Vengeance (SSU Trilogy Book 1) (37 page)

“We lost you once already to Alvarez. I’m not gonna let it happen again.” Niko heard the echo of pain in Rafe’s voice and winced. The last thing he wanted was Rafe putting himself in danger by trying to protect him.

“Rafe—”

“I. Am. Not. Letting. You. Go.” Rafe snapped. “Even if it means dragging your sorry, unconscious ass out of there. Deal with it.”

Niko searched Rafe’s face, seeing only truth and fierce determination in his brother’s eyes. God
dammit
. He didn’t want to hurt Rafe, but prison hadn’t stopped Alvarez from destroying lives. It was time for the man to die.

“I’ll…do my best to come out alive. But no promises.” Because once Alvarez was dead, his guards would be all over Niko. He wouldn’t go down easily, but he’d need a lot of luck to survive.

Niko dug his fingers into the scar tissue on his biceps. Had Jenna felt this strong sense of anticipation before she’d surrendered to Alvarez’s men? Had there been any regret in her mind at all? Had she even once considered how Niko would react to her death?

The sudden pain in his heart made Niko want to break something. Instead, he turned toward the bedroom and his weapons. “Let’s go kick some ass.”

Chapter 28

Thursday, Night

Ixtapa, Mexico

Niko stood at Alvarez’s front gate, triple-checked the time on his watch, and pushed the intercom buzzer again. The SEALs should be in place by now, waiting for his signal before breaching the dungeon wall. Rafe waited in the jungle with one of the land-based assault teams. The second land-based team was in position along the road behind Niko. They’d secure the front gate once he was inside.

Up by the house, the dogs barked excitedly, the sound carried by the faint breeze coming in over the ocean. Good. Someone had finally noticed his arrival.

Tiny pinpricks of light bobbed across the lawn as his welcome party left the fortress. Niko held himself steady, trying to look as if he didn’t have a care in the world. As the group drew nearer, Niko saw through the iron bars of the gate that he’d rated a first-class welcome—six of the nine dogs with their handlers, plus an additional four of Alvarez’s security staff.

When the group was ten feet from the gate, he pulled a hand grenade out of his pocket, yanked out the pin, and tossed it past the group toward an electrical box partially hidden by some trees. The instant the device was airborne, he sprinted right, along the wall.

The explosion signaled the SEALs to move in. The blast should also have knocked out power to the electric security wires on top of the wall. He’d know if he was right in a moment. He started climbing. When he reached the top he pulled a pair of wire cutters out of his back pocket, held his breath, and snipped the wire.

No sparks.

He exhaled heavily, but didn’t relax. The dogs would pick up his scent soon. To distract them, he opened a bottle of pig’s blood, threw it into the trees on the outside of the compound, then slid down the other side of the wall and raced toward the house.

Shouts from outside the wall proved his diversion had worked. The men never considered he would run inside the compound. That gave him a few precious minutes to make it to the fortress.

The nearly full moon added a necessary bit of illumination as he navigated the slight hills and valleys of the lawn. It also meant he’d be easy to pick out if anyone was still monitoring the area. When no one shot at him, he figured he’d been right again and all the guards from this sector of the compound had been in the welcome party. It was a stupid maneuver, leaving their sector unguarded, but they’d done it before.

Of course, maybe the remaining guards had spotted him and waited for him to draw closer to the fortress before closing in on him. He didn’t care, as long as he stayed alive a bit longer. Alvarez never let the dogs into the fortress, so once he was inside he’d only have to worry about human opponents.

He’d almost reached his destination when his wounded leg buckled. He stumbled and almost went down, but determination and years of training helped him retain his balance. He changed his gait so he put more weight on his right leg, and forced himself to keep running.

His destination was a tall, flowering hedge that grew all the way around the foundation of the building to the cliff edge out back. He spared a moment to wonder how the SEALs were doing climbing that nearly sheer rock face, then ducked into the bushes. If someone let the remaining three dogs out, the tangled vegetation would slow them down.

The overgrowth stopped a foot away from the house, providing him with enough of an unobstructed pathway to move freely. He followed this around to the right to a narrow door next to the garage. The door led to the communications and security center. He slapped explosive charges on the hinges, then stepped back. When the door blew open, he tossed a grenade into the room.

