Vengeance (SSU Trilogy Book 1) (34 page)

With a giant heave, he pulled himself over the rim onto the jungle floor.

Mendoza’s group was gone.

Panting with exertion, pain, and fear, he checked the compass on his watch to verify the direction of Alvarez’s fortress. Left.

He started off at a hobbling run. He’d barely gone fifty feet when a man’s arm snaked around his neck, pulling him to a stop against a solid chest.

“Easy, bro,” Rafe’s voice whispered in Greek as Niko struggled. “You can’t stop them.”

“Jenna—” Niko choked back a sob, but he didn’t care. Rafe didn’t know what Alvarez would do to her. The photos of Aunt Madalena were tame compared to what Alvarez was capable of.

“Niko, we have to get out of here. You can’t help her now.”

No. He couldn’t abandon Jenna. He couldn’t.

He didn’t realize he was still fighting until Rafe’s arm tightened around his throat, cutting off his air.

“Don’t make me knock you out and carry your sorry ass out of here,” Rafe growled. He squeezed hard enough to make Niko see stars, then eased up on the pressure. “There are two of us, six of them and nearly a dozen dogs. You’re too injured to fight. Give it up. You’re more help to Jenna on the outside than as a prisoner.”

Niko sagged in his brother’s arms. “Fuck. I hate it when you’re right.”

Rafe released his stranglehold on Niko’s neck. “I’m always right, haven’t you figured that out yet?” He draped Niko’s left arm over his shoulders and put his right arm around Niko’s waist. “C’mon, let’s get you to the car.”

The journey through the forest was agony. Niko’s vision pulsed in and out with the throbbing in his leg and arm, where the stitches had torn out. But the worst pain was the knowledge that no matter how soon they rescued her, Jenna would be hurt. And Aunt Madalena might be dead.

My fault.
Niko bit his lip to stop the howl of denial from bursting out.

The moment Niko settled in the passenger seat of the car, he escaped into unconsciousness.

When he woke up, Rafe had parked next to their backup rental car on a quiet residential street. He let Rafe help him into the other vehicle, then waited while his brother transferred their equipment and wiped down the first car.

As they drove toward their bungalow, Niko squeezed his eyes shut and concentrated on the pain in his leg. Otherwise, visions of what Alvarez might be doing to Jenna would drive him mad.

“So what happened?” Rafe asked.

Niko thought about pretending he was unconscious. But Rafe needed to know, even if remembering made Niko sick. He explained about the hunting party finding them, Mendoza, and the appearance of Tonelli. “We got free but then…”

Niko glared out the window. “Jenna tripped me and pushed me into the ravine,” he admitted. “She fucking apologized, but she said she had something to do that I can’t be part of.” He banged his head against the headrest.

“Christ, Rafe. I think she said she’s going to kill her brother.”

Wasn’t the fucking joke on him? He should have listened to his instincts. He’d guessed right. He slammed his fist against the dashboard.

Rafe shook his head. “Why? If you were Alvarez’s prisoner I’d be hell bent on rescue, not murder.”

Niko slumped in his seat. “No one ever proved what her brother’s role was in the attack on her family. If she holds him responsible…” He pressed his hand to the aching center of his chest. “Still, letting Alvarez’s men take her doesn’t make sense. Even if she’s put in the same cell as her brother, there’s no way she’ll survive. Particularly not if she manages to kill her brother before Alvarez gets the chip.”

Every instinct screamed at him to rescue Jenna now, but with ruthless control Niko shut off his emotions. His body was weak and his thinking cloudy. He needed to regroup. To plan.

To remember that he had three…no four, dammit, counting Tonelli…four people to get away from Alvarez.

Hell, they needed a miracle.

#

Wednesday, Night

Alvarez’s Fortress, Ixtapa, Mexico

Jenna was dragged into a large, airy and well-lit living room. Lush plants sat in heavy terra cotta pots in the corners, hung from macramé baskets, and perched on rattan end tables. Bright, jewel-toned pillows and richly gleaming Mexican ceramics added festive color to the room.

In the center of it all, a stocky, middle-aged man sat on an overstuffed couch, watching a telenovela’s drama play out on a plasma television screen. Some might call him handsome, with his thick, black hair and well-trimmed mustache. But when she was forced to her knees in front of him, she found herself looking up into eyes dark and empty as a cave. Bat wings of terror beat at the edges of her mind.

