Texas Stand-Off: The Omega Team Novella (Kindle Worlds Novella) Read Online Free PDF Page B

really bad for your health.” When Deacon stared at her like she was crazy, Taz conceded. “Okay, a half maybe.” She did want to keep up her energy. Impressing this man with her abilities was her only option.
    As before, they ate mostly in silence, her passing him the beans when he stared at the container and him giving her a napkin to wipe a dot of sauce at the corner of her lip. When she’d given him a questioning glance, he’d touched the same spot on his own lip. That move was self-preservation on his part, because he had a huge urge to kiss the sauce away.
    As soon as they were finished, he stood. Clean up was done in short order. “Let’s go to my workshop. I’ll set up a scene and give you several tools to work with. We’ll see what happens.”
    “Okay.” She’d made a study of this. Taz knew disabling bombs in real life didn’t work like in the movies. Cutting a single wire seldom saved the day. “Is this a real bomb?”
    “Well…if you don’t diffuse it properly, I send you back where you came from. So, there’ll be a lot of loud noise either way, if you fail.”
    He meant she’d cry. He was wrong. Taz realized he was subtly making fun of her. He didn’t like her very much and there was no flexibility in the man. He was a hard-ass. “Very well. I’m ready.”
    “Excellent.” The sooner he got her out of his hair, the better. She was playing hell with his libido. When they were outside, he pointed to the ground. “Why don’t you stop and give me fifty while I get everything ready?”
    His comment was phrased like a question, but it wasn’t. She went to the ground to follow his order. Grumbling wasn’t her style, but she did curse him in her mind. The dirt beneath her hands was full of small rocks which were gouging into her flesh. Oh well, this was a mild form of torture–she would survive.
    Despite his determination to dislike her, Deacon couldn’t help but admire her attitude. She held nothing back and asked for no leniency, which made him even more curious about her as a person. What had she been through to create such impenetrable armor?
    Going to his storage cabinets, he found what he needed. The fake bomb looked real, a plastic box containing explosives and enough wire to freak out an electrician. Most bombs were controlled with a remote, but to make this more fun and progress measurable, he’d installed a timer. Before setting it, he placed some tools on a table–wire cutters, a portable X-ray machine, a drill, saline solution–and to one side, he leaned a loaded shot-gun. Several options and only one correct solution. Well, this would be fun. Now they’d both know how totally unprepared she was for his world.
    When everything was set to his specifications, Deacon went to fetch her. She was standing up, waiting for him. Her breathing was still a bit heavy and after seeing her in action, he had no doubt she’d done as he requested. Beckoning her with one finger, he expected her to follow. “All right, Levin, I’m about to activate the bomb and it’s your job to diffuse it before it goes off.” He didn’t offer her any luck. Walking to the bomb, he flipped a switch and ninety seconds came up on the timer. Just enough time to frustrate the hell out of her before the shit hit the fan–proverbially speaking.
    Standing to one side, he folded his arms and watched her work. She calmly walked to the bomb, took one look at it, then made a pass by the table. Glancing around, she saw the shot gun. To his shock, she walked to it, picked it up, stepped back a few yards and blew the ever-loving shit out of the bomb. “Well, hell,” he mumbled. “I assume you know that only works if the bomb is not threatening people or irreplaceable property.”
    “Of course.” She waved her hand at the table filled with useless tools. “Of the options you laid out, this was clearly the only one. Most bombs are not so easily accessible. They are usually housed in locked boxes are in out of the