Pierce

Chapter Twenty Seven

Pierce~

The group had a late lunch together with Lexi and Natalie, but the girls kept themselves busy as the teams worked throughout the afternoon. The last time he checked on them they had been busy planning out Claire's birthday party with their laughter filling the hallway. Occasionally their laughter would flit and flutter into the quiet conference room causing every man sitting around the table to grin.

Nate had called to let Pierce know that there were no signs of any other bugs or cameras in his apartment or the surrounding areas, which was an additional relief, but the men waited on pins and needles, hoping to get a call from Wyatt, the team's DEA contact, with an update on Estrada.

As they were wrapping up for the day, Hunter got a call that made him spring to his feet.

"No fucking way. Let me put you on speaker with the team." Hunter said as he placed his phone in the center of the conference table.

"Alright tell them the good news, Wyatt." Hunter grinned with his arms folded across his chest.

"We got him. Picked up Estrada forty five minutes ago." Wyatt confirmed.

The whole room was silent for a beat before anyone could find the right words to say.

"Alive?" Pierce asked.

"Yes."

He and Declan locked eyes at the confirmation that Estrada was alive with mutual disappointment.

"Congratulations brother." Hunter said, happy for his friend.

"Yeah well I'm flyin out there soon to buy each and every one of you a beer."

"We're gonna hold you to that." Declan said before Hunter took the phone off speaker and brought it to his ear.

"Holy shit..."Caleb muttered in disbelief.

"What's on your mind Hollywood?" Marcus asked, obviously confused by the angry look on Pierce's face.

"Making moves from Federal prison will be tough, but not impossible." he said, maintaining eye contact with Declan.

"I want the bastard dead too, but we've gotta take what we can get here. He's got so many enemies he may not make it very long in the hole anyway." Declan tried to reason with him, but Pierce could see the disappointment that was hiding behind his eyes as well. He knew Declan wanted that type of closure for Lexi - to know the man who orchestrated her kidnapping and totured her was dead, but this was the next best thing.

"Let's go tell the girls, that'll cheer you up." Declan said as he gave Pierce a slap on the back.

He wasn't wrong. Being able to give Natalie and Lexi good news and give them some peace of mind was going to bring him so much satisfaction and his feet couldn't carry him into the break room fast enough.

Pierce went straight to Natalie who was standing by the fridge and wrapped her up in his arms with a big grin on his face. Declan entered the room behind him unable to hide his grin as well and Lexi read him immediately.

"You got him." Lexi said from the couch as a statement instead of a question.

Declan crouched down in front of Lexi on the couch to be eye level with her.

"Yeah baby, we got him."

Natalie's gaze shot up to Pierce's face with a bright smile as if she needed his confirmation.

"DEA took him into custody a few minutes ago based off of your intel." Pierce said pressing his forehead down onto Natalie's and giving her a proud smile.