“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 notcharacteristic 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’lltell 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.”
