Vengeance (SSU Trilogy Book 1) (43 page)

The note Jenna had found before she surrendered had been to Niko from Alvarez. Offering to trade Jenna for this woman. “But…I thought you were Alvarez’s prisoner.”

Madalena leaned forward. “I am. It is most unusual for him to have put you in a guest room and let me tend you. You have a bloody lump on the back of your head and I suspect you have a slight concussion.” She bit down lightly on her lower lip and glanced at the door again. “Whatever Alvarez’s reasons for putting us together, they cannot be good.”

Jenna tried to sit up, but only managed to raise her head an inch or so off the pillow before the pounding in her head forced her to lie back.

That’s right. She remembered now. She’d been at the airport. Someone tackled her. And before that—

“Rafe!” Jenna tried to sit up again, but Madalena pushed her gently back down.

“I fear my nephew is dead.” Madalena’s voice trembled with sorrow. “When Alvarez’s men took you, they left Rafe’s body on the tarmac.”

Oh, God. Not Rafe with his laughing eyes and teasing smile. It would kill Niko.

A door slammed somewhere close by. The sound of boots on tile echoed down the corridor.

“Listen to me.” Madalena squeezed Jenna’s hand. “Alvarez is coming for you. Whatever it is that he wants from you, give it to him. Immediately. I cannot emphasize this enough. That cut on your face is only a small measure of the pain he is capable of inflicting. Do not fight him and it will go easier for you.”

“And if that means giving up information that will lead him to Niko?”

“Do it. My nephew can take care of himself.”

#

Niko lay on his stomach in a clump of flowering bushes, looking down a slight hill and across the street to the front door of Percone’s house. Twenty minutes ago, a taxi had dropped the man off. Literally. The cabbie had opened the door and shoved Percone onto the flat strip of sandy dirt that served as parking space in front of his rundown bungalow. It had taken Percone almost ten minutes to drag himself over to the fence and use it to leverage himself to his feet.

He then proceeded to stagger through the gate and up his front walk, tracing an erratic serpentine. The only reason the man had managed to open the door was that it hadn’t been locked. No lights had gone on since Percone entered nine minutes ago, so Niko wondered if the man had passed out on the other side of the door.

Or maybe coming home shit-faced was so common the man could find his way to bed in the dark.

Niko glanced at his watch. Rafe should be back from dropping Jenna at the airport in another hour. He’d promised his brother he’d wait so they could question Percone together.

Niko raised his night-vision binoculars and swept the area around the house looking for other watchers. But the yard and the surrounding area were clear, as was the portion of beach visible behind the cottage.

This area of town had long ago been abandoned by the locals in favor of homes closer to the commercial center. During the tourist season these bungalows had a waiting list, but it was off season and from what Niko could tell, Percone’s was the only inhabited cottage on the entire street.

All remained dark and silent.

To hell with it. Niko’s instincts told him not to wait.

Enough time had passed since the attack on Paterson for Alvarez to have flown in from Acapulco. The one advantage Niko had was that Paterson hadn’t known Percone’s address. But the island was small and even at this hour it wouldn’t take long for Alvarez to rouse someone who could point him to the right house.

Niko backed up until he was deep in the jungle that crowded this shallow hill. Then he sent Rafe a text message, letting him know of the change in plans.

He was going in.

#

Jenna stood up as the door to the room opened. Madalena squeezed her hand, and together the women faced the monster that walked forward.

Alvarez raised his eyebrows at their show of strength.

With a quick flick of his wrist, men poured into the room. They flung Madalena against the wall and shoved Jenna to her knees in front of Alvarez.

“Señorita Paterson, how good to see you again. I always like to settle my debts in person.” He gestured to his face, where three bloody lines marked each cheek. “And I owe you for scratching me back in Ixtapa.”

Jenna didn’t know what possessed her, but she spat at his feet.

Alvarez stared at the mucous on his shoe for a long moment, until the tension in the room equalled the weight of an anvil. Then he stepped back and motioned for one of his men to wipe the shoe clean with a handkerchief.

The instant the man was finished, Alvarez’s foot shot out. If Jenna hadn’t been watching him so closely, she never would have managed to turn aside and raise her arm, so that his kick hit her triceps instead of the tender underbelly of her jaw.

