Page 13 of Red Zone Awakened

A blast echoed through the building, and Mace clamped a hand over her mouth, afraid she’d scream and draw unwanted attention.

“Shh,” he hissed as he closed his eyes and listened.

She yanked on his wrist, trying to loosen his hold, but it was like a butterfly attempting to move a mountain.Pointless.He ignored her and listened.It took a second to sort through the different sounds reverberating through the building.But then he heard it.A sound no human should be able to hear because it was on a frequency outside of their natural range.

He leaned into Keiko until his lips brushed her ear, making him far too aware of her satiny skin.“They’re communicating with each other on a higher frequency than most common signals.One that’s limited to short distances.My guess is they’ve jammed every wavelength except the one they need to contact each other.”

She stiffened against his hand before once again attempting to tug it away from her mouth.Reluctantly, he let it drop but was prepared to smack it back into place if she took a breath deep enough to allow her to scream.

“How do you know that?”she whispered.“Do you have implants that enhance your hearing?How is that possible without damaging your eardrums?Which company designed them?”

Typical.He tells her about the terrorists’ actions, and all she thinks about is product competition.“Focus.There are terrorists searching the building, looking for you.We need to move.They’re close if I can hear them.Those sound waves don’t travel far.”

“After this is over, you’re explaining those implants to me.”

Yeah, he’d get right on that.After this was over, he planned on being as far away from her as possible.His stomach clenched at the thought.Guilt again.It had to be.

“Take off your shoes,” he told her.

Of course she couldn’t just do as told.“Why?”

“Can you run in them?”

“No.”

“Then take off the damn shoes and do as I tell you from now on without wasting time asking stupid-ass questions.”

Her eyes narrowing, Keiko curled her fingers around his arm to steady herself while she bent to take off her shoes.“Okay, I’m ready.”

“Fantastic.”He snatched the shoes from her and tossed them into the bath.Which earned him another strangled scream.Whatever.He inched the door open and listened.They were clear.“We’re going up.Stay at my side.Keep quiet.”

“Why are we going up?”she whispered back.

Mace closed his eyes and counted to ten.“Don’t.Talk.Don’t.Question.”

“I don’t understand.The security base is down, not up.”

Leaving her in the bathroom seemed like a better idea by the minute.“There’s an elevator that runs from the penthouse straight to the ground floor.”

“Oh.Okay.”She nodded.“Good idea.”

“I’m thrilled you approve.Now, can we go?Or do you want to hang around and chat some more?”

“This is the world’s worst rescue.And, yes, we can go.”

“Well, thank fuck for that.”He grabbed her hand and yanked her out of the bathroom.

“Don’t curse,” she snapped.

Mace strangled a groan.“I’m fucking thrilled you agreed to accompany me.Now shut the fuck up.”

Keiko muttered something in Japanese.He was pretty sure it was one of the curses she disapproved of in English.Mace bit back a smile.She was a little crazy.And he liked it.