Betrayal (32 page)

Kai wanted to protest Ryker’s statement. It shouldn’t be if they got Susana out alive, but when. Yet…even if Susana was surrounded by every available SSU agent while in Moscow, the vial might break during removal, no matter how carefully Dr. Ivanov handled it. Or Susana’s father could have been lying about the timetable and she’d die of poisoning before she even reached Moscow.

Ah, fuck. This totally wasn’t helping. If he wasn’t careful, he’d be a furious wreck by the time they landed in Moscow.

Unacceptable. Susana needed him at his best.

Tuesday, Night

Remote Airfield

Georgia, United States

A
thunderous cry of outrage echoed against the walls of the metal hangar. Ten feet away, three burly men in U.S. army fatigues struggled to lock Rafe in a straightjacket. He fought them with all the brutality of an animal, the sounds coming out of his mouth more suited to ape than human.

Niko stood behind Jenna, his arms draped over her shoulders, gripping her hands tight enough to cut off her blood supply. He barely noticed. Just as he ignored the pain from ribs cracked by Rafe’s feet and elbows.

His brother had finally woken up while the soldiers were carrying him off the plane.

Rafe had erupted in rage. He’d twisted hard enough to unbalance the soldier holding his feet. The man tripped on a crack in the asphalt and went down, losing his grip so that Rafe’s feet hit the tarmac.

Niko and the soldier at Rafe’s head had tightened their holds, but Rafe fought back, breaking the soldier’s kneecap and cracking Niko’s ribs. The other soldiers had pulled Rafe away before serious damage was done, but now they struggled to contain Rafe.

Niko watched the fight, his teeth clenched and his body stiff. Each twist of Rafe’s body, every inhuman cry, sent poisoned barbs into Niko’s soul, eclipsing his physical pain. If not for the reassuring, restraining presence of Jenna, Niko wouldn’t be able to stop himself from rushing over and pulling the soldiers away from Rafe.

The big brother in Niko couldn’t bear the anguish in Rafe’s voice.

“Easy,” Jenna whispered again. “This is necessary. We have to contain him so he doesn’t hurt anyone else.” She pushed back against him, bringing her body closer to Niko’s in comfort. And as a reminder that to get to Rafe, he’d have to go through her.

Niko rested his chin on the top of her head. “I know.” He wrapped his arms tighter across Jenna’s middle. “But, Jesus Christ, it’s hard to just stand here.” He refused to acknowledge the possibility that even once the chip was recovered and the data evaluated, no cure might be found.

He would not accept that Rafe would stay in this animal state until he died.

Rafe tried to bite one of the soldiers.

“Rafe, no!” Niko called out.

At the sound of his brother’s voice, Rafe swiveled his head. Wild, furious eyes met Niko’s. Fury changed to resentment. Then puzzlement. Finally, like a gentle wave moving up the shore after a storm, recognition filled Rafe’s eyes.

For a moment, Niko looked deep into the cage of Rafe’s mind, seeing his brother as he’d once known him. A man whose eyes now pleaded with Niko for help. For mercy.

Niko took an involuntary step forward, but Jenna used her body to stop him.

“I’m going to save you, Rafe,” Niko called. “I promise.” He didn’t know if his brother heard or understood. The fleeting moment of recognition vanished and Rafe snarled at Niko.

But the momentary lull in Rafe’s resistance had given the soldiers enough time to force his arms into a straight jacket. He bellowed in outrage and tried once again to use his teeth, but the soldiers stayed out of biting range.

While they fought to shove a gag in Rafe’s mouth, another soldier hurried out from the office, holding a syringe. “I’ve got it!”

No one had expected Rafe to wake up this soon, not after receiving multiple doses of the tranquilizer from Niko’s darts. So there hadn’t been more sedative on hand.

“It’s a stronger formula,” the soldier told Niko. “But Ryker says this should safely knock him out.”

Niko nodded. He watched, teeth clenched, as the man knelt beside Rafe. The other soldiers managed to pin Rafe’s head down, exposing his neck. When the needle jabbed into Rafe’s vein, Niko flinched.

Rafe’s eyes flew to Niko’s.
You betrayed me
, they accused.

“Forgive me,” Niko said.

But only rage remained in his brother’s eyes. Niko kept his gaze locked with Rafe’s until the tranquilizer took effect and Rafe’s lids slammed down.

