Shadows of Deceit (A Series of Shadows) (32 page)

“Welcome!” Juan Rojas greeted them with an overly cheerful tone. “I am so pleased we could accommodate you on such short notice.” He took Lena’s hand gently and guided her to sit. “Please, have a seat. You must be Mr. Gomez.” The doctor offered Niko his hand.

“Right.” Niko gritted his teeth and shook the bastard’s hand. He had to keep it together and play the part if he wanted to get those people out of the basement and shut the little spa of horrors down for good. Fortunately, Niko’s cover was a warlord so he didn’t have to be sticky sweet with niceties.

“Please sit down, Mr. Gomez.” Rojas motioned to the chair in front of the desk. “Luckily my consultation with your wife is fresh in my mind since it was only this morning! We are moving forward with both procedures, correct?” The man opened a file on his desk and made a notation on one of the pages.

“Correct.” Lena answered. “Diego has urgent business and is going to have to leave me here to recover but he wanted to be here for the surgery.”

“I want to make sure my wife isn’t hacked up.” Niko glared at the doctor. “You come highly recommended but I’m a little distrustful of anyone wielding a knife. Especially when they are using it on my woman.”

“I completely understand, Mr. Gomez.” Rojas reassured him. “As you know by the references you listed, I have done extensive work for many of your associates. Probably some you are not even aware of!” Rojas chuckled. “Your request for discretion was accommodated to the letter. Fortunately for you we have no clients recovering on site so there is no extra staff on duty tonight. The only personnel here is my best surgical team and nursing staff whom I hand picked. They are all ready and standing by.”

“How many?” Niko grumbled.

“I’m sorry?” Rojas asked.

“How many people did you hand pick?” Niko clarified. “I want this kept quiet. How many people do I have to pay off to keep their mouths shut?”

Rojas chuckled again. “I can assure you my staff will not be saying anything to anyone. Discretion is paramount here. However, to answer your question, excluding myself there is a medical team of five scrubbing up as we speak.”

Niko motioned to one of the agents posing as his bodyguard with a slight wave of his hand. The man stepped forward and placed a large briefcase on the doctor’s desk. “He’ll need an escort to wherever they are scrubbing up.” Niko nodded to the agent and the man opened the case to reveal stacks of Euros.

The doctor raised an eyebrow and smiled. “We are on a limited security staff this late so I’ll have to escort him myself.”

“Fine.” Niko waved to the other agent and he stepped forward with another case, opening it to reveal that it too was filled with Euros. “This should cover the procedures and any inconvenience.”

Rojas stood up and inspected the contents of the briefcase casually then smiled wide. “This very generously covers things. Let’s get you settled in, shall we?” He pressed a button on his phone and a moment later a woman in white scrubs entered the room. “This is Nurse Lupe. She will escort you to the prep room so that you can get changed then we can start the sedation process. I’ll escort your man to the medical staff and you can wait with your wife while we finish getting ready for her. It won’t take long.”

“Mr. and Mrs. Gomez, please follow me so we can get you situated.” Nurse Lupe said with a bright smile.

Niko, Lena and her agent followed the nurse out of Rojas’ office and were lead down a dimly lit corridor then into the plush examination room Lena had been in that morning. The nurse opened a tall locker and suggested Lena put her belongings inside and that they would be safely transferred to her room once she was out of recovery. The nurse handed Lena the standard flimsy blue cotton gown and instructed her how to put the garment on then left the three of them alone in the room.

“That’s your cue.” Lena told her agent and he immediately followed after the nurse. “Time to gear up.” She looked at Niko intensely as she opened up her giant Prada bag and retrieved several weapons from within, passing half to Niko.

As Niko armed himself he tried to listen very carefully for any movement or sounds around them. Turned Sanguinostri have extraordinary hearing but Niko was only able to hear the footfalls of the nurse and Lena’s man as they trailed off. “Lets hope your guy takes his sweet time handing out that money.” He grinned at her while he checked the ammunition clips for his Glocks.

Lena touched a finger to her left ear. “Status.” She said as she activated her earpiece.

