Payback

by Vanessa Kier

  Mark must have read her concern in her expression, because he gave her one of his arrogant smiles, then bent his head and gave her a quick kiss. “I’ll be fine.”

  “Mark…” She swallowed. She didn’t want to lose him. And yet…she couldn’t give up on Toby. No matter how far gone he was, she needed him brought to the SSU, where there was at least a glimmer of a chance he could be cured. How was she supposed to decide between them?

  “I’ll bring Toby back,” Mark said quietly. “I promise. You’ll see both of us again.”

  Out of the corner of her eye Faith saw Dr. Montague step away, giving them some privacy. “You’d better come back,” Faith said fiercely. She gave him a hard kiss of her own. “Because I love you, dammit, and I refuse to lose you.”

  The SSU’s plane would be leaving for the South Pacific in a few hours, but after spending the entire evening in briefings, Mark needed time with Faith.

  He cautiously opened the door to their guest apartment, in case she was asleep.

  “Mark?” Faith called sleepily from the bedroom. The light went on. “Is that you?”

  Relief flooded him at the sound of her voice. Amazing, really, how quickly she’d become his anchor. His solace. Him, Mark Tonelli, the man who didn’t care, had become addicted to the loving companionship of a spirited reporter.

  “Yes,” he called as he slipped out of his shoes and lined them up neatly to the side of the door.

  Faith appeared in the bedroom doorway. “How’d the briefing go?”

  Mark took a moment to just study her form, backlit by the bedroom lamp. He felt the familiar tightening of his body as arousal sparked, but also a contented glow. Was this what happily married men experienced every time they were reunited with their wives?

  “Mark?” she prompted.

  “The briefing went well. Once upon a time I’d have disparaged their skills, but the truth is, Ryker’s assembled a highly efficient and extremely capable group of men and women. I’m not a military planner, but it seems they’ve prepared for every contingency.”

  “It’s clear that they’re not to harm Toby?”

  Mark crossed the living room and took her in his arms. “Yes. Everyone has seen his photo. I’m confident he won’t be harmed unnecessarily.”

  He saw the shadow cross her face. “Faith, you—”

  She placed a quick kiss on his mouth. “I know. If Toby attacks and can’t be safely tranq’d, then the SSU agents might be forced to fight him and he could be hurt. I don’t like it, but I understand.”

  Mark inhaled, catching Faith’s sugar-cookie-and-cinnamon scent mingled with unfamiliar honeysuckle that must have come from the body lotion the SSU had stocked in the bathroom. “I’m proud of the way you’re handling this, Faith.”

  She gave a shaky laugh that made him tighten his arms around her. “You wouldn’t say that if you knew how scared and disturbed I feel. Before you came in, I’d been lying in bed for a couple of hours, desperately trying to sleep, but I couldn’t stop thinking about the images from the video. I—” She shuddered.

  “Violence isn’t new to me. I’ve covered wars, riots, and massacres, although my focus was always on the people involved and on discovering the hidden injustices that accompanied such encounters. After the first few assignments I learned how to compartmentalize my emotions. How to burn off stress and to use meditation to calm my mind before sleep so the chance of having a nightmare was reduced.”

  “I hate the idea of you experiencing nightmares,” Mark murmured.

  There was that unfamiliar protective streak again, but he didn’t care. When Faith hurt, he hurt.

  “Thank you. While I wasn’t nearly as jaded as many of my fellow investigative journalists, I thought I had a fairly broad idea of the types of atrocities human beings committed against one other. But Mark—” Her words choked off on a slight sob.

  He found himself making nonsense soothing noises and stroking his hands gently over her back.

  “Mark, what we saw on those videos was wrong on a fundamental level.”

  “I know.”

  “That’s right, you’d already seen similar activities at Ivanov’s lab, hadn’t you?”

  “Yes, and they continue to bother me to this day.”

  Faith snuggled against him. “Yeah, I have a feeling the images from Kaufmann’s videos will be starring in my nightmares for years to come. But before you say ‘I told you so’ let me remind you that it was my choice. If I’m going to help Toby heal, then I needed to understand what he’s been through. No matter how horrific the images.”