The soldiers finished securing Rafe, then hoisted him up and moved toward the truck that would take him to the temporary SSU research facility.

Niko released Jenna and turned away. He was shaking.

“Niko?”

He shook his head and made his way slowly toward the office and the tiny washroom. “I…need to be alone for a few minutes,” he called over his shoulder. He didn’t have to glance behind him to know that Jenna’s expression would be a mix of hurt and sympathy.

He couldn’t be with her right now. He’d just condemned his brother to being locked in a padded, secured room, studied by scientists as they tried to find a way to reverse what had been done. Treated like a dangerous lab rat.

He pushed open the washroom door, the groan of rusty hinges setting fire to his exposed nerves. He hammered the door with his fist and it slammed closed. Then he stood in the middle of the floor, trembling. Fighting back waves of fury and helplessness, until finally all that remained was an empty, aching core.

An old, cloudy mirror hung over the small porcelain sink. Niko braced his hands on the edges of the basin and looked at his reflection.

He saw the same face he’d always seen, only depressingly haggard. Beaten down as he’d never looked even while deep undercover and surrounded by sadistic murderers. His mind knew Rafe had to be contained, but his heart insisted he’d failed his brother. As the oldest, Niko was supposed to protect his younger siblings.

He closed his eyes and let his forehead rest against the cool surface of the mirror.

Someone knocked at the door.

“Niko?” Jenna called. “Are you all right?”

No. He wouldn’t be all right until his brother was back to normal. But at least with Jenna’s support, Niko wouldn’t follow his brother into insanity.

“Give me another minute,” he answered.

He pushed away from the washbasin. Ran the taps and splashed cold water on his face. Then opened the door and let the woman he loved hold him and offer the comfort of not being alone.

Chapter 26

Thursday, Midday

Dr. Ivanov’s Compound, Russia

M
ark Tonelli excused himself and left Susana with Gonzales in Dr. Ivanov’s waiting room. Their arrival in Moscow and the short helicopter ride out to this former Czarist estate had gone smoothly, thanks to Jamieson. Even now, a team of soldiers waited in the woods to make certain Mark and the chip left the compound safely.

Mark pushed open a door that led into a long, thinly carpeted hallway and followed the directions he’d been given over the phone. Just before the door swung closed behind him he caught sight of Susana’s smile as she responded to something Gonzales said.

An unseemly surge of jealousy washed over Mark. Once the feeling passed, he reminded himself that Gonzales meant nothing to Susana. It was Mark she’d flirted with during the flight, not Gonzales. As soon as she healed from the surgery, Mark would have her in bed.

Everything was going as planned. Jealousy wasn’t just base, it was unnecessary.

As he walked down the hallway, Mark reflected that Susana wasn’t nearly as intelligent as her file suggested. She’d talked gaily of travel and her days as a model, but had shrugged off all attempts to discuss her work. “I’ve been through such an ordeal,” she’d told him. “Please let’s talk about something fun.”

Being near Susana’s beauty was intoxicating. As if she replaced all the stale, foul air in his lungs with perfume. Who cared if she lacked intelligence?

Standing next to her he felt invincible. Virile. He’d barely been able to keep himself from pushing her into the intimacy he craved. But he knew the gentlemanly thing to do was give her space, and he prided himself on his civility.

Mark turned the corner and counted doorways. Three doors down he stopped and pressed a buzzer set next to a shiny tan door.

The door opened to reveal a striking man in his early sixties. Tall, broad, bearing an uncanny resemblance to Sean Connery, but with a full head of graying black hair and a neatly trimmed goatee, he was the antithesis of every mad scientist stereotype. He belonged on the pages of
Town and Country
, advertising quality Scotch.

Mark hated him on sight.

“Mark Tonelli?” the man asked in Russian.

“Yes,” Mark replied in the same language.

“Welcome. I am Dr. Pieter Ivanov. The woman is in our waiting room?”

Mark nodded.

“Good. Come in.” The scientist waved Mark into a tidy office. Bookshelves filled with medical journals lined two walls. A third wall held a light board for viewing x-ray films, and several anatomical charts.

Ivanov pushed a button on the intercom on his desk. “Alexei, escort Susana Dias to the preparation room and start the pre-surgery routine. Give her Dr. Nevsky’s journals to read while she’s waiting. Notify me when all is ready.”

“Yes, doctor.”

