Vengeance (SSU Trilogy Book 1) (12 page)

Niko, thank God, was too caught up in his own memories to notice her struggle for control.

“I’m sorry,” she finally said. “How did he die?”

“Pneumonia.” Niko shoved the crumpled wrappings from his meal into a ball and tossed it at the wastebasket.

So much grief. So much regret. Jenna’s throat tightened. She reached out and Niko flinched. He surged to his feet and turned his back to her, stalking over to the small desk.

Jenna retracted her hand, trying to ignore the faint bite of rejection. She hadn’t intended to reach for him, but some long dead instinct had moved her hand without her thinking about it. Otherwise, she never would have attempted to offer comfort.

She knew how much easier it was to ignore your grief and bury it if people left you alone.

Niko snatched up a pad of paper and a pen. “So. Ryker wants you back at the compound. I can probably get you on a flight this afternoon.” When he turned back around to face her, all traces of sadness were gone.

Jenna popped the last piece of
vatrushki
into her mouth. “No. I’m not leaving until I find Kai.”

“Not your call. Didn’t you hear Ryker? Everyone is after you. Russian and American intelligence. Alvarez’s men. No matter how much training you’ve had, your inexperience makes you vulnerable.” Niko glanced at the cuts on her forehead.

“I have to risk it. He’s my brother. I have to be the one who finds him.” And she refused to be controlled by fear.

“Yeah, see, you’re not the one who gets to decide that. Ryker’s in charge of this op. He says you go home. You scared your brother away. What good are you going to be in finding him?”

Fury incinerated Jenna’s delight over the pastries.

Hell, no. Kai was here in Moscow. She wasn’t leaving until he was dead. She surged to her feet, drew her pistol and aimed it at Niko’s forehead.

Niko raised an eyebrow and tapped the pen against the arm of the chair. Then, quicker than her eye could follow, he launched himself at her. He shoved her gun hand up and away as they fell, rolling so she ended up face down on top of him.

His arm encircled her neck and his legs had hers trapped. She struggled, but couldn’t get free.

And Niko had possession of the gun. She heard the click as he ejected the ammunition clip, and sagged against him in defeat.

“First thing your trainers should have taught you,” Niko said against her ear. “Is never pull a gun unless you’re ready to use it.”

Who said she hadn’t been ready to use it? She tried to dig an elbow into him, but she couldn’t get the right angle. Furious and frustrated, she tried again to slip free.

Niko rolled so he was on top. His hips met hers and Jenna’s breath turned to ice. But Niko pushed to his feet before the panic could grow.

“Second thing,” he said, stepping away from her. “Never underestimate an opponent.”

She clambered to her feet and glared at him. She hated the way his chiding tone made her feel six years old again and in trouble with her parents. “I’m not leaving until I find Kai,” she snapped. “You can try and send me home, but I’ll find a way to escape.”

The change that came over Niko was scary. His eyes just went dead. And his face lost all hint of human kindness.

Jenna shivered and fought against the urge to step back.

“If I decide you’re going home, there’s nothing you can do to stop me from putting you on a plane—willing or not.” His voice was flat and cold.

Jenna lost the fight for defiance and stepped away from him. Was this the man whose soft, rhythmic voice had lulled her to sleep last night?

“We clear?”

Jenna swallowed nervously and nodded.

Niko ran his hands down his face, and suddenly the man she’d begun to trust was back. “Just so happens, I disagree with Ryker.” His tone was conversational, as if nothing unusual had just occurred between them.

She fought disorientation. Took a deep breath to help her body step down from the edge.

Niko reached for his tea. “As long as you cooperate, I won’t send you back to the SSU. Your brother may have run from you, but when he has time to think, he’ll want to make some kind of contact. We’ll just be more subtle than Tonelli about letting your brother know we want to talk.”

“Okay.” She’d agree to anything if it helped her find Kai. “What do we do first?”

“After last night, your brother knows he’s being hunted. He’ll go underground. I hate to say it, but Tonelli has better contacts in Moscow than I do. He spent part of his childhood here, plus the CIA stationed him here for a half dozen years. He’s more fluent in the various Russian dialects than I am. The search will go faster with his help.”

