“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 theground, 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.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
WHILE IONA KEPTher 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.