One by one the five units checked in with the last man, the one dishing out cash to the medical staff, giving a clear of his throat indicating he was not yet in position. Lena and Niko flanked the door of the examination room, waiting for the last signal and the nurse to return to retrieve them. They had studied the blueprints of the facility and knew they had to reach the west end of the hall in order to reach the surgical room where Lena’s last man was holding Rojas and the rest of the surgical team. The agent’s special gift was the ability to whistle a specific tune that captured the attention of anyone within earshot. The gift rendered them dazed and feeling as though they were lost in a daydream. It was a subtle but highly effective method of subduing a small group but the effects lasted only as long as the note could be held. Niko and Lena had to get there before her man ran out of breath so they could secure the prisoners properly. As Nurse Lupe returned, opening the door to the examination room, Lena could hear her man start whistling his tune through the earpiece. Fortunately the note had no effect when recorded or transmitted so Niko, Lena and the rest of the units on the communication channel were safe from his charms. Niko quickly hit the nurse with a pressure syringe and the strong sedative put her out immediately. In his disgust, he didn’t even bother catching her. Instead, he let her fall to the ground with a thud.

Lena and Niko high-tailed it down the hall and crashed through the door to the surgical room, flanking the other doctors who were entranced holding their stacks of dirty money. The agent stopped whistling the moment they came through the door and the three of them proceeded to hit each of the five medical staff with pressure syringes while Niko grabbed Rojas by the neck and lifted him off the ground. The man was flailing, gasping for air as Lena barked orders through her ear piece then started placing heavy plastic restraints around each of their prisoner’s wrists. Niko could hear the footfalls of the incoming units and knew he should put Rojas down before he strangled the man. It was just not what he wanted to do.

“Niko.” Lena put a hand on his arm. “We need him. Remember the directive.”

Acknowledging her words, Niko set the doctor down and glared down at him. “Time to check on the patients, doc.” He dragged him out of the surgical room and down the hall by the scruff of his neck, slamming him against the closed elevator doors when they came to them. After rifling through the doctor’s pockets Niko retrieved a key-card and swiped it through the elevator’s security scanner.

Only half the team was able to fit into the elevator with Niko, the rest needed to wait for the next trip. As the car lowered to the basement they all exchanged glances. Clearly they each wanted their pound of flesh from the good doctor but they all knew that was not part of the directive. When the doors to the elevator finally opened gasps were heard when they saw Roja’s operation with their own eyes. It was a single expanse of room. Dingy cinder block walls and concrete floors with dim incandescent lighting that ran the length of the ceiling. There were wire-framed cots lined up in ten rows of twelve, evenly spaced throughout the basement with some sort of cylindrical unit next to each. All but three cots were occupied.

Niko shoved Rojas out of the elevator and took a closer look. Upon inspection, Niko could see that the cylindrical units were what could only be called bleed systems, similar to an I.V. but in reverse. The tubing ran from the right forearm of each captive then to a drip system that filtered into a stainless steel containment cylinder about the size as an average barbecue’s propane tank. Slowly, drop by drop the prisoners bled into the cylinder while an I.V. inserted into the left arm gave them just enough nutriment to keep them alive, producing blood and enough sedation to keep them paralyzed. Before Niko could react and smash Rojas’ face in, Lena hit the doctor with one of the pressure syringes and he was out.

“No time to play.” She gave him a wary look. “Lets get these people unhooked and out of here, fast.”

Even with Niko and his lieutenants, Lena and hers, the seven local agents, there were only fifteen of them to haul up eighty-six unconscious captives. They needed to load them into the buses and get the hell out of there in under an hour. It was cutting it close to say the least. The captives were fragile and couldn’t just be flung over shoulders and tossed into the buses. They required careful handling. Lena looked up to see Monica exiting the elevator along with six of Rojas’ security men. The men were all eager to assist in rescuing the captives and Lena couldn’t help but laugh.

“Yuri is bringing down the other six to help as well.” Monica grinned.

“Good thinking.” Niko smirked, realizing Monica had charmed the enemy into helping. He tapped on his earpiece. “Finn, Connor, you got the data?”

“Downloading as we speak.” Finn responded first.

