Chapter Nineteen

Link

Talk?

Did Eagle just say he wanted to talk?

Wow…just wow.

Link jerked and pulled hard and finally, Eagle released him.

He stumbled several feet from Eagle, bent over, and placed his hands on his knees, sucking in gulps of air.

The red haze had swept through him like a fucking wildfire, and he still felt light-headed.

“Right now?” he rasped, staring at the ground.

“Yes.” Eagle came toward him, and Link stayed bent over, but when Eagle placed his large palm on his back, it was enough to bring Link upright.

He held Eagle’s eyes there in the artificial lights and waited.

“I fucked up that day at my aunt’s house,” Eagle said quietly.

“Yeah, you did,” Link agreed, his chest growing tight. “But you had your reasons.”

Eagle’s face changed from unreadable to surprised. “You know.”

“I do.” He nodded. “I talked to Mary.”

“Then why would you encourage Tim?” Eagle frowned.

“Because I didn’t know at that t—”

Snick, snick.

The burn was instant as the bullet creased Link’s skin.

Son of a bitch! Of all the places to have a heart-to-heart, they picked an exposed alley.

Both he and Eagle reached for their weapons. He dove to the side of the building and Eagle followed—both their guns were drawn, but Link couldn’t see shit. Goddamn it, he was going to set some ground rules after this.

Gunfire opened up at the front of the building and Link didn’t wait around to be shot at again. He yanked Eagle and ran down the side of the building, keeping to the shadows. A moving target was harder to hit. Except that Eagle made a big target.

Bullets peppered the ground and the side of the building, sending stucco, powder, and debris into the air.

A car was idling in the street, sending another spray of bullets into the building from the front, hitting them from both sides.

Darting a glance around the building, Link opened fire at the car while Eagle fired back down the alley, protecting their flank.

More gunfire came from behind them, hitting the ground, lights, and parts of the building. Gun powder trailed like smoke, filling the air with black crackling powder. The motherfuckers had them boxed in.

Tires squealed down the street and the sound of a massive engine rumbled, filling the night. A big black vehicle barreled up over the curb with a crunch of tires. He knew that vehicle like his own name. It was Pegasus. At the same time, their massive, modified tank-like ATV came from the other direction, boxing in the car.

Men the size of Titans jumped from open doors, armed to the teeth with tactical weapons and full body armor.

Hell yeah, the cavalry had arrived. Link hadn’t felt this much relief in a long time except when Eagle said he wanted to talk. In truth, Link hadn’t realized how stubborn he’d been until that moment. Yeah, he had a temper, he knew it and Eagle knew it, but he’d gone overboard. If he hadn’t been hyper-aware of Eagle, he wouldn’t have gone looking for the man so soon and he could have come up after they’d killed him.

This time, though, it hadn’t been his fault; this time, Eagle had gone off on his own and that was probably from the cruel words Link had said in the motel room. Again, his fucking temper was going to be the end of them.

Shaking off his thoughts, he kept his gun pointed at the car as Pegasus operatives surrounded it.

The man in the front passenger seat opened fire with one last-ditch effort to kill someone, bastard.

Fisher shot the gunman in the head. The car lurched forward when the driver gunned it. The front end smacked into the tank and crumpled with a screech of metal. Dalton swooped in, yanking the fucker from the driver’s seat, threw him to the ground, and zip-tied his hands.

“Throw your guns out or you’re next,” Dalton shouted to the suspects in the back seat. Handguns toppled out of the open windows and Fisher started yanking out suspects from the back seat, zip-tying each one.

Eagle fired several rounds back down the alley and Link pulled Eagle around the corner to the front of the building, getting them out of the line of fire. Overwhelming relief made his chest hurt. They’d made it through another battle.

Hunter, Oliver, and Parker jogged up to them.

“There’s several behind us, we don’t know how many,” Eagle told the three men joining them.

“Link!” Dalton called.

“Coming!” Link shouted back at their unit’s second-in-command, but he hesitated and turned to Eagle.

