The Omega Team: Tough Target (Kindle Worlds Novella) Read Online Free Page A

but both Athena and Grey wanted to see Clive—to say good-bye to a man they loved and respected.
    After the medical examiner pulled back the sheet that covered Clive’s face and left the room, Athena stood alone with Grey beside the body. She tensed her jaw and wrestled with the flood of emotions hitting her. Clive had served his country. He’d risked his life on many missions in his career, but he came back to the United States—ready to finally retire and become a fledgling grandpa—until a coward gunned him down at the front door of his own home.
    “I never saw this coming. On a mission, we have each other’s backs. We’re a team. We look out for—” Tears drained down her cheek. “Clive didn’t deserve this. He should’ve been allowed to walk away. He would’ve made an amazing grandfather. God, he loved Melissa.”
    Grey reached out a hand to her and gripped the back of her neck. She folded into his arms and let him hold her.
    “We haven’t had any casualties, until now,” she said.
    She knew Clive would not be the last they would lose. Every member of the Omega Team had lost someone to violence. It never got any easier to accept or understand.
    “A man like Clive touched a lot of lives. He’ll be missed,” Grey said, pulling her tighter into his arms. “We’ll find out who did this. I promise you.”
    Athena shut her eyes and hugged the man she loved—grateful Camila Borrego hadn’t targeted him first. It shamed her to think that way, but she couldn’t help it.
    She pulled from Grey and touched his cheek, tracing the prominent scar that trailed from his eyebrow down his left cheek. His scars were a physical manifestation of how dangerous their lives were—and how they should make every second count.
    “I don’t think I can watch them cut into him. I’ve seen enough.” Athena wiped her face. “I’ll get a copy of the prelim autopsy report, before the final labs are done. Unfortunately we have other priorities. The safety of our team is too important.”
    “I agree,” he said.
    Athena wanted to grieve for the loss of Clive Landry and be there for Melissa. The poor girl was about to have her first baby, without the father she loved so dearly.
    But Camila Borrego threatened everything.
    “Has everyone gotten the word on our emergency protocol, to go to ground until further notice?” Grey asked.
    “Everyone…except Sam Rafferty. I’ve left him warning text messages with my suspicions, but I have no way of knowing if he’s received them. His phone is out of service. It could be because of the hurricane, but I’m worried.”
    Grey reached for her and touched a hand to her cheek.
    “Let’s get to the hospital,” he said. “I’m sure Rafael could use the company, but keep trying Sam. We’d both feel better if we talked to him, to make sure he’s okay.”
    “Yeah, I will. I have to tell him about Clive. No way I’d do that by text.”
    Athena turned back to Clive’s body. She covered his face with the white sheet in an intimate gesture that broke her heart. When her thoughts turned to Sam, she clenched her jaw, vowing she would not put him in the ground, like they would soon do with Clive Landry.
    Sam Rafferty was a force of nature. She couldn’t imagine him dead.
    Sam, where are you?

Chapter 3
     
    Florida Everglades
    Hours later
    Geneva opened her eyes to darkness tinged with a bluish haze. As her vision cleared, she realized that she stared into the shadowy boughs of a large cypress. A dead limb had snared her in its grasp. She caught glimpses of a sliver moon through the dense cloud cover and felt rain on her face and her body. Meager light undulated through the massive feathery branches of the ancient tree that protected her from the punishment of an outright downpour.
    Although she couldn’t feel her body that had grown numb—except for a persistent chill caused by the rain—she sensed the hardness of wood under her back and she remembered the canoe. When she tried