“I knew I couldn’t make it home fast enough to save them, so I called Ryker and threatened him. Warned him that I would hold him responsible if anything happened to my family, because only the SSU could have slipped my real name to Alvarez.”
Some nights he still woke in a panic after dreams where he raced frantically to reach his family, only to arrive too late. “I got to the house just in time to see a van speed off. I ran inside and found…” His voice broke. Even though he’d known his family was dead, that no one could survive such gaping throat wounds, he’d still tried to revive his parents and the twins, performing CPR until his hands and clothes were stained with blood.
Then the sound of sirens had jerked his self-preservation instincts into motion. He’d slipped out the back door and down the porch steps, where he’d almost stumbled over Jenna’s body. He’d bent down, feeling for her non-existent pulse, when the ambulance braked to a stop at the front of the house. He’d bolted for the neighbor’s yard.
“Shit,” Niko breathed. “I’m sorry, man.”
Kai had to look away from the sympathy in Niko’s eyes. “I couldn’t stop myself from moving toward the front of the neighbor’s yard, keeping to the shadows at the edge of the crowd on the street. I guess…shit…part of me hoped that one of them would be wheeled out on a stretcher instead of inside a body bag.” Kai shook his head. “That’s when I saw Ryker. He was there and he saw me. I’m telling you, there was guilt in his eyes.”
“That doesn’t mean he gave Alvarez your information,” Rafe countered. “I know Ryker. He was torn up over your family’s murder. Your father was his best friend.”
Niko nodded agreement. “He’s very protective of Jenna. Thinks of her as his daughter.”
Yeah, but did he truly care or was it merely atonement for letting Kai’s real name slip? “I can’t take your word for it,” Kai said. “Not yet. I need your promise that you won’t repeat what I’m about to tell you to anyone at the SSU.”
The brothers exchanged a long, serious look. Then Rafe nodded. “You have our word.”
“I need to hear Niko say it as well.”
“I promise,” Niko said.
“Okay. Dr. Nevsky had a mistress in Acapulco, Doña Serafina. She told me that Dr. Nevsky’s personal assistant, Eduard Percone survived the fire at the lab and is living in Puerto Vallarta under the name Juan Duarte.” Kai gave a rueful half smile. “I was only questioning the men I knew survived the fire and I thought Percone was dead. I’d seen Percone rushing toward Nevsky’s office after the self-destruct was triggered. I tried to warn him of the danger, but he was desperate to get to Nevsky and ignored me. I don’t see how he survived.” He shook his head. God, if only he’d stuck around. Maybe he would have seen Percone leave and saved himself two years of chasing the chip. But the explosion had thrown Kai out of the building and knocked him unconscious. When he’d come to, he’d seen the entire building engulfed in flames and figured there’d been no survivors.
“I didn’t entirely trust Doña Serafina’s information,” Kai continued. “Even though she claimed she was tired of being used by Alvarez and didn’t see the harm in telling me the truth. But as I was leaving her house the maid took me aside and told me that the man in Puerto Vallarta is a decoy hired by Percone. The real Percone is in Cozumel.”
“How recent is this information?” Niko demanded.
“Recent. Alvarez’s men grabbed me after I left Doña Serafina’s house that night. The maid’s sister is living with Percone and she’d spoken with the woman just that afternoon.” Kai leaned back against the pillows, all his energy having abandoned him. “If this man doesn’t have the information we need, then I don’t know where else to turn. I’m out of names to check.” Percone had to have the chip. Kai was so damn tired of the search. He wanted to return to what remained of his previous life.
“You got any pictures of Percone?” Rafe asked.
“Yeah, they’re in the cottage I was renting.” Kai gave them the address. “My stuff should still be there unless Alvarez’s men found it. I paid in advance for a week.”
“Damn,” Niko said. “I still can’t believe you’ve been searching for the chip for two years. Dr. Nevsky must have been a wily old bastard.”
Kai gave a rueful shake of his head. “Try brilliant and secretive. He did an excellent job of appearing the absent-minded professor, when he was really sharp as a tack. Did I mention paranoid? Each section of the lab knew only their mission objective, not the big picture. He was terrified of someone stealing his data.”
