Page 12 of Exhale (Out for Justice #8)

One day later…

E very lead they had on the whereabouts of Billy Danner had turned up empty, and Jordan was sure that it was because people were scared.

He’d lived that life on the streets himself. He knew that sticking your nose into other people’s business was asking to get your ass kicked or worse.

Knowing that fact didn’t make it any less frustrating.

Early the next morning, he and Owen were sitting in the lobby of their hotel, sipping coffee.

“They should be here any minute,” Owen muttered for the third time since they had arrived downstairs.

“Drink your coffee.” Jordan motioned to the cup clenched in Owen’s fist.

It had been a tension-filled night last night after they had arrived back at the hotel.

Jordan had turned in the key to his room since he wasn’t sleeping there any longer.

He had transferred his things into Owen’s bigger suite, and after that, had stood helplessly while Owen was totally lost in thought.

He couldn’t really blame Owen, the man was trying to process a lot of things right now, and Jordan wasn’t going to add to his plate.

They had taken turns showering, and Jordan ended up in Owen’s queen bed, where they ended up holding each other all night.

It was enough for Jordan, and he finally fell asleep around two in the morning. He hoped that Owen had slept, but he couldn’t be sure because when he woke up, Owen was already awake.

A rumbling roar outside the hotel lobby toward the parking lot jerked his head up.

“And there they are,” he murmured, and he stood when Owen did.

Together, they walked outside to wait.

A few people stopped at the sound and the sight of the men of Pegasus pouring out of the two black Suburbans.

Most of the men were big, all of them ripped and lethal. There were a few slender ones among them, like Oliver and Jacob, but that didn’t make them any less dangerous. In fact, those two were more so because nobody saw them coming.

Ace moved through the cluster of men and approached Owen.

The two brothers hugged each other hard. Then the rest of the crew crowded in around them.

A few women tittered nervously, skirting around the level of testosterone with giggles.

Parker stepped up to Owen and gripped his shoulder.

“How you holding up?” Parker said.

“Pretty good, considering,” Owen said.

“Are you going to tell me why we’re here?” Ace groused.

Owen hadn’t told his brother over the phone when he’d made the call to Pegasus, and Jordan didn’t blame him. It wasn’t something that should be shared over the phone.

Pulling out his cell phone, Owen brought up the photos of the birth certificates and handed his phone to Ace. His brother looked at the screen, squinted hard, and then pinched the photos larger. Ace’s breath caught, and his eyes so like Owen’s met his brother’s.

“Where are they?” Ace growled.

“I don’t know,” Owen’s voice came out agonized and raw.

Ace spun and handed the phone to Dalton and then turned back to his brother to pull him into a tight hug.

“We will find them,” Ace growled.

“Holy shit,” Dalton muttered, and the phone was passed around with others saying the same thing.

Creed was the last one to get the phone and moved up to hand it back to Owen when Ace released him.

“I don’t want to be the voice of reason here, but what if she lied on the birth certificate?” Ace said flatly.

To Jordan’s surprise, Owen nodded. “I thought that…but it doesn’t matter. Ginny is dead, her sons are missing, and I need to find them regardless of whether I’m their father.”

“That makes sense.” Parker nodded. “Plus, if there’s the slightest chance they are yours, you need to know.”

One day later…

With the men of Pegasus on the streets of Phoenix, Arizona, more leads poured in.

They spent all day yesterday putting together a list of potentials and designating teams. They looped in Knoll and Preston out of courtesy, not necessity.

Pegasus only answered to one man. The former Secretary of Defense, David Ladd Allen III, otherwise known as Dave.

The list of suspects wasn’t long, but there were several. Not only were they looking for Billy Danner, but his right-hand man, Cody Lowe, and any other of the fuckers in Danner’s gang.

Now, they had enough men for the search.

“Anything?” Owen said, pressing the earpiece they all wore.

They’d been on surveillance for about an hour just down the block from Danner’s mother’s house. It was still early late afternoon.

“Not on my end,” Dalton said.

“I see movement at my location. I’ll keep you posted,” Parker replied.

The comms went quiet, and Owen sighed.

