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

and their impressive capabilities. In the presence of such powerful men, relief washed over Darcy. These men would succeed in hunting Reeves’s captors. Failure wasn’t in their DNA.

“Hey, looks as if you took one for the team.” He offered his large hand. “I’m Finn Jenkins, and this is my baby brother, Lars.”

Darcy had to look up to see baby Lars. She shook their hands, both callused and firm.

“We’ve all been waiting to meet the woman who was willing to put Reeves on the terrorist watch list.” Lars’s eyes sparkled in amusement.

It did sound rather lame now that she knew Reeves. But she wasn’t backing down. Used to her brothers’ challenging humor, she recognized Lars’s ploy.

“I never added him to the list. But it’s never too late to add names.” She raised her eyebrow and immediately regretted the motion. She tried to hide the grimace, but there was no fooling these men.

“Let me get you some ibuprofen. Dislocated shoulders hurt like a son of …”

Darcy thought it was rather sweet that Finn stopped cursing for her sake. He would learn pretty quickly that nothing he said could shock her.

“It could be worse. It could be your gun hand.” Lars walked behind the island. “You want coffee, right? How do you take it?”

“Black, please.”

She didn’t miss that the men didn’t mention Reeves. “No leads?”

Nick put his hands into his worn jeans. “Nada yet. This is the worst part. The waiting.”

Finn returned with a bottle of pills and then, realizing that she couldn’t easily open the bottle with her left arm pinned against her chest, took out two and handed them to her. She dry swallowed them.

It was worth it to see the surprise on all three of the brothers’ faces. They hadn’t seen anything yet.

“Reeves maybe with a spook … but a dogface, a tough-ass spook? Didn’t see that coming.” Finn had the same glint in his bright eyes as Lars.

Darcy didn’t have the energy to correct Finn that she and Reeves weren’t a couple.

“Does Reeves have some sort of SERE—Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape training to withstand the torture?” It would be a lot easier, and a lot less painful, for Darcy to remain in denial of what the Sureños were capable of. Her job was to assess the risk to Reeves and his survival.

Nick and Finn’s shared look was enough of an answer. “We never considered it for Reeves since he’s tech, not an operator.”

“Hey, I get it.” She tried to raise her hands and stopped herself. “I’m not judging.”

Lars came around the island and handed her a steaming cup of java. She inhaled the dark scent before taking her first sip. “Thank you.”

“Caffeine is as necessary as C4 for a successful mission.” Finn winked at her.

“Finn was a SEAL, and they’re really into blowing things up,” Lars deadpanned.

“We take our demolition skills seriously.” The macho joking was familiar and comforting since it reminded her of home and her brothers.

“Reeves has a license to carry, but I’m assuming he’s never fired his pistol in a live situation.”

“He’s improved at the shooting range, but his ability to kill someone?” Finn shrugged his shoulders. “He’s not trained to react, but he’s a quick study. He’ll handle himself if he has to.”

“I agree with Finn’s assessment. Reeves is analytical. He’ll do an assessment, weigh his options and, if his best option for survival is to stop the bad guys, he won’t hesitate,” Nick said.

“I hope that it doesn’t come down to Reeves having to be in a firefight. Reeves doesn’t need that on his conscience.” She was attracted to more about Reeves than the obvious fact that he was sexy as hell—he wasn’t like the men she knew. But she hadn’t realized until now that part of her need for him was because he wasn’t hardened. He didn’t have blood on his hands as she and other soldiers did. And she never wanted him to. She liked him as he was, a nerdy geek and a tender, hot man.

Chapter Fourteen

Reeves waited behind McDonald for him to unlock the door that kept him prisoner. Confident that Reeves could never make it to the door or have the opportunity to use the seven-digit code, or just plain stupid, McDonald made no effort to safeguard the code.

“Whoa, sorry. I’m so damn dizzy.”

Reeves fell against McDonald, interrupting the keypad sequence, forcing McDonald to repeat the code to reinforce the numbers in his drug-addled brain and simply to piss the guy off. Maintaining your captors off-balance was one strategy, and the other was to pit them against each other. If he hadn’t been poisoned, he’d already have developed a plan. He wanted out now. He wanted Darcy. And he wanted to see these assholes behind bars for the rest of their sorry lives.

McDonald held the door for Reeves to leave his cell/room. Reeves walked into the rectangular cement room with hanging fluorescent lights. He had no memory of being carried through the empty warehouse. Probably wouldn’t be empty for long. Since the Sureños dealt in arms and drugs, this spot likely served as a secure holding area to store their goods. The Sureños weren’t very creative in where they stashed their captives. Warehouses were almost redundant in the business of kidnapping.

Reeves followed McDonald to the bathroom, which was on the opposite side of the room. McDonald’s heavy shuffle echoed off the thirty-foot ceiling.

McDonald pushed the door open and shoved Reeves into a small, dingy bathroom. It smelled like a gas station toilet. The linoleum floor was cracked, the previously white sink was gray with rust marks around the handles, and the toilet seat and rim were covered in things Reeves didn’t want to consider. A purple sanitizer was attached to the filthy toilet in an attempt to obliterate the awful smell. The harsh chemical sanitizer, scented to mimic grapes, made Reeves gag and his eyes water.

“Take a piss,” McDonald barked.

“You’re going to watch me?”

McDonald’s face didn’t change.

“FYI, I’m cool with your choice. But I’m not into dudes.” Always