Jenna grimaced. But she nodded, conceding his point. “How come you speak Russian, anyway? I heard you were in Afghanistan.”

“Yeah, well, there were a couple of old Soviet defectors living near our village in Afghanistan. They were hungry for contact with the West, so I spent a lot of time with them.” He shrugged. “I’m good at languages, and you never know what will come in handy on the next assignment.”

“So what languages do you speak?”

“Greek, from my dad. Spanish, from my mom. Russian. Pashto. Some Dari. A bit of German and French.”

“Wow. I thought I was doing well knowing three other languages.” Her throat tightened on a wave of nostalgia for the carefree art history student she’d been, eager to travel to museums across the world. For her junior year abroad she’d attended a program in Italy, and she’d also done two summer internships in Germany. Watching the variations in body language, discovering local art forms, and trying out her foreign language skills had been a fantastic adventure. Her gaze dropped to the floor and she cleared her throat.

“So, when you swear,” she said. “Is that Greek or Pashto?”

“Greek.”

She filed that away for future reference. “Okay, we’ll contact Tonelli and then…” Wait a second. She wasn’t going anywhere without clothes. She looked around and spotted her money on the table. “Um…Sorry, but first I need something more than just your sweats to wear.” She held out a fistful of rubles. “Could you please buy me some clothes?”

Niko waved away her money. “I’ll put it on the SSU’s tab.” His eyes roamed over her body, assessing her with a clinical impartiality. “Write down your sizes and I’ll see what I can find.”

There wasn’t a smidgeon of masculine appreciation in his eyes this morning.

She couldn’t blame him. Now that the adrenaline rush was over, there was nothing about her current appearance to draw a man. Her amber eyes no longer sparkled, but were solemn and dull as a dirt-encrusted coin. Cold, even. Her face was grim, almost gaunt. Her body was little more than muscle and bone.

Hardly feminine.

And even though it had no relevance to her hunt, her formerly dormant female pride gave a huff of resentment, remembering the scorn on Mark’s face when he’d called her scrawny and ugly. Hating the idea that Niko might see her the same way. Not wanting to accept that the heat she’d seen in his eyes last night had been a fluke.

Because…because…Jenna mentally shook her head, too afraid to pursue that thought.

What did it matter what she looked like? All that mattered was finding Kai.

#

Wednesday, Afternoon

Moscow, Russia

Niko walked warily down the street. This morning, the receptionist at an eye clinic had recognized Paterson’s picture. She’d said Jenna’s brother wore a hat and dark tinted glasses, but she recognized his mouth. Paterson had dropped off a prescription for colored contact lenses last week. And picked up the lenses less than an hour before.

Unfortunately, the woman hadn’t seen which way Paterson went when he exited. So for the past three hours, Niko and Jenna had been walking up and down the nearby streets, showing her brother’s photo to every person they could find. With no success.

The address Paterson had put down on the clinic’s registration form turned out to be the address of a shoe store. No surprise there.

Although Jenna hadn’t said anything, he knew she was equally frustrated at their lack of progress. They’d tried to reach Tonelli yesterday, but the man had already checked out of his hotel and wasn’t answering his cell phone.

So Niko had turned to the SSU’s research department. One of the research assistants e-mailed him a map of Moscow neighborhoods with highlights on the seedier ones. If Niko were on the run, that’s where he’d hide. In a place where his neighbors were too busy existing to notice what he looked like, or what hours he came and went.

None of those neighborhoods had yielded results, though. They were now canvassing the second-best choices. Such as this worn-at-the-edges but still faintly prosperous street, with its mix of apartments and stores and a steady flow of people.

An unremarkable neighborhood, except for the tingling of Niko’s instincts. And the presence of two pairs of agents staking out the street’s main intersection while cautiously watching each other.

Niko would lay odds one pair were American and the others Russian.

No big surprise. Whoever retrieved Nevsky’s chip from Paterson would have the ability to create invincible soldiers.

Or monsters. Depending on your point of view.

Up ahead, three of Alvarez’s men lounged against the side of a building, looking completely out of place. Even a two-year-old could tell these men didn’t belong here.

