Betrayal (SSU Trilogy Book 2) (The Surgical Strike Unit) Read online

  “Ah…” Kai was on a forty-eight hour cycle for reporting in by text message. Ryker counted back. “Two days ago. He was on the river on his way to Dias’s camp. His next scheduled report is in three hours.”

  Ryker spun the globe, watching the continents fly past. Two years ago, Kai had failed to check in while undercover at Nevsky’s lab. When Ryker learned that an explosion had destroyed the lab and killed Nevsky, he hadn’t wanted to believe Kai was responsible. Or that Kai had stolen the microchip. But the security video showed Kai fleeing the fire. That, plus additional evidence, had eventually forced Ryker to consider Kai a traitor.

  He’d sent SSU agents after Kai, but they’d never been able to catch him.

  Five months ago Kai had resurfaced and the truth had come out. Kai had been framed. He’d been searching for the microchip the entire time, trying to prove his innocence while staying alive.

  Ryker was not going to doubt Kai now. If he didn’t check in on schedule, Ryker would assume Kai was in trouble, locate him via the subdermal tracker, and send backup.

  “It’s possible he’s out of range,” Niko offered.

  “Possible. Or Rafe got to him.”

  “I don’t think he’s had time. He was in New York this morning.”

  “That’s assuming he was telling the truth.”

  Niko’s silence was painful. “Yeah, but…even though they may be controlling Rafe, I’m going with my gut on this. I believe him.”

  “I assume you’re on your way to Brazil?”

  “Right. Uh…Jenna’s going with me.”

  Ryker smiled. Niko’s wife had trained to be an SSU agent for the wrong reasons and was now pursuing a career in wildlife rehabilitation, but she still had good instincts. Top that with a fierce protectiveness for her brother, and…

  Hell. Niko’s brother versus Jenna’s brother. Wasn’t that a lose-lose situation?

  “Tell me when and where your flight’s landing and I’ll have a team at your disposal,” Ryker told Niko.

  The silence on the other end was potent. Ryker’s muscles tensed and he forced them to relax.

  Finally Niko said, “I’ll need some sort of…tranquilizer gun.”

  Ryker’s fingers dug into the towel he was still holding. Dammit, he hated the unspoken message in Niko’s words. If he couldn’t stop Rafe with a tranq, he’d be forced to kill his brother.

  Rafe wasn’t just a good agent. He was a brilliant strategist with a personality that was equally comfortable teasing playfully or going for the jugular. Over the past six months, Ryker had started training Rafe to be his successor, exposing Rafe to the political and fundraising side of the SSU. The machinations Ryker used to keep the SSU running with access to the best technology, yet without being beholden to men with selfish goals, were sometimes Machiavellian. Rafe had a rare gift for navigating that path, yet had only reluctantly agreed to eventually take over the job.

  Ryker would find someone else to replace him as SSU director, but no one could replace Rafe as a friend.

  Ryker thought about his schedule for the day and mentally juggled commitments.

  The faster Kai retrieved the chip, the better. Lacking access to Kaufmann’s lab and the details of what had been done to Rafe, the SSU would have to hope Nevsky’s notes provided enough data to allow their scientists to develop an antidote.

  Ryker eyed the door to his office bathroom with regret. He no longer had time to shower. He needed to meet with Dr. Montague. She’d run from Kaufmann’s lab when she realized the drug she’d formulated to combat the rages suffered by veterans exposed to certain chemical and biological agents was being used by Kaufmann to strengthen control over his subjects.

  Dr. Montague would be a pivotal part of the team to save Rafe. He’d get her started on locating an appropriately secluded lab and assembling a team of scientists.

  God, they’d better be able to save Rafe. “I’ll make sure the team has the tranquilizer you need, properly calibrated for Rafe’s body weight,” he told Niko.

  “Appreciate it.”

  Ryker paused, deliberating what to say next. To hell with it. Words wouldn’t ease Niko’s pain. “Good luck.”

  “Thanks.” Niko’s voice was thick and he cleared his throat.

  Ryker couldn’t leave it on such a grim note. Rafe would have lightened it with humor. “Say, Andros?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Keep your wife in line.”

