“What is it?” Leander asked as he closed the door to the hospital suite.

“I’m going to need you with me on this. Call Jeremiah, too. I’ve already explained to Erick what’s going on. He’ll make up the fourth member of our team.” Sander yanked a dark gray long-sleeved shirt from the armoire against the wall. The royal family kept several changes of clothes at the hospital for emergencies. He pulled the garment over his head and closed the armoire door.

“What are we doing? I’ll call Jeremiah after we’re done,” Leander said.

“Elias is determined to leave the hospital in the morning. He won’t listen to reason and doesn’t want to be escorted by guards. Of course I can’t let him just wander around Kalev with a head wound and injuries, so we’re going to have to shadow him. I don’t trust anyone but us to deal with this specific situation. I’ll have guards on standby, but I won’t put Elias’s safety in their hands until things stabilize. Whenever the hell that might be.” He fastened the last button on his jeans and crouched to quickly lace up his boots. Sander knew what Leander’s silence meant before he even glanced across the room. Surprise and wariness lurked on Leander’s features.

“That’s outright dangerous. I think you should try again to convince him to go to Kallaster.”

“He was pretty defensive and tense. I’m afraid if I push him too far, he’ll just walk out the door and disappear. I have security in place covering the hospital for that, of course, but I don’t want to take any chances. I’d rather go slowly with Elias rather than ram myself down his throat and make him hate me.” Finished with the laces, Sander crossed the room to stand with Leander.

“Having you both loose on the streets, so to speak, is really risky. You sure you want to do that?” Leander asked.

“He’s my son. I don’t have a choice. I’ll need you to bring me a shoulder holster and a weapon.” Sander didn’t have either in the hospital—a lapse he intended to rectify as soon as possible.

“All right. Let me go do that and rouse Jeremiah. He’s been asking why Elias isn’t returning his texts, anyway, so it’s good timing for me to let him in on what’s happened.” Leander exited the room without another word.

Sander closed the door once Leander was gone. He knew he should try and get some sleep before morning, but adrenaline and unease wouldn’t allow him any rest.

He found his phone on a bench and shot off a few texts. One to Chey, another to Mattias. Once done, he pocketed his phone and crossed to a desk. He removed a map from the top drawer and spread it out on the surface, holding the edges down with paperweights. The map was a detailed layout of Kalev with all the major landmarks highlighted in red. Although the safe houses were not specifically marked, Sander had no trouble locating each one and finding their proximity to avenues of escape. Alleyways, side streets, buildings under royal control that could be used as temporary shelter if they found themselves on the run. Sander was familiar with the layout already, but it had been years since he’d needed to use any of the safe houses, and a refresher seemed necessary.

Just in case.

There was no telling what might happen when word got out that Latvala’s heir had been compromised.