It had been a risk hitting the clubs alone. There were too many men who wanted to test him. Who wanted to brag that they’d finally beat the man Alvarez called son. Or men who had a personal score to settle with la mano derecha. Who watched him and waited for the right moment to attack.
Even now, outside the club and away from the low-level gangsters inside, he felt eyes watching him. Measuring him. Making his nerves hum and the back of his neck tingle.
Yeah, well, bring it on. He could do with a good fight.
But no one approached him as he walked down the street. No one even gave him more than a cursory glance.
Once he hit the decent, tourist-riddled part of town he relaxed. And thought about what he’d learned. Alvarez wasn’t in town, but was rumored to be arriving very soon. If Alvarez followed precedent, Aunt Madalena would be with him.
Making it all that easier to rescue her. Niko wondered if he should even bother with Kai Paterson. He had Rafe. And Jenna.
Someone else could go after the chip.
Yeah, right, who was he kidding? Alvarez’s homes were guarded like the Pentagon. It would take more than the three of them to rescue his aunt.
His phone signaled an incoming text message.
Spotted Kai. Following. Near hotel.
Dammit, no! Niko bolted down the street, feet drilling fearfully into the pavement. He’d told Jenna to stay put. What the hell was she doing?
At the corner before the hotel he slowed to a walk. He didn’t want to scare Paterson away by barging onto the scene.
He scanned the street, trying to spot Jenna among the throngs of window-shopping tourists taking advantage of the cooler night air.
There. At the end of the street. Jenna’s hat lit by a street lamp. She’d stopped in front of a shoe store and appeared to be checking out the selection. But, Jesus, that outrageous hat was a damn beacon for any man searching his six, looking for a tail. What was wrong with her? She knew better.
Even as he thought it, she pulled the hat off and tied a dark scarf around her hair. She preened at her reflection and then passed her hat to a startled teenage girl.
Stay there, sweetheart, Niko thought as he dodged a family with three whining children. Let me catch up with you. He sent Jenna a brief text message.
Wait for me.
Then, hoping Rafe’s plane had landed, Niko dialed his brother’s cell. But his call bounced straight to voicemail. Niko didn’t bother leaving a message.
By the time he reached the shoe store, Jenna was gone. A few yards ahead of him, two men detached themselves from the shadows and turned left down the next street.
Shit. He recognized one of the men by the way his head tilted to the left every time he took a step. Ignacio Jimenez. One of Alvarez’s more vicious minor lieutenants.
Niko followed. Half a block down, Jenna sauntered along, glancing in store windows as if simply out for an evening stroll. He couldn’t see the man she was following.
She either had her phone off, or was ignoring the phone’s announcement that his text message had arrived, damn her. It was too dangerous to catch up with her now. Jimenez would recognize him and he didn’t want to draw the man’s attention to Jenna.
With any luck, Alvarez’s men would walk right by her.
As the street worked its way closer to the ocean, the stores gave way to houses and an occasional boat rental shop already closed for the night. There were fewer people on the street to hide behind. Jimenez and his partner were gaining on Jenna. Down at the end of the block, a man disappeared around the corner, heading toward the marina.
Jenna broke into a trot.
Jimenez and his friend paused, glanced at each other, and gave chase.
Shit. When he got Jenna back to the hotel, he was going to wring her sexy little neck.
Jenna and Alvarez’s men disappeared around the corner. Niko ran after them.
Too late. As Niko rounded the corner, Jimenez grabbed Jenna.
“Let the woman go,” Niko shouted in Spanish. Dammit, he couldn’t shoot, not with Jenna held so close against Jimenez’s body.
Jimenez turned his head toward Niko. Jenna took advantage of his distraction by driving her elbow into his gut and following up with a fist up Jimenez’s nose.
Atta girl!
Jenna spun away as Jimenez fell. The other man lunged for her, but Niko got to him first. Niko knocked the man out before he realized the danger.
Neither man was going to stay down for long, though. Niko took Jenna’s hand and started to run back the way he’d come.
She tugged him the opposite way. “That’s Kai!” she said, pointing frantically toward the man she’d been following just as a white sedan sped past them.