Jenna shivered and looked away.

Mark Tonelli landed in a heap on the floor next to her. The dogs had caught him not long after he’d fled. Her eyes flicked over him. He was unconscious, his face pasty under streaks of blood. Why had he been in the jungle? Had he followed them?

Idiot.

She felt sorry for him, but he was on his own now. There would be no rescue. Not after the way she’d left Niko.

Given all she’d been through, she’d thought she had no more room for pain. Yet hurting Niko like that had torn a giant hole in her heart. All she wanted to do was curl up in a ball and hide from the agony.

Stop it!
She couldn’t afford such weakness. Not here. Not when she had to stay alive long enough to reach Kai.

“Welcome to my home, Señorita Paterson.” Alvarez’s voice was deep and cultured, with only a slight accent. The power of it rolled through her, setting off alarm bells. Every evil thing she’d heard about him came back, filling her with heavy dread. Suddenly, it didn’t seem such a good idea to have surrendered.

Her mouth dried out as she realized she might not survive this meeting.

Alvarez seemed to be waiting for something from her. How had Alvarez seen through her disguise so quickly, when his men still thought she was a boy? When she didn’t respond to his greeting, the man behind her yanked off her stocking cap and tangled his fist in her hair.

“Answer
El Jefe
,” he barked in thickly accented English.

Not in this lifetime,
she thought.

“You do not answer my greeting?” Alvarez’s soft voice held only mild inquiry, yet her palms grew damp at the underlying threat.

“How is it that you were raised without knowing proper etiquette?” the crime lord prodded.

The man holding her forced her head up meet Alvarez’s scrutiny. His lifeless eyes stripped her naked and she barely smothered the urge to cover herself with her hands. Instead, she forced herself to look at the bridge of his nose, and hoped her fear didn’t show on her face.

“Speak,” the man behind her ordered, swatting her head with the back of his hand.

She opened her mouth and moved her lips without talking, hoping Alvarez would get the message.

“Ah, yes. My man slit your throat during the attack on your family. You have lost your voice?”

Jenna nodded.

“How…unfortunate.” Alvarez’s predatory smile would have stopped a hungry shark in its tracks. “I do so like to hear my guests scream.”

His eyes roamed over her again and she froze, afraid to so much as twitch in case he took that as a sign of weakness. When he shifted his gaze to Mark, she felt like she’d received a last-minute pardon from the governor on the night of execution.

Alvarez asked a curt question of one of the men in Spanish. The man grunted, kicked Mark, and replied with a harsh laugh.

Alvarez waved his hand. Two of the men picked Mark up and carried him from the room. The oppressive force of Alvarez’s eyes immediately smothered her again.

“I would like for you and I to get better acquainted, my dear Señorita Paterson. However, you must be anxious to see your brother.” He nodded to the man behind her and she was pulled to her feet.

“Tonight you can share your brother’s cell. Do try and convince him to be reasonable when I question him tomorrow morning about Nevsky’s microchip. If not, I’m afraid you will find the consequences…unpleasant.” His slow smile sent her stomach cowering behind her ribs.

“Sweet dreams,
niña
.”

Her guard dragged her across the room. They had just reached the door, and she was congratulating herself for having gotten out of the encounter unharmed, when Alvarez spoke up behind them.

“On second thought…Manuel, bring the lady back here.”

Jenna struggled, even though she knew it was useless. Her guard simply picked her up around the waist like she was a stuffed toy and carried her back to Alvarez. The man set her on her feet and wrapped his arms and one leg around hers, trapping her against his body.

“For every day that passes without your brother’s cooperation, you will be cut.” Alvarez held up a short, wickedly sharp dagger with a turquoise and silver hilt.

Jenna flinched, hating the way Alvarez smiled triumphantly at her reaction.

“What’s the matter,
chiquita
? Afraid of knives?” His left hand darted out and grabbed her chin. With his right hand, he placed the dagger at the front of her eye, so that just a tiny upward movement from him would slice her.

She sucked in air and widened her eyes, afraid that if she blinked, if she so much as breathed, she might inadvertently cause the knife to shift position.

Alvarez’s voice was full of good humor as he continued. “I could easily cut your eye out, or slice it enough to blind you. But not yet.”

