Vengeance (SSU Trilogy Book 1) by Vanessa Kier

knew he’d entered the room.
    She was rocking back and forth. Keening softly and occasionally murmuring something too garbled by tears for him to understand. Her hat was missing and the hair from her wig hung in a sodden mess around her face. The skirt of her dress was up around her waist, revealing a thin strand of ragged red elastic that was all that was left of her panties. He quickly glanced away, grateful that because she was positioned with her head closest to him, he hadn’t seen anything more private than the curve of her ass. He didn’t see any blood, but that didn’t mean the bastard hadn’t hurt her.
    “Jenna,” he said gently, trying to break through her crying. “Jenna, shhh. It’s okay. You’re safe now.”
    At first his words didn’t seem to get through to her. Then her eyes flew open, revealing nothing but animal panic. Before he could stop her, Jenna scrambled away from him.
    Her back bumped against the wall and she pushed to her feet.
    Too fast. Her knees buckled.
    Niko leapt forward just in time to get his arm around her before she hit the floor. He hauled her against him.
    The bathroom door banged open. “What’s going on?” a slurred voice demanded in Russian.
    Niko glanced up. A skinny, balding man in coveralls was staring at the body on the floor with a mix of disgust and fascination.
    “Call the police,” Niko snapped in Russian. “Bastard tried to rape this woman.”
    The man raised rheumy eyes, taking in Jenna’s limp body, which Niko could feel beginning to come to life. He had to get their visitor out of here before Jenna woke up and freaked out.
    Niko scowled. “Go!”
    The man backed out of the room not a moment too soon. Jenna opened her eyes and immediately started struggling.
    “Easy, Jenna,” Niko soothed. He loosened his hold and let her move away from him. Her foot slipped on the tile and he automatically reached forward to steady her. She flinched and darted out of reach, coming to rest with her back against the side of the stalls.
    Her eyes were huge with pure, primal terror.
    He held his hands up to show he didn’t have a weapon and slowly took a step back.
    “Jenna, you’re safe, okay? I’m not going to hurt you. I’m Niko Andros with the SSU. Remember me? I was a guest trainer on the hostage rescue exercise. Ryker sent me as backup to you and Tonelli. You remember the safe word, yeah? Brontosaurus?”
    For a long breath Niko didn’t think his words were getting through to her. Then Jenna’s body sagged and her lids flickered down to shield her eyes while she took in the information.
    Niko watched a drop of water make its way from her sodden wig down to the point of her chin, then slip free. Jesus, she looked like hell. One cheek was red and puffy, her lip was split and there was a large square cut oozing blood in the center of her forehead that he couldn’t figure out.
    “How badly are you hurt, Jenna? Did he…” Shit. “Did the bastard rape you?”
    Not meeting his eyes, Jenna shook her head. “I’m okay,” she rasped so quietly he had to strain to hear her. “I stopped him before…” Her whole body shuddered and she wrapped her arms around her torso.
    She was okay? Yeah, right. The shivers and her wild eyes gave the lie to her words. Her dress was still bunched around her waist and it didn’t take much imagination to picture how close her attacker must have come to raping her before she’d fought him off. The asshole was lucky he was still breathing.
    Dammit. He wanted to put his arms around her and let her lean on him, but being close to a male at this point would probably scare her. So Niko shoved his hands into his pants pockets.
    Where the hell was Tonelli? Hadn’t he managed to take his attention off the bimbos at the bar long enough to notice Jenna was missing?
    Jenna eyed the body on the floor and chewed on her lower lip. “Is he dead?”
    “Nah, he’s alive. Too bad, really, the as—” Niko coughed. “The bastard doesn’t