Still, the force of the blow knocked her to the floor.

Hands grabbed her and forced her to stand. Two men held her upper arms and stepped on her feet so she couldn’t run. A third man held her left arm out as an offering to Alvarez.

“While I cut you,” Alvarez said conversationally, “You will tell me where Percone lives.”

The knife bit into her skin. Jenna clamped down on her teeth to keep from crying out.

Alvarez pressed harder, drawing more blood as he moved the knife slowly down her arm.

“I don’t know,” she said.

The knife reached her wrist and Alvarez dug the tip in deep before pulling it away. “I think you lie.”

He went to work on her other arm.

“I…don’t…know…” she gasped. The world swam and she gulped air, struggling to breathe through the pain.

Alvarez finished slicing her other arm and stood back. His eyes admired the cuts like a glass blower viewing a particularly successful vase. “Beautiful work, yes?”

He beckoned with his fingers and two men dragged Madalena forward. Alvarez pushed his knife up under the woman’s throat. “I will ask you one more time.” He flicked the knife so that Madalena bled. “What is Percone’s address?”

Madalena nodded slightly.

Through clenched teeth, Jenna gave Alvarez the address.

#

Five-hundred-dollar loafers in hand, Mark Tonelli cursed Dr. Nevsky with every painful step he took down the beach, the god-awful, filthy sand squishing between his bare toes. Even though Mark hated the beach, he’d decided to approach Percone’s house from the unlit back side, rather than from the road with its occasional streetlights. But that meant slogging through the thick sand, getting his feet dirty, and picking up who knew what types of bacteria.

The waves crashing against the shore made such a racket, he wanted to scream at someone to turn them off before the sound drove him crazy. To top it all off, the dog bites on his legs throbbed. If he wasn’t careful the wounds would reopen, leaving a trail of blood any idiot could follow.

It was a good thing Dr. Nevsky was dead, because Mark was ready to commit murder. Why couldn’t the scientist have put the microchip in a safe deposit box? Then Mark wouldn’t be here on this miserable island, chasing after Niko Andros.

Mark stepped in something wet and slimy and barely bit back a curse. He rubbed his foot quickly over a spot of dry sand, not wanting to even speculate about what had touched his skin. Not caring that a beach held different organisms than a filthy Moscow alley. In his mind, it was all the same. If you were dirty, you lacked power. He would never be powerless again.

Where the
hell
was Percone’s bungalow?

Mark glanced back the way he’d come and counted the widely-spaced houses. Three…four…five. There, the next house. Just past that little piece of jungle.

To his surprise, the house was dark. Was it possible that Andros had already come and gone? His heart sped up. Or maybe his luck was changing and Andros hadn’t arrived yet.

Mark set his shoes down on a rock by the bungalow’s back gate, pulled out his gun, and slipped quietly up the walk.

#

Sandwiched between two huge bodyguards, Jenna stared woozily across the guard to her right and out the window of Alvarez’s limousine. Dawn was a faint smudge on the horizon, not yet bright enough to chase away the darkness.

She shivered. Blood loss and lack of food had made her light-headed and cold. Alvarez hadn’t allowed the cuts on her arms to be bandaged and they still bled sluggishly. She probably needed stitches, but despite the throbbing pain, she thought she could use her arms if necessary.

God, she was scared.

Alvarez sat opposite her as the limo traveled through the deserted early-morning streets toward Percone’s house. Another guard protected his left side. Madalena huddled on his right, her eyes fixed on the crotch of the guard next to Jenna. Out of the corner of her eye, Jenna saw Madalena lick her lips, then shoot the man a heated glance between her luscious eyelashes.

She suspected Niko’s aunt was angling for a partner in their escape. The man shifted uncomfortably, struggling to hide his arousal from Alvarez.

He shouldn’t have bothered. Alvarez was too busy communicating with his men, ordering them to surround the house and capture Niko and Percone.

Alvarez’s voice held a mad excitement. Mad, because he hadn’t just sent a few carloads of men to the house. He’d sent
truck
loads.