Kai coughed, his whole body shaking with the effort. “Hell, for all I know, it was my assignment to the team that pushed him over the edge and had him encoding and hiding the data.”
“We’ll let you rest now. You’ll hear from us once we’ve got Percone,” Rafe said.
Niko held up a glass of water and Kai sipped eagerly through the straw.
“Jenna—” he croaked. He coughed, then tried again. “Keep Jenna away from Alvarez. It’s too dangerous.”
Niko’s expression tightened. “Yeah, now that you’re found, she’s done,” he promised.
“Thank God.” The thought of Alvarez doing any more damage to his baby sister made him want to cry.
The men walked over to the door, then Niko paused and looked back over his shoulder. “You hear about what happened to five of the six assassins that killed your family?”
“That they died in the same manner? Seems I might have heard that somewhere.” Kai knew his smile was feral despite his torn lips. “No less than they deserved, gentlemen.”
Niko nodded, a hint of respect crossing his eyes. “Just so you know, an inside source claims Alvarez threw the sixth assassin to the dogs a few days ago.”
“Good to know.” He’d wanted to be responsible for the deaths of all six of them, but he wasn’t going to complain. Having personally experienced Alvarez’s displeasure, he knew the man had suffered. And despite the savage satisfaction he’d gotten from exacting vengeance personally on the other five assassins, he didn’t need more blood on his hands.
Niko followed Rafe out the door and Kai closed his eyes. He wasn’t the same man Jenna had once looked up to with love in her eyes. The attack on their family had unleashed a primitive anger he still couldn’t fully control.
But from what he’d seen in Jenna’s eyes back at the fortress, his sister had changed, too.
He would gladly give up his life if he could change her back.
Chapter 30
Saturday, Morning
San Diego, California
Jenna walked down the corridor toward Kai’s hospital room. She couldn’t stop herself from wincing as she remembered how last night as he’d left Kai’s room Niko had brushed past her like she didn’t exist. Even Rafe’s smile had been cool.
What had she done to piss them off? And why did their anger hurt so much?
She forced herself to smile at the guard and knocked on Kai’s door. At Kai’s voice telling her to come in, the guard opened the door, then followed her inside.
She went over to the bed and picked up Kai’s good hand. “How are you feeling?”
“More human with every minute.” He glanced at the guard. “Did you need something?”
“No, sir.”
“Then would you mind giving us some privacy?”
The guard shook his head. “Sorry, sir. My orders are to make sure you’re not left alone with your sister.”
“What?” Kai demanded.
Oh, God. Who had figured it out? Niko? Ryker? She felt her cheeks heat.
Kai, of course, noticed her guilty expression. His eyes narrowed. “Jenna? What’s going on?”
“Umm…” She shot a quick look at the guard. “Do you need to frisk me or is it okay if I sit next to him? I promise I’m not going to hurt him.”
“I’ll need to search you, ma’am. Sorry.”
By the time the man had finished his search for weapons, Jenna wanted to melt into a mortified puddle. I
was wrong, she wanted to shout. I don’t want to kill him any more.
But at least the guard went to stand just inside the door. She hoped he was far enough away not to hear what she was about to say.
She sat on the edge of the bed and stared at a fold in Kai’s blanket, unable to meet her brother’s eyes.
“Talk to me, Jenna. Why do I need protection from you?”
She started to answer, then shook her head. “Why did you say you’re sorry when you saw me back in your cell? Why did you beg me to kill you? Was it…because you were part of the attack that night?” She plucked at the blanket.
Kai swore, the sound so full of pain, Jenna glanced up. Underneath his cuts and bruises, his face was white as snow. “God, no,” he rasped. “Why would you think that?”
She twisted a section of blanket around her index finger. “Because during the attack I heard your voice telling the men to kill us. And I saw you leave the house.”
“No!” He grabbed her hand. “Jenna, look at me.”
She raised her head and met his eyes.
