Retribution (SSU Trilogy Book 3) (The Surgical Strike Unit) (33 page)

Gabby looked across the cavern and blinked in surprise. Men in assault gear had taken up positions behind a low wall, weapons aimed toward the helicopter.

Only… Gabby glanced around. There wasn’t any return fire. All the guards, including the one closest to her, were on the ground, either wounded or dead. No longer a threat.

A man walked out from behind a pillar.

Rafe! Gabby nearly whooped in relief. Tears burned her eyes. With his black assault gear and the faceplate of his helmet raised, Rafe looked every inch the fierce warrior she’d first met. Her heart swelled with love and pride. She wanted to run across the cavern and hurl herself into the safety of his arms, but Kaufmann tightened his grip and shoved the gun harder against her head.

“Let Dr. Montague go, Kaufmann,” Rafe called. His voice echoed hollowly in the cavern. “You can’t escape.”

“I think not,” Kaufmann replied. “You still belong to me, don’t you Mr. Andros? No matter what Dr. Montague has done, there is no possibility she completely reversed my control.” His voice changed, becoming deeper. More authoritative. “I am your master, Mr. Andros. Listen to me. I have a task for you.”

Gabby bit back a cry as Rafe stiffened.
Oh, no. Rafe, please. Don’t give in. Don’t let Kaufmann win. Don’t listen to him.

“You will turn around, Mr. Andros. You will order your men to lay down their weapons. Then you will fire upon your teammates. When every one of them is dead, you will drop your weapon and surrender to me. On my count. Three…two…one…!”

F
or the briefest second, Kaufmann’s voice raised a need to obey in Rafe. He remembered pain, humiliation and the compulsion to carry out whatever task the Voice commanded.

Agony speared through his head. He inhaled sharply.

The pain brought reality back. He wasn’t a slave to Kaufmann any more. He was free. His own man. Yet in his arrogance, Kaufmann refused to acknowledge the possibility that Gabby had succeeded in reconditioning him.

“I’m going to play along with him, boys and girls,” Rafe breathed into his lip mic. “D’Argent, do you have a clear sight to Kaufmann?” D’Argent was the team’s sniper. Rafe had sent him and half of his team to take positions along the perimeter of the cavern where there were enough natural outcroppings of rock to provide plenty of hiding places.

“Affirmative, sir.”

Rafe didn’t allow himself to look at Gabby again. His killing rage was too close to the surface. For now, he had to pretend she was a stranger. It was the only way to keep his head cool and get the job done so she’d be safe. Slowly, he brought his hands up to his head, as if the pain of fighting Kaufmann’s order was too much to bear.

“Remember,” Rafe said into his mic. “If possible, we need Kaufmann alive.” They needed to question Kaufmann about the anniversary attack, and about who’d been funding the lab. Then they had to find out if there were any ancillary facilities and if backup of the data existed.

Kaufmann’s program had to end.

Rafe had no doubt that Kaufmann would spend the rest of his life in prison. Yeah, deep down he wished for five minutes alone in a room with Kaufmann to get a little personal retribution, but Rafe wouldn’t let himself take the law into his own hands like that. He wanted to be a better man. For Gabby.

“Roger that, sir. Shoot to disable.”

“Rafe,” Carpenello said from his position on the far side of the helicopter. “You have another set of security guards sneaking toward you from this side.”

“The pilot is armed and moving into firing position,” Dobson reported. “Looks like he’s got an automatic rifle aimed your way, boss.”

“Acknowledged,” Rafe breathed. “Gentlemen, on my mark.”

As if obeying Kaufmann’s command, Rafe turned around and raised his arm.

“Rafe, no!” Gabby screamed.

Part of Rafe flinched at her lack of trust in him. But he couldn’t allow himself to dwell on that. He dropped to his knees. “Go!” he ordered.

As the men in front of him raised their weapons to take out the new contingent of guards just rounding the front of the helicopter, Rafe pivoted toward Kaufmann and brought his weapon up.

G
abby raised her arm toward Kaufmann’s face, ready to scratch his eyes out despite the gun jammed into her temple. Yet before she made contact Kaufmann grunted in pain, his head jerked back, and he dropped to his knees.

The hand holding the gun to her head relaxed slightly, but his arm was still crooked around her neck. As he fell, he dragged her with him. Gabby barely got her hands out in front of her just in time to stop her nose from colliding with the stone floor.

