The longer he stood there, staring down at Iona without moving, the more hurt grew in her eyes. Nope. That wasn’t happening. He bent and kissed her cheek near her ear. He lingered long enough to whisper, “I want our first proper kiss to happen when we’re alone.”
Elias pulled back slowly and looked into her eyes. Clear. No hurt. Yes! They’d have to talk before they left for this assignment tomorrow. She had to understand the real Elias would be buried deep in order to survive the next few days or weeks.
He inclined his head toward the room with the other women. “Go. We’ll talk later.”
“Promise?”
“You have my word.”
After a slight nod, Iona turned on her heel and walked into the room, closing the door behind her.
“Are you coming?” Seth eyed him from the doorway of their room.
“Yep.” He stalked inside and looked at the clothes in numbered piles. “What’s this?”
“The boss sent Tabby our sizes. She labeled them by number. Your clothes are number three.”
“That’s a smart idea.” Each of his teammates wore different sizes. This was the best way to save time and prevent confusion.
After a brisk knock, Maddox entered the room. “Well? What do you think?”
“She nailed the look. How did she know what style to use?”
“Tabby used to be in an MC. I gave her the patch and colors worn by a nonexistent MC that you five were members of before you came to the attention of the police officers in your old compound. The story is that the MC president sent you to the target MC to keep you out of jail. The target president talked to Zane, who’s pretending to be your fake president.” Maddox grinned. “He had a blast.”
Elias chuckled. “I’ll bet. What are we doing about rides for each couple?” Man, he didn’t know if his teammates could ride at all. Worse, he couldn’t ride a motorcycle with his shoulder messed up. How would he explain that?
“Bear is delivering the motorcycles to Fortress headquarters in the early morning hours. You’ll leave from there for your assignment. He’ll also pick up Iona’s ride to take back and repair.”
“Sir, I can’t ride a motorcycle with my shoulder like it is.”
“Got it covered. Zane told Dutch King about your encounter with law enforcement, how you were targeted and shot by a dirty cop.”
“So, I need to get out of town fast, and I need the brothers’ protection in case the shooter tracks me down.” He gave a slight nod. “Makes sense. It’s a good story. Who’s the law enforcement contact?”
“Who else? Cal Taylor. His team is off the deployment rotation for the next couple of weeks. That should be long enough to verify that the police officers are after you and your buddies.”
“Nice. So, do we have road names?”
“That’s on you to choose. Zane told Dutch that he wouldn’t be able to miss ten people descending on his clubhouse at one time, and one man would be in a pickup truck, hauling his bike because of a bullet wound. If I were you, I’d use my military handle. You’ll respond to the names immediately.”
“Yeah, but our women won’t. They know us by our first names.”
“So, let the women use your first names. Make it work, Elias. No one knew you would be targeted and shot. We’ll have to use the incident in your cover story.”
“Yes, sir.” Elias’ gut knotted. He’d been searching for a way to keep Iona away from this mission. The last thing he wanted was to take her into harm’s way. With his boss’ last orders, Elias was officially out of excuses. Despite months of watching Iona’s back on the sly, he’d have to take her into the heart of the lion’s den.
CHAPTER SEVEN
IONA WANTED TOrub her hands in glee at Brent’s last few orders. He’d left Elias no alternative and no way out. What was his deal? Did he not trust her to take care of herself? For goodness’ sake, she was the leader of a black ops team and as qualified to do the job as Seth. Did he doubt her abilities that much?
Her back stiffened. She had the skills and experience. Iona might not have been an Army Ranger like Echo unit’s members, but she had worked plenty of missions with Special Forces groups and even more with Fortress Security’s black ops teams. If she wasn’t good at her job, Artemis wouldn’t have chosen her as their leader. Teagan and Riley were more than capable of leading their team, but they’d given her their confidence. Why couldn’t Elias?
She wouldn’t admit it out loud, but his lack of belief and trust in her skills hurt. Bad. How could they make a successful team on this mission if he had no faith in her? Worse, they didn’t have time to fix the problem. In less than twelve hours, she and the rest of their teams would be on stage, playing roles for the MC.
Iona frowned. The boss hadn’t told them the name of the MC they were joining temporarily. Why not? She picked up her phone and sent him a message. Might as well ask.
Seconds later, his response appeared on her screen. Blackthorn Riders. She deliberately blanked her expression. Inside, she was horrified. Although MCs weren’t her area ofexpertise, even she had heard of the Blackthorn Riders. They were rumored to be caught up in criminal enterprises and were brutal adversaries. No matter how many times law enforcement filed charges against them, the witnesses mysteriously vanished, died horrible deaths, or flat out refused to testify.