“Jenna, I spent years trying to distance myself from the family so none of you would ever be hurt by the men I dealt with while undercover. I did not order the attack that killed our family. I swear it. I arrived that night, saw the van speeding away and…” Kai swallowed heavily. “I knew I was too late.”
The anguish in those words tore the remaining scabs from Jenna’s wounds.
“But I had to see,” Kai continued. “I thought maybe…maybe I was wrong. Or that someone could be saved.” A tear spilled down his cheek. “I checked everyone’s pulse, tried CPR, even though it was clear no one was alive.”
Kai’s hand landed heavily on her head, awkwardly stroking her hair despite the thick bandages around his fingers. “I even checked your pulse, Jen-shine. Nothing.”
“But—” She frowned, thinking back. “I could barely breathe, but somehow I opened my eyes. I saw you hurry out the back door and shut it behind you. The light threw shadows on your face, but what I saw was the face of a stone cold killer. I tried screaming your name but nothing came out. And then I—.”
“Died.” Kai’s voice cracked, and Jenna nodded.
“I’d heard the ambulance coming down the street, indicating it was time for me to leave. Until I knew who all my enemies were, I couldn’t risk talking to the authorities. I ran out the door, then tripped over you on the lawn. When I leaned down to check, you had no pulse. Otherwise, I never would have left you.”
“The paramedics revived me right away,” she said. Then admitted, “Sometimes I wish they hadn’t.”
“Oh Jenna, no, love.” Kai’s arms gathered her into a tight hug. “Your survival is a miracle.”
His familiar warmth and strength reminded her of all the times he’d comforted her as a child. Helped chase away the last doubt as to his innocence.
He wasn’t the monster she’d thought him.
She pushed back and looked into his eyes, seeing only sincerity and anguish there. “I believe you.” Her lips curled in a wry smile. “After all, even Alvarez admitted you weren’t part of the killing team. But since you’re innocent, why did you apologize to me when you were feverish back in your cell?”
He sighed. “Because I wasn’t careful enough. Someone betrayed my identity to Alvarez, leaving the family vulnerable to attack.” He cleared his throat. “It’s my fault everyone’s dead. If I hadn’t taken that assignment…God, Jenna, when I saw what had been done…” Kai’s eyes shimmered with unshed tears and he glanced away. “It destroyed part of me. How did you survive without going mad?”
Now it was her turn to look away. “I’m not sure I did. Kai, all this time I’ve believed you guilty.” She pinched a piece of lint off the blanket. “All I’ve lived for is vengeance. The thought of making you pay with your life.” She stared at her fingers, pale against the dark blue blanket, remembering how they’d looked clutching the hilt of the knife as it plunged toward Kai’s body.
“Can you forgive me?” The words came out in a frightened rush. What if Kai hated her for not trusting him?
“Jenna. Oh, honey.” His hand gently stroked her hair, just like he’d used to do when she was a little girl and couldn’t sleep. She relaxed under his touch, knowing she was forgiven.
“I tried to kill you,” she whispered. “Back in your cell. But I…couldn’t…” She shuddered, knowing she’d come within a hairsbreadth of making the biggest mistake of her life.
“I remember. I saw the knife and thought you were an angel come to save me from my pain.” Kai closed his eyes, but not before she saw the unbearable sadness and weariness there. It called to the dark place inside her where she’d locked all her grief, bringing a tightness to her throat that made her breath catch.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw the guard move to the far corner of the room.
“How did you find me, Jenna?”
“I’ve spent months training with the SSU,” she said. “After the attack, Ryker transferred me to the compound’s hospital. When I was healed, he let me enter operator training. Then you were spotted in Moscow and Ryker sent me to draw you out of hiding.”
“The boy in the bar. That was you?”
She nodded.
“I thought so, but when I hacked into the SSU database it said you were dead.”
“False information, meant to protect me.”
“Ryker,” Kai said. “You…trust him?”
She glanced up, surprised. “Yes. He’s been very good to me. Why?”
Kai explained about unreturned phone calls and assassins. “But…that doesn’t make sense,” she said.
