Remembering the sunny, laughing girl from the pre-attack photos, Niko didn’t believe for a second she’d react fast enough to protect herself from her brother. Which meant Niko had to convince her to give up and leave the search to him.
#
Half an hour later, watching Jenna finish the last bite of quiche his housekeeper had left warming for her, Niko knew he was in trouble. He’d never guessed watching a woman eat could turn him on. But damn if he wasn’t semi-hard.
Jenna’s mouth was the only part of her that wasn’t sparse. The unpainted, full curves of her lips mesmerized him. Made his mind go in directions he couldn’t afford to think about, let alone put into practice.
He stared at the apple core in his hand. He’d picked the thing up as a way to direct his thoughts away from the erotic sight of the fork passing into Jenna’s mouth. Instead, each time he’d bit into the apple he’d thought about nibbling on her plump bottom lip. Or on the perfect “m” of her upper lip.
All that was left of the apple was the very core. He’d stripped it of every edible piece of flesh. Disgusted, he stood up and tossed the core in the trash. “Come on. I’ll give you a tour.”
Yeah, a tour would be good. It would force him to walk in front of her. Nothing erotic about that, was there?
Wrong. After just a few steps his back tingled. He swore he could feel her eyes running up his spine, leaving heat in their wake.
Stop dreaming.
He’d stared at her a little too long in the kitchen, but Jenna hadn’t acknowledged his obvious attraction. Thank God.
If he wasn’t careful, he was going to scare her. He’d met too many women in Afghanistan who’d been raped as a part of war. Some of them never regained comfort around men. Never reclaimed their sexuality. Jenna deserved better than that, and he wasn’t going to send her into a panic attack by letting her see how badly he wanted her.
Jenna wasn’t afraid of him. He should be satisfied with that.
Instead, he wanted her to look up at him grinning with delight. Brimming with life like the girl in the pre-attack photos. Sharing her vitality and her sexuality. With him.
Cut it out, asshole. She doesn’t need that from you. Besides, Aunt Madalena is what matters.
He felt a familiar tightness in his chest. None of his contacts had been able to determine where Alvarez was holding his aunt. The bastard was completely off the radar.
God. Niko rubbed the scar on his biceps. He hated doing nothing, knowing Alvarez was using Aunt Madalena in his sick games.
The minute he found out where she was, the second he figured out a rescue plan that didn’t require Paterson or the chip, he was out of here.
Without Jenna.
#
Saturday, Evening
Andes Mountains, Peru
“Jefe, lo siento. Por favor…clemencia …” Jago Salazar’s face was an unrecognizable pulp of blood and torn flesh, his words barely intelligible as they passed through his split, swollen lips.
Alvarez spat, the wad landing on Salazar’s forehead and running into his eyes. “You lied to me. I asked you why you hadn’t brought back a hostage and you told me everyone had died. But Jenna Paterson survived.”
“Pero, jefe…It’s not my fault. Bernardo and Efrain thought the other was keeping a living hostage…Bernardo cut the girl’s throat without checking if it was okay…I thought she was dead…la policia were coming.”
“The time for excuses is past. Do not tell me that taking thirty seconds to verify Bernardo’s kill would have landed you in jail. I put you in charge of the hit because I trusted you to see it done right!” Alvarez slammed the whip handle into Salazar’s battered cheek, smiling at the man’s cry of pain.
“You ran away like a dog with a tail between its legs. So you will die with the dogs.” Alvarez beckoned with his index finger. The two men standing behind Salazar grabbed his arms and lifted his battered body off the marble terrace.
The man screamed, a combination of terror and agony that ricocheted off the white walls of the mansion, brushed past the men assembled on the wide terrace, and disappeared across the lawn.
“This is what happens to men who fail to follow orders and then lie about it.” Alvarez paced beside the men carrying his former employee. He kept his face serene to impress them with his control. Inside, his anger was a serpent eating away at his heart. Jago had been with him from the beginning. One of the few men he called friend. His betrayal cut deep.