He didn’t enter. That was a job for the assault team. Niko’s job was to clear out any opposition.

By the time the smoke lifted, he’d bolted across the garage and was halfway up the interior stairs.

This was the tricky part. Where would Alvarez be? He had several favorite rooms. Odds were better than good that someone would notice Niko sneaking around before he found Alvarez.

Of course, if the assault teams did their job, it wouldn’t matter if he was captured. They’d free him quickly.

He glanced once at the entrance to the dungeons. No matter how much he longed to rush down there and free Jenna, he had to stick to the plan. The dungeons belonged to the SEALs. So he walked the corridors, echoes of other times he’d been here ringing through his head with each slap of shoe rubber against marble floor. Times when he’d failed to save innocents from Alvarez’s hands. When he’d failed his aunt.

Then, from the direction of the front parlor, he heard a man’s hoarse shout. And his blood froze.

#

Kai awoke to the realization that something had changed. He held himself very still, trying to figure out if he was in danger. His head no longer rested on the cold dirt floor, but on something warm. And he wasn’t alone. He heard ragged breathing above him.

Then a hand lightly stroked his hair, filling him with an odd sense of peace.

He opened his eyes, surprised to find his cell dimly lit by a sputtering torch.

His head was cradled in someone’s lap. A woman with short, spiky white hair. Her face was streaked with cammo paint and rivulets of tears. Blood clotted along a knife wound leading from below her eye to her chin.

If not for the familiar amber eyes that so resembled his, he wouldn’t have recognized this warrior as his sister. “Jen-na?”

No. He closed his eyes. He was either hallucinating, or dead.

Dead was sounding pretty good right now.

“Hey, Kai.”

His eyes flew open. That was Jenna’s voice. Slightly hoarse, but unmistakable.

Alive!

“But—” His elation faded under a surge of panic. God, what was she doing here? How could he protect her from Alvarez when he couldn’t even protect himself? How—?

The door to the cell slammed open and six guards with assault rifles stormed in. Jenna jumped to her feet, hands up in a defensive posture. One of the guards charged her. She evaded and sent him to his knees, but another guard slammed the butt of his rifle against the side of her head and she went down. The man flung her over his shoulder and left the cell.

Two other men dragged Kai to his feet and followed Jenna’s captor to a room bare of all furniture except for a carved wooden chest and matching table along one wall.

Alvarez stood in the middle of the room. Jenna lay on her stomach on the floor in front of him. A guard pressed the barrel of his rifle against the base of her neck. Two guards stood watch a few feet away.

Jesus, he’d thought the nightmare couldn’t get any worse.

“Good evening, Señor Paterson. Have you decided to tell me where the chip is?”

“I told you,” Kai said. “I don’t have the chip.” He tried to move toward Jenna, but he couldn’t stand on his own and his guards easily kept him in place.

“How…disappointing.” Alvarez gave him a cold smile. He pulled a knife and dropped to his knees, straddling Jenna. At his nod, the guard moved away. Alvarez grabbed a handful of Jenna’s hair and pulled her head back. His other hand held a knife in front of her face. Jenna’s eyes were round with terror. She let out a frightened whimper and struggled to get away.

Kai shook his head, clearing his vision. No. Wait. That was fury in her eyes, not terror. And she wasn’t struggling to escape, but to reach Alvarez’s knife.

“Leave her alone!” He had to distract Alvarez before the man realized what Jenna was up to. “I don’t know where Nevsky’s chip is.”

Alvarez tsked in disbelief. His knife lifted the edge of Jenna’s hair to reveal a long, thick line of scar tissue along her hairline.

Jesus Christ.

Kai had seen the photos of Jenna after the attack when he’d snuck into the backdoor of the SSU’s database, but seeing her scar in person knocked the breath clear out of him. God, she’d come so close to dying.

“Did you hear how your family members died, Señor Paterson?” The flat of Alvarez’s knife stroked along Jenna’s scar.

Jenna gave another false whimper while her eyes shot fire.

“They were scalped,” Alvarez explained.

“Yes, I know,” Kai said. “Why else would your assassins have been found the same way?”