“Ryker was there the night of the attack,” Kai insisted. “After I left the backyard, I found I couldn’t walk away. So I stayed in the shadows at the back of the crowd, hoping no one would see the blood on my clothes from my CPR efforts. And I saw Ryker. Our eyes met and his were full of guilt. He knew he’d failed to protect you, even though I’d given him plenty of warning.”
“He never mentioned anything about being there that night,” Jenna said. “But Ryker did warn Dad. We were just about to evacuate when the assassins burst in.”
Was it possible Ryker had leaked Kai’s name to Alvarez then deliberately arrived too late to save them? No. Jenna shook her head. “I can’t believe Ryker had anything to do with the attack. You should hear how he chokes up when he talks about Dad.”
Kai didn’t answer, just ran his hand down her back. She flinched slightly as the pressure touched the welts left by Alvarez’s whip, but Kai noticed. His hand stilled and she felt his muscles tense. But she didn’t want to talk about it, so she snuggled closer and Kai gently resuming his stroking.
“Kai, I’ve…changed. I’m not your sunny little sister anymore. I’m not sure I even like who I am now.”
“Doesn’t matter.” He placed a kiss on her hair. “We’re both alive. We can work everything else out later. But…I think it’s time you told me what happened that night.”
Underneath her cheek, she felt his heart speed up. “Are you sure? Maybe I should wait until you’ve recovered.”
“Uh-uh. I want to know now. I’ve imagined so many different scenarios over the years, all of them terrible. Tell me the truth, so I can understand.”
This was the moment she’d been dreading. She’d given the facts to the police. Told parts of it again to Ryker and her psychiatrists at the SSU. Even shared a few details with Niko. But this would be the first time she talked honestly about not just what happened, but how she’d felt. Kai deserved no less.
“I was so happy that day…” she began.
Kai was a good listener. And with his arm around her and his chest cradling her head, the horror didn’t pull her under like it usually did.
“By the time I left the hospital, I was convinced you had to die,” she concluded.
He tightened his arm around her shoulders and they stayed like that, in silence, for a very long while. When she finally lifted her head, she
saw that Kai’s face was also wet with tears. She gave him a shaky smile and dabbed carefully at his face with her sleeve, trying not to break open any of his cuts.
“Sometimes I can’t believe they’re really gone,” Kai said. “Even though—” He cleared his throat. “I knew that working with Alvarez was dangerous. I’d warned Dad to take extra security precautions.”
“He did. The police told me that he’d wired the house with a silent alarm. And officers made regular patrols past the house. That’s why help got to the scene so fast.”
Kai nodded. “It didn’t make sense Dad would leave you guys unprotected.” He looked into her eyes, so solemn she almost started crying again. “Jenna, I would never do anything to hurt my family. I love—” His voice broke and he closed his eyes.
She reached out and cupped his cheek with her hand. He nestled against her.
“I loved everyone so much.” He opened his eyes and took her face in his hands, wincing slightly as the movement jarred his sore, newly relocated shoulder.
“You’re all I have left.” He gave her a grief-tinged smile. “I know you thought I was overprotective before, but…I think I’m going to be worse now. You need to stay away from Alvarez, Jenna. I can’t let anything happen to you. I don’t think I could survive losing you again.” He pulled her back into his arms.
Jenna shook her head and disengaged. “I’m sorry. I can’t do that. Our family died because of Alvarez. He has to be punished.”
Kai grabbed her hand. “Yes, Alvarez deserves to be brought to justice. But not by you, Jenna. Leave that to the professionals. Like the Andros brothers.”
“No. I need to be involved. I vowed to get vengeance and I’m not backing down.”
“Too late, sweetheart. They’re leaving this morning for Cozumel, following a lead I gave them on the chip.”
“That bastard! Niko didn’t tell me.” She leapt off the bed.
“Jenna, wait! You can’t go with them. It’s too dangerous.”
Jenna ignored him and raced out the door.
#
Saturday, Afternoon
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Vengeance (SSU Trilogy Book 1) Page 31