”
“Unless you have a superhero suit, your plan won’t work.”
“But, sir,” she began.
“Iona.”
The warning in Brent’s voice had her closing her mouth.
“Taking the Reckoners on alone is a suicide mission. I would end up losing two of my best operatives in one mission. The answer is no.”
Iona gripped the phone tighter. She was doing this with or without her boss’ permission.
She’d rather do this with Brent’s approval, or she would definitely walk out of his office with a pink slip.
Iona loved her job, but she loved Elias more.
She was getting him back no matter what it took to accomplish that goal. “Permission to speak freely, sir?”
“Granted, as long as you remember who signs your paychecks.”
“I’m not an idiot, Brent.”
“Could have fooled me. That suggestion was straight out of Dutch King’s playbook and unworthy of one of my operatives.”
“Sir, I didn’t plan to take on the Reckoners alone. I plan to make it appear I’m alone. While I expect Eddie to capture me, I also expect Echo and Artemis to ride to the rescue. I’m not a big fan of pain. Sir.”
Brent Maddox was silent a moment, then he blew out a breath. “Well played, Byrne. All right. We’ll try this your way. You’d better hope this plan works. If you’re wrong, Elias may pay the price with his life, and so will you.”
“That won’t happen.” She wouldn’t let it.
“How do you want to do this? We have little time.”
No kidding. Every second they spent talking, Elias was that much farther away from her. She scowled. Where was Eddie taking him? “Zane, are you still with us?”
“I’m here. What do you need?”
“A jet. There’s an airfield about ten minutes from the cabin. Please tell me we have a jet available, Brent.”
“Lucky for you, we do, and it’s fueled and ready to take off.”
The ball of ice in her stomach melted. Perfect. “How long will it take to fly the jet down here?”
“About ten to fifteen minutes.”
“Tell the pilot to fly to Johnson Airfield. We’ll be waiting for him.”
“Anything else you need?”
“A pick-up crew.”
Silence, then, “Are you talking bodies or prisoners?”
“Prisoners. Nine of them. They ambushed our team.”
“In that case, I’ll be glad to take care of them. Once you’re on the ground, Byrne, I want you in constant contact with Zane and your team.”
“Yes, sir.” She’d already planned to do that.
“And watch your back.”
“Always, sir.”
“Zane, anything they need, make it happen.”
“Copy that, sir.”
“Maddox out.”
“Get your gear together,” Zane said. “I’ve already notified the pilot, and he’s taking off in ten minutes.”
“Copy that. Thanks, Z.”
“I’ve sent you and the rest of your team the link to track Elias’ GPS signal. I’ll keep tabs on him, but you’ll be at least 30 minutes behind him.”
“Understood.”
Terrible things could happen in 30 minutes. If Iona wasn’t careful, she would lose the man who held her heart.