The Omega Team: Hot Target (Kindle Worlds Novella) Read Online Free PDF

and every condom dumped on the carpet before she dashed into the bathroom.
    “Sorry. I can’t let her find me here,” she apologized before she shut the door.
    The intoxicating moment with Jacquie had vanished. Rafe killed the music. Naked, he stood alone in a daze. He had to get dressed to face his sister, but he had no idea what Athena had come to say.
     
    ***
     
    Rafael answered the door wearing worn jeans and a gray Chicago Bears T-shirt. His long dark hair looked damp as if he’d just showered. Athena walked into the room and spied the unmade bed and his clothes strewn across his open luggage. The mess struck her as odd for Rafe, until she noticed the faint smell of a woman’s perfume lingering in the air.
    Athena ignored the obvious and turned to face him. HisHis
    “What happened today, Rafe? You walked out on the poly. Is there something you’ve kept from me?”
    Rafael clenched his jaw and refused to look her in the eye. She knew from experience, what that meant. She’d never known her brother to lie to her. He had guts with the truth, but his weapon of choice had always been silence.
    “You reached out to me, Rafael. I thought you wanted a new start in Tampa. What are you not telling me?”
    “Sweet Jesus, Athena. You’re like a pit bull on a bone. Chalk it up to me having a bad day.” He glared at her and raked a hand through his hair. “I failed your polygraph. If that sinks my chances, then that’s it. I’m done.”
    With her brother stonewalling her, she had to find another way to get him to open up to her.
    “Your wife and baby girl were murdered,” she said. “I can’t imagine what toll that’s taken on you, mi hermano . I know you’re not the same guy. How could you be? But please…tell me what’s going on with you.”
    She rarely brought up Elena and Ariana these days, unless he gave her signs he needed to talk. Athena thought that was the real reason he asked about working with her Omega group. He needed his only sister to be his lifeline back to the living.
    Athena knew Rafe had been the one to find Elena and Ariana dead. She couldn’t begin to understand that horror. After it happened years ago, she’d gotten her hands on the murder book and saw the graphic crime scene photos. Even now she couldn’t picture them in her mind without the sting of tears and couldn’t imagine her brother’s immeasurable torment.
    She knew the case had grown cold fast. There were only unsubstantiated rumors of a drug connection through Elena because of the way the bodies had been marked with a knife by the cartel. It killed Rafe to have to defend the mother of his child, but a powerful cartel had planted evidence and innuendo to muddy the waters—and like that, the investigation shut down.
    No motive. No suspect. Nada .
    “Give it a rest,” he said. “Do we have to talk about this now? I failed your interview. Let it go.”
    Rafe fidgeted and wouldn’t stand still. That wasn’t like him either. He normally was cool under pressure and had a poker face she could bank on. 
    “They never caught the shooter, did they?” She pushed. “Did any leads pan out?”
    “No. Everything came to one big dead end. Bought and paid for.”
    She barely heard him. He’d lowered his voice and stopped pacing. With shoulders slumped, he collapsed onto the bed.
    “You didn’t look into it yourself? I just thought you’d—”
    “Please don’t do this,” he pleaded. “It’s hard enough for me to sleep. I can still see—”
    “I’m sorry. You’re right. I didn’t come here to—” She couldn’t finish. His tortured face stopped her cold. “I actually have good news. At least I think it’s good.”
    “I could use it.” He finally looked her in the eye.
    “I’m leading a mission into Cuba tomorrow and I want you with me. You failed the poly but you can still earn a spot on the team. Are you in?”
    “Cuba?” He narrowed his eyes at her. “What’s the assignment?”
    “A cold case murder. I