At the end of the street, Paterson glanced back over his shoulder, then bolted.
Two shots cracked the silence of the night. Paterson jerked and fell face down.
Jenna gave a sob of denial. She kicked off her high heels, broke free of Niko and ran toward her brother.
The car reached him first. A large man in a black suit leapt out and dragged Paterson’s body into the car. Another face Niko remembered from Alvarez’s entourage.
A moment later, the car turned a corner and was gone.
Jenna reached the spot where her brother had been shot and sank to her knees, head in her hands.
“Get up, Jenna,” Niko told her. “C’mon. Stay strong for me just a little longer, chica. Alvarez’s men are behind us.” He pulled her upright and urged her into a run in the same direction the car had taken. “That’s right. Keep moving.”
They sprinted down the street. If they made it to the next corner before Jimenez caught up with them, there were several small cross streets where they could hide.
But Jenna stumbled, then began limping. Damn. She must have stepped on a piece of glass or other sharp debris.
He heard the men’s rapid breathing drawing nearer. Saw a couple of other men approaching from an alley between two houses.
He pulled Jenna in front of him and twisted to the side an instant too late. Jimenez grabbed Niko, yanking him away from Jenna.
Niko pivoted and threw a punch toward the man’s head.
Silver flashed in the streetlight and Niko pulled back before the arc of Jimenez’s trademark ivory-handled switchblade. Shit, the man was fast as ever. Niko didn’t have time to reach for his weapon or one of his knives. Jimenez kept moving forward, slicing the air with his blade in a deadly pattern that forced Niko farther and farther away from Jenna.
Cold, dark rage swept over Niko. To hell with this.
Niko stepped toward Jimenez, putting up his left forearm to protect his face. The knife bit through his suit jacket and deep into his skin. Niko ignored the pain. Because the movement got him underneath Jimenez’s defenses.
After that, the man went down easy. Jimenez had always relied too much on his knife work. And Niko had learned to fight from some of the most vicious men in Alvarez’s organization.
As Niko leaned down to pick up Jimenez’s knife, a bullet split the air where his head had been seconds ago. Niko flicked his wrist and Jimenez’s perfectly balanced knife found a new home in the shooter’s heart.
Niko stepped over the man’s dead body. When Alvarez learned that one of his men had been killed with Jimenez’s own knife, Jimenez was going to wish Niko had killed him, too, instead of leaving him unconscious.
Whoa, there was another man on the ground. Jenna must be—
Jesus H. Christ.
Jenna lay on her stomach with a man straddling her back. His hands were around her throat, choking her. Jenna’s fingers clawed frantically at the skin on the back of her attacker’s hands.
Niko couldn’t tell if her struggles were just to get air, or if she was panicking.
It didn’t matter. The asshole would pay for hurting Jenna.
Niko slammed his boot heel into the side of her attacker’s head, knocking the man away from her. When the man tried to stand, Niko kicked him again.
Everything dark and ugly inside of Niko focused on hurting the man. He didn’t want the fight to end quickly. He needed to punish the man for attacking Jenna. He needed to—
Jenna pulled his arm.
Niko blinked, and the rage slowly receded. Leaving him standing in the middle of the street, a bloody, unconscious man at his feet.
Fuck. Niko ran his hands down his face. He’d nearly killed the man. If not for Jenna…
God, he hadn’t lost it like that in years.
He took a deep breath. It wasn’t safe here. They had to get away.
Niko stepped toward Jenna.
Something hard slammed into his chest, knocking him backward. His head smacked against the pavement and the world went black.
#
Jenna froze as Niko toppled backward.
Oh, God, please, no.
A bullet ricocheted off the pavement to her left. Jenna threw herself at Niko, shielding him with her body.
She looked up, trying to see who was shooting at them, and met the furious eyes of the man Niko had been fighting. He held a pistol aimed at her head.
Jenna pulled off the scarf hiding her hair, hoping that this man belonged to Alvarez and would recognize her as Kai’s white-haired sister, and therefore too valuable to shoot.
