Retribution (SSU Trilogy Book 3) (The Surgical Strike Unit) (30 page)

Seeing the pride on Niko’s face, it hit home again just how deep his brother’s love ran. And for the first time, Rafe really got what Niko meant when he’d said he wouldn’t have survived prison without Rafe’s unconditional love and acceptance. When you’d fallen so far you figured not even your family could still love you, life became a special type of hell. But Niko and Kai hadn’t given up on him any more than Gabby. Knowing that had helped Rafe through his recovery.

Jesus, his throat felt tight and his eyes itched. He’d never imagined…had never even dared to hope he could slide back into command of this elite group. He’d been born to fight. Born to lead. Here, in the company of strong, honorable men and women was where he belonged.

He’d thought Kaufmann had stolen this from him.

Chin cleared his throat and Rafe nodded. What the hell was he supposed to say? Rafe swallowed and turned to face the crowd. “Thank you.”

His voice echoed off the walls, then the crowd erupted in a raucous cheer. “This community represents all that is good and honest about this country. I’ve been proud to call myself an SSU agent all these years. I thought—” He shook his head, unable to believe what he was about to confess. “I thought after what Kaufmann did to me, that I’d never be fit to lead again. I’m still not convinced I belong up here. As many of you know, I’ve experienced both physical and mental changes because of Kaufmann’s program.”

He forced air into his lungs, firming his voice. “But I promise you this. I will not rest until Dr. Montague and the other victims of Kaufmann’s program have been rescued. I will not stop until Kaufmann and his team are eliminated.”

The crowd responded with supportive hoots and hollers. Chin stepped forward and grabbed Rafe in a one-arm bear hug. “Welcome back, Rafe.”

Shit. His eyes were tearing up. Way to earn everyone’s respect. Rafe blinked them away before Chin released him, hoping his friend hadn’t noticed.

But damn if Chin’s eyes weren’t bright with moisture. And when Rafe looked out over the crowd, he saw several other wet eyes.

All right then. Maybe this once he would just go with it. Let ‘em see him cry.

Just a little.

Two Days Later

Kaufmann’s Compound

Blue Ridge Mountains

R
afe lowered his binoculars from his lookout point over Kaufmann’s new compound. God, it seemed like a million years ago that he’d stared down at the first compound, wondering how deeply Gabby was involved in Nate’s disappearance. Now here he was, struggling to pull out mission-critical details from his memories of this place, while suppressing echoes of pain, degradation and forced obedience.

He stifled a sense of déjà-vu and slipped farther into the trees. In the end, he’d had to turn away SSU agents who’d volunteered to join this mission. The result was three assault teams, headed by Rafe, Chin and Niko. A fourth team lead by Kai would collect Kaufmann’s data and securely store all chemical and biological samples.

As Rafe moved over to a new observation spot, he tried not to think about the responsibility of leading so many people into a danger he wouldn’t wish on his worst enemy. But yeah, part of him was totally freaked. Kaufmann had trained him to follow orders instead of giving them. Before his capture, leading men had been second nature to Rafe. Then Kaufmann’s conditioning convinced him his job was to submit, not to think.

He continued to fight against the urge to give in and let someone else take control. Having two dozen men and women looking at him with trust and respect went a long way toward restoring his confidence, even though he didn’t fully deserve their respect yet. His men might not have had time to recognize all Rafe’s differences, but he was acutely aware that he still wasn’t free of side effects.

His job, in addition to keeping his team safe, was to see that the man he’d become earned their respect. Which meant he had zero room for error.

He took a deep breath. Good thing he’d always loved a challenge.

Checking the compound from this new angle, Rafe raised his brows. Kaufmann must have been damn confident that Rafe’s mental blocks would hold, because security hadn’t changed all that much. Two electrified fences topped with barbed wire enclosed the facility. According to the data leaked by Tonelli, Kaufmann hadn’t installed any advanced security measures such as infrared or radar.

Kaufmann had never been able to use guard dogs as part of his defenses. The animals sensed something different in the altered men, something that made aggressive dogs attack and timid dogs slink away. Kaufmann hadn’t wanted to waste time overcoming the guard dogs’ reactions, so he’d banished them from the premises.

