Declan

Chapter Thirty Seven

 Declan~

Blinking away the throbbing in his head, Declan opened his eyes trying to process the scene around him. Marcus appeared, hovering over his shoulder with his mouth moving, but his voice sounded far away, too far to hear or understand. 

Forcing his eyes to open wider in an effort to regain his faculties, Declan focused through the pain in his chest and head, trying to read Marcus' lips. Caleb. He was mouthing, no screaming, for Caleb.

Sounds and visuals became more clear as Marcus rolled Declan on his back. The motion sent shooting pains to Declan's chest and his lungs ached every inhale that he attempted, but he was breathing. 

He suddenly remembered the events that had just unfolded as he came to complete consciousness and thanked the lord above that Asher hadn't taken a head shot.

"Body armor," Declan grunted to Marcus.

"Body armor took the hit," he huffed again, lifting his hoodie slightly to prove to Marcus that he wasn't dying.

Caleb appeared above him and his smile was reassuring.

"You lucky bastard," he said with a tone that was more relieved than happy.

"Asher drew down on me once. I wasn't about to walk in here and not expect him to do it again," Declan said as he patted the body armor.

Fear and panic wrapped around his spine as he forced himself to sit up and didn't see or hear Lexi.

"Where's Lexi?"

Both of his teammate's expressions faded to and neither could look him in the eye which meant one of two things.

Please don't say she's dead.

"They took her Boss. By the time we got here they were long gone."

Declan felt relief and panic all wrapped into one as his mind started processing the next steps.

"And Claire?"

"We intercepted Nate and Claire at the end of the street. They're both okay."

He pushed out a hard breath as he pulled the holey sweatshirt over his head and removed the body armor which revealed three circular bruises on his chest.

"Get me back to Knight. We've got to figure this shit out and bring Lexi home."

He wanted to scream, wanted to crumble to the ground and howl as his emotions overran his body, but he couldn't. Lexi needed him.

*****

Knight Security was buzzing and Hunter had called in all of Delta team to assist. Nate was furiously working at his station desperately trying to track the men who had taken Lexi.

Declan and Pierce were watching the footage from his security cameras, but it was difficult for Declan to stomach. Tears stung his eyes as heard the crack of Asher's gun and watched the complete anguish on Lexi's face. The muscles in her neck bulged and strained as she screamed his name and Declan couldn't handle it. Standing abruptly Declan removed his hat and ran his hands roughly back and forth through his hair before replacing it backwards and reclaiming his seat.

It had been hours with no sign of Lexi and Declan tried to ignore the analytical part of his brain that told him the longer they went without contact the less likely it was that they would be able to find her at all.

"Guys!" Nate screamed from his control room.

"I got something!" he screamed again.

Every man in the room shot down the hall and crowded around Nate as he pulled up a prerecorded video onto a large screen.