  She raised her tear-drenched face to his. “I’m so scared that you and Toby will face one another and one of you will end up seriously injured. Or dead.” Her voice caught. “Please be careful. I don’t want to lose either you or Toby.”

  Mark’s heart swelled. Since his mother and stepfather had died, no one had given a damn about him until Faith. His previous lovers had only been concerned about short-term pleasure. He wasn’t even certain if they’d liked him. But Faith knew the worst of him and still loved him. Would fight for both him and her brother, no matter the risk to herself. “You are one brave lady, you know that?”

  “Naw. I’m just too stubborn to do what’s safest.”

  Mark stepped back so he could look her in the eyes. “No, Faith. You’re loyal. You love deeply enough to ignore the risk to yourself in order to help your brother and to keep going even when most women would have been scared off. That’s courage.”

  Faith reached up and touched his cheek. “You’re wrong. The love between brother and sister is strong enough that I’m sure you could find plenty of women who wouldn’t give up. I—”

  Mark leaned down and gave her a quick, hard kiss. “Why are we talking, Faith? I have to leave in a couple of hours.”

  Knowing how much she loved it, he bent and scooped her into his arms, grinning at her delighted shriek as he carried her into the bedroom. Humbled by the fact that this amazing woman loved him, he laid Faith gently on the bed. The lamplight bathed her body in a soft glow.

  “Come here, Mark.” She gave him a seductress’s smile and held out her arms.

  Buoyed by something he thought might be joy, he lowered himself to the bed and proceeded to show her once again how much he loved her.

  Chapter Twelve

  The Next Day

  Washraiti Island, Salaqut

  Mark knew that Faith had changed him on a fundamental level when he stepped off the plane on Washraiti Island without a complaint on his lips. Oh, he noticed the humidity, the stench of the jungle, and the bugs that swarmed him on the short journey from the plane to the Jeep, but for once his first thought wasn’t disgust. Instead, he was filled with anticipation of the upcoming confrontation. Two of his primary goals were about to be accomplished. First, the information he’d provided Ryker had led both to this assault and to the SSU taking action back in the States that would land Jamieson in jail. It wasn’t the direct revenge that he’d longed for, but given the circumstances, it was enough.

  More importantly, he was about to rescue Toby, making Faith happy. He’d never have believed it possible to fall so deeply in love so quickly, particularly not so soon after his ill-timed infatuation with Susana Dias. But he had.

  He’d been hurt when Susana fell for SSU agent Kai Paterson, the man who’d reached her before Mark. Now, though, he owed the man a debt of gratitude. What he’d felt for Susana had been just a shiver of emotion. His feelings for Faith were an earthquake.

  As he settled into his assigned mobile housing unit, he smiled despite the spartan accommodations. Since he’d started chasing Nevsky’s microchip he’d been in the jungle more times than he cared to count. Complaining all the way. Yet today he’d eagerly entered the jungle. Because, for the first time in years, someone else’s happiness was more important than his own.

  Thinking back, he was grateful for his visit to Ivanov’s lab. That trip had opened his eyes, revived his underutilized conscience, and b
rought to life unfamiliar feelings of empathy. It had started the softening of his harsh attitude toward other people, making him receptive to the connection he’d forged with Faith.

  As strange as it sometimes felt to care about another person, he liked the man he was when he was with her.

  He sighed. Even knowing he was heading out on a mission to help her, it had been incredibly difficult to leave Faith last night. She’d been curled against him in bed and Mark had hated to leave her warmth. She’d been so exhausted, she’d barely stirred when he kissed her lightly and slid out of bed. Then he’d stood there for a long time, just watching her sleep. Experiencing an unfamiliar peace. He’d felt as if she belonged in his bed not just for a night, but for always. Which made no sense. He’d never wanted a wife or children. Yet the idea of marrying Faith wouldn’t leave him alone.

  So this is love, he’d thought. I like it.