All the better for Rafe and his team.

Rafe studied the patterns of the teams of normal men patrolling the perimeter. The only time Kaufmann’s subjects ever left the compound was their weekly shift as part of the security team. Whenever Rafe had joined a patrol, the regular guards had treated him with the same caution they’d use around a feral dog. Rafe had barely acknowledged the guards’ existence. All that mattered was the mission Kaufmann had given him. Which sometimes included killing a guard who wasn’t living up to expectations.

After watching for half an hour, Rafe motioned for Andersen and headed back to base.

G
abby panted and fought to remain conscious through the haze of pain. Kaufmann and his prize torturer had dumped her on the floor after this latest session, and the chilled concrete felt good against her overheated, oversensitive cheek. Her body still tightened with residual spasms from the electric shocks they’d given her. Her mouth tasted like sour eggs and although she still couldn’t get her eyes to open, she smelled vomit close by.

During this round of torture, Kaufmann had questioned her about Rafe and the SSU. Did Rafe remember his time at the compound? Could he find his way back here?

“No,” Gabby had screamed, giving him the truth while she fought back hopelessness. Because if Rafe didn’t remember this location, then how could he possibly rescue her?

She didn’t know how much longer she could stand Kaufmann’s abuse. Each day her body grew weaker, eroding her resistance. Yet perversely, the casual way Kaufmann and his scientists hurt her gave her the strength to continue to say no to the most important question—would she cooperate? These weren’t the type of people she wanted to be in the same room with, let alone provide them with critical research to allow them to make their subjects even more monstrous.

What terrified Gabby all the way to her soul was the fear that in Kaufmann’s attempt to force her cooperation before his deadline, the worst was still to come.

R
afe knew it was going to be bad when Niko cornered him the moment he returned to camp.

With a nod, Rafe dismissed his team, then let his brother herd him farther into the forest. When Niko finally stopped and turned around, his grave expression caused Rafe’s world to freeze. He knew in his gut Niko had bad news. And only one topic would make Niko bring Rafe so far from camp no one would hear them.

“No.” The denial was out of his mouth before Rafe could take it back. “Gabby’s alive.” She had to be.

“Yes, but—” Niko shot him a look of pained sympathy. “I’m sorry, Rafe. One of Chin’s scouts overheard two guards talking as the shift changed. They were joking about a female prisoner. Someone Kaufmann has been torturing. The guards placed bets on whether Kaufmann would give the woman to the normal guards or the freaks when she breaks.”

“No!” Rafe shoved Niko away from him. He knew. Ah,
Dios
, he knew what it felt like to be in Gabby’s shoes. The pain…

He shuddered. The pain had almost been too much to bear, and he’d been trained to resist torture. The thought of Gabby’s delicate, feminine body suffering a fraction of that agony, or even the bone-numbing chill of the water chamber, made him want to throw his head back and howl.

Rafe stood in a tiny, tile-lined cubicle just tall enough for him to stand upright and so narrow that he couldn’t sit or lie down. He’d lost all track of time.

“Tell me what I want to hear, Mr. Andros,” the Voice crooned through the overhead speakers. “Then you can go back to your room.”

This was the dangerous voice. The voice that wanted his agreement to do something bad. This voice he had to ignore, even though he knew what the consequence would be.

“Still no answer? Very well, then.”

The pipes groaned and Rafe braced himself as a deluge of icy water spurted out of the hole directly over his head. He clamped his teeth together and closed his eyes. The water sluiced over his body, pooling at the bottom of the chamber until it reached his knees. Then the water stopped and a new voice came out of the walls.

“Do you feel tired Mr. Andros? Do your muscles hurt? Do you feel cold?”

“Cold.”

“Nothing else?”

“No.”

“Thank you.”

It bothered Rafe that he wasn’t physically tired. Somewhere in the back of his brain he knew he’d been standing here for too long. At least a day, maybe longer. His muscles should hurt. He should feel sleep deprived.

Instead, all he felt was cold. But that ice was layered over an inferno of molten rage.

Rafe pulled himself back to the present with difficulty and let fury wipe out his fear. Anger would give him additional strength to take down Kaufmann. But right now he had to think. “I want to hear the report directly.”