“Since you are here,” Ivanov told Mark, “and we have some time before the woman is ready for surgery, please allow me to give you a tour of our facility. I have been waiting years for the woman to be found. We are deeply indebted to you.”

Something about the statement seemed off to Mark, but he merely nodded and followed the doctor from the room. At first, the tour consisted of nothing extraordinary. Examination and surgery rooms. Offices.

But then Dr. Ivanov led him to an area reminiscent of a special exhibit hall at a zoo. Each enclosure was perhaps twelve feet by twelve feet, the front wall three-quarters glass. The first room housed a man with the slender, muscular build of a gymnast. He wore an olive green unitard and was barefoot. As Mark watched, the man ran up onto the back of a couch, then leapt toward a trapeze hanging from the ceiling.

His hands caught the bar easily and he swung himself up and onto the seat.

Mark gasped. No ordinary man would have been able to make that leap. The distance had to be twenty feet nearly straight up.

“Ah, I see you are impressed. After Dr. Nevsky left for America, I dropped my research on intelligence and immunity, instead focusing on strength and agility. We continued to share notes, however, and he eventually incorporated some of my data into his program.”

Mark watched in growing horror as the man dropped off the trapeze. He landed in a crouch, then suddenly grimaced and grabbed his hair with both hands. His mouth opened on a scream. The next second he bent forward and slammed his forehead into the floor. Then did it again. And again, until a man in a white lab coat rushed in.

Ivanov shook his head. “You see here one of the weaknesses of our program. Subjects don’t remain sane for long. I understand that before his death Nevsky discovered some chemicals that extended the useful life of his subjects. Here, we only get three to four weeks before cognition is lost. Once the subjects are immune to directions, they cease to be of use.”

“What happens then?”

“It depends on the level of physical ability. For subjects that lose the ability to walk, we inject their bodies with new commercial drugs, testing for side effects.” Dr. Ivanov pointed to the room, where the man in the lab coat was escorting the gymnast through a door on the opposite wall. “But if they are ambulatory, we use them as targets for subjects in the initial stages of treatment.”

“Targets?” Mark asked slowly.

“Of course. At the core, we are a military program. Our subjects must be programmed to perpetuate violence on humans. What better targets than those subjects we no longer can use in the field?” Dr. Ivanov led Mark over to the door. It opened into a small observation area.

Ivanov pushed a button on the wall to his left and a shutter rose, revealing a plate glass window. On the other side of the window, a man used a baseball bat as a club against another man. A woman in a white lab coat stood in the corner. The man with the bat hesitated, stopping himself from landing the next blow. He glanced over at the woman and Mark could see the anguish in the man’s eyes.

The woman’s lips formed words Mark couldn’t hear through the glass, but from her excited hand gestures and the way she bounced eagerly on her toes, he guessed she was urging the man to continue hitting his opponent.

Although any more blows would be redundant. The second man was on the floor, blood pouring from his mouth and nose in a way that indicated internal bleeding. He was already dead.

Mark glanced at Dr. Ivanov. The scientist watched his subject raise the bat and slam it against the fallen man’s head. Ivanov’s eyes glittered with mad approval. “Excellent,” he murmured. “Very good.”

Mark turned away. He’d never admit to being squeamish, but the sight of all that blood was too much for him. And the senseless violence left a dull, metallic taste in his mouth.

He was supposed to trust Susana to this man?

Dr. Ivanov glanced over at Mark and chuckled. “I do apologize. Sometimes I forget that not everyone enjoys the sight of blood. But this man, he represents a huge breakthrough. That is his beloved younger brother he just killed. He resisted our commands for days, but we finally found the right combination of drugs and pain to overcome his resistance.”

Mark choked back a protest. Now he understood why the man had looked so tormented before he’d inflicted the final blows. He’d known he was killing his brother, but been unable to stop. Mark’s uneasiness strengthened. Having someone take away his free will would be his worst nightmare.

Yet if he understood Ivanov, Nevsky had also been working on mind control. And Jamieson wanted Nevsky’s chip so he could create a super soldier.

Something Gonzales said to him on the flight came back to him. The man claimed that Rafe Andros had been captured and turned into a furious, mind-controlled beast by a program that had originated with Dr. Nevsky. As much as Mark disliked the Andros brothers personally, he respected them as operators. Rafe hadn’t deserved to end up like one of the men here in Ivanov’s lab.