Chapter Thirteen

Link

The house was located in an overgrown neighborhood where the hills behind the suburb had spread brush and overgrowth thickly through every nook and cranny. It looked like homeowners did what they could, but if they didn’t keep up on the constant growth, the Mojave Desert would eventually take over.

Following the SWAT vehicle ahead, Pegasus One rolled through the cracked streets. Behind them came the bomb unit. Link wouldn’t go in blindly, but after they cleared the building, perhaps they could find something to shed some light on why the Carsons had blown up Mr. Richards’ restaurant.

He tossed a glance at Eagle, taking in the man’s broad shoulders filling out the t-shirt and tactical vest.

Even though they’d been talking pretty much all morning and early afternoon, Link couldn’t help but remember what he’d said to Eagle in the motel room. What a shitty thing to say. He rubbed at his chest.

He’d fucked up royally. Now what? That jerk off session in the motel didn’t really change things, or did it?

No. Damn it. That hotter than hell moment in the motel didn’t change a damned thing. But it had confirmed what Link had known for a long time.

He was crazy about his partner.

The thing was, Link knew in his heart that Eagle loved him. They’d been headed down this road since they’d met in the Army. All he’d ever wanted was to be with Eagle. If only things hadn’t escalated that day at his aunt’s house. If only he hadn’t moved out, Link suspected he would have eventually gotten Eagle to talk. They would have talked it ou—

“Agent Beckett, you ready?” SWAT commander Jones said, cutting off his silent mantra of if onlys.

“On your call, Commander,” Link said through the comms they’d synced up and sent a silent thank fuck that he and Eagle had taken time to change clothes. He’d gotten come on his jeans and he knew Eagle’s shirt had a wet stain.

With a nod, Jones and several of his men approached the door, and Link, with Eagle by his side, watched from a distance. One member of the bomb unit used an infrared scanner to check the door for any explosive traps. They had a standing warrant, they wouldn’t need to knock.

“On your count,” Jones told the officer holding the battering ram.

Wood shattered as the door blew inward, dust and debris littering the air. Guns at the ready, they entered the house one after the other, shouting orders.

The bomb squad followed shortly after the SWAT unit. More shouting came from within the house.

“Eagle?” Link gazed up into the man’s unreadable face.

“Yeah?”

He took a breath and spoke before he lost his nerve.

“Are we good? Do you want to be paired with Creed or Owen…or Ice?”

“What?” Eagle shot a stormy gray gaze to his and frowned. “We’re good.”

Link wasn’t sure if he believed him, but he latched on to that and nodded doggedly.

Several long moments went by while the SWAT team continued clearing the house. Breaching a suspected bomber’s house took time and it would be several more minutes before they were given the all clear.

“I wonder what set these guys off,” Eagle finally said after ten minutes had passed, and relief swept over Link.

“Maybe their dad being killed?” Link tried to keep his voice and expression neutral, even friendly, which didn’t matter because Eagle wasn’t really meeting his eyes.

“Nah, that was a year ago. It has to be something else.” Eagle slowly slid his hands into the front pockets of his jeans in a move so god damned sexy, Link had to turn away to hide his boner. Fuck!

“There were only two at the site last night,” Link said, knowing he sounded kind of strangled.

“That we know of,” Eagle said gruffly.

“True.” He took several deep, quiet breaths and gazed at the chipped and faded front steps.

“Agent?” SWAT commander Jones said from the front door. “There’s no bombs. You can come in now.”

Thank fuck! And that thought wasn’t because of the lack of explosives but more from his own desire to jump Eagle.

Link almost sprinted down the sidewalk and up the walkway to the porch, but waited for Eagle at the front door. When they entered the house, the smell was hellacious and he grimaced. Trash lay scattered on tables, floors, and furniture.

“No suspects, but we haven’t searched every corner yet so stay alert,” Jones cautioned and walked across the living room and entered what Link could see of a kitchen.

Link turned right down the hallway, his gun up, and scanned the area ahead. Even though SWAT and the bomb squad had cleared the house, he wasn’t taking any chances. These bastards had tasered Eagle.

“Get those patrol cars off the street in case they come back,” the SWAT commander ordered his unit.

Link stopped at the first partially closed door. SWAT moved past them, in and out of rooms further down the hallway.

Link met Eagle’s gaze. When Eagle nodded, Link shoved the door open. It swung wide and when no sounds came, he quickly dodged a look inside.

“Clear,” Link whispered, but before he could move, Eagle stepped ahead of him and into the room with his Glock held out.

Damn it.

Link hated when Eagle did that—always putting himself in danger first. He shook off his sudden irritation and reminded himself that Eagle was a trained operative, an expert in his field and one badass motherfucker. Link huffed anyway and glanced under the bed just to be sure.

He stood and noticed the closet door was closed. Skirting to one side of it, Link nodded and Eagle quickly took up a stance on the other. Eagle turned the knob and opened the door. Link moved forward, aiming his gun at the empty space.

“This room is tidy,” Eagle murmured, and Link nodded, taking in the perfectly made bed, clothes color coded in the closet, and the dust free surface of the dresser.

“Agent Beckett?” the commander’s voice came through the comms. “You need to see this.”

Heading back through the house, they walked through the dirty, cluttered kitchen to a door that led to the basement. Taking the stairs down, Link was faced with a few officers and the commander. He approached the workbench where a semi-automatic rifle and three handguns plus ammunition lay scattered on the wooden surface.

“We need to check the perimeter,” Jones said via his comms to his men.

“Thanks, Commander,” Link agreed and made his way out of the house with Eagle.

“Those aren’t military grade, thankfully,” Eagle said.

“Yeah, but still, that’s a lot of firepower for young boys. They had to have help.” Link stopped on the porch.

“Boss, you copy?” Creed’s voice came over the radio on his hip.

“Go ahead,” Link said, lifting the radio.

“We’re leaving the center.”

“Center?”

“Yeah, it’s not a hate group, it’s a group of environmentalists. They were picketing because the restaurant doesn’t have proper filters on its stove. Emissions in the air or some shit,” Creed said.

“Hey, that’s important,” Jordan’s voice came through the radio.

“Anyway,” Creed continued. “The leader insisted that they wouldn’t bomb any place, it’s bad for business.”

“Business?” Eagle’s eyebrows lifted.

“Yeah, I guess they get public charity and funding.”

“Okay, you two, wrap it up and meet us back at the crime scene.”

“We have got to find these kids before they get themselves killed,” Eagle muttered.

Link’s chest squeezed. They could battle bad guys all day long, but when kids were involved, it changed the way they worked. Instead of being suspect driven, they became victim driven. He and Eagle had that in common.But in truth, all of the men who reported to the SecDef did. Well, with the exception of Erebus. Those fuckers were assassins…no telling where their loyalties lay or if they even had any.

“Link?”

“Yeah.” He snapped his gaze to Eagle.

“Let’s go rescue some kids from themselves.” Eagle smiled and Link’s stomach did somersaults.

“We gotta find them first.”