Vengeance (SSU Trilogy Book 1) by Vanessa Kier Page A

deserve to live. But we can’t afford to have you up on murder charges. It’s going to be bad enough to get through the questions from the cops.” Niko grabbed some paper towel from the dispenser and went to turn on the faucet. Her panties were jammed in the drain, holding back a small puddle of water.
    Jesus H. Christ. Blinding rage blocked out the room for an instant.
    Now he knew where the square mark on her forehead had come from. The faucet. The bastard had used the sink to stop her from fighting. Shit. He closed his eyes and grit his teeth until his temper was under control. He had to keep it together. Jenna needed him to stay rational and get her out of this mess. Another violent male would only add to her stress.
    When he thought he could talk without sounding homicidal, he said, “Our story is that I interrupted the attempted rape and I beat the guy up.” Niko fished the panties out of the drain, wrung them out, and put them in his coat pocket. Then he wet the paper towels and handed them to Jenna. “Wipe the blood off your hands. And don’t look the cops in the eyes while they’re here. They do better with subservient women.” Any cop worth the name would take one look at Jenna’s battered face and terrified eyes and see victim. Still, Niko wasn’t taking any chances.
    Jenna was leaving here with him. The sooner, the better.
    Jenna scrubbed at her hands with the paper towel until it was pink, then moved over to the sink. She paused, staring at the faucet. Her bottom lip trembled.
    “Here, let me wet you some more paper towels.” He stepped forward, but she raised her chin and shook her head. Then she moved up to the sink and turned on the water.
    Good girl. She still looked to be in shock, but she had the spine to keep going.
    Niko knelt next to her attacker. “Don’t watch,” he told Jenna. When Jenna turned her back, Niko shook the man until he started to come around. Then he leaned in close and told the man in gutter Russian exactly what would happen if he assaulted another woman.
    Certain he had the man’s attention, he landed a few punches aimed at hard, bony places on the would-be rapist’s body. He needed to make his hands appear to have been in a fight without leaving his blood on any of the bathroom’s surfaces, just in case they ended up with a hyper-vigilant cop. When the skin over Niko’s left index knuckle split, he let the man’s face drop.
    The man howled as his broken nose hit the floor, then blacked out.
    Niko stood up and brushed his pants off. “Let me see your hands, Jenna.”
    Her knuckles were worse than his, dammit. Any idiot would take one look at them and tell she’d been whaling on something…or someone.
    “Shit.”
    Jenna pulled her hands free. “Wait.” She spotted her purse on the floor where he’d dropped it when he entered the bathroom.
    “It was lying in the hallway,” Niko explained. “That’s how I knew something was wrong.”
    Jenna nodded absently. She opened the purse and dug around inside. A second later she pulled out a pair of elbow length gloves.
    “Perfect.”
    Jenna pulled on the gloves. Then to his surprise she pulled a gun out of her purse. “I don’t think the police will want to see me with this, will they?” she said, handing it to him. “Can you keep it for me?”
    Why was he surprised? Of course she’d be packing. She considered herself an operator. He shook his head and slid the gun under his waistband.
    The door banged open again. Niko turned, expecting to find the police. Instead, Mark Tonelli stood in the doorway. “About time you noticed something was wrong,” Niko snarled.
    “What’s going on?” Tonelli rapidly took in the scene. With a barely contained sneer, he focused on Jenna. “What have you done?”
    Niko bit back a growl and advanced on Tonelli. “She stopped this guy from raping her, that’s what she’s done. Some guardian you’re turning out to be.”
    Tonelli flicked an annoyed glance his way, then