Mission: Impossible to Deny (The Impossible Mission Romantic Suspense Series Book 7), Jacki Delecki [polar express read aloud .TXT] 📗

dead. Reeves had seen his motionless body, the hole in his forehead. Tex must have known there was a chance he would be killed and scheduled the message. Reeves reread the words. Charlie’s death was tied to Tex’s.

Reeves handed Darcy his phone. “Read this.”

“What the hell?” Darcy reread the message as he had done. “Can you find out when he set up the message? Could it have been on a delay?”

“I might be able to get into Tex’s WhatsApp account, but it will be difficult. Tex will have set up a lot of firewalls, and he chose WhatsApp to communicate since their encryption is almost impossible to hack.”

“We need to find out more. Could Charlie’s supposedly accidental death ten years ago be tied to Tex’s?” Darcy’s phone beeped. “I’ve got to take this. Don’t get any ideas of running off. You need to stay close.”

“And if I don’t? You gonna use those handcuffs on me?” He invaded her space, moving close enough to see the sunlight reflecting on the amber hues in her eyes. “If you ask real nice, I might let you...”

She rolled her eyes before striding off.

He tracked her round hips swaying and the way she stiffened before she answered her phone.

“Sir?”

Not his usual style of foreplay, but he had a lot of reactions jamming him up, especially around Darcy Wilson. He couldn’t resist pushing this woman, a CIA officer who believed in the chain of command and liked order and control. They were direct opposites, but he couldn’t stop poking—anticipating her outrage, watching the flush across the delicate skin of her collarbone and her graceful neck. The need to bring that rise of color to her chest and face in a much more mutual and pleasurable way was becoming a persistent fantasy. Darcy wasn’t quite ready to acknowledge where the teasing was leading. Not yet. He was ready, had been since he walked into Richard’s office and then realized she was XChoco. He knew how he wanted to forget Lily. Forget the mess he was in with Tex. A short, passionate hook-up would make him feel again. And then she’d be gone. No strings, no regrets.

She was shaking her head vehemently to whatever her boss was saying. With her back to him, he couldn’t see, but he’d bet that her lower lip was tucked in as she tried to withhold her opinion. This woman did have a problem with authority, or perhaps men in general.

The newspaper article about her father’s murder said that Otisville's deputy sheriff left behind his four sons and a sixteen-year-old daughter. Four brothers would give anyone a skewed, or possibly a realistic, view of men’s shortcomings. The Jenkins brothers were a perfect example. Despite her tough-guy attitude, she had been gentle and compassionate about Tex. Her body wasn’t tough guy. Those soft curves were all woman and hot as hell.

She had tried to spare him from going into the house. But he owed it to Tex, and now to his memory, to find the bastards who were exploiting their game. He needed to get his head screwed on straight and find the a-holes who had hurt his friend. The fight had become real personal.

His phone buzzed. “What’s your problem, man?”

“I’m not the one with the problem, asshole,” Nick growled. “You’re the one in deep shit.”

Reeves laughed. Yeah, there was a big difference between the CIA work environment and Jenkins Security.

“You have to tell Emily that you’re in danger.” Nick was in his Marine Captain command mode.

“Damn it. Darcy shouldn’t have called Richard. You know, since the kidnapping, he is very paranoid. There is a risk but not enough to warrant this phone call. Darcy and I have to figure out what Tex was into before buying into a full conspiracy theory.”

“Darcy didn’t call Richard. The CIA director did. And it’s now full-court press on protection detail. No way you’re escaping us close and personal.”

“Very generous of you to offer, but I’m declining.”

“What part don’t you get? You have no choice. It sucks what happened to your friend, but you need to talk to Emily.” Nick’s deep bass made everything he said sound like a threat.

This was all Reeves’s fault. He had sent Nick to protect his sister when her life had been threatened. Now he had to deal with Nick in the middle of his family business.

“There is no need for her to know. You know how much pressure she puts on herself during these tours.”

Darcy had ended her call and walked toward him.

“Oh, sure. You might get away with that kind of shit with a sister. But there is no way in hell that Emily doesn’t expect full disclosure from me about her brother’s safety. She’ll kick both our asses if we don’t tell her.”

“Man, take a breath. I’ll reassure her that it’s all been exaggerated. Or she’ll want to cancel her performances.”

“I’ll convince her not to.”

“Good luck with that. You know how stubborn she can be. And if she decides I’m in any danger, she’ll want to come back to Seattle. And I don’t want her to give up the tour.”

“Once I tell her that you have the Jenkins brothers protecting you twenty-four-seven, she’ll be fine. She has total faith in my abilities.”

“What the fuck? What part do you not get? I don’t need you guys. I’ve got my own CIA agent.” Reeves waggled his eyebrows at Darcy, who was pretending to be busy on her phone but was tracking every word he uttered.

“Yeah, and I hear that you want her all to yourself. According to Richard, you were struck speechless. Now that I would enjoy. You—unable to talk.”

There was no way that Richard had said anything to Nick. He was trolling. God, he hated working with everyone trained in intelligence.

“Shut up, or I’ll have to kick your ass.” Reeves enjoyed threatening the Marine Raider when there was not a chance that he could take him. Reeves had always trained to remain fit, and after his sister had been threatened, he