Free The Omega Team: Hot Target (Kindle Worlds Novella) by Jordan Dane Page A

a strong sense of right and wrong. That’s why you became a cop.” She touched his cheek as she knelt in front of him. “But I think you’ve blamed yourself for what happened to your family and that’s the real reason you want to be punished. You want to stop feeling the pain of missing them, but maybe all you did was balance the scale.”
    Jacquie couldn’t believe she’d said that killing a man in cold blood had only made things right, but how could any notion of justice make him whole again? 
    “After we had Ariana, I never knew I could be so happy. I thought there would always be the three of us, but now it’s just me and it’s…unbearable.” He lowered his chin and a tear rolled down his cheek. “It’s not that I have any real death wish, but I think I just want my body to feel, what I feel in my heart.”
    “Shh. Don’t say that,” she whispered and pressed a finger to his lips. “Elena and your sweet Ariana wouldn’t want this for you.”
    Rafael shook his head.
    “I don’t deserve your understanding. I’m not the man I used to be. I can never be that again.” He let go of her hand and looked away. “I have no right being on Athena’s Omega Team. She needs to know what you found on that shell casing. You have no choice but to tell her.”
    Jacquie felt sucker punched.
    At first she thought she held his fate in her hands whether she chose to tell Athena or not, but no matter what she decided, Rafael had set his destiny in motion when he left that shell casing at the crime scene five years ago. She couldn’t save him. Anything she did wouldn’t matter. Rafe would push for the punishment he thought he deserved.
    Still, if the decision had never been in her hands, why did she feel like his executioner?
    “Hold me,” she whispered to him. “I need you to hold me.”
    Rafael pulled her into his arms and held her tight against the warmth of his body. He cradled her as if she were something rare and precious. He’d shared his darkest secret with her. Not even his sister knew what he’d done. The intimacy they’d shared meant much more than her idea of hot fantasy sex.
    When Rafe picked her up and placed her on his mattress, Jacquie thought he might kiss her, but he did something that surprised her more. He climbed into bed with her and held her tight. They stared out the window and watched the rain.
    Jacquie clutched his strong arms around her and let the tears come. After seeing the faces of his wife and baby girl, she became profoundly connected to his grief, as if she sensed the depth of the emptiness in him. She knew what she had to do—what he wanted her to do—but it tore her apart inside. He’d lost too much and now, whatever remained of his life, he’d lose that too.
    She’d been right from the start. Rafael Madero would break her heart—but sex would have nothing to do with it.
     
    ***
     
    Rafael hadn’t felt this close to a woman since he held Elena in his arms. Jacquie asked for him to hold her, but once he pulled her into his embrace, he realized he needed a different kind of intimacy more. His burden had been lifted. Someone else knew his worst secret and he’d have one night to share with a good woman he didn’t deserve. By morning, everything would change. He’d have to settle for the few hours he’d have left.
    For the first time in years, Rafael didn’t feel alone. He drew comfort from another human being who cared about what happened to him. He watched the rain and let it mercifully heal his soul for the time he had.
    After he shut his eyes, he slept like the dead.

Chapter 8
     
    Havana Medical Examiner’s Office
    Ministry of Public Health - Cuba
    The Next Day
    Athena stood next to the entrance to autopsy room number 4, dressed in oversized green scrubs and latex gloves. Sam Rafferty wore the same gear because he volunteered to come. He’d been up early and accompanied her from the hotel.
    “This place gives me the creeps.” Rafferty hoisted the waistband of