Page 18 of Exhale (Out for Justice #8)

D istant gunfire drew the attention of everyone and Ace circled a finger in the air.

“Let’s move.”

Pegasus moved as one and only split when they reached the building, with Dalton and his team going around to the back.

The peppering of bullets was muffled through the walls.

Hunkered down near the front wall, Owen growled.

“Who the fuck is shooting?” he asked.

“You think it’s that Genesis guy?” Jordan whispered.

“No. Danner deals in drugs and weapons,” Ace reminded them.

Owen knew that, but the reality was that his sons could be inside and a stray bullet could end it all.

“Let’s move,” Ace said, and Owen needed no further orders.

Using his foot, he kicked open the factory door and charged inside, rolling as he went. He was up and aiming at anything as Jordan and Ace swept inside, crouching low.

The gunfire had stopped and the inside of the place was eerily quiet.

“You think they heard us?” Jordan whispered.

A bullet whizzed past Jordan’s head, and Owen yanked the slighter man by the vest to his side, behind a stack of boxes that contained god knows what. For all he knew, it could have been explosives.

Jordan gave him a cocky grin and Owen almost groaned out loud.

Leaning around Jordan, Owen fired off several rounds, aiming high.

Not trying to hit anything, but laying down cover fire to get to the other side.

He couldn’t even think about a stray bullet hitting his sons right now—he had to keep his head on the mission of taking out the perps or he’d end up dead.

And if he were dead, then his sons would be orphans.

“Going across,” he said, and yanked Jordan after him. He sprinted while firing.

Ace and Jacob followed quickly, and then Ace motioned to an area further south that looked like it might be a way to wrap around behind these fuckers.

Jordan and I will go right,” Owen whispered, and Ace nodded, indicating he and Jacob would go left.

Owen and Jordan ran hunched over and ducked behind another stack of boxes. He was half a mind to open one to see if there was anything useful, but there wasn’t time. Besides, he and Jordan were carrying flash grenades.

For this single moment, it was only the two of them, and Owen cupped the side of Jordan’s face, gaining the man’s attention.

“You ready?”

“Damn right.” Jordan gave him a slow smile and waved the Sig Sauer in his hand.

“Let’s do this,” Owen breathed and released Jordan.

Pressing the device in his ear, he told Ace they were in position.

“Breach,” Ace said roughly.

He and Jordan launched at the perps firing from behind the barricade of boxes. Six in total, and Owen took out one right away. Jordan fired and hit another dead center.

The rest of the men scattered, which was making things difficult to know where they were.

Jordan leaped up the side of the boxes like he was fucking Spiderman, and Owen knew he couldn’t trust that stack of wood to support his weight, so he charged around the massive stack.

Jordan made it to the top of the wooden crates and lay flush, scanning the area below. Bullets hit the side of the wooden crate near his head, sending wood exploding. Aiming at where the rounds had come from, he fired several times.

The perp toppled from up high across the way…from what looked like metal shelving of some type.

Leaping over the side, Jordan landed below and met up with Owen. Back-to-back, they cleared the few remaining perps in their part of the area.

Jordan never lost his focus. He knew that if he did…it might make it impossible for them to make it out alive. Having Owen’s big body at his back gave him the strength to keep moving and firing.

Ace and Jacob soon joined them, and Ace signaled that the other part of this particular area was cleared—although elsewhere, gunfire still echoed through the building.

The four of them moved on and soon met up with other Pegasus agents.

As one entity, Pegasus swept through the factory like a fucking tsunami. Jordan used flash grenades, bullets, and even his knife to cleave through the enemy. There were a few Pegasus agents who preferred knives, but Jordan actually preferred any weapon that got the job done.

One thing was for sure, Danner had a shit ton of men. It wouldn’t matter, though, they were all going down.

SWAT and DEA agents had swarmed the building after the initial sweep and to an onlooker, it would look exactly like what it was—an army converging on the enemy.

“There’s the office,” Ace’s voice came quiet via the comms, and they fanned out.

The office, if you could use that term, was a large room that lay beyond framed windows. Typical warehouse factory type of office with zero reinforcements.

“We can’t shoot,” Owen said. His voice full of raw fear came low through the comms.

“We’ve got your back, brother,” Link said.

“On my go,” Ace murmured and lifted a hand.

When their boss dropped his hand, Jordan leaped alongside Owen, Jacob, and Dalton with Ace..

There was no cluster fuck, they moved like the fucking wind, and they had the perps inside either dead or on their knees in moments.

Jordan scanned the area for Danner. He’d memorized the guy’s face.

“He’s not here,” Jordan announced and turned on the closet perp. “Where’s your boss?”

“Fuck you,” the perp spat.

Owen leaped and sliced a knife across the man’s jugular. The guy’s throat opened, and he fell sideways, dead before he hit the floor.

Well, that was effective, Jordan thought, and turned on the next perp.

“Your turn,” he said. “Where’s your boss?”

The perp’s eyes went wide with fear, gazing at him first and then Owen.

Without another moment of hesitation, the perp pointed to a door in the back.

Owen spun that way, and Jordan followed.

Whatever lay behind that door, he would have Owen’s back.

All of them would.