He moved the knife a fraction of an inch away. Jenna exhaled in relief.

Too soon.

Alvarez’s grip shifted on the hilt. The knife sliced down, cutting open her skin from just below the bone of her eye socket to the point of her chin. He leaned in, his hot breath fanning across the stinging cut. “Never forget that I hold all the power.”

His tongue darted out and licked across the wound.

Jenna whimpered, then realized that she’d made a mistake when Alvarez practically purred over her fear.

His smile grew wider and he laughed. “Oh yes, you and I are going to have such fun.” Still smiling, he ran his thumb down the cut, using his nail to separate the torn flesh farther. He smeared blood across her forehead and down her nose, almost like he was blessing her.

Leaning back enough to meet her eyes, he licked the rest of the blood off his thumb.

“Dream of me, Señorita Paterson. I’ll see you in the morning.” He winked at her. “On second thought, I hope your brother proves resistant to your persuasion. There is so much more I’d like to do to you.” With a dismissive nod to the man holding her, he turned away.

Jenna went without protest, letting her guard carry most of her weight. She was trembling too much for her legs to be any good, anyway.

The man dragged her through a long series of corridors and down several sets of stairs. She didn’t bother noting their route. There wouldn’t be any need to travel it again. By the time morning came, both she and Kai would be dead.

And thank God for that. The idea of having another encounter with Alvarez paralyzed her with fear.

#

Wednesday, Night

Zihuatanejo, Mexico

Niko didn’t let Rafe carry him into the backup bungalow the SSU had rented for them. They’d made a quick stop at their old house for Rafe to pack their things, but with Jenna in Alvarez’s possession, that location was compromised.

Knowing his leg would stiffen up if he didn’t use it, Niko hobbled across the tiled floor, glad that the bleeding had slowed so he was no longer dripping blood. Rafe dumped their bags inside the front door. He pulled out a white box and a brown leather shaving kit.

“I’m putting the first aid stuff in the bathroom,” Rafe told Niko as he headed down the hall. “Your prescription pain killers are in the shaving kit.” His cell phone was already at his ear. A moment later, Niko heard the bedroom door close.

Rafe was going to do his best to arrange for help with their rescue by calling in every favor owed him by the special ops community. And he was going to report in to Ryker.

Niko limped into the bathroom, holding on to the wall for support. He carefully tugged his pants off and examined the wound. The bullet had taken a quarter-sized chunk off the outside of his left leg, a few inches down from where the bullet had hit him in Afghanistan. What, did he have an X marking this spot for shooters? His lips curved in a grim smile as he wet a washcloth and prepared to clean away the blood.

This latest wound wasn’t as bad as the previous one, but it still hurt like a mother.

He unzipped the shaving kit, searching for the painkillers. He couldn’t afford to take more than one, but he needed something to dull the edge.

But the kit held only soap, deodorant, and a few tubes of moisturizer. Jenna’s kit. Not Niko’s.

The pain that stabbed through him had nothing to do with his leg. Furious that she had the power to hurt him, he grabbed the kit and threw it against the wall.

Damn her! If Alvarez hurt her…if he raped her.

God!

Niko gripped the edge of the counter and made a vow to his reflection. If Alvarez hurt Jenna, Niko would make sure the man died a slow, painful death. Until then, he had to pull himself together. He wouldn’t be any use to her or Aunt Madalena if his leg gave out.

And if Jenna hurts her brother?

Uh-uh. He so wasn’t going there. Instead, he blanked his mind and focused on cleaning his wound.

Rafe knocked on the doorframe. He glanced at Niko’s leg, assessed the damage, and dismissed it as bearable. “Go ahead,” he said to his cell phone, “I’m with Niko.”

“Rafe filled me in on what Jenna said to you, Niko.” Even through the slight echo of the speakerphone, Ryker’s voice sounded tense.

“My fault,” Ryker continued. “I should have warned you.”

Niko taped a piece of gauze over his wound, then gave all his attention to the phone.

“I thought she was over her anger at Kai,” Ryker said.

Niko closed his eyes. Dammit, he’d been right.

“Jenna claims she heard Kai’s voice the night of the attack,” Ryker said. “She says she heard him tell the assassins to kill her family. She claims she saw him leaving the house, as well. We all know the knife they found with his prints could have been a plant. Or not.”