While he shoved his feet into his own boots, Iona used a ponytail holder to tie back her hair. Standing, Elias scooped up their bags and slid them over his good shoulder.
At the door, Iona took her bag from him, and they went downstairs to the living room where Rayne and Grant continued to watch the camera feeds.
“Where and how many?” Elias asked as he and Iona set their bags behind the couch.
“We’ve counted four.” Grant pointed to camera seven, where four men crouched near a tree just inside the perimeter line.
Elias frowned. There should be at least two more. His father never sent fewer than six men to capture a target. “Look for more bogies. My father usually sends six to eight men to do wet work.”
Rayne’s head whipped toward him. “Your father wants to kill you?”
“That will be the goal when I refuse to fall in line with his plans. Whether that tops his agenda tonight is the question.”
“There.” Iona pointed to camera ten, which showed four more men crouched near the tree line at the front of the cabin. “You were right. He’s attempting to box you in.”
“Perhaps.”
Her eyebrows soared. “What else could it be?”
“He’s after you. If he has you, he knows I’ll do anything to get you back.”
“How would he know to come after me?”
“If he watched us for any length of time, he’d know.” He hadn’t bothered to hide how he felt about Iona. Their teams knew, and now his oldest enemy was hoping to capitalize on the knowledge.
“What’s the point of taking me if he plans to kill you?”
“Depends on what he wants. If he wants to kill me, taking you ensures I won’t fight back as long as he has you. If his goal is to force me to step into a leadership role in the Reckoners, all he has to do is take you. I’ll do anything to save you, Iona. Anything.”
“Then we’ll have to make sure they can’t use me as leverage.”
The rest of their teams assembled in the living room. “Sit rep,” Seth said.
Grant nodded toward the computer screens. “Rayne and I have been watching cameras seven and ten. We have eight men who crossed our perimeter and are converging on our cabin.”
“Elias, do you recognize any of them?”
“I haven’t zoomed in on their faces yet.”
Riley set down her laptop. A minute later, her fingers flew over the keys. “I’ll have their photos in a minute.”
While Grant and Rayne continued to monitor the men, Riley pulled in the feeds for cameras seven and ten, offering a split screen with closeups of the men huddled in groups of four, watching the cabin.
Elias crouched beside Riley and studied the images on her computer screen. He pointed to the group at the back of the cabin. “Zoom in on these four.” When Riley complied, he inched closer to the screen.
His heart sank. Not what he wanted to see.
“Well?” Seth demanded.
“The four approaching the back of the cabin are enforcers for my father.”
“What about the four coming toward the front?”
Riley switched to camera ten’s view and increased the magnification.
Elias studied the image on the screen for a beat, then sucked in a breath. Great. “Not only is my father making a move, but Dutch sent four of his own enforcers to take part in the ambush.”
Noah scowled. “What happened to honorable behavior between MC brothers?”