“Hey,” Jordan reached over and linked their fingers. “This will work, we are damned good at our jobs.”

“I know,” Owen said, trying to smile.

“So, let’s talk about something else to take your mind off of stuff.”

Owen’s mouth quirked, and Jordan smiled.

“Anything?” Owen asked.

“Um, yeah,” Jordan nodded.

“Okay…why were you living on the streets when you were young?” Owen asked out of the blue.

“What?”

“That’s the part of the story I don’t know. When we talked the other night about my marriage, you mentioned you’d lived on the streets but didn’t elaborate.”

Jordan gazed at Owen and pressed his lips together before he turned to gaze out the windshield.

When he didn’t speak, Owen reached out and locked their fingers, and the man’s thumb caressed the top of his hand.

He wanted to speak, he wanted to share, but that was a complicated question and also a time in his life when he had been at his lowest.

His heart squeezed and he struggled with how to start.

Staring out the window, he tried to gather his thoughts, wondering just how much he should tell.

Jordan seemed closed off, and regret filled Owen.

“You don’t need to tell me if it’s uncomfortable,” Owen said and squeezed Jordan’s hand.

“I was thirteen when my foster father broke my arm,” the whisper came suddenly.

With his free hand, Owen gripped the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles turned white. He held back the rage that threatened to consume him and waited for Jordan to go on.

“It was the second time that year,” Jordan said softly, unconsciously rubbing at his right forearm.

Owen clenched his teeth and quietly released the breath he was holding.

“He wasn’t going to stop. He was a cop and had friends on the force. So, I left. I ran away and lived in a homeless camp. They don’t call them homeless anymore, but that’s all I knew back then.” Jordan’s voice was pensive and withdrawn.

Owen waited even though he wanted to pull Jordan into his arms. Right then, the younger man was lost in the past, and Owen needed to know the whole story.

“I disappeared, but when I went to work for Phoenix, I looked up Jerome Cox and kept tabs on his whereabouts. I had to do something to bring that man’s actions to the attention of the authorities.”

“And did you?” Owen asked.

“I did.” Jordan nodded.

“Who did you tell?”

Jordan gave him a quick smile.

“I told Seth, and he said that Noah would take care of it.”

Owen snorted.

Yeah, that was one way to end that fucker. Owen doubted that this Jerome Cox was still breathing. Noah was one badass son of a bitch. The operative worked for their sister site, Phoenix, stationed out of Northern California.

“Why didn’t you tell Pegasus?” Owen asked, curious.

“I didn’t work for Pegasus back then.”

“Ah yeah, that’s right. So, is he dead?” Owen asked flatly.

“Yeah…and that’s it,” Jordan said as if that explained his whole childhood.

“I doubt that’s all. And just so you know, if that son of a bitch was alive, I’d fucking kill him,” Owen snarled.

Jordan laughed, actually freaking laughed, and reached over to rub his arm.

“I would let you, but he’s dead,” Jordan said again.

Well, okay… that saved him from committing murder, Owen thought, but his anger lingered. He cleared his throat and probed a bit.

“I’m glad he’s dead, you know,” Jordan added.

Owen stayed quiet, letting Jordan vent—it was good for the soul to get the anger out, and he’d gladly be Jordan’s sounding board forever.

“You think I’m a bad person?” Jordan asked, taking his silence for disapproval.

“Hell no, I think you’re one of the best people I know.”

Jordan gaped at him, his big blue eyes filled his face, and that gorgeous dark hair fell over his forehead, curling in disarray.

Owen shot Jordan a smirking smile.

“Pick something on the radio,” he said.

“Wait…you can’t just say something like that and then listen to music!” Jordan waved his hands about.

“Why not?” Owen said with a lifted eyebrow.

Jordan squinted, glaring at him…but his mouth twitched, and it wasn’t from anger or sadness, it was from trying not to laugh.

Owen could tell.

“You suck,” Jordan said, throwing up his hands.

Owen chuckled, he was glad the mood turned light, but he wasn’t going to forget any of what Jordan told him.

First, though, they had to find his kids and take care of Billy Danner.

After that? He was going to get a commitment out of Jordan.

Come hell or high water, he was going to tie that man down.