The sound of gunfire echoed around the cavern. The window of the helicopter’s cockpit shattered, spraying pieces of glass onto the tarmac.

The scientists who’d been lined up to get into the helicopter were screaming. Some in pain, some in anger or fear. The smarter ones dropped and hid underneath the helicopter. The panicked ones continued to beat on the side of the helicopter, demanding entrance.

Normal security guards in plain black uniforms returned fire, while Kaufmann’s subjects, marked by the colored stripes on their uniforms, responded with varying degrees of violence. Those wearing a red stripe remained calm and used their weapons in a rational, orderly manner. Many of those with yellow stripes dropped their weapons and surrendered, despite orders from their commanders to keep fighting. The men with orange, green and blue stripes charged recklessly into the fight, lashing out at whoever was closest, whether friend or foe.

“Open the helicopter door!” Kaufmann screamed. He started a one-armed crawl toward the helicopter, dragging Gabby with him.

No! She pulled back against his hold and twisted. She felt his gun scrape along her cheek as she moved, but she didn’t care. She just wanted to get free.

But despite the shoulder wound Gabby could see oozing blood through his shirt, Kaufmann still had enough strength to tighten his grip on her neck. His eyes burned with a crazed light and his lips curled off his teeth. In that moment he resembled one of his subjects instead of the impeccably groomed man she was used to seeing.

Gabby struggled to get free, but Kaufmann’s grip was ironclad.

Then a booted foot kicked Kaufmann’s good shoulder, forcing him onto his back.

Kaufmann’s arm relaxed and Gabby scrambled away from him.

“You turned him into a monster!” The anguished cry came from a man wearing the all-black uniform of a normal guard. He dropped to his knee and slammed his fisted hands into the sides of Kaufmann’s neck.

“Hands up!” one of Rafe’s men ordered. “Do it now!”

The guard stepped away from Kaufmann. Two empty syringes fell to the ground as he raised his hands above his head. His face crumpled in grief.

“You turned my brother into a monster,” the man sobbed, glaring at Kaufmann through his tears. “Then you killed him. Now it’s your turn. You’re going to die slowly and painfully.”

Rafe’s men moved in, secured the man, and escorted him away.

Kaufmann pawed at his neck, then screamed. The muscles along his throat spasmed.

Gabby flinched. She knew all too well the searing pain of the drugs. She’d wanted to claw her own skin off to stop the pain. Yet as much as she hated Kaufmann, watching him suffer went against everything she believed in as a doctor.

She glanced away and found herself staring at a familiar, scarred male hand extending toward her.

“Here,
querida
,” Rafe said, the gentleness of his voice a contrast to the fury in his eyes.

He pulled her to her feet, quickly cut her flexicuffs using his utility knife, then yanked her into a bone-crushing hug. She squeaked as his hold caused her wounds to flare with pain, but her hands didn’t release their death grip on him. Then Rafe placed frantic kisses on her cheeks, her forehead, her eyebrows, even her nose before he finally took her mouth.

Only to immediately pull back. “Shit, I’m sorry, sweetheart,” he murmured. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.” His finger gently traced her swollen, cut lips.

“That’s okay. I’m just so glad to see you. I—” Tears of relief filled her eyes. She’d really thought she wouldn’t make it out of here alive.

A man cleared his throat. “Excuse me, sir, but Andersen wants to know what to do with Kaufmann.”

Rafe looked at her as if he never wanted to let her go. So she leaned up and pressed a brief kiss to his mouth. “Your men need you,” she said. “Go. I’ll be fine.”

“I love you,” he said fiercely.

“I love you, too,” she told him. “Go finish being a hero. I’ll see you back at headquarters.”

He gave a reluctant nod. “Lynch,” he barked at one of his men. “Make sure Dr. Montague stays safe.”

“Yes, sir!”

With a final kiss, Rafe handed her off to his friend. Then he walked over to where two of his men knelt on Kaufmann, pinning his arms to the ground.

“Doctor?” Lynch prompted.

She started, so absorbed by watching Rafe move that she hadn’t heard a word Lynch said. “I’m sorry?”

“Why don’t you come over here and sit down until we have everything mopped up?”

Straightening her shoulders, Gabby started to follow him. Then she heard Rafe speak, and she stopped in shock.

“No, we’re not going to help you,” Rafe said in the cold, hard voice Gabby hadn’t heard since the night he’d infiltrated her cabin. “Not unless you give us the details on the anniversary demonstration.”