Connor’s voice was next. “I’ve got his personal system done, just gathering the tech toys up now. He’s got three cell phones for some odd reason.”

“You’ve got two, how is that odd?” Niko asked him.

“That’s different. One is for work, the other is for my ladies.” Connor grinned as he said it and you could hear laughter throughout the facility.

“Before I vomit, hurry up and get everything secured then get your asses down here to help with the evac.” Niko ordered. “We have forty-seven minutes to get this place clear.”

“Roger that.” Conner responded and got back to business.

After the first bus was on it’s way to the ship and the second bus was being loaded, Niko and Yuri started setting explosive charges throughout the facility. When the last captive was removed from the building Monica charmed the security guards with another task. She ordered them to keep a one-hundred yard perimeter on the facility, not letting anyone pass until daylight. She added the suggestion that their orders were coming directly from Raul Castro himself and they were to remember nothing else of the night’s events. Niko overheard her instructions and had to laugh. The stupid men would have one huge mess on their hands when the sun came up.

With the explosives in place, all the data recovered and Max’s directive almost complete, Niko cut the power to the facility and they all rallied at the entrance. The locals said their farewells and took off into the night as Lena’s men started filing on to the last bus. Finn could hear the boats approaching the beach so he tossed the still unconscious Rojas over his shoulder and made his way to meet them. Yuri and Connor thanked Lena then grabbed all the gear and jogged out to the beach as well. Niko turned and smiled at Lena, this was where they parted ways. For this mission at least. Before he could realize what was going on, she yanked him by the back of the head, pulling his lips to hers, kissing him intensely. Instinctively he pulled her close and kissed her back. As quickly as it began, the kiss was over and she shoved him away.

Lena grinned at him. “Now I get to say I kissed the infamous Niko Gattilusio.” She laughed as she boarded the bus, the door closing behind her. He just stood looking at the air where she stood just seconds before, stunned. “Keep your comms up until your out of range.” Her voice rang through his earpiece, snapping him out of his shock.

“Roger that.” He responded, grinning back at her through the dirty glass of the bus door as as it drove away.

As soon as Niko lost sight of her, he made a bee-line for the beach. He tossed his gear into the boat and shoved it into the surf before hopping in. “T minus twenty minutes to ignition.” He announced over the comm as they headed out of the shallows. “North is waterlogged.” The phrase would let the others know they were safely off the beach and in route to their ship.

“Copy that.” Lena’s voice came across the comm now. “South One is walking the plank. South Two is bringing up the rear.” Her phrase told them that the first bus was already being unloaded, the captives were being put on the ship and her bus was right behind them.

“Copy that.” Niko acknowledged.

“Hey North.” Pablo’s voice came over the comm.

“Go for North.” Niko said with a smile.

“I packed a going away present for you.” Pablo told him. “Make sure you boys check your duffels.”

Connor scrambled and checked inside his duffle, pulling out a box of Montecristo cigars. “Sweet! Gracias amigo!” Connor thanked him and waved the box in Niko’s face.

“Thank you my friend!” Niko appreciated his thoughtfulness. “You are too generous.”

“It is I who thank you! That’s the most fun I’ve in a long time!” Pablo chortled. “Maybe next time you’ll take Castro with you!” They all laughed but Niko wished that he could. Cuba deserved better.

It wasn’t long before they saw the lights from the ship they arrived on, anchored exactly where they left it. The ship was just fifteen miles off the coast of Cuba but it was safely in international waters, making it untouchable to Castro’s henchmen.

“Ladies and gentlemen, Elvis has left the building.” Lena’s voice announced across the comm, indicating their ship had hoisted anchor and was leaving the dock.

“Mazel tov.” Niko replied, still nervous that her ship would get stopped before it left port. They had a solid twenty minutes to go before they were safe. “T minus three minutes.” He wished Lena had more distance between them and land before the charges went off but that was not an option to the plan. He said a silent prayer that three minutes got them far enough out that no one would think to stop her ship.

“Hey North.” She was talking to him. “Quit worrying.” She obviously knew what he was thinking.

“Stay outta my head, South.” Niko smirked in spite of his worry.