Page 100 of Red Zone Awakened

The chopper opened fire on the Enforcement drone, forcing it to engage with them and abandon the shuttle.

“Help me.”Ignacio had a knife out and was cutting through Mace’s shirt on the right-hand side of his chest.

Keiko knelt beside him.“What do you want me to do?”

He flashed her a smile.“Apart from pray,bonita?Hold him down as best you can.This’ll hurt like hell and might be enough to rouse him.We don’t want him taking a swing at us and ruining our efforts to save his sorry life.”

Keiko looked for a way to pin him down without causing further damage.She couldn’t lie across his chest, so she lay across his hips, using her slight body weight to keep him still.Her hands curled around his left arm, holding it tight in case he struck out at them.He didn’t move.

She turned her head to watch Ignacio.He’d cut Mace’s shirt away, revealing laser burns on his shoulder.The sight made her nauseous.

“I think that might have been me,” she confessed.“I didn’t look where I was firing.”

Ignacio grinned as he felt his way down from the top of Mace’s chest, counting off ribs.“I’ll be sure to let him know that once he wakes up.”

“He’d better wake up.He’s completely screwed up my life, and I need to make him pay for it.”

“You’re a little bloodthirsty, aren’t you?I can see why he’s enamored.”He snapped the bottom part of the antenna, leaving him with a metal tube.“Ready?”

Keiko nodded and tightened her grip.

A loud blast sounded from outside the shuttle.The craft dipped.

“Two minutes until we bail,” Sandi shouted.“I can’t land this thing.Even on a slide, it’ll crumple like aluminum foil.We’ll have to jump.”

“Little busy here,” Ignacio called.“I’m trying to save your brother.”

He didn’t hesitate after that.He sank his blade into Mace’s chest in the spot he’d marked, then, as he withdrew the knife, wedged the tube in its place and held the edges tight to stop the blood from spilling out.

Mace didn’t move.Didn’t make a sound.Keiko’s stomach shot to her throat.

“Is he…?”She couldn’t say it.

Ignacio felt for a pulse.“He’s alive.His heart rate’s slowed slightly, and the trachea’s moved back into position.”He looked up at her.“It worked, but I need tape or something to keep this in place and stop the bleeding.”

“I don’t have any tape.Wait.Can you use my bra?Can you pad the area around the tube with it and use the elastic to hold it in place?”

Amusement flashed in his eyes.“Sure.That’d work.”

Keiko dug under what was left of her dress, unhooked her bra, pulled it out through her sleeve, and held it out to him.The tiny piece of red lace looked ridiculous in his grasp.

“Pretty.”Ignacio grinned at her.

She just rolled her eyes at him.Even in the face of imminent death, men had a one-track mind.Good to know.

He worked fast, wrapping it diagonally under the arm nearest the tube, then over Mace’s opposite shoulder like a sling.“We need some more padding around the tube.Take my knife and cut some material from the seat.”

Keiko didn’t hesitate.There was no time.She cut strips out of the seat behind her and handed them to him.

“You’d make a fine field medic,” he told her.

“If I never see another emergency operation, it will be too soon.Now, hurry up.”

Ignacio packed the wound around the tube, cut a hole in one of the lace-and-satin cups, and then threaded it over the tube to keep it all in place.“It shouldn’t move too much.It’s the best we can do.If your implants still work, take some photos.They’ll come in handy later.”He grinned at her.

She didn’t find it funny.“His color looks better.”Maybe less blue around the mouth.

“We’ve vented the buildup of air, but unfortunately, there’s nothing I can do about the blood.We’ve bought him some time until we can get him to a surgeon.”