Yet it made punishing Jago even more important, for it showed the other men that he didn’t play favorites. And it reminded them of the consequences should they lie to him.
To their left, a wire enclosure stretched up from the ground, ending about three feet below the terrace. Scenting blood, the dogs inside snarled and leapt, trying to reach the men.
“Jefe, no!” Salazar screamed. “It was long ago. Haven’t I proven my loyalty since then?”
At Alvarez’s nod, his men tossed Salazar to the dogs.
Alvarez watched the hounds tear into Jago’s body, trying to guess which tender portions the dogs would eat first. He listened to the wet, sucking sounds of flesh tearing and licked his lips. The scent of feces rose from the enclosure, mingling with the coppery smell of blood, but even such a foul odor failed to diminish the pleasure coursing through him. He felt gloriously alive. And heavily aroused.
He stood at the edge of the terrace until all that was left were bones and chunks of meat no longer recognizably human.
His men stood farther back on the terrace, too afraid to leave, but scared to come any closer in case he suddenly decided the dogs needed a second victim.
Good.
Examples were so much better at maintaining discipline than words, and it was important that his men see he’d lost none of his power while in prison. He let a satisfied smile dance across his lips as he returned to his table and his interrupted dinner. He lifted his wineglass, sniffed deeply to clear his nose of the scent of death, and took a long swallow.
Perfect.
He eyed the shaking man standing in front of him. “You will find Kai Paterson’s sister and you will bring her to me, understood?”
Pedro Delgado nodded.
“Good. I would hate to lose you as I lost Jago.” Alvarez handed the man a manila file.
“I will locate her, jefe. What about the brother?”
“No longer your responsibility. I’ve assigned another team to find him.”
As the man walked away, Alvarez rang for Madalena.
#
Saturday, Evening
Rocky Mountains, Montana
“There is apple pie warming in the oven,” Danuta, Niko’s housekeeper said as she slipped on her coat. “I will be making waffles in the morning.”
“Thanks, Danuta.”
Danuta kissed Niko on the cheek, smiled at Jenna, then let herself out the back door. A gust of chilly air swirled into the kitchen, and Jenna shivered.
The lingering smile on Niko’s face caused something dark to spiral through her system. Jenna frowned, trying to identify the emotion and why Danuta triggered it.
She liked the serene young woman and her mischievous husband, Yousef. According to Niko, Yousef’s family had played host to Niko while he was undercover. After their village in Afghanistan was destroyed, killing the rest of their family, the couple had decided to accompany Niko to Montana.
The couple now lived in a cozy cottage at the edge of Niko’s property. In addition to keeping house for Niko, Danuta had an online business selling Afghan arts and crafts, and Yousef served as Niko’s groundskeeper and hawk master.
Niko treated the couple as family. His eyes softened and his voice warmed when he spoke to them. Even when Niko was at his friendliest with Jenna, he never displayed those signs of deep affection.
Oh, God. I’m jealous.
She blinked as her world tilted. She had no business being jealous of the affection Niko showed Danuta and Yousef. Jealousy implied emotion and she didn’t d
o emotion. So what if Niko had protected and tended to her? If he’d opened his home to her? If his combination of strength and gentleness intrigued her? She didn’t want ties to other people, ties that could hurt her.
Yet, for the first time in over a year she felt a hint of loneliness. She didn’t have friends. Within two days of her arrival at the hospital, Ryker put word out that she’d died in the attack, cutting her off from the friends and distant relatives who could have helped her through her ordeal.
She understood Ryker had only been protecting her, but he’d also cut her off from the emotional support she’d desperately needed in those first days of recovery. By the time she’d left the hospital months later, she’d become so used to coping on her own, and was so focused on preparing herself for vengeance, she didn’t have either the ability or the inclination to make friends.
Now here she was, jealous of the warm friendship Danuta and Yousef shared with Niko. Wishing he’d smile at her with that extra warmth.
See, this is what happens when I have too much time on my hands. I start feeling sorry for myself.
Niko dumped a plate in front of her with a piece of apple pie big enough to feed a family of five, then scooped a huge mound of vanilla ice cream on top. “Uh, Niko? Is this your way of saying I need to gain weight? I can’t eat all that!”
