“That’s what I like to hear.” He clapped Harvard on the back before turning to the rest of the group. Watching him take command was like seeing a tank roll over everything in its path, and Audrey stood back in awed silence as he addressed his team.
“We’re going to split up, check out those addresses. Jesse, you said your Spanish is passable, so you and Marcus will be alpha team. Quinn, Jean-Luc, and Ian, bravo team. Each will recon half of the addresses Harvard dug up. Stay in constant radio contact in case one of you needs reinforcements. Harvard will stay here on the computers.”
Quinn frowned. “What about you?”
“I’m going to talk to the real limo driver, the one that reported Bryson missing, Armando Castillo.”
“How do you plan to do that?” Quinn asked. “Your Spanish sucks. You should take Jean-Luc with you.”
“Sí,” Jean-Luc agreed. “You shouldn’t go alone.”
“No,” Gabe said, and his tone dared anyone to argue. “Quinn’s Spanish is just as bad as mine, if not worse. Unless Ian…”
Ian shook his head.
“Point made. Jean-Luc goes with bravo.”
“Gabe, man.” Quinn sighed and dragged a hand over his short hair. If it was anyone else protesting, Audrey suspected from the way Gabe’s shoulders tightened that he’d bite their head off and pick his teeth with their spinal cord. But the others wisely kept their mouths shut and let Quinn do the talking.
“When we were on the teams—”
“Teams?” Audrey knew of only one branch of the military that referred to itself as “the teams,” and studied the men with renewed interest. “You’re SEALs?”
At her interruption, they both turned. Having two big, hard men give her such flinty stares should have scared her. And, okay, it did a little.
“Were,” Gabe said at the same time Quinn said, “Yeah.”
“Okay.” She bit her lower lip. “Uh, wow.”
Now that she knew, she wondered why she didn’t see it before. Gabe carried himself not like a general, but like a Navy SEAL. She’d met a few guys retired from the teams while living in Costa Rica, and Gabe walked like a SEAL, talked like one. He even blinked like one. How could she have not noticed that? Having them on her brother’s side suddenly felt a whole lot more like a benediction than a curse.
“On the teams,” Quinn repeated, returning to their conversation, “we always use the buddy system.”
“Goddammit, I know that,” Gabe snapped.
Quinn didn’t back down, didn’t even blink. “Good, ‘cuz it’s not changing now that we’re out. You’re taking someone who knows the language with you.”
“Mind telling me who? We don’t have enough men.”
Quinn’s jaw tightened. “Maybe HumInt has an asset in the city we can borrow. We’re already borrowing a pilot, so—”
“I can go with him.” Again, every eye in the room turned to her. Even Harvard stopped working to gape, and she bristled. “What? You need a Spanish speaker, and I’m fluent.”
“Hell. No.”
“Why not?” Anger flaring, she whirled on Gabe and jabbed a finger between his pecs. There was no give at all under his shirt. Like poking a concrete wall. She barely resisted the urge to flatten out her hand and rub it across all those hard muscles. Had to remind herself—twice—that she was annoyed with him.
“I’ve lived in Costa Rica for close to ten years now and I’m as fluent in Spanish as I am in English. And Armando—well, he doesn’t know me personally, but he knows who I am, so he’ll be more likely to talk. I’m an asset, numb nuts. Use me.”
Chapter Five
Yeah, Gabe wanted to use her all right, but it had nothing to do with her Spanish fluency. Not unless she cried out in Spanish during an orgasm.
Whoa. He put the brakes on those thoughts as his cock twitched in expectation. It’d been way too long for him if Miss Mouth, here, was this big of a turn-on.
And why the hell did he find her name-calling such an aphrodisiac, anyway?
“No,” he said between his teeth at the same time Quinn said, “That might not be a bad idea.”
“What?”
Quinn shrugged. “Tactically, she’s an advantage.”
And the Machiavellian motherfucker never passed up an advantage. Gabe scrubbed his face hard with his palms. “She’s. Not. Trained.”
“Are you expecting opposition?”
Dammit. Quinn already knew the answer to that was a solid no. It was the only reason he’d risk going by himself to talk to the limo driver. Really, Armando Castillo should own a freakin’ phone. If he did, this all would be a moot point. “I’m not taking a civilian—”