Read Online Retribution (SSU Trilogy Book 3) (The Surgical Strike Unit) by Vanessa Kier - Free Book Online Page B

chin.
    “Whoa, Monroe. Down boy.”
    “C’mon, goofball, leave my brother alone.” Rafe’s older brother, Niko, pulled Monroe down by the collar and dragged him into the living room, where Monroe was promptly distracted by his favorite chew toy.
    “Welcome home, bro,” Niko said in Greek. He bent down and snatched up a squat glass before Monroe’s tail knocked it off the coffee table.
    Rafe’s throat tightened at the familiar language. Their father had been dead less than four months, and using the tongue of his birthplace still made Rafe choke up at his weaker moments.
    To hide his reaction, he thumped his brother on the back, then headed toward the open bottle of Ouzo that sat on his kitchen pass-through. It was too early in the morning for drinking, but what the hell. He needed something to dull the horror of watching Kaufmann’s subjects die.
    “Where’s Jenna?” Rafe asked after the first fiery shot cleared his throat of any lingering emotion.
    “With the hawks.”
    Rafe shot his brother a glance. “Kai okay?” Kai was Jenna’s older brother. If he’d taken a turn for the worse, that could explain why Jenna needed time alone with the birds of prey. When the SSU had first moved into this compound, it restored the section that had originally been a wildlife rehabilitation center. Working with the various birds and animals had become part of the SSU’s therapy program for agents recovering from both psychological and physical wounds.
    “Yeah. They’ve got him stabilized, but he came damn close to dying. At least this time they’ve found some new drugs to help battle the malaria.”
    The mutant malaria parasite Kai had picked up in a warlord’s prison in Indonesia had resisted even the latest experimental drugs, leaving their friend suffering from attacks every few weeks. And no one could predict how debilitating the attacks would be.
    “Nearly losing Kai again has been rough on her,” Niko admitted. “She just needs some time to herself.”
    Rafe heard the worry in his brother’s voice. “You okay with that?” he asked.
    Niko shrugged and tilted his head for another shot of Ouzo. “She’s getting better. When she’s upset, Jenna turns to me more often than before.”
    Over two years ago, Jenna had barely survived an attack that killed her parents and her fourteen-year-old twin brother and sister. She’d come out of that ordeal believing Kai was responsible. Determined to kill her brother in revenge, she’d trained with the SSU, trying to turn herself into an emotionless killing machine.
    Jenna had discovered Kai was innocent only to almost lose him first to a vicious crime lord’s torture, and now to his latest malaria attack.
    Rafe and Kai had bonded during shared physical therapy sessions after a mission that finally took down Mexican crime lord Jaime Alverez. He hated seeing his friend suffer from the malaria, but at least Kai was among friends who cared about him.
    For a moment Rafe thought about Gabby Montague and wondered how she was settling in. Was there anyone back at Kaufmann’s compound who worried about her absence? Her background report had shown no living relatives. Since her obituary had run in her local newspaper, her friends surely believed her to be dead.
    Monroe whined and butted his head against Rafe’s knee. Rafe leaned down and rubbed the dog’s head. Maybe he should check up on the pretty doctor. To reassure her that she was safe here. That he cared if she was frightened or lonely. The irony made his lips curl in a rueful smile. But it was true. He wanted her to start thinking of him as a friend. Hell, as more than a friend. He hadn’t been attracted to a woman this strongly in years.
    Shit. How’d the woman get under his skin so fast?
    Rafe distracted himself from digging too deeply on that question by rubbing Monroe’s ears and grinning down at the happy dog before straightening and reaching for his glass of Ouzo.
    He probably needed to give the sexy doctor