  Niko’s faint chuckle made Ryker’s mouth curl up in a fragmented smile.

  Godspeed, my friend. You’ll need it.

  Sunday, Afternoon

  Amazon Jungle

  “Are you crazy?” Susana demanded, gesturing toward the pale slice of river that glimmered through the trees. “Do you have any idea how wide the river is? How strong the current? I don’t care if you have an inflatable raft in that bottomless backpack of yours. There’s no way we can safely cross.”

  Kai just shrugged. Actually, his plan was to build a raft. Which admittedly sounded even crazier. And yeah, he’d already considered all of Susana’s arguments. Plus the fact that the current would invariably carry them downriver, only adding to their hiking time once they were back on land.

  Not to mention the possibility that the mercenaries and their boat would be searching for them.

  “Listen,” he said, trying to sound reasonable and confident, even though Susana was definitely the expert on all things Amazon. “Your dig is on the other side of the river. We have to cross sometime. The mercenaries won’t expect us to try it this far downriver. Would you rather risk the current or automatic gunfire?”

  Susana made a sound of disgust. “You’re crazy.”

  “Come on, where’s your sense of adventure?”

  “Hmm…let me think. I must have left it behind when I was kidnapped. Or when I nearly drowned in the river. Or…maybe when I saw you kill four men with a single sweep of your gun.”

  Ouch. Well, he’d wanted Susana pissed at him, hadn’t he?

  They pushed through a strand of skinny saplings and there it was, the raging Amazon. Yeah, it was damn far to the opposite bank, but he thought they could make it. Especially if he acted as a rudder and swam behind the raft to steer it.

  Leaving Susana on the raft so her wounds wouldn’t be exposed to more of the bacteria-laden water. Or piranha. Which he would not allow himself to think about.

  Unfortunately, the current here was too strong. Plus, there were tiny rapids. He shook his head.

  “Told you so,” Susana grumbled.

  He raised his eyebrows and gestured for her to lead the way. “So find us a calmer crossing, Jane of the Jungle.”

  Muttering under her breath in Portuguese, Susana pushed past him, heading upriver.

  Chapter 9

  Something was wrong with Kai. They’d continued to follow the river, but still hadn’t located a place where the current was calm enough to consider crossing.

  On a raft.

  They had, however, been forced to lay low a few times. Once when they heard a gunshot deeper in the forest. Another time they’d heard the tramp of multiple feet moving fast with no attempt to be quiet. Kai had pulled her to the ground behind a thick clump of vegetation. She’d waited with her heart lodged next to her tonsils as the noise grew closer, certain they were going to be found and killed.

  And then a herd of wild pigs had burst through the undergrowth.

  She’d bitten down hard on her swollen lip to stop herself from breaking into hysterical laughter.

  Now, she watched as Kai shrugged his jacket collar further up his neck as if he was cold. Today’s temperature had to be in the nineties, with matching humidity and Susana was sweltering inside her breathable, long-sleeved shirt. Just looking at Kai wearing that jacket threatened to give her heat stroke. Yet he’d just run his hands up and down his arms, as if trying to warm himself up.

  What was going on?

  And he wasn’t walking right. She’d spent hours hiking behind him yesterday, memorizing
the graceful, jaguar-powerful way he walked that said he owned the forest and every other creature had better get the hell out of his way.

  Yet at the same time, he managed to walk quietly.

  Not now, though. He crashed through the vegetation. Instead of rolling his weight from his toes to his heels as he walked, he now plopped each foot straight down, as if he wore concrete shoes and lacked the strength to lift his leg.

  He also held his arms stiffly at his sides instead of letting them swing free.

  Something was definitely wrong. She stopped and started to walk back to him just as Kai ducked under a low-hanging branch. He stumbled and went down on one knee.

  “Kai?” She reached out to help him up, but he slapped her hand away. He tried to brace himself against a tree trunk, but his whole arm shook so hard he missed his target.

  She knelt down beside him. Dear God, his teeth were chattering. “Kai, what’s wrong?”

  “C—c—cold. M—ma—la—ria.” He pressed his lips together as a particularly violent spasm shook him.