She couldn’t hear Kaufmann’s response, but Rafe’s reply carried clearly.

“We’ve got Dr. Montague. She cured me. She and her team can help you. But if you don’t tell me what I need, you can writhe in agony forever for all I care.”

Yes. That’s what Kaufmann damned deserved. The man should suffer for what he’d put Rafe and the other men through.

Gabby glanced over her shoulder.

Rafe’s hand shot out and connected with Kaufmann’s body, making the man yelp in pain.

To her surprise, she heard Rafe give a low, cruel laugh in response to something Kaufmann said. “Hell, no. We’re not going to shoot you and let you out of your misery. If you refuse to cooperate, we’re going to let these drugs take full effect. Maybe, if you’re lucky, you’ll survive. Hey, maybe you’ll respond to mind control…by me. That’s my kind of justice.”

“Doctor, come on,” Lynch entreated, pulling on her arm. “You don’t need to witness this.”

He was right, Gabby realized with a jolt. She was a doctor, for pity’s sake. She was supposed to relieve pain and suffering, not feel a spurt of satisfaction that Kaufmann was experiencing a degree of the torture he’d inflicted on his subjects.

Yet as she let Lynch lead her away, she understood that in Rafe’s world, different rules applied. Survival of the fittest took on an entirely different meaning, one wrapped in violence and questionable choices.

Gabby couldn’t fault Rafe for taking advantage of Kaufmann’s pain. Not when the lives of innocents were at risk if they didn’t stop the anniversary attack. But it didn’t mean she had to give in to her own need for retribution and watch.

Chapter 28

R
afe knelt beside Kaufmann, waiting while the other man rode out another painful contraction. He didn’t allow himself to think about Gabby, or hold her image in his mind. If he did, Kaufmann would be dead within seconds.

The only thing that had kept Rafe sane once he’d learned Gabby was being tortured was the hope Kaufmann would go easy on her. That maybe he’d only use some of his milder drugs to confuse her mind so she’d agree with him.

He’d prayed that Gabby hadn’t been beaten.

But she had. Her face was bloody and bruised. There were marks on her throat that pointed to near strangulation from a strap or other thick binding. And
Dios mio
, her arms.

Swollen, red needle tracks. Deep bruising. A thick, rectangular burn on the inside of her right wrist. And there were five bloody strips where skin had been cut away. Bile crawled up the back of Rafe’s throat just thinking about Kaufmann taking one of his specially crafted knives to Gabby’s tender skin.

Rafe’s muscles tightened and his heart began a vengeful beat. He was so close to reaching out and wringing Kaufmann’s neck that he had to look away. To distract himself, he instructed his team to start herding the captured scientists toward the door.

When he had himself under control and felt confident he could talk to Kaufmann without attacking, Rafe met the man’s eyes.

The pain must have eased, because Kaufmann had regained his typical expression of cold condescension. “You will have Dr. Montague provide me with counteragents to whatever drugs that guard gave me. Once I am assured I am in no more danger, I will give you the information you want.”

Rafe shook his head. “You can suffer for days for all I care. I’m not lifting a finger to help you until I have the information I need. Where is the anniversary demonstration taking place and how do we stop it?”

“I told you, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Right. Try again. We know you’re providing men for the President’s attack against the terrorists who killed his son. Give me the details, and maybe you’ll live.”

Kaufmann shook his head. “You’re too late,” he said with a smirk. “The last of my men are already on their way.”

“Don’t lie to me. You were waiting for Dr. Montague’s help in stabilizing the men.” Unable to resist, he glanced back over his shoulder to where Gabby sat on a wheeled stool, staring into space while Lynch hovered protectively by her side. Had she broken in time to give Kaufmann the final details he needed?

He wouldn’t blame her if she had. SSU agents underwent extensive training on how to withstand pain, but Gabby wasn’t an agent.

Rafe turned his head in time to see Kaufmann’s expression shift from surprise to calculation and he knew Kaufmann was going to lie again. Then the pain hit Kaufmann, leaving him panting. “She didn’t give me the information I needed,” he spat. “Stubborn bitch refused to break. So I was forced to send men who aren’t as stable as I’d like. But it’s too late to stop them. They’ve been armed and deployed. They’re only waiting for the proper time and the correct code before they attack. You know how it is. They won’t stop until they succeed.”