“Go, talk to Dalton. I’ll be right back.” Eagle gave him that lazy smile that did crazy things to his stomach before disappearing around the corner and back down the alley with Parker, Hunter, and Oliver on his ass.

Dalton whipped a hand in the air and motioned toward the alley. Creed along with Fisher took off after Eagle and the other three operatives. Link was surprised that Fisher was there. The guy hadn’t been around much lately.

Adam jumped out strapping a vest down the front, weapons were tucked into the man’s shoulder holsters.

Link walked over to Dalton and gripped the man’s hand hard and then shook Adam’s. “I’m not sure why you guys are here, but I’m fucking glad you are.”

“Ace didn’t like the idea of you working the case without more of us on site.” Dalton shrugged. “Honestly? I think it’s because his brother is here.”

Link grinned. Ace was an overprotective older brother to Owen. But truth? Ace worried about all of them and that was what made Ace a highly respected leader.

“And since we’d finished up with our job, we decided to take a road trip,” Adam said with a quick smile.

Holden, Gage, and Mason were standing guard over the cuffed suspects sitting on the curb. Several cop cars swooped in, lights flashing but sirens silent. Uniformed officers stepped out and walked toward the suspects.

“Thanks.” Link tucked away his weapon.

“So…what the hell is going on?” Dalton said.

Link let out a heavy breath and shook his head. “It’s a complicated tale.”

“You need to get that checked.” Dalton pointed to his arm. He gazed at the blood streak…he’d forgotten about the slight burn.

Another Pegasus vehicle approached from down the street, bringing his eyes up from the graze on his arm.

“That would be Owen and Ice with some information,” Link said, filling Dalton and Adam in—about the Richards and the Carson kids.

“I’d bet money it’s gang-related somehow. There were too many perps tonight.” Link told them as they walked to where Owen and Ice were.

Grit was sitting next to Ice wearing a small black dog vest that was kind of big, but from the size of the pup’s paws, he would surely grow into it.

“Where’d you find that?” He pointed to the vest.

“Place called Pet World. I stopped on the way from the vet and found a black one,” Ice said, glancing down. “He’s perfectly healthy, got his shots.”

“So, how old is he?”

“Doc says about eleven weeks.”

“Cute.” Link smirked and turned to Owen. “So, what took so long?”

“Assholes were on a power trip,” Owen grumbled. “You wouldn’t believe the shit we had to go through just to get these tapes.”

“But you got them, yeah?”

“I did, and it’s five in total. We’ll need Jordan’s help searching video footage of each location.”

Shit. That could take weeks.

“I can help,” Jacob said.

Link hadn’t seen the younger man exit one of the vehicles.

“Jacob.” Owen shook the man’s hand. “That would be great.”

Owen and Ice followed Jacob toward the XL SUV. It was cute how Grit bounced along next to Ice and Link suspected the man had treats in his pocket. Everyone disappeared into the vehicle where Jordan had set up the command center technical hub.

“I better see where Oliver is to get this checked,” Link said to Dalton and Adam, lifting his arm.

“Okay, I need to talk to the officer in charge before he has a coronary,” Dalton grumbled and gestured to Detective Wall, who’d stood waiting with hands on his hips, staring right at them.

“That’s Wall,” Link said. “He’s a good man.” Link smirked, pivoted, and quickly walked to the alley.

All the way down the alley was empty and that didn’t surprise him, but the further he walked, the more his spine tingled. Reaching the end where the thugs had first attacked him and Eagle, it stood empty.

“Eagle?” Link pressed his earpiece. “Creed?”

The lack of response shot fear through his gut and he called Dalton from his cell phone.

“What’s up?” Dalton answered on the first ring.

“Can you reach Parker, Oliver, or Hunter on your comms?” He hadn’t synced their devices yet.

“Hang on,” Dalton said.

Link gazed around the alley and right then, he knew one thing was for certain.

He was going to tie a fucking leash around Eagle.