Chapter Eighteen

Eagle

Two Pegasus vehicles pulled into the lot of the crime scene.

Eagle had taken the passenger seat while Jordan drove the XL SUV, and Link along with Creed drove in the other. Eagle was glad for the extra vehicle and being separated from Link. He needed space to think.

His biggest peeve was that Link constantly wanted to be with him. Did Link even realize how much he hovered? Too bad it didn’t mean a damned thing. The guy was there only because he didn’t want to see him shot, wounded, tasered, or whatever the hell else. It wasn’t real.

Link had made that very clear earlier. Eagle had heard the lie to Jordan. Guess he was okay with the occasional fuck but not to let anyone know about it. A cheap goddamned screw.

“You okay?” Jordan asked when he didn’t get out of the vehicle.

“Yeah, I’m good,” Eagle muttered and stepped out of the SUV to find Link and Creed waiting.

They reached the front of the building and Link began filling them in on the next steps. Link, along with Creed and Jordan, entered the building.

Eagle had found out that Owen had come and gone from the motel while he was still sleeping in Link’s bed. Owen was trying to get video recordings from the sellers.

Outside, the local PD had tried to duplicate the lights on the inside of the bomb site, creating a whirl of darkness and light around the whole area even in the dark.

Something, a shadow perhaps, moved near the entrance to the alley that ran between this building and the next. A few lights were scattered down that way and Eagle squinted, trying to see better.

Fuck it. He might as well check it out.

He eased around the corner.

Pulling his weapon, he headed along the side of the building, away from the front. If this was nothing, then there was no need to alert the others. If it was something, he could check it out before involving them.

Being pushed aside by Link that morning had given him a different perspective. He began wondering if working alone would be a good idea. And once the thought was planted in his head, it became very hard to push aside.

“Stop right there,” someone hissed from behind him.

“I’m not going anywhere.” Eagle turned slowly around to come face-to-face with, he assumed, one of the Carson boys holding a pistol in his hands.

“Cliff? John? Tyler?” Eagle said, and the darkly dressed, masked figure stiffened.

“None of your business.” The hands holding the gun shook.

“Whatever this is, we can help you.” Eagle kept his stance easy and as non-threatening as his bigger size could be and his voice calm and soothing.

“You can’t.” The boy sniffed, released one hand on the grip, and wiped at the mask covering his face.

“Trust me, kid. I can help you.”

The boy shook his head and gripped the gun with both hands again. “Nobody can.”

A foot crunched behind him, and he had just enough time to drop low as the taser prongs flew by him.

Not this time, sucker.

Eagle rolled and came up with his gun ready, but a third person hit him in the back with something and kicked the back of his knee. It was a kid move, one he used to do to his friends when he was younger. Hit the back of someone’s knee and force it to bend just to see them fall so they could all laugh. It wasn’t possible to stay upright when that happened and Eagle went down hard on one knee and gripped his weapon tighter, but he didn’t shoot.

These were kids. Scared kids who were running from something.

“Eagle?” Link’s shout came from a distance near the front of the building.

All three suspects scattered, but Eagle grabbed the closest boy by the wrist.

“Don’t run, we can help you.” He was still on one knee and the boy could have shot him but didn’t.

“I told you, you can’t.” The boy twisted, but Eagle had a grip like iron.

“Please, let me go. They’ll kill him,” the boy begged, and the sheer terror in the kid’s voice had Eagle loosening his grip. That was enough for the boy to get free, and he ran toward the small line of trees at the back of the building.

Link came sprinting around the building with Creed and Jordan, guns drawn. Seeing him on his knee, Link outran the other two and reached him first.

Eagle launched to his feet.

“Where are you hurt?” Link growled.

“I’m not. I found two suspects and then a third came up behind me and bumped out my knee,” he muttered.

“All three brothers?” Creed asked.

“Maybe? I don’t know,” Eagle said and bent his head when Link pulled it down to try and see it in the dark. Eagle let him because there was no getting away from Link until he was satisfied.

“I can’t feel a knot.” Link frowned, running those talented fingers through his hair and over his scalp.

“There isn’t one.”

“I thought they hit you?”

“In the back of my knee, but it didn’t hurt.”

“What part of team do you not understand!” Link snapped, glaring.

Eagle stared at Link, not answering.

“Goddamn you, Eagle, you piss me off! You may not care about your life, but the rest of us do.”

“I saw a shadow, I checked it out. It was no big deal,” Eagle mumbled.

It was the wrong thing to say, and he knew it the moment he said it.

“You fuck,” Link snarled.

Link came at him, all lightning speed and fury. Eagle lifted his arm, blocking the series of blows. He’d never seen Link this mad in all the years they’d been together.

“Hey!” Creed grumbled, but Jordan grabbed the guy.

“Let them sort it out.”

That was all Eagle heard before a blow landed on his chin. He rocked back but didn’t step back. It was going to take more than that. Link’s blows came fast, landing where he could, and Eagle blocked most of them.

“Hit me, you motherfucker!”

Eagle grunted when Link delivered a body blow to his side. He jerked his arm up to knock away a fist aiming for his face again. Link was panting, gasping, and Eagle saw the sheen hit the man’s eyes.

Creed and Jordan were long gone.

“Enough,” he growled and wrapped his arms around Link.

He crushed the man to his chest and held on even though Link struggled with all his might. One thing was for certain, Link was not stronger than him, and Eagle had no intention of letting Link go.

He brushed his lips against Link’s temple and rocked him, squeezing tighter.

“We need to talk,” Eagle whispered.