The man muttered something about a white-haired devil woman, but didn’t lower his weapon.
“I do not care what they say, señorita, I will shoot you to get to him,” the man said in Spanish. “I will not permit him to take back his power.”
So this was one of the men who wanted Niko dead. Jenna tightened her arms around Niko, waiting for the slightest twitch to show her the man had pulled the trigger. So she could roll Niko away at the last minute.
But five men ran came around the corner at a run, yelling. Shots almost hit the man with the gun. Anger, frustration, and a helpless rage dashed across the man’s face before he turned and fled.
Three of the new arrivals gave chase. The other two slowed to a walk and approached Jenna.
Beneath her, Niko began to stir.
Oh, thank God!
Jenna scrambled off him. She ran her hands over his chest, trying to find where he’d been hit. She found a tear in his jacket, but no blood.
“Kev…lar, vest,” Niko gasped. “I’m okay. Just winded.”
But her fingers had come away wet from his left sleeve. She reached for his arm, but Niko knocked her hand away. “No. Help me to my feet.”
She wedged her shoulder under his bad arm, giving him enough support so he could stand.
One of the men walked over to them and Jenna tensed.
“Shit,” Niko muttered. “What’s he doing here?”
Chapter 19
The man stepped forward so that the light from the streetlamp illuminated his features.
Mark Tonelli.
Jenna tightened her grip on Niko.
“You okay?” Mark asked.
Niko just grunted. “Yes,” Jenna answered warily.
“He ran Alvarez’s men off?” Niko whispered for her ears only.
She nodded.
“Thanks,” he told Mark.
Mark gave Niko one of his superior smiles. “You’re welcome.” He looked up and down the street. At a signal from Mark, the other man walked away and disappeared down the block. “Where are you staying? I’ll help you get back.”
Jenna felt Niko’s hesitation. If he wanted to reject Mark’s offer, she’d support him, but she really wanted to get off the street before Niko passed out from loss of blood.
The three of them were alone now and Jenna was acutely aware of being exposed underneath the street light. Without the sounds of traffic or conversation, she could hear the waves breaking against the pier and the occasional buzz of a cicada.
The hairs on the back of her neck tingled. She felt like they were being watched. She dug her fingers into Niko’s side and glanced around, but it was too dark to tell if someone lingered in the shadows.
“You have a car?” Niko asked.
Mark nodded.
“Then let’s go.”
Mark turned back the way they’d come.
Damn, it was a good thing she was strong for her size, because Niko leaned heavily on her as they followed Mark. By the time they reached Mark’s car, Niko had vomited once at the side of the road and was swaying so forcibly, she could barely keep him in a straight line.
Mark, the selfish jerk, didn’t offer to help.
Niko didn’t make a sound as she eased him into the backseat of Mark’s low-slung sports car, even when she accidentally knocked his wounded arm against the door frame. The leg room was so scarce, she figured it would be more comfortable for him to lie across the seat, so she situated him with his back against the far door.
She gnawed on her lip. He must be hurt worse than he’d let on, because he let her move him like he was a rag doll. His eyes were closed and she wasn’t certain if he was unconscious, or simply conserving energy.
The last thing she wanted to do was sit up front with Mark, but there wasn’t enough room for her in back with Niko. As soon as her door was closed, Mark gunned it.
“What the hell are you doing here?” he snapped.
She glanced over at Mark, not understanding why he was angry. Why did he care? Not interested in arguing with him, she gave him a shrug.
He pulled out onto one of the main streets, then glanced at Niko in the rearview mirror. “Hospital?”
Somehow Mark managed to make the word sound like an insult.
“No…hospital. Hotel…Excelsior.” Niko’s voice was the merest vibration, barely audible over the roar of the engine.
Mark’s flash of jealousy as he recognized the name of the expensive hotel made Jenna feel good in an entirely juvenile way. She hoped Mark was staying in a pit.
The rest of the ride to the hotel was made in silence.
The moment Mark pulled the car up to the back door, Jenna hopped out and maneuvered Niko from the backseat onto his feet. After one step, his knees gave out. Jenna banged on the car’s roof to get Mark’s attention.
