Page 11 of Red Zone Awakened

CHAPTER5

When the shithit the fan, Mace snatched Keiko and ran.There was nothing else he could have done.She was the holy grail of kidnap victims, and if the terrorists got their hands on her, it was game over—for Keiko.And he couldn’t allow that to happen.He owed her after getting her into this mess in the first place.

“Stop fighting me,” he snapped as he took the steps up to the next floor two at a time.

Of course she didn’t stop struggling.“You set this up.You used my parents to get the violent arm of Freedom into the building.You’ve been working with them all along.You’re a terrorist, and your group’s killing people.”

“What?No!I have nothing to do with Freedom.I’m saving youfromthe terrorists.I’m not one of them.”

“Yeah, right.And it’s just a coincidence that they’re here too.”

“Well… yeah.”There was no time to deal with her conspiracy theories.“We need to find somewhere safe to lie low, buy us some time to figure out our next move.”

The comm unit in his ear had gone silent, and he hoped like hell that meant Freedom was using a jammer and not that something had happened to his team.Whatever the reason, he was without backup.In a building overrun by terrorists.A building that CommTECH owned and Enforcement was bound to storm at some point.

It was the Armageddon of undercover operations.

“Put me down.”Keiko struggled in his hold.“I can walk.”

“Not in those shoes.”He was faster carrying her.

“Put me down right now.I’ve had enough of you and your team.You’re nothing more than a bunch of terrorists.”

“Listen carefully, princess.I.Am.Not.With.Freedom.”

“Why should I believe that?Everything else that comes out of your mouth is a lie.”

“Rescuing you has painted a huge target on my back with Freedom.Why would I do that if we were part of the same group?”

“How should I know?Maybe this is all part of some elaborate plan.”

“Yeah.I blackmailed you into getting me, and only me, onto the press list.But somehow, miraculously, in some other way, I managed to get the rest of my terrorist buddies onto the same list—without using you to do it.”He snorted.“You aren’t thinking straight.This is a coincidence.Freedom obviously thought the same thing we did: they had to take advantage of the press conference being held here instead of at a hotel.It was an easy way to get into the research facility, and who knew when the opportunity would come up again.”

She barked out a mirthless laugh.“How very convenient.”

“Can we argue about this later?We need to find a way out of this building before it turns into a war zone.”

“There is nowe.”She still dangled under his arm.A tiny bundle of fury.“This whole thing between us has been one huge mistake.Why don’t you just put me down?That way, you can get yourself out of the building before Enforcement arrives and arrests you along with the rest of your terrorist friends.I won’t even tell anyone you were here.How about that?”

“No can do.Without me, you won’t make it out of this alive.Whether you like it or not, I’m going to keep you safe.That’s a promise.”

“Like I’m supposed to believe your word.”

“I don’t break my promises.”And he was kinda insulted that she thought he might.

“Right, I forgot you have high moral standards.That’s why you seduced me to use the lives of my parents to blackmail me into breaking every law in the Territory.I mean, what’s a little treason between friends, right?”

Mace slammed through one of the office doors into a suite of rooms decked out in luxury, with floor-to-ceiling views of the city.He strode across the thick carpet to a door on the opposite wall.It opened to reveal a private bathroom complete with marble shower.Mace dumped Keiko onto the closed toilet seat before locking the door behind them.

“Let’s get something straight,” Mace said to the woman who was fast becoming the bane of his life.“I didn’t seduce you.You seduced me.I was just trying to get you alone.”

“Are you serious?”Dark eyes glared up at him as she let out a stream of Japanese curses she’d no doubt learned from her mother.According to the team watching over her parents, Keiko’s mother had a potty mouth.“You’rethe victim in all of this?”she said incredulously when she eventually switched back to English.

“Look.”Mace ran a hand through his hair.“I didn’t know we were going to use your parents to get what we wanted.I thought we’d just reason with you.It was my job to get you alone so we could talk.”Now that he said it out loud, it did sound kinda dumb.What could they have said to her to make her comply with their demands?Still, he would have tried.Which was why his team left him out of the kidnapping part of the plan.

Her eyebrows shot up her forehead.“You thought the plan was to ask me nicely to commit treason?”

When you put it like that…