A convoy of army transports had passed them two blocks back, leaving the limo rocking in its dusty wake. As Jenna watched them race by, she’d realized that Alvarez was expecting Niko to have another military team backing him up like the one in Ixtapa. She’d tried telling him it was just Niko out there, but Alvarez ignored her.

The light from a streetlamp threw devilish shadows across Alvarez’s face. His normally soulless eyes shone bright with fanatical hatred and his lips curled into a thin, anticipatory smile.

Jenna wanted to shrink away from him, but refused to show any sign of weakness. Instead, she encouraged her fear, using it to drive back the fog in her brain. She needed to be sharp if she had any chance of surviving the night.

Please, keep Niko safe.

Jenna surreptitiously pulled her wrists apart, testing the strength and fit of the satin cord binding her hands in front of her. Alvarez had been livid when his men couldn’t find flexicuffs for her and Madalena. Apparently, with all the prisoner activity lately, the men had used up all their restraints. So Alvarez had sliced off pieces of cord from the thickly braided satin ties holding back the drapes. He’d used the cord to tie the women’s hands in front of them. Unfortunately, he’d secured the cords tightly enough to slow the blood flow to Jenna’s hands. She wiggled her fingers, hoping to keep them functional.

Her only weapons were her mind and her body.

Niko had insisted she carry both a pistol and a knife on the trip to the airport, but those weapons were long gone. Alvarez had even remembered the knife she’d used in her attempt to kill Kai, and had removed her belt.

But she had two advantages. Her training, which included ways of fighting even when bound, and Alvarez’s chauvinism. He knew she had the desire to kill, but except for securing her hands, he’d left her unrestrained. If there hadn’t been three bodyguards surrounding him, she would have tried to kill Alvarez right now. But she wasn’t going to risk her life in a doomed attempt.

She’d just have to wait for the right opportunity to make her move. Because if she was going to die, she intended to take Alvarez with her.

#

Niko could not get Percone to wake up. He’d tried everything. Shaking him. Slapping him. Dousing him with cold water. The man had indeed collapsed just inside his front door, as Niko had suspected, but he must have hit his head on something on the way down, knocking himself unconscious.

Niko stood up and glanced out the window. The street remained deserted, but the hairs on the back of his neck said the situation was about to change. He needed to get Percone out of here. Now.

It didn’t take Niko long to walk through the small house, searching for an exit that wouldn’t expose them to watchers from the sea or the street. A wild tangle of palms, vines and flowering plants at the right side of the house, under the bedroom window, offered the only exterior cover.

Niko tried one more time to wake Percone up. When the man still didn’t stir, Niko hoisted him in a fireman’s lift and limped to the bedroom. He lowered Percone out the window, then dropped down beside him, wincing as the landing jarred his wounds.

From down the street, he heard the rumble of trucks.

Shit. No more time. He’d wanted to get Percone across the street and into the safety of the jungle, but that would expose them to the headlights of the approaching vehicles.

Just as he lifted Percone back onto his shoulder, his instincts told him he wasn’t alone. He drew his weapon, let Percone slide to the ground, and had the intruder pressed up against the side of the house before the other man could close in.

“Relax, Andros,” a vaguely familiar voice whispered. “It’s Mark Tonelli.”

Niko didn’t release the pressure on the man’s neck. “What the hell are you doing here?” Tonelli always seemed to show up at critical moments. The coincidental timing roused Niko’s suspicious nature.

“I ran into your brother at the airport. He sent me as backup.”

Not fucking likely. Rafe didn’t trust Tonelli any more than Niko did. Still, Ryker had trusted Tonelli enough to send Jenna to Moscow with the man, so Niko backed off, noting with some satisfaction that the other man took several deep, shuddering breaths as the pressure on his windpipe eased.

From out front, Niko heard the squeal of tires as the trucks slid to a stop. “I’ve got to get this guy into the next house,” Niko told Tonelli. “Check and make sure no one’s home.”

Niko hadn’t seen any activity at the neighbor’s place and Rafe had reported the same before he left for the airport. But there’d been a gap of an hour between the time Niko pulled Rafe away from Percone’s house and the time Niko arrived.

Niko hoped the neighbor’s house really was deserted, because otherwise, the inhabitants were about to get a rude wake-up call.

Tonelli hesitated a moment, then nodded and pushed his way through the tangled bushes.