Trey gawked at the computer, then at Penny. “You’re a goddamned bounty hunter? What the fuck happened to being a social worker?”
“I got tired of the women in my shelter being afraid because their no-good exes skipped out on parole. And the term I’d prefer you use is bail enforcement agent.” An impish grin slipped onto her face as she scanned their surprised expressions. “I may not be a card-carrying member of the Commando Club, but I’m not entirely helpless either. And I’m not flying into this with blinders over my eyes.”
Most people chose not to meet Rafe’s gaze head-on. When he was young, he chalked it up to the startling contrast of his tanned coloring given to him by his Guatemalan mother and the blue eyes of his Anglo-American father. Then the closer he got to his teenage years, he partnered the oddity up with a fuck-off scowl, and like magic, most people kept their distance.
Obviously, Penny wasn’t included in that tally. Not only did she hold his gaze without so much as a blink, but she challenged it with a subtle eyebrow lift. The woman needed to come with a too-intense-for-public-consumption warning label.
“Kidnapping’s good business,” he pointed out. “This country’s filled with all kinds of low-level pond scum looking to make a few bucks. What makes you think it’s Fuentes who has Rachel?”
“Because she e-mailed me a picture of him right after he threatened her for sticking her nose in his business.”
“What business?”
“The disappearances of young women in the village where she’d been stationed. It didn’t take long for her to notice that each one coincided with visits from Fuentes and his men—which was at least once every other week, sometimes more frequent. The bastard had the elders thinking that the wrath of God would strike them down if they so much as muttered a word about it, much less interfered.”
Realization started to dawn. “And let me guess…she wasn’t so accommodating.”
“Rachel loved those people. She loved her job. The NGO she was working for wrote her off as bailing her post, but Rachel wouldn’t do that. She wouldn’t have gone unless someone made her leave.”
Hell, it fit. All of it. By plucking people in a society where no one would notice, Fuentes solved two of his problems—loose ends and productivity. While remaining stateside, Charlie, Alpha’s tech guru, had already gathered intel that led them to believe Fuentes was using the Honduran populace as his own personal test subjects. If Rachel had been about to cause him problems, the bastard wouldn’t hesitate in getting rid of her the most efficient way he knew how.
One minute was too long in the presence of a man like Fuentes. Rachel, about to hit a month, was quickly running out of time—if that time hadn’t already expired. Penny’s stern jaw told Rafe that she knew each and every one of the risks associated with this game of hide-and-seek, and she didn’t give a damn—because it was for family.
He didn’t have anything in the way of parents or siblings. Hell, he didn’t even have a goddamned houseplant. But Rafe understood that fierce loyalty all the same because it’s how he felt about each of his teammates.
But that didn’t mean she belonged here.
“What are the chances of you staying on a plane if we plop you onto one and fly your ass home?” Rafe asked, though he already guessed the answer.
“I’d be on the first flight back,” she said without batting a pretty green eye.
He didn’t doubt that for one damn second.
Penny met his gaze. “Look, I know you guys have a job to do here, and putting Fuentes out of commission is an important one. But so is mine. I’ll do whatever I have to do to prove I won’t be a liability. Put me through the gauntlet. I don’t care. But at least give me a chance before you send me on my way. Or try to.”
Rafe sent a sidelong glance toward his boss. Sean Stone had stayed not-so-miraculously quiet for the last few hours, absorbing everything around him. A man of few words, the former SEAL led Alpha Security with a firm, but fair, fist. No surprise to Rafe, Stone’s dark stare hovered over Penny to the point the redhead squirmed—albeit faintly.
“You want a gauntlet, then you got a gauntlet,” Stone agreed. His mouth remained in a tight line, nearly obscured by his dark, salt-and-pepper beard. “Whether you stay or go lies entirely in the hands of Alpha’s training coordinator. You don’t impress him, you go home and leave Fuentes and Rachel to us. We don’t have time to babysit and neither does she. Agreed?”
Rafe watched her steadfast gaze bounce from each of his teammates as if trying to figure out in whose hands she’d be placing her fate.
“Agreed.” She eventually accepted with a slight nod.
Only then did Rafe let a slow smirk ratchet up the corner of his mouth. Perceptive, Penny caught sight of it. The softly muttered curse that fell off her lips made him grin even wider.
*