  “No,” Susana said soothingly. “You haven’t been in the jungle long enough for malaria to incubate.”

  Kai shook his head and met her eyes for the first time since that heated glance. The fear and vulnerability she saw there shocked her.

  “H—hel—p, m—me.”

  Malaria or not, he was sick. “Okay,” she said brusquely. “You lie down. I’ll find a safe place for us to rest.”

  “N-no.” His jaw was clenched so tightly, she could see the muscles bulging. But he managed to fight back the stuttering. “Stay with you.”

  She knew enough about stubbornness not to argue. “Okay, but I’ll take the backpacks.”

  Kai glared at her and stepped away, holding fast to the straps.

  “Idiot, stubborn, macho, male,” Susana grumbled. “See if I catch you when that extra weight makes you fall on your face.”

  She thought she saw him roll his eyes before she started searching for a place to make camp.

  It took them twice as long as it should have to move forward because Kai was unsteady on his feet. But after twenty minutes, she finally found what they needed.

  A tangle of vines had grown over the exposed roots of a toppled tree until the vines formed a sort of blanket. Susana stuck her head inside and found a space wide enough to allow both of them to lay down, and tall enough to sit without bumping her head.

  Best of all, the spot was only a hundred yards from a stream.

  “We’ll make camp here. Why don’t you settle yourself inside? I’ll collect wood for a fire.”

  “W—wait. You h—help. M—medi—cine.”

  “Kai, we don’t—”

  He shook his head. “In…p—pack.”

  “You have medicine in your backpack?”

  He nodded.

  It figured. The man really was prepared for everything. “Okay.” She followed him into the shelter.

  Kai shrugged out of his pack and rummaged inside. A moment later he held up a rolled-up black canvas pouch. He unrolled it and lifted the flap. Held inside by sturdy leather ties were a glass vial, a syringe and a metallic strip of plastic-protected pills. A piece of rubber tubing peeked out of a pocket.

  Whoa. This wasn’t your typical first aid kit. When he’d said he needed medicine, she’d thought aspirin, not…whatever this was.

  She glanced up at him, then back down at the syringe. Was he an addict of some sort? Was he undergoing withdrawal?

  But then Kai pointed to the foil-covered pills. “N—need one. P—please.”

  There was a familiar name on the package. One of the more powerful drugs used to treat malaria. Oh, God, he’d been telling the truth.

  She released one of the pills and handed it to him. “You really do have malaria?”

  Kai nodded and popped the pill into his mouth. His shaking had subsided enough to allow him to drink from his canteen without too much spillage.

  “But…how?”

  “I…uh…picked up a mutant strain of malaria a while back. During an…assignment…in Indonesia.” His teeth stopped chattering enough for him to speak normally. “There’s no incubation period. The doctors haven’t been able to cure me completely, only to get me into longer hibernation periods.”

  “So, if a mosquito bites you and the mosquito carries the malaria parasite, could that influx of new parasites tip you over into an attack?” Thank God he’d been using insect repellent. She’d seen him spray himself. Plus, there was the mosquito net. She frowned over a sudden hunch.

  He shrugged and glanced away, which increased her suspicion.

  “You only have one hammock and one mosquito net,” she said, not liking where this train of thought was leading. “Dammit, look at me. Is that right? You’ve been sleeping without a mosquito net?”

  Kai met her eyes, but he was good. His expression gave nothing away. Yet his very lack of response made her certain she was right. How could he be so stupid? Did he think she would be glad he put himself at risk for her?

  She moved closer to him, letting anger darken her voice, while keeping the volume down in case the remaining mercenaries were still out there somewhere close by. “Are you nuts? You come into the jungle knowing that all you need is a single mosquito bite and you’ll be back in the middle of a full-blown malaria attack and you give me the mosquito net?” She shoved him, but since he was sitting down, all that did was make his upper body sway.

  “Talk about suicidal!”

  Kai just shrugged. The casual way he brushed off her concern made Susana growl in frustration. “Stop acting like it’s no big deal. I’ve had friends die from malaria, dammit!”

  He gave her one of those placating smiles doctors used with crazy people. “I’m not going to die. The attacks last a day or two, max, then I’m f—fine. Sh—shit.” He started shaking again.

