Pierce

Chapter Twenty Six

"Somebody pull this image up on the projector." Hunter barked to no one in particular.

Kincaid had the image up in seconds.

Hunter eyed it for a long time before sound finally erupted from his mouth.

"There." Hunter pointed up at the screen at a man in the background with his head turned away from the camera.

"His hair is cut short, but is that..."

"Zoom in on that tattoo on his neck." Hunter ordered.

The blurred image gained enough clarity for the men to see Estrada's very prominent and recognizable tattoo of Mario's name on his neck.

"What's the time stamp on that picture?" Pierce asked.

"Less than 24 hours ago." Marcus answered.

Hunter was up and moving toward his phone as he spoke.

"He's not in Mexico. He's in Miami."

Pierce turned his astonished gaze to Natalie who was still sitting on his lap.

"Have I told you that I love you today? Because I fucking love you," he said excitedly as he planted a kiss on her cheek with a little more force that he had intended.

She smiled and winced beneath the pressure of his lips on her cheek knowing his excited energy was bubbling over at the thought of the DEA capturing Estrada.

Hunter put someone on speaker phone in the middle of the table.

"Talk to me boys" a serious voice echoed from the speakers, one that she could only assume was an agent for the DEA.

Lexi and Natalie took their cues immediately knowing that the information being discussed was not for their ears and that they would be told what they needed to know despite their curiosity to know the outcome.

Natalie followed Lexi toward the door, but stalled as they passed over the threshold to steal one more look at Pierce. He was in his element with his brows lowered and lips pressed into a thin line, but the second his eyes lifted to hers the corner of his mouth curled slightly and he shot her a wink that made her stomach do flips.

Lexi led Natalie into a room that looked like a break room. It had a small kitchenette and a few leather couches that were too inviting not to sit in. The two women made themselves at home and talked on those couches about all sorts of things for a few hours until they finally had to address the elephant in the room.

"They're going to catch him. I can feel it." Lexi said.

She wished she could match the same excited energy that Lexi and the rest of the teams were obviously feeling, but she was still trying to process everything that was happening.

"How...How are you okay with all of this?" Natalie asked Lexi knowing that she would answer her honestly.

"Okay with this? You think that I'm okay with this? Oh honey..." Lexi said, turning her body on the couch to face Natalie.

"I'm far from okay with this. In fact, I'm downright scared." Lexi assured her.

"You don't seem like it." Natalie scoffed. "I don't see how you do it."

"It's not about being fearless, it's about being able to have faith that's stronger than your fear. All nine men in that room in there would kill or be killed for you, you know that right?"

Natalie knew that without a doubt and nodded at Lexi's words.

"You think I wasn't scared when Declan called me just now? He spoke to me in code, a code we agreed on a while ago to let me know if the house wasn't safe and as soon as I heard that code leave his mouth I was terrified. I wanted to ask him a thousand questions. I wanted to cry and run and let all my instincts take over, but I didn't. I trusted Declan's instincts over my own because I trust that he will always act in my best interest. It's not about being fearless or emotionless. It's about trust."