  Finally, he’d shaken himself out of his daze, stepped away from their bed and headed into the shower. He shouldn’t have bothered. After two minutes in this humidity he’d been drenched with sweat. He glanced down at the jungle fatigues he wore and grinned. At least he wasn’t ruining one of his prized suits.

  The SSU soldiers hadn’t wanted him along and had voiced their disapproval when he’d been given a uniform. Many of them looked at him with animosity, no doubt having heard how he’d left Rafe Andros to die on the tarmac in Cozumel. At the time, Mark had been in a desperate race to get to a man who could provide the location of Dr. Nevsky’s microchip. Rafe had been bleeding from a gunshot wound when Mark found him at the airstrip. Mark had convinced Rafe to reveal the address where the other Andros brother, Niko, was headed to meet the informant. With that information obtained, Rafe had become nothing but an inconvenience, so Mark had walked away.

  Mark didn’t blame the SSU agents for viewing him as an enemy. Yes, Ryker had explained that Mark was only along to help retrieve Toby. But it would take more than words for them to trust him.

  No matter. He didn’t need their trust, just to be left alone. Luckily, the notes on the flash drive contained details on Toby’s mission and staging point, so Mark wouldn’t have to go chasing all over the island. Instead, he’d accompany the SSU’s team, wait until Kaufmann’s teams were subdued, then search among the defeated men for Toby.

  Every SSU agent had been shown Toby’s picture. Yet no one could guarantee that in the flurry of battle Toby would be recognized and left alone. All Mark could do was stay alert and be ready to intervene on Toby’s behalf if necessary.

  Because there were too many variables for Mark to control in this situation, he’d found himself increasingly relying on hope. Another foreign emotion.

  Shaking his head, he pushed open the door to the housing unit and stepped out into the humidity. It was nearly time for the assault to begin.

  Even as he swatted at mosquitoes, his lips twitched into a grin as adrenaline hit his system. He felt a stronger rush knowing he was about to enter a possibly physically dangerous situation than he experienced when arranging for a hostile takeover of a criminal’s businesses. A sensation similar to the heightened awareness he remembered from his days of thievery on the streets of Moscow.

  He could definitely understand why field operators got addicted to this thrill.

  “You almost done there?”

  Faith startled as Daniel Lang, one of the SSU’s research specialists, stopped in the doorway of the tiny office she’d been given. “Sorry,” she mumbled, glad that her laptop’s screen was turned away from the door, hiding her work. “Guess I’m a bit jumpy.”

  Daniel nodded. “Understandable. It’s your brother over there.”

  She shrugged, letting him believe that was the main reason she was on edge. Yes, she was worried sick that the attack would result in Toby’s death. Or Mark’s. Still, she’d been managing pretty well to compartmentalize her fear so that she could work. The truth of why her nerves were stretched resided on her laptop.

  “So, are you finished?” Daniel asked.

  “Uh, yeah.” Making sure he couldn’t see her screen, she brought up the spreadsheet she’d been working on. Ryker had assigned her to help match the names of the men targeted by Jamieson as potential Kerberos subjects to those men the SSU had recovered from Kaufmann’s lab. Not all of the men were capable of communicating their names, so Faith used the detailed catalog Mark had helped put together in order to compare physical descriptions.

  Daniel worked on verifying which men were dead. Once they finished identifying the victims, the SSU would reach out to the appropriate authorities so that the family members could be notified of their loved ones’ status.

  Another team would try to track down the remaining men on the Kerberos list who the SSU had not yet located.

  Faith sent her list to the printer. “There you go.”

  Daniel picked up the multi-page document. “Great. Thanks. I’ll shoot you another list of names in a bit. Why don’t you take a break for now?”

  Faith gave him a vague smile and a nod, her tension not ebbing until he’d headed down the hallway toward his own office.

  Damn, that had been close. Faith got up and shut her office door, taking a risk and locking it as well. She hoped no one would bother her for a few more minutes. That’s all she needed to finish going through the file on Dr. Mikhail Nevsky.

  She couldn’t decide whether the security on the SSU’s internal server was lax because the external security was so tight, or whether someone on the research team actually wanted her to poke her nose into areas that she wasn’t authorized to view. Nevertheless, Faith was running with the opportunity.

