Page 19 of Red Zone Awakened

“