Chapter Twenty-Four

Eagle

He and Link sat in the back of the XL SUV with Jordan at the wheel and Creed in the passenger seat. Mason and Gage sat across from them. The rest of Pegasus were in the other vehicles.

Fisher and Ice had been located and were hot on their asses.

Link was on the phone and Eagle leaned his head back against the seat. The low rumble of the engine beneath him was comforting, but it was the man at his side and the team that had his back that eased him the most.

Honestly, he was still trying to wrap his head around how understanding Link had been about the fact that he’d deliberately let himself be taken. Instead of flying off the handle and throwing a punch, Link had listened.

He rolled his head to gaze at Link’s profile, at the tousled brown hair with a smattering of highlighted strands from the sun and the light hairs on the man’s unshaven face. He’d never get tired of looking at Link.

The man he was studying so intently ended the call and turned immediately to him. “Detective Wall is picking up Kenneth Richards and wanted to have a team dig up the drugs. I told him to go ahead because even if the gang does have someone watching, they’ll just think you ordered it.”

“Eagle?” Jordan said from the front. “Where to?”

He pulled his gaze from Link and moved so he could see out the window. “Get us to the crime scene and I’ll take you there.” He lowered back down and found that Link had slid closer, shoulder to shoulder.

He turned his head and his nose met Link’s temple. “Any closer and I’ll have to charge you rent,” he said, not bothering to keep his voice quiet.

The side of Link’s mouth quirked. “You want cash, check, or… a direct deposit?”

Eagle laughed loudly along with the others.

Amidst laughter, Mason leaned over and gave Link a high five. When Link sat back, Eagle slid his arm across the man’s shoulders. They still had a lot to talk about and come to terms with, and he had his own apologies to give, but this right here felt like home.

Link was his home.

And even though they fought, Eagle vowed that moving forward, he’d do whatever it took to make sure that no matter what tore them apart, they would come back together. There was strength in each one of them, but together they were unstoppable.

“Coming up on the crime scene,” Jordan called.

“Drive past it, reduce your speed a bit, and keep going until I tell you to turn.”

Jordan reduced his speed, the engine growled, and the streets vibrated with the passing of the large tactical units. The constant drizzle had taken a rest, but the streets remained wet and water churned from beneath thick tires.

“Take the next left, turn right, and then drive to the end.” Eagle counted in his head during the four-minute ride. “Stop here.”

Jordan stopped and the other vehicles pulled up behind them.

“Go dark,” Eagle ordered.

Jordan flipped off the lights and the other drivers followed suit.

“Drive slower.” Eagle held the backs of the front seats and counted until they reached the middle of the block.

“This is it.”

Jacob eased to the side of the road and all three vehicles parked.

“It’s that building.” Eagle pointed down toward the end of the block. “On the right.”

The building had a broken-down chain-link fence with city issued “Keep Out” signs reflected in the streetlights. Each sign had been shoved over or broken apart. The building itself was six levels and sunken into its foundation. It looked as dismal as Eagle had pictured in his head. A few glowing lights shown from the inside.

Link open the door and jumped out and Eagle was on the man’s ass. The rest of the men gathered around.

Fisher and Ice caught up and pulled in behind the massive ATV. Ice jumped out and shot out every streetlight within reach with a silencer twisted on the end of his weapon. A bit of overkill, but Ice was very thorough.

Everyone stood waiting on Link. Technically, this was still Link’s mission, but then the man did something completely unexpected.

“Dalton, you take this,” Link said.

Dalton didn’t hesitate. He growled the orders through the comms and split them into two- and three-man teams to breach every exit they could on the old, broken-down apartment building.

Like a pack of silent wolves, they surrounded the place. It was Eagle and Link’s job to go up the west side fire escape. Link stopped beneath the fire escape and leaped upward; he caught the rung at the bottom of the ladder, but it didn’t budge. Link hung there and Eagle grinned up at him.

“George, George, George of the jungle,” Eagle softly sang.

“Ass.” Link snickered. “Give me a hand.”

Eagle wrapped his arms around Link’s waist and pulled. The thing creaked and groaned, and Eagle stopped. He looked up, meeting Link’s gaze.

Yeah, this wasn’t going to work, it was too damned noisy.

Instead of continuing to pull Link, Eagle lifted the man up and Link grabbed another rung on the ladder. Bending down, Eagle placed Link’s boots on his shoulders and then stood up to his full height. In another second, Link climbed nimbly up the side and onto the rusty platform.

Standing above him, Link looked down and Eagle imagined the man was cocking an eyebrow and giving him a challenging look. Eagle jumped, and instead of catching the ladder in case he accidentally pulled it down, he caught the bottom of the first platform.

“Show off.”

“It’s a natural talent.” He pulled his body up and climbed over the edge.

Link snorted softly and tapped his earpiece. “Ready,” the man said to the rest of the team.

Shortly after Link spoke, all team members reported back. When Link nodded, Eagle stepped through the window of the second-level hallway near the fire escape and pulled his weapon out.

Tugging up his night vision goggles, he stood in the dirty hallway waiting for Link. The goggles were an annoyance to Eagle most of the time, but it sure made seeing inside the dark building a fuck ton better than without.

The familiar tat, tat, tat, of gunfire came from below when Dalton, Gage, and Mason came through the front door.

“Do you remember what floor?”

“One more up,” Eagle murmured, and together they moved through the dark, weapons raised.

They came upon Ice, who stood completely still in the dark next to an open doorway. Each member of Pegasus, and Ice was no different, had a patch slapped on their shoulder with their logo. The patch faintly glowed and made keeping the perps separated from the unit easier. Nobody wanted to get shot by friendly fire.

More gunfire echoed from below and voices shouted.

Ice lifted two fingers and then pointed to the open doorway about two feet ahead. Link slid closer and Eagle brought up the rear. They had to get past the doorway in order to get to the stairs.

“Federal agents!” Eagle shouted, staying out of sight. “Throw down your weapons.”

Someone fired from inside and Link jumped into action. The way the man moved was pure poetry. Link lunged, slid to his knees on the floor, and landed sideways in the open doorway.

Snick, snick, snick.

Snapping to his feet, Link was at the other side of the door.

Eagle peeked inside and Ice leaned his head over to do the same.

“Clear,” Eagle said.

“We’re going up,” Link told Ice, and the blond man nodded.

“I’ll comb the rest of this floor,” Ice said and slipped away.

Link darted for the stairs and Eagle hurried when the man slipped out of sight. He found Link standing about halfway up the smelly stairwell.

Link had waited for him.

Eagle smirked in the dark and nodded at Link to continue.

They moved in sync—they always had, like a matched set that couldn’t really function when apart. He liked it that way. This was the way they were meant to be.

Together.

Forever.