Mission: Impossible to Deny (The Impossible Mission Romantic Suspense Series Book 7) - Jacki Delecki (great novels of all time txt) 📗

into a barely recognizable bloody, bloated mess; his body in an unnatural position; a gaping hole in the middle of his forehead. Rage and horror simmered close to the surface. He considered every uncivilized thing he’d inflict on the bastards.

He didn’t tell Darcy he was leaving. She was fine on her own. Stud Green could give her a ride back to town. The Santa Barbara policeman could ride her every which way to Sunday. He didn’t give a damn. Fuck his fantasies that he had spun while she slept on the flight. All centered around her wanton and sexy mass of silky hair—his fingers entangled in all those red curls, making her cry out his name.

Miss CIA found Tex guilty without even meeting him. Any warm feelings for her evaporated the moment Reeves heard her on the phone to the other CIA drones discussing how to get their team out to do the autopsy.

He was finished with the CIA and Miss Darcy Wilson. He’d hack into the CIA if he needed any information that he couldn’t glean on his own. His skills might be cyber investigation, but he worked with the best. And his team would find who had tortured and murdered an introverted and innocent man.

Darcy was right about one thing: Reeves could never go back. His worldview had been altered forever when Jordan, Sophie, and Danni had been kidnapped and when the Serbian mafia had come after his sister. Violence was sometimes the only answer.

As he walked to the waiting car, Reeves’s phone rang.

“Hey, asshole, not the time to talk. I’ll call you in an hour.” He clicked off. He didn’t care that Nick Jenkins was his future brother-in-law. He was headed to the beach for some time to regroup and think. After listening to the Pacific Ocean with the warm sun on his face and the sea breeze cooling his hot blood, he’d sort out his next move.

Right as Nick called him again, he heard Darcy yelling at him, “Where the hell are you going?”

Her anger was fuel for the fire. This was going to be exactly what he needed. And punctilious, pert Darcy Wilson had a bullseye right on her chest. And then he couldn’t look away as her heavy breasts jiggled while she ran in her high heels.

He strode to her, wanting the showdown.

“You bastard, you were going to leave.”

“I’m sure Stud Green will take care of you.”

“What are you implying?”

He’d give it to her that Darcy was no pushover. She got right up close, not intimidated by the rage roaring off of him.

“Nothing.” He shrugged. “You’re CIA. You have resources to make your way home.”

“I’m sorry about your friend. It was awful for you to see him like that.”

“Do you even care that you suspected a good man?” He couldn’t stop himself from being a total douche. “All you care about is getting your next promotion.”

“Listen, buddy.” She poked her puny finger into his chest. “My job is to save lives … as many lives as possible. I get how angry you are that you couldn’t prevent Tex’s death. I am too. But do you think Tex would hold it against me for trying to find out who hacked your game and made him a possible suspect? Would he have wanted to stop the potential murder of CIA agents and their confidential informants? I think he’d be damn glad to talk with me if he’s the man you believe him to have been.”

She had been clinical and detached while Reeves had trouble not losing his cookies as she and Green went over the details of Tex’s murder. “I heard you on the phone. Not caring about contacting his parents or his brother, only about his autopsy.”

“I didn’t think you’d want to be the one since you haven’t been in contact with Tex in years. And if a CIA officer called them, it would raise a lot of questions. And the family doesn’t need the added stress. The local police will contact his family, as it should be.”

So maybe she wasn’t a completely insensitive automaton.

 She looked behind her and then lowered her voice. “If this is a professional hit, I don’t trust anyone but the CIA with Dex’s body. Organized crime has its finger in police departments. We might be able to find trace DNA connecting to the men who hurt him.”

She was suspicious that the Santa Barbara police were involved? He was a jumble of feelings and not firing in his usual way. Or maybe he wasn’t paranoid enough.

“I’m sorry. I can’t treat this …” He waved his hand toward the house. “I’m not thinking straight.”

“Of course not. I would think something was wrong if you weren’t upset and royally pissed. I know you don’t believe me, but I’m sorry.”

She patted his arm. The heat of her skin next to his warmed the chill that had seeped into him from the blank stare in Tex’s eyes, forever imprinted on his brain.

“Hey, don’t go there.” She hadn’t moved her hand, as if she knew she was helping him find his way back from the darkness, bringing him back to the present.

He stared at her tiny, pale hand as she gently rubbed his arm. The sunlight captured glimmers of fire and gold hues in her hair.

“I’ve been here. And although it’s hard to hear, if you didn’t have all the conflicting feelings tearing you up, there’d be something damn wrong with you. It’s because you’re a fine man that this hurts so badly.”

He was lost for words, which rarely happened for him. “Does this mean I’m not a suspect any longer?” His joke fell flat.

“No, you couldn’t possibly have killed Tex.”

“Thanks for the confidence.”

His phone beeped. He glanced at the screen, expecting it was Nick harassing him. He had a message on his WhatsApp. He opened the app and read the encrypted one-line message. Look into Charlie’s death. Followed by a map of Texas.

Reeves stared at his phone. Tex had sent him a message … except he was