The Omega Team: Hot Target (Kindle Worlds Novella) (2 page)

Tampa, Florida

Five years later

Jacquie Lyles held her breath as she ran her fingertips across his muscled chest. She had to touch him, to get the tension right, but being this close to Rafael Madero had its risks. His hazel eyes never wavered. They followed every move she made. He wore his thick dark hair longer than the men she knew. A strand hung perilously close to one of his eyes and dared her to brush it back. The faint stubble on his face—and his mesmerizing soulful eyes—gave him an edge she found impossible to resist.

After she fastened the rubber tube across his broad chest, she remembered to breathe. With an unsteady hand she shoved her large dark framed glasses up her nose.

“Now I have to do your…” She swallowed, hard.

She couldn’t finish. Jacquie forgot what she wanted to say. His full lips parted like an invitation. It took all her will power not to oblige.

“Take your time.” His deep voice skittered chills across her skin. His Cuban accent had to be as addictive as crack. Not that she had any experience with…

She reached for his back to place a strap around his taut stomach. Only inches away from him, she breathed in the scent of herbal soap and an intoxicating aroma that must’ve been all Rafael. He wore a black T-shirt and faded jeans. She could’ve run the binding over his shirt like the last one, but what fun would that be. Her fingers lingered against the warmth of his bare skin. When she glanced up, Jacquie swore she caught the corner of his lips curl into a subtle smile.

“Your perfume. I like it. Very much,” he whispered, only loud enough for her to hear him.

Her face burned hot. To cover up her embarrassment, she did what came naturally.

“Uh, transducers will convert the energy of…displaced air and convert it to…digital readings.”

Gah, don’t geek out now.
She gritted her teeth to keep from ruining the moment. Guys like Rafael Madero didn’t belong in her world. They were like
unicorns
.

“Beautiful and smart. Very lethal,” he whispered again.

This time she imagined that voice sighing in her ear in the darkness of her bedroom, with the feel of those lips on her skin.

Electro-dermal activity
. She had no choice but to let her inner geek fly. It was the only way she’d get through this.

“These fingerplates are called galvanometers.” She took hold of his long fingers and placed his palm flat on the table. “Fingertips can tell us a lot.”

“I’ve certainly found that to be true,” he said.

Another wave of heat flushed her face.

“Now we’ll have your respiratory rate, your electro-dermal activity, and your heart rate and blood pressure. The standard polygraph test, but we’ll also be running a cognitive polygraph using a functional Trans-cranial Doppler. It’s harder to beat.”

For the first time since she’d officially met Rafael an hour ago, the man’s face flinched.

“Harder to beat?” he asked.

“What’s wrong, Rafe? Afraid I might really find out who papered my house after my high school graduation party?”

The voice of Athena Madero came from a wall speaker, located next to a two-way mirror that linked the interview room to private observation quarters next door. Jacquie only hoped her friend Athena hadn’t seen her
fan girl
reaction to her sexy younger brother. She first met the former homicide detective when they both worked with the Tampa Police Department. A case had brought them together, but Athena made it easy to like her. She had been the reason Jacquie worked for the Omega Team as their computer expert, techno geek, resource guru, and
white hat
hacker when necessary.

“That wasn’t me. I’ve already told you,” Rafe said.

“But I bet you know who did.”

“No comment.”

Jacquie smiled at the sibling banter as she finished her prep. She would conduct the polygraph and other tests, part of the vetting process anyone took before they joined the team. An extensive background check had already started. No one wanted Rafe to qualify more than Jacquie did. Well, except for his sister, Athena.

Something in the protective way Athena acted toward Rafael—on the few occasions she talked about him—signaled more than the usual sisterly bond. Jacquie couldn’t claim to know a lot about Rafe. Athena never shared much. Jacquie knew they didn’t grow up in the same house. They had the same father, but she had the impression, their lives were vastly different beyond their paternal link. Rafael was Athena’s half brother, but if Jacquie pegged body language right between the Madero siblings—Rafe had a past he didn’t talk about and Athena respected his secrets.

He had to want this job. Otherwise she had the feeling this invasion into his life never would’ve happened.

“You ready to start?” she asked. When he nodded, she said, “I’ll begin by asking you simple yes or no questions to establish a baseline for your body’s reactions. Relax.”

Jacquie took a seat across from him, out of his line of sight, so she wouldn’t distract him from the questions. The room had been dimmed. Everything was set.

“Let’s begin. Answer yes or no. Is your name Rafael Madero?”

“Yes.”

Jacquie made a notation on the readings as he replied truthfully to her questions. She’d establish a baseline to compare how his body would react if the questions made him uncomfortable—or if he tried to lie to her.

“Is your T-shirt red?”

“No.”

“Are you at Omega Team headquarters in Tampa?”

“Yes.”

“Are you related to Athena Madero?”

Rafe didn’t answer right away. He winced.

“Unfortunately.” With a flash of dimple, he shrugged.

“Yes or no, please.” Jacquie smiled.

“Yes.”

“Have you ever committed a felony?”

Silence. Rafe didn’t answer.

Jacquie looked up from the spiked readings projecting across her laptop screen and found Rafael tensing his jaw. He drew a ragged breath and stared dead ahead at the wall. His body grew rigid.

“Have you ever committed a felony, Rafael?” Jacquie repeated the question and fidgeted with her eye glasses.

“What’s wrong, Rafe?” Athena’s voice erupted over the speaker and jolted him into action.

“I can’t do this.” He yanked at the electronic leads and pulled them from his body.