Alvarez’s eyebrow rose in surprise. “It was you who scalped and killed my men? I did wonder.” He chuckled. “You have
cajones, señor
.”

Alvarez glanced down at Jenna. “Unfortunately, the scalping of your sister was never completed.” He dug the tip of his knife into Jenna’s skin, drawing blood.

Jenna held very still, but Kai could see the fingers of her left hand creeping toward Alvarez’s hip. Dammit. One wrong move and Alvarez’s knife would slip. She could lose an eye.

“Stop!” Kai shouted. God, his voice was so hoarse, he could barely understand the words himself. But he had to make Alvarez understand. “I’m telling you, I don’t have the chip. I don’t even know where it is.”

“Do not lie to me.” Alvarez’s voice was deadly in its very lack of inflection. “You told me you knew where Nevsky had hidden his backup. You promised me the microchip.”

“I know. I thought it was the truth. But when I got to the lab that night, I overheard Nevsky arguing with Kaufmann, his second in command. Nevsky bragged about how he’d hidden the chip someplace no one would ever find it. How if he died, someone he trusted to restart the program would receive instructions on how to locate the chip.”

Jenna almost had hold of Alvarez’s knife.

Shit. Kai had to keep the crime lord distracted. “When Nevsky triggered the self-destruct, Kaufmann panicked and shot him.” He took a deep breath, relieved to have the truth finally out in the open. “I swear to you. I’ve—”

The door behind Alvarez burst open and a man dove into the room. He rolled like a professional, coming up with his weapon already firing. One of Kai’s guards staggered back, releasing his hold. Kai used the distraction to collapse his full weight against his other guard. The man lost his balance and fell with Kai on top of him.

Kai’s fingers found the hilt of the man’s knife. He slid it free from its sheath and struck.

But he was too weak. Instead of delivering a killing blow, he barely managed to cut the man. The man grabbed Kai’s wrist and twisted. Kai fought to hold onto the knife, but then, with an audible crack, his wrist bones broke and the knife clattered to the floor.

Someone behind him reached down and grabbed Kai’s other arm, the one with the dislocated shoulder. They raised his arm high above his back and Kai’s vision flared white with pain.

Just before he passed out, he thought he felt the earth move.

#

Niko! Alvarez couldn’t see the intruder’s face, but he knew instinctively who it was. No one else could have managed to penetrate this far into the fortress.

Alvarez dropped to the floor on his side, pulling the girl next to him as a shield. He pressed his knife to her throat and kept her arms pinned against her torso as he inched the two of them away from the action.

Across the room, someone grunted. Alvarez risked a look.

Ah.
Bueno
. Two of his men had pinned down Niko, and Paterson had been rendered unconscious.

Alvarez stood up, yanking the girl with him. The floor heaved, almost tossing him to his knees, but he kept his grip on both the girl and his knife. He pulled the girl toward the secret exit that led to his escape tunnel.

Just a few more feet…

“Alvarez!”

Alvarez pulled the girl high up his body, so she blocked all but a small section of his face and left eye, denying Niko a killing head shot. The frustration on Niko’s face drew a chuckle from him.

“Ah, Nikolos. Once again you have my home under attack. But this time, I hold the advantage,
sí
?” Alvarez took two steps back. “Of course, you could shoot me through the girl.”

Niko kept his weapon aimed at Alvarez and moved forward. Alvarez jabbed his knife hard under the girl’s chin. “Stop.”

Niko froze. “Let her go, Alvarez. I’m the one you want. Release her and fight me. Right here. Right now. One on one. We’ll see who’s the better man.”

Alvarez shuffled back another foot. “Strength was never what this was about,
hijo
. I am your elder. Of course you will best me in any physical fight.” The girl wriggled, trying to break free, and Alvarez crushed her ribs with his arm until she sagged against him.

“I took you into my organization as revenge for all the harm your family has done me.” Alvarez shuffled back another few steps. The girl was deadweight against him, making movement awkward. “But thanks to your betrayal I lost ten years of my life. You will pay for every minute I spent in that demeaning prison.”

Where was the wall? Surely he should have reached it by now. Alvarez glanced behind him and cursed. He’d been moving at an angle toward the corner, not the center of the wall where the hidden door was. He adjusted his course.