Page 76 of Love at First Rep

“Entertaining the fuck out of me,” Danvers said as she walked out of a separate area of the slaughterhouse, her taut voice more cheery than usual and bouncing off the walls. She sighed as she pulled out a chair and joined them at the table. “Bold move bringing my brother into this.”

Danvers, aka Thea Durbin, was their lone woman on the team and happened to be the older sister of Cole Durbin. After their team rescued her from a POW camp, they adopted her immediately. The skills she learned in the Air Force made her a valuable addition to the team, since she could drive pretty much anything. They also earned her the nickname Danvers, like Captain Marvel’s real identity of Carol Danvers, who was also a cadet in the Air Force. She had dark brown hair, unlike Cole’s inky black hair, but they both had those hypnotizing ice-blue eyes. The team was dumbfounded by what a small world it was when it came to her ties to this mission, Garrett being one of Cole’s friends. That’s what happened when all of them kept their pasts a secret. Rafe and the team hadn’t expected Cole to get involved, though.

Garrett hadn’t told Rafe anything about this ruse, which Rafe had no business being hurt over. The lies surrounding this case were piling up. The weight of them crushed Rafe. Going behind Rafe’s back to sneak into his captain’s office meant Garrett suspected both Rafe and McHugh.

Despite being a world-class liar, Rafe had never been able to lie to Garrett. Keeping the details of this operation from him was one of the hardest things he ever had to do. Based on Garrett’s actions, he failed.

“Where’s Felicity?” Rafe asked quietly as he watched the footage. He wondered what their resident hacker was up to.

“He’s in the command center, monitoring this performance,” Danvers said, still focused on her brother.

BANG.

Chaos ensued on the camera feed. Cole set off a fucking confetti cannon in the middle of a police department.

Luckily, Detective Campisi, one of Garrett’s friends, took Cole safely to the ground without hurting him and put himself between Cole and the rest of the officers. Thank goodness, because the loud bang made a handful of officers draw their weapons.

“Jesus, I knew Cole was reckless, but he stepped up his game,” Danvers said, her focus not leaving Cole on the screen. “We need to move on Garrett soon. He just pulled the dummy info off M’s computer.”

McHugh went by M because he wanted to emulate the stern boss from the James Bond movies.

“He’ll probably take that drive right to Riley’s place,” Babs said. “It would be easier to grab him after that rather than outside the police station. Way less cameras to worry about.”

Rafe’s knee bounced under the table as he watched Garrett return to his desk, the crowd onscreen unaware of his movements.

“He’s bold,” Robin said as he stroked his chin. “I like him.”

A bit of Rafe’s tension faded at those words. If Robin was on board, he’d help Rafe protect Garrett.

While Garrett killed time at his desk before he could leave for Riley’s, the team reviewed the plan. Rafe’s stress climbed with each phase. He hated what they were about to do to the love of his life, but he was outnumbered. Once again, he had no choice. He may have been able to fight through one person on this team, but not all of them at the same time.

Maybe he could sneak out. He ran through some ideas, trying to figure out his best option. He might as well go with the obvious. If anything, it wouldn’t be hard to fake.

“Ugh, I can’t do this. I think I’m gonna be sick,” Rafe groaned as he lifted a hand to his mouth, covering it like he was about to puke all over the table. He stood and choked out “bathroom” before he rushed toward the hallway in the corner of the building where the toilets were located. An exit door at the end of that hall called his name.

To keep up the ruse, he slammed open the door to the lavatory, the sound hopefully confirming his location for the team. The door bounced loudly off the interior wall. Rafe kept walking down the dark hall, checking behind him to make sure no one followed. An unlit exit sign sat above the metal door at the far end. Opening it quietly would be tough, but he’d overcome far more difficult obstacles.

Slowly and carefully, he pushed against the bar in the middle of the door until the pop of the metal latch sounded. He winced, checking behind him again but finding no one there to stop him.

All he had to do was push open the door the rest of the way and use one of their cars to intercept Garrett before he got to Riley’s house. Maybe he’d pick him up outside the station.

He squinted when he exited the building and daylight hit him, blinking to adjust his vision, only to curse at the sight in front of him.

Miguel sat on the hood of one of their rental vehicles, his arm raised and a gun pointed at Rafe.

“Going somewhere?” he asked, one of his eyebrows raised.

“C’mon, man. There’s an easier way to do this.”

“Sorry, bro. It’s gotta be done.”

A puff of air sounded, and Rafe’s hand flew to his chest, yanking out the red dart that stung his skin.

“Fucker,” Rafe croaked as he slipped from consciousness.

24

Present…