Niko’s eyes held a hint of teasing, but his cell phone rang before he could reply. He turned to put the ice cream back in the freezer as he answered.
“Andros…Yeah. Great. Do me a favor. Call me back in five.” Niko pocketed his phone.
“Make yourself at home,” he told Jenna. “I’ve got to take this call.”
Then he was gone, striding down the hallway toward his office.
And Jenna’s loneliness returned threefold.
Dammit.
Jenna stabbed her fork into the pie. What the hell was happening to her? Grief. Loneliness. Why were her emotions breaking free now, when she needed her head clear to go after Kai?
That’s right. Focus on Kai. Forget yourself.
With each bite, Jenna felt her control slip back into place.
A gleeful yip warned her mere seconds before the dogs barreled into the kitchen. One of the Afghan hounds slid on the throw rug covering the polished floor and crashed into Jenna’s legs. Her arm swung out for balance and knocked the plate to the floor.
Callie dove on the pie and grabbed a piece of apple between her teeth before Jenna could stop her. Jenna reached down, trying to separate dog from dessert, but she overbalanced and fell onto the floor.
Now that she was at their level, the dogs decided to include her in their play. Jenna became the center of a nipping, growling, tugging pile of fur and teeth.
Then one of the hounds grabbed the fork in his mouth and took off in the direction Niko had gone. Wishing she could yell at the dog to stop, Jenna gave chase. She didn’t want the dogs bothering Niko on his phone call.
Uh-oh. Too late.
The other hound had caught up with her mate and tackled him. Just as Jenna knelt down to pry the wrestling dogs apart, they slammed into the door to Niko’s office.
It popped open.
“Just get me the location,” Niko snapped. “The second you do, I’ll be on a plane.”
Jenna froze, forgetting the dogs, who rushed in to surround their master, trying with licks and wags to entice him to join their game.
I’ll be on a plane, she thought. Not we’ll.
Niko was planning on going after Kai without her.
The anger that wasn’t far from the surface since she’d left the SSU compound erupted.
Chapter 12
Niko paced across the office as he listened to the report from private investigator and former journalist Gascon Laroux.
“I don’t know where he’s holding your aunt,” Gascon said. “But it ain’t Mexico. He’s reacquired many of his old properties, but there’s been no sign of him recently.”
“Keep looking,” Niko ordered. Sooner or later someone would give up Alvarez’s location.
Dios, the wait was killing him.
Gascon possessed an extensive network of contacts. Whatever properties Alvarez had buried under false names, Gascon would find them. Eventually.
But Aunt Madalena didn’t have time.
“Try Peru,” Niko said. “Even though that’s where we captured him, he has emotional ties to the region. His original fortress was destroyed, but he may have rebuilt it or bought another. He—”
The door burst open and the dogs tumbled into the room.
Niko turned his back and stuck his finger in his ear, trying to hear Gascon over the excited yipping of the dogs. The man was making some sort of disclaimer.
“Just get me the location,” Niko snapped. “The second you do, I’ll be on a plane.” He jabbed the disconnect button and tucked the phone into his pocket. Dammit, he wanted to be in on the search, but he was too well known south of the border. And Alvarez would be watching for him to try something.
Better to let the crime lord think he was playing along, searching for the chip and Paterson.
Callie whined and lay belly down on the floor, nose pointed toward the door. The other dogs nudged his hands, but when he didn’t respond, they followed Callie’s example.
The quiet in the room thickened. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up.
Ah shit. He turned around, dreading what he was going to see.
Jenna stood in the doorway, face flushed with fury. Her chest rose and fell on jerky, angry breaths. Her eyes glittered.
Niko thought back over his conversation. She couldn’t have heard anything before the dogs burst in. Nothing about Madalena. So what had her so—
“You’re planning on going after Kai by yourself.” Jenna flung the words at him. “Leaving me behind.”
Hurt flashed in her eyes, kindling an answering spark of guilt in his chest.