Niko nodded, his expression wary. “You…okay?”

“What the fuck do you think? No, I’m not okay.” He was as far from okay as he’d ever been. Out of his head with terror and the nearly overwhelming need to hurt the ones holding Gabby. But losing control wouldn’t help him save her. “After I talk to Chin’s scout, we need to prepare the teams. We’re going in tonight.”

Niko opened his mouth as if to speak, then shrugged. “It’s your call. You know I’ve got your back.”

“Thanks.”

Niko clapped Rafe on the shoulder, then led the way back to camp.

As he followed, Rafe felt his brain working overtime, weighing and discarding options with abnormal speed. The backs of his eyes ached and a spot at the base of his neck tingled. The sensations still freaked him out and made him want to check in a mirror to see if he had smoke coming out of his ears like a cartoon character. Worse, a hot, painful pressure built in his skull until he thought his brain might explode. Relief only came when his brain finished processing the data and slowed down again.

At moments like these, Rafe could understand why so many of Nevsky’s subjects had committed suicide. But he had to hang on. His increased intelligence was his strongest advantage. Kaufmann believed his mind control to be iron clad, and would never consider that Rafe could break it, let alone retain enough intelligence to communicate the location of the compound to anyone.

He looked forward to seeing Kaufmann’s face when he realized he was wrong.

Chapter 25

Washington, D.C.

“I
agreed to your request to kidnap Dr. Montague,” Jamieson said into the phone. “Because you promised it would result in the complete stability of your men. So where is my new team?” He drew the heavy gold silk drapes tighter against the picture window in his home office. He suspected someone had been following him and no longer trusted the security of his office phone at Langley.

Here, at least, he was guaranteed not to have some underling walk in on him. Plus, he had the best security system, including top-of-the-line anti-eavesdropping equipment.

Nevertheless, he resented the need to skulk around like a common thief. He was working at the behest of the President. He should be immune to scrutiny. Yet he couldn’t shake the feeling that there were forces closing in on him. Forces determined to see him fail.

“Dr. Montague is proving to be more of a challenge to crack than we anticipated,” Kaufmann explained in his arrogant voice. “Don’t worry, you’ll have your team.”

Jamieson stared down at the executive order in his hands. The President had demanded that the team be ready to move into place two weeks before the main event. That gave Kaufmann a little over a week to get the formula tweaked so that the men would still be stable by the anniversary demonstration.

“If I order you to break Dr. Montague’s resistance by the end of tomorrow,” Jamieson asked, “what’s the quickest you could have the new team ready?”

The men on his current team were already showing signs of deterioration. In a week they would start losing coordination and balance. By the time three weeks arrived, they’d be either insane or dead.

“I can’t give you a definite time,” Kaufmann explained with a hint of impatience. “I don’t know what techniques Dr. Montague used to reverse the side effects in Rafe Andros. Gene therapy, drug formulation…each option poses different challenges. Assuming nothing goes wrong, we’re talking ten days at the minimum to incorporate the changes into our program, strengthen the desired effects, and run tests. Two to three weeks is more likely.”

Jamieson squeezed the phone so hard the plastic groaned in protest. “Unacceptable. The President needs the new team ready to deploy in a week.”

“Impossible!”

“Make it possible,” Jamieson said. “Or I’m going to destroy you. And then I’ll throw you to your subjects.”

He slammed down the phone and stood at his desk, hands fisted to stop their trembling. Years of careful planning, of lying and manipulating to achieve his dreams, and it all stood on the verge of collapse because of Kaufmann’s incompetence.

Kaufmann should have killed Dr. Montague months ago. If she didn’t provide the necessary information immediately, Jamieson would make certain to rectify Kaufmann’s oversight.

Kaufmann’s Compound

Blue Ridge Mountains

D
r. Kaufmann stared at the unconscious body of Dr. Montague through the one-way glass in her cell. She’d proven to be remarkably resistant to both the pain of poison and of physical torture. Oh, she’d given up data about Andros and the SSU, but she still refused to reveal how she’d broken Kaufmann’s mind control and cured Andros of his rages.