Chapter Twenty-Five

Link

Things had changed.

It felt different between them on every level, like they’d come full circle—like everything they were meant to be had suddenly become realized. If he had to put a word to it, he’d say…

It was hope.

Such a small word for feelings this big. He loved the man at his side with every inch of his soul and when he roamed this earth, he wanted Eagle by his side. He planned on being around for a long time. It was crazy how everything morphed around him, he became hyper-focused on each creak of the floor and every brush of air that came sweeping through the dark, drafty building.

Moving as quietly as possible up the stairs, bullets suddenly splintered the railing and plunged into the wall near his head. Link crouched, aimed his weapon up the stairwell, and returned fire. Together, he and Eagle worked their way upward, exchanging fire. Link’s bullets hit the target and a man dropped and rolled down the last set of stairs, leaving splintered wood in his wake.

Link stepped over the body, weapon pointed at the now quiet top of the stairs, while Eagle checked for a pulse.

“Clear,” Eagle said over the noise growing on the lower levels as Pegasus roared in and took control. Eagle touched his shoulder, it was a silent communication to move and Link slid quietly upward to the next floor’s hallway. The stairs beneath his feet creaked, but over the noise below, it was faint. He reached the top of the stairs and a groaning floorboard issued a warning just before he was slammed into. Link grunted beneath the impact and slammed into the wall, his back spasming. He tried to head-butt the bastard, but the man had his head dug into his chest, beefy arms wrapped around him keeping his arms down. Link’s grip on his weapon didn’t budge, but he couldn’t get his arms up to fire.

With a growling sound that rumbled through the room, Eagle reached over and yanked the fucker brutally away. Link could feel the power that swept through Eagle with a force of sinew, muscle, and bone. One-handed, Eagle tossed the guy to the floor with a thud and put two slugs in the man’s head.

Impressed, Link blinked, but Eagle was already moving, and Link hurried to catch up.

Just before Eagle reached an open doorway ahead, the man stopped and stood shy of the opening. Link would bet money this was the room where Eagle had been held. Before either of them could even take a peek inside, gunfire rang out and bullets from an automatic rifle blasted through the doorway. Eagle slid back, his big arm out, corralling Link behind him. He was protective as ever, and Link wanted to kiss him.

Bullets blasted the wood of the doorframe and debris flew in the air as it splintered into a million pieces—the sound was deafening and then it was suddenly quiet, followed by a slight clinking sound signaling that someone was reloading.

The break in the gunfire was all they needed, and Eagle swung his arm around the doorframe, shooting several rounds into the room. Link lunged out and landed sideways on the floor, firing low while Eagle fired high. Together, they hit their unknown mark and a suspect toppled from the corner of the room. Eagle stalked inside and Link jumped to his feet to follow. On the floor not far from the perp was another dead body.

“That’s John Carson.” Eagle gestured with his gun. Link bypassed John’s body and checked the perp they’d shot for a pulse. Finding none, he returned to stand next to Eagle.

“From what you said, he wasn’t a very nice guy.” Link studied the dead Carson.

“No, he wasn’t. I’d say that gang life completely corrupted him.” Eagle sighed.

“Where do you think Tyler is?” Link murmured.

“I don’t know, but I bet he’s with Elron.”

“Link, Eagle? Report,” Dalton said through his earpiece.

“We’re good. The room Eagle was held in is clear. No sign of Elron or Tyler Carson.”

“Copy,” Dalton responded. “All right, you heard him. Let’s canvass this building and get me a damned location!” Dalton barked out the order.

Link headed toward the door but stopped shy of walking out. They might think they’d taken down the perps up here, but they couldn’t be sure.

“Let’s clear the rest of this floor,” Link whispered, touching Eagle on the shoulder to let him know he was ready.

Eagle stooped over and quickly left the room after a quick check of the hallway. Gun up and at the ready, they moved on, clearing every room they came to until they reached the far end and another window to the fire escape.

Eagle stopped dead and pulled off his goggles, Link did the same.

“What?” Link whispered.

“The roof,” Eagle answered, gesturing to the window that was slightly ajar. It made sense when Link thought about it. Elron could be trying to get away by roof access. Hell, he might be able to jump across to a neighboring building.

“Let’s do it,” Link said quietly.

“Dalton, we’re heading up to the roof,” Eagle said, and then gave him a cocky grin that Link could just make out from a faint light coming in through the window.

When Eagle gestured him to the fire escape, Link pulled up the window and climbed through, taking the ladder upward with Eagle right behind him. He slipped on his goggles before reaching the top and waited for Eagle to do the same before jumping over the ledge and then dropping into a crouch. Eagle was over in seconds, his big body low to the ground right next to him, giving off waves of heat.

One access door led to the apartments below and several air conditioning units sat scattered around. Other than that, there wasn’t much cover. Link moved to the nearest unit and took cover. Eagle moved to a unit not far from him and did the same.

A scuffle reached his ears and he pointed toward the sound. When Eagle nodded, Link ran in a crouch to the next unit before he made his way to the side of the far wall that enclosed the access door.

Dodging out a glance toward the scuffle going on, Link was just in time to spot a head disappearing over the side.

“Another fire escape,” he hissed at Eagle before lunging out and running toward the edge.

Fine rooftop gravel crunched beneath his boots and when he reached the side, he darted a look over the edge and saw Tyler with the shooter below.

A bullet smacked the small retainer wall and he dropped back. Eagle took a brief glance and then dropped low by his side, back to the wall.

“That’s Tyler. We keep following and Elron’s going to shoot the kid.”

“Yeah. Looks like they’re climbing down the fire escape… which means they’ll reach the lower levels.” Link rubbed a hand over the hair on his chin. “I’ve got an idea. Let’s go.” He jumped up and ran to the access door and shot off the lock. Entering back inside the apartment building with Eagle on his ass, he lunged down the stairs until he was two levels down. Running to the end of the hallway where the fire escape could be seen through the dirty window, he and Eagle waited.

Nudged up against his side, Eagle was patient until Elron’s shoes showed through the glass.

“Come on, you fucking ass wipe, keep moving or I’ll shoot you dead.” The snarled words were muffled through the closed window, but they both clearly heard the threat to Tyler.

Link traded a look with Eagle. Then his partner gave the signal that stood for ‘no gunfire.’ Link agreed, it was too risky shooting, Elron’s gun could go off or he could hang on long enough to kill Tyler.

“Your call,” Link whispered.

Eagle smirked and Link wasn’t prepared for the man’s quick-fire response.

It left him blinking.