Hell no. He wasn’t going to feel sorry for Jenna. She wanted to think of herself as an operator? Great. Then she’d better grow a friggin’ spine. “You’re a liability,” he said. So she thought this was about her brother? He’d play along. No way was he letting her in on the situation with his aunt.
Jenna flinched. “I thought we agreed. Kai’s my brother. I have the right to go after him.”
Niko shrugged. Using Jenna as bait was last on his list of options. “You’re injured. I have a mission. If I get an opportunity before you’re healed, I’m taking it.”
Jenna’s lips curled in a bitter snarl. “Leaving me trapped in the middle of nowhere with no way to hunt you down.”
“You’re not a damn prisoner. You can leave any time you like.”
“No one is getting to Kai before me,” she shot back. Her golden eyes flashed fanatically bright. “If I have to hike out of here and hijack a plane, I will. Kai is mine!”
What the fuck?
She wasn’t talking like a loving sister. More like a crazed bounty hunter. Sure, the SSU wanted him on suspicion of murder and stealing the chip, but Jenna was supposed to be focused on bringing her brother in to make sure he was treated fairly.
Wasn’t she?
He knew there was evidence pointing to her brother’s involvement in the attack on her family. Ryker believed that made her brother a possible threat to Jenna. But if Jenna thought her brother was responsible for the killings, maybe she was a threat to her brother.
He fought back a snarl. Dammit, if that was the case, then Ryker was playing a dangerous game.
Jenna stepped toward him. “You could make me stronger. Train me to be tough enough so I’m not a liability.” Her lip curled in bitterness. “But you’re like everyone else. You see me as a victim. A freak. Not a partner.”
Niko ran his hand through his hair. Stifled the urge to shake some sense into her. “Dammit, that’s not it. Listen, I saw the pictures of you before the attack, okay? I’ve seen your file. You were like some fucking Pollyanna. All sunshine and laughter and do-gooder instincts. Now you’re
trying to tell me that you’re some hard assed bitch? Get real.”
He shook his head. “Sunshine, all those months of training don’t mean squat if you can’t keep emotion out of an op. You got shot in Moscow because you couldn’t keep your compassion for the apartment manager under wraps. You pulled your weapon on me in the hotel room because I made you mad. With instincts like those, no one can train you long enough to be as ruthless as you need to be.”
Jenna paled and stepped back. “You have no idea what I’ve been through.”
“Fucking cry me a river. I know women who have been through twice the amount of pain and loss as you. Get over it.”
Her expression froze in shock. And hurt. “It changed me,” she insisted.
“Compassion, sunshine. You didn’t change as much as you think.”
Her mouth settled into a mulish line.
He shook his head. What the hell had Ryker and the SSU trainers been doing? Coddling her? Well screw that. Training was supposed to strip away a person’s defenses, leaving no hidden kernel of insecurity or emotional weakness to pop up later, putting a mission in jeopardy.
He didn’t do coddling.
He leaned toward her. “You think you’re such a hot operator? Not in my book. I wouldn’t want you guarding my back.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“Don’t like that? Tough. You’re a danger to yourself and to others. Hell yeah, I’m leaving you behind. Even if I have to tie you up and lock you in your room.”
#
Sunday, Night
Washington, D.C.
“Someone hacked into the database, looking for Jenna’s records,” Ryker told Niko over a secure phone line.
“Shit. Please tell me they didn’t find anything.”
“Nothing true,” Ryker replied. He took extra precautions when it came to Jenna’s safety. “Our records confirm that Jenna survived the attack against her family, but state she died in the hospital. There’s even an authentic death certificate. However, the records also claim that we assigned Jenna’s identity to another agent in order to use her as bait for reeling in Kai.”
Niko made a sound that could have been approval, or an indication the younger man thought Ryker was nuts to put anything in a file, true or not. If Ryker could have given Jenna a brand new name, he would have. But she’d refused. And the sheer panic in her eyes at the suggestion had made him back off. She’d lost so much, he hadn’t the heart to take her name away, too.
Vengeance (SSU Trilogy Book 1) Page 12