Rafe pushed out of his chair and turned to leave, but stopped at the door. When he glanced over his shoulder, he locked eyes with Jacquie and it felt as if time stopped and the rest of the world faded away. In that moment, his sexy cockiness had vanished. He let her see a glimpse into something connected to his past that she knew nothing about—and he didn’t try to hide his pain.

“I’m sorry.”

Without any more explanation than his apology, he bolted from the interview room. When his sister called after him from down the hallway, Jacquie ran to the door and watched Rafe walk out of Omega headquarters. Not even Athena could make him stay.

What happened to you, Rafael?
Jacquie wondered.

The man definitely had secrets—ones he wouldn’t lie about.

***

Omega Team Headquarters – Tampa

Late afternoon

Jacquie made her way through the converted warehouse that housed her employer, the Omega Team. The wide open space had exposed red brick walls and metal ductwork with steel catwalks and stairs to link the floors. Industrial chic, she called it, but team founders Grey Holden and Athena Madero didn’t spend their money on trendy. The practical and Spartan workplace had Jacquie’s state of the art computer command post at its core—
nerd central
—with various interview rooms, open offices for their operatives, a workout area, and a break room.

One of her favorite locations in the building was locked behind closed doors—a highly secured video conferencing center used for tactical strategy planning, satellite surveillance and confidential communications with clients from all over the world. They called it the
War Room
. The War Room was bracketed by the offices of the Omega Team’s founders, Grey and Athena.

Jacquie knocked on the open office door of Grey Holden, a former Delta Force team leader in covert ops. He sat behind his desk, focused on his computer until he saw her at his door. Then she had his full attention.

“Come in, Jacquie. What’s up?”

Grey Holden and Athena Madero had started the team and built the organization on their uncompromised ethics. In a world where corruption seemed the norm, Jacquie found it refreshing to work with a group of people she could count on to do the right thing.

But that very strength of character made Jacquie worry about what had happened with Rafael. If he had something to hide—something his sister didn’t seem to know about—how could Grey and the team trust him the way they’d need to on a mission.

She held Rafael Madero’s file clutched tight in her hands.

“You asked for his file.” She handed him the folder.

When Grey reached for it, Jacquie got a look at the nasty scar that traced down from his left elbow to his wrist. It matched another one on his cheek near his eyebrow. She tried not to stare, but took the liberty of another glimpse as he read the Madero file.

Grey’s body was a constant reminder of how dangerous their missions were. Every man and woman in their organization had a story and had survived many perilous assignments. Jacquie couldn’t begin to understand how anyone could make such a sacrifice—to risk their very lives—in the protection of others, but she did like calling them friends.

“So what do you think will happen now?” She adjusted her glasses, a nervous habit. “What do you want me to do with Rafael’s background check?”

Grey clenched his jaw and tossed the file across his desk in her direction.

“Stop the process and mark his file as inactive, but it’ll be up to Athena to make the final call.”

When Jacquie picked up Rafael Madero’s folder, a voice stopped her cold.

***

“Leave the file.” Athena didn’t bother to knock.

She came into the room and locked eyes with Grey. She knew how to be aggressive in a man’s world, but she hadn’t forgotten how to soften her approach with other women not used to her ways.

“Thanks, Jacquie. I agree with Grey that we should stop his application, but we need some privacy to talk about this. I’ll keep his records for now.”

After Jacquie left empty handed, Athena shut the door behind her. She needed her sounding board—Grey Holden. After hours he was the most extraordinary lover she’d ever had and they shared a home, but at work they were business partners.

“Before you ask, I have no idea why he took off, without
any
explanation.” Athena paced the floor in front of his desk. She used her hands as if they were a second language.

“He needs this job, Grey. I have a feeling about him. He reached out to me for a reason. He just hasn’t told me everything.”

Athena dragged a hand through her dark hair and stopped wearing out his rug. She slumped into a chair in front of his desk and let silence settle her thoughts.

“The truth is, I know he’s solid,” she said. “He’s a good guy and I can trust him to have my back.”

“But?” Grey steepled his fingers and waited for her to finish.

“You know what happened to him. I told you everything I know, but—” Athena sighed. “There must be something he’s not telling me.”

“Is this wishful thinking or gut instinct?” Before she could answer, he said, “’Cause I trust your gut. You know that. You may never get an answer from your brother. Not if he isn’t willing to open up.”

“I know.” She slouched in her seat. “Maybe he wasn’t ready. I pushed him too hard.”

“You? Pushy?” He grinned.

“Smart ass.”

The smile faded from Grey’s face.

“He’s got impressive experience as a sniper team leader with Chicago SWAT and hostage rescue, but we can’t move forward unless he cooperates,” he said. “Everyone else in this agency had to be vetted.”

“Yeah, I know. It’s just that—” She took a deep breath. Athena didn’t like talking about Rafe’s life to anyone else. That was his secret to tell, not hers. “Rafael grew up without a lot of people believing in him. I can’t turn my back on him. I won’t.”

“I’m not asking you to…as his sister, but we’re building a reputation here. That means we have to have consistent standards when we bring on someone new. Our clients trust us to hire the best. We can’t afford to be blindsided.”

Athena shut her eyes and pictured the face of her brother. Flashes of his anger and torment—caught at the worst moments of his life—flooded her mind. Some she’d witnessed firsthand. Others she could only imagine, after she delved into his tragic past. She’d told Grey what he needed to know as Rafe’s potential employer, but there was so much more to tell.

“I understand.” She nodded. “I really do, but I’m asking you to trust me. Let me vet him myself.”