Iona turned back to Brent. “What’s the assignment, sir?”
“It doesn’t matter.” Elias stood, swaying on his feet. “You’re not involved in this, Iona.”
She ignored him, keeping her attention on her boss.
“His assignment is to infiltrate a biker club. Rumors are flying hot and heavy about a biker club planning a big sale of weapons.”
Iona blinked. “Why would that be unusual?”
“The weapons were stolen from a military base.”
She frowned. “Don’t the military police and NCIS or Army CID investigate the theft?”
“Under normal circumstances, yes. This time, however, the FBI is involved because civilians are in danger.”
She analyzed what he said and what he didn’t say. “The feds asked for Elias specifically?”
“With the president’s blessing, yes, they did.”
“Why?”
Elias flinched. “I don’t want to talk about this now. I need to leave.”
Brent stared for a beat, then nodded. “All right. We’ll do it your way. For now. Be at Fortress headquarters tomorrow morning at 9. We’ll hash this out then. Don’t be late.”
Elias swallowed hard, looking miserable. “Yes, sir.”
Maddox turned to Iona. “The meeting includes Artemis.”
“Yes, sir.” Good thing. She would have shown up anyway. Whatever was going on, she wouldn’t let Elias face it alone.
Iona waited until their boss left the room before turning to Grant. “I’ll wait in the hall.” She walked out before she said something to Elias that she couldn’t take back.
Closing the door behind her, Iona leaned against the wall across from Elias’ room. What was going on? Why had Brent chosen Elias for this job? No matter how dangerous it was, Elias wasn’t going alone. Someone wanted Elias dead, and Iona wouldn’t let that happen.
She scanned the hallway and smiled at Seth as he approached. “You’re up early.”
“Knowing Elias, I figured he’d walk out of here first thing this morning whether or not the doc signed off on it. We practically have to sit on him to make him stay overnight in a hospital.”
Funny. She hadn’t had to do that. Why not?
“So, where is he?”
She motioned toward his room door. “Grant is helping him change clothes. He should be out in a minute or two.”
“I don’t want to ask Elias how he is. He’ll tell me he’s fine, even if he’s at death’s door.”
“I’ve noticed. Why does he do that?”
“He figures if he’s not dead, he’s fine.”
Iona wrinkled her nose. “We’ll have to work on that. We must be able to trust him.”
“Exactly. How is he, Iona?”
“Elias should fully recover if he follows his physical therapist’s orders. The doctor said he’ll be out of commission for four to eight weeks.”
Seth flinched. “That’s bad news in Elias’ book. He can’t stand being idle even though he needs the time to heal. He’s likely to take shortcuts to get back into the action faster.”