But they provided a sharp reminder that if Niko didn’t find the damn chip first, Aunt Madalena would remain Alvarez’s prisoner. He’d sent out word to his contacts to find out where Alvarez was holding her, but that would take time. Most of Alvarez’s properties had been seized during the multi-government raid that sent the crime lord to prison. Alvarez was too smart to buy new properties outright, which meant more investigation. More time.

Time his aunt didn’t have.

Last night, he’d dreamed of his aunt. Of watching her being tortured. He’d woken up shaking and drenched in sweat. And more determined than ever to find Paterson. Because for now, trading the chip was his best bet of getting his aunt away from Alvarez.

Niko tugged his hat lower over his face. He wanted to stay off of Alvarez’s radar until Jenna was out of the picture. After five years undercover with Alvarez, too many of his men knew Niko by sight. Which was why he’d used a wig when going after Jenna last night and why they both were disguised now. Still, he wasn’t taking any chances, so he slowed down.

Beside him, Jenna’s shoulders slumped in relief. Damn it, he’d been pushing her too hard. He reduced his pace even more.

He’d seen her limping on and off today, although she tried to hide her uneven gait. He’d had to throw away her wet, garbage-soaked sneakers, but hadn’t been able to find the right size replacement. She probably had blisters. He should—

Halfway down the block, Mark Tonelli stepped onto the street. Show time. No wonder the street was lousy with agents.

Jenna spotted Tonelli and sped up.

“Easy,” Niko muttered. “Don’t rush or you’ll spook him. He’s got people on his tail.”

Jenna shot him a glance heavy with frustration, but did as he said.

“Hold up a sec.” Niko stopped to look in a shop window. In his peripheral vision he saw two of Alvarez’s men enter the apartment building Tonelli had exited, while the third man went after Tonelli.

The other agents took up positions at the front of the building, but didn’t go in.

Shit. Even though he and Jenna were disguised, he didn’t want to walk through the front door in plain sight of everyone. But if there was a back entrance…

He sized up the neighboring buildings and decided that the tearoom half a block down was their best bet for getting to any back alley unnoticed.

And damn if he wasn’t right. The rear door of the tearoom opened onto a narrow access lane. He led Jenna toward the apartment building, keeping to the shadows, gun held loosely at his side.

No one guarded the back door of the apartment building. He pushed it open and found that it led into a storage room. Jenna followed him inside, weapon out.

He was just about to step into the lobby when footsteps sounded above them, stomping down the stairs. Niko thrust his arm out to stop Jenna from moving any farther. He shifted so his back was against the wall, with part of the lobby visible out of the corner of his eye.

Jenna mirrored his actions, melting against the wall on the other side of the doorframe.

One of the approaching men cursed Paterson’s lineage in a thick Mexican accent. “How am I going to explain to
el jefe
that we missed the
gringo
by hours?” he muttered. “He’ll kill me.”

The men reached the lobby and pounded on a door at the base of the stairs.

Jenna glanced at Niko and he realized that from her vantage point, she couldn’t see as much of the lobby as he could.
Manager’s office
, he mouthed.

She nodded.

A man’s petulant shout answered the pounding. A moment later, a scrawny man in a heavy coat opened the door.

“When did the man in 4D move out?” one of Alvarez’s men demanded in atrocious Russian.

“Don’t know,” the manager said with a shrug. “The key was in my box this morning.”

“This the man?” The burly man on the right shoved a photo at the manager.

“Maybe.” He squinted at the picture. “He wore a hat and sunglasses, but I made him take the glasses off and show me his eyes. I don’t want any addicts here.” He shrugged. “Eyes look right. Gold. Like a cat.”

Jenna’s eyes, bright with excitement, flicked to Niko’s.

“Why is everyone looking for this man?” the manager demanded.

“None of your business.” The shorter of Alvarez’s men whipped his hand up and shot the manager between the eyes.

At the muffled pop of the silenced weapon, Jenna spun toward the door into the lobby, pistol raised.

Shit.

Niko lunged for her, but Alvarez’s men had already seen her. The shooter spun and fired. Jenna dove to the floor.

Niko fired and the shooter went down. The other man got off a couple of shots toward Jenna before Niko’s return fire sent him running for the front door.