  Maybe another woman would feel guilty over repaying Ryker’s hospitality and his assistance with finding her brother by preparing an exposé on the decades of experimental research that had led to Dr. Kaufmann’s program. But Faith felt a driving need to understand every aspect of the program that had disrupted her brother’s life.

  Unfortunately, the more she dug into the SSU’s files, the more history she uncovered. According to the records she’d reviewed, the United States government had been experimenting with ways of using chemicals to enhance soldiers since the Vietnam War. Certain side effects such as insane rages had been documented during the war. Despite official declarations to the contrary, the experiments had continued in various forms. The most recent being Dr. Kaufmann’s program.

  Faith’s stomach cramped thinking about all the men who’d suffered under the government sanctioned programs. If, after Toby was rescued, there was no public disclosure of what had happened, she would take her findings public. Her lips curled. Siobahn would love to sink her teeth into this. Together they’d write a series of articles that would shine so much light on the experiments that the government wouldn’t dare restart them.

  Faith downloaded another set of files onto her flash drive. Then, figuring she’d pushed her luck as far as she could for the day, she unlocked her door. Several minutes later, she received her next list of names and once again began the slow, heart breaking process of cross checking victims.

  Washraiti Island, Salaqut

  Mark couldn’t believe his luck. He’d found Toby Andrews. For some reason, the man had broken away from his assigned group. Now Toby crashed through the jungle a few yards ahead of Mark, making animal sounds of panic.

  Mark didn’t know what had scared Faith’s brother, but at least his trail was easy to follow. Plus, the dense vegetation slowed Toby down enough for Mark to keep up with him, even with Toby’s enhanced speed.

  Mark had already radioed the SSU team, letting them know he was in pursuit. To his surprise, no one from the Kerberos team had come after Toby. Perhaps they were too close to the launch of their attack to waste time on an unstable man who couldn’t stop them.

  Toby tripped on an exposed root and nearly went down.

  “Stop, Toby Andrews,” Mark said in a loud, clear voice of command. “I have a message from your sister. From Faith.”

  The man
growled and turned around. Even though Dr. Montague had warned Mark to expect rage and madness, he wasn’t prepared for the feral, assessing look Toby gave him.

  He fought the urge to back up. “Treat him like a wild animal,” Dr. Montague had warned during their final briefing. “Stay calm and don’t make any threatening moves. His handler is the only one he’s supposed to listen to. Depending on what phase he’s in, he may or may not be receptive to your conversation. Most likely you’ll have to sedate him.”

  Mark carried the tranquilizer gun the SSU had issued him, but he’d promised Faith he’d only use it as a last resort.

  Wetting his dry lips, Mark stared into Toby’s eyes. “Faith misses you,” he said.

  Toby winced. His hands went to his temples. “Faith…bad,” he groaned. “Kill…Faith…kill…all.”

  Mark shook his head. “No. Faith loves you. Kaufmann lied to you. Kaufmann is bad. Listen.” He pulled the voice recorder out of his pocket and pushed play.

  A sweet lullaby in Faith’s crystal clear voice poured out of the recorder. Toby’s head jerked back as if someone had yanked on a cord around his neck. His hands dropped to his sides and he glanced around fearfully.

  “No,” he moaned.

  Mark turned up the volume. He was still amazed that Faith had such a beautiful singing voice. But the effect of her voice on him was immediate. Mark forgot the heat and the dirt and the bugs. He only remembered Faith. Her smile. The way her eyes shone with confidence and trust when she looked at him. The small, contented sigh she’d given him after they’d made love last night.

  For her sake, he hoped this worked. It would break her heart if he didn’t bring her brother back. Yet he also didn’t want Faith to see this wild man who’d dropped to his knees as if his sister’s melodic notes were nails being driven into his flesh.

  Toby’s hands went back up to his head. He yanked on his hair. “Stop!” he shouted. “No more! Hurts.” His face twisted, contorting into an expression of such deep pain that Mark had to turn away.