  Susana lunged forward and caught the canteen before it spilled.

  Kai wrapped his arms around himself and closed his eyes while the tremors became more violent.

  Watching him fight the shakes, Susana lost her anger. Feeling helpless, she dug through the backpacks while she waited for this latest attack to finish. Damn, he really was prepared for anything. She found enough ready-to-eat meals and nutrition bars to last them at least three more days. She also counted five energy-drink packets, three add-water-to-reconstitute soup packets, and maybe a quarter cup of instant coffee granules. He had plenty of water purification tablets, an extensive first aid kit, more ammunition than she hoped they’d ever need, a map, matches, binoculars, a survival blanket, a folding, solar powered lantern, and a Biel tool.

  The combination pike, claw and axe would come in handy for cutting down branches to make her a bed, so she set the Biel within easy reach.

  By the time Kai’s shaking subsided, she’d made him a bed by laying out the hammock on the ground and putting the survival blanket on top. She tried to get him to lie down immediately, but he shook his head.

  “I need the other drug.” He nodded at his medicine kit.

  While she retrieved the canvas pouch, he removed his jacket and rolled up the left sleeve of his shirt. “Tie the tubing just below my elbow.”

  His arm trembled slightly as she complied. “Kai, what’s in the vial?”

  “An experimental new malaria treatment for mutant parasites. Supposed to be fast-acting. First the pill, then the intravenous solution.” He removed the syringe and vial from the pouch. “Should stop the symptoms within twenty-four hours.” As if he’d done it a hundred times before, Kai inserted the syringe into the top of the vial.

  “Have you ever taken this drug before?”

  “No.” He pulled the syringe out and pumped it to remove any air bubbles. “The doctors had me on something different before. Not as powerful. This is an emergency drug only.”

  She shot him a look. “And you’re willing to just take it on faith that it’ll work?”

  He shrugged. “Don’t have much choice. Nothing else has pro
ven effective.” He made a fist with his left hand, then stuck the needle into his vein.

  He nodded at the rubber tubing and she released it.

  “Am I going to have to do this for you?” she asked.

  “Yeah, probably. I’ll need another dose of two cc’s in twenty-four hours.”

  Susana bit her lip. She didn’t think this was the time to tell Kai that she’d never given an intravenous injection before. Somehow she’d manage.

  He withdrew the needle, cleaned it with an alcohol wipe, and replaced it and the three-quarters filled vial in the pouch. As he rolled up the pouch and replaced it in the backpack, she noticed how his hands vibrated with tiny tremors.

  Her eyes scanned his face, cataloguing the lines of strain around his eyes and mouth. She touched his cheek gently, and found it cool beneath her skin.

  Too cool for this hot weather.

  Don’t freak. Kai needs you to stay strong. She swallowed back panic and tried to convince herself he’d be fine. After all, she’d grown up with malaria. There hadn’t been a month when someone on the ranches didn’t come down with chills and fever. Susana had suffered through it a time or two herself.

  But Kai wasn’t from a malaria-prone area. He didn’t have the resistance she did. Plus, he had a mutant strain of the parasite. For all she knew, the attacks were totally different for him.

  “I…uh…may say some things while I’m out of it. Just…ah…ignore me, okay?” Kai kept his eyes on his hands as he spoke.

  Was he blushing? “Okay,” she told him. What on earth was he afraid of telling her?

  “If you need to leave, to, you know, attend to personal…ah…business, that’s okay. There’s a primitive alarm system in the front pouch of my pack. I’ll show you how to set it up.”

  She opened the pocket and pulled out a wooden rod as long as her hand. A thin green and brown wire was wrapped around it. At the bottom, hanging from a tiny peg, was a camouflage-colored blob.

  He explained how to string the wire at calf-level around their camp. The blob, which turned out to be a tiny sound box, would be positioned to the right of the entrance to their shelter. “To arm it, you attach the end of the wire to this node here.” He pointed to a silver nub on the underside of the blob. “The battery is supposed to last a month on one charge, so you don’t need to worry about it dying. When you need to leave, just unhook the wire and re-hook it behind you.”