“I need help.”
“Figures,” Mark said grudgingly, climbing out of the car. He put his arm around Niko’s waist and together they got Niko up to the room, into the bathroom and seated on the counter. Niko started to fall sideways, but braced himself with his good arm.
“Thanks,” Niko said to Mark, his voice slightly slurred. “We’ll take it from here.” For a long, tense moment, the two locked gazes, Niko clearly challenging Mark.
Then Mark shrugged. “Good-night.”
Jenna followed him across the living room. As Mark pulled open the door, he muttered, “Nice company you’re keeping. Do you know Andros used to work for Alvarez?”
Jenna went still with rage. How dare Mark bring that up!
She expected Mark to step out into the hall, but instead, he backed away from the door, crowding her back into the sitting room.
Jenna peered around his shoulder and saw Rafe standing in the doorway, cold eyes measuring Mark for a shroud.
“For the record,” Rafe said in a voice so chillingly polite it was menacing, “My brother was undercover with Alvarez. His work led to Alvarez’s arrest.”
Mark made a rude sound of disbelief, pushed past Rafe, and disappeared down the hall.
Rafe glared after him. Then he looked at Jenna. “You okay?”
She nodded.
“Good. I’ll be right back.” He started to follow Mark, then hesitated and turned back to her. “Niko’s a good man. What he did during his time with Alvarez, it hurt him.”
“Yeah, I know,” she said. “It’s another reason why I respect him.”
“Thank you.” Rafe smiled, planted a quick kiss on her cheek, then hurried after Mark.
Shaking her head in bemusement, Jenna closed the door and returned to the bathroom. She stopped in the doorway, her heart squeezing tight.
Niko’s head rested against the wall, his eyes closed. A s
crape running along his right cheekbone sluggishly oozed blood.
He looked vulnerable and defeated. This was a side of him she’d never seen before. She wanted to pull him into her arms and heal him. Yet at the same time, she didn’t want to disturb him.
He must have sensed her presence, however, because his eyes opened. He stared at her, gaze unfocused and without recognition. She quickly stepped forward, afraid he might lose consciousness. But then, with a force of will she could practically feel, his eyes focused on her.
“How bad is it?” she asked.
He glanced down at his arm. “I don’t know. Hurts like a sonofabitch though.” He lifted his head and met her eyes. “You’re going to have to take my shirt off so we can take a look.”
The thought of undressing him made her mouth go dry. Her pulse quickened as she remembered the sensual tension that had built when he’d tended her wounds back at the cabin. Underneath the pain in his eyes, she thought she saw an answering flare of heat. But it was so brief, she probably imagined it. So she nodded and stepped in between his legs.
Her fingers shook slightly as she worked the first button free. The smell of sweat, blood and Niko’s own spicy scent teased her nose. She barely managed to stop herself from leaning forward and nuzzling against his throat.
Telling herself to stay objective, she briskly slid the shirt off his good shoulder and down his arm past his tattoo. This close, she could see that part of the skin under the tattoo was raised. She traced her finger over it. The skin was rough and uneven.
“Scar tissue?”
“Yeah. Alvarez used a branding iron to mark me as his.” Niko shrugged. “Once I was free, I had the tattoo done. Those are, uh…symbols of honor, courage and strength. Aztec and Greek, mostly.”
Jenna clamped her lip between her teeth. She could picture it all too well, men holding Niko still while the hot iron seared his flesh. Yet she was sure he hadn’t made a sound of pain.
Sorry she’d asked, and needing to do something to soothe him, she leaned forward and pressed a kiss to the branded skin. Niko hissed in a breath, as if she’d shocked him.
She pulled back quickly, embarrassed, and kept her eyes lowered as she finished moving the shirt sleeve off his arm. It got stuck at Niko’s wrist where she’d forgotten to undo the buttons. She shook her head and shot him an apologetic smile. She fumbled open the button and a moment later his arm was bare. She peeled the shirt away from him until it hung from his injured arm.
Vengeance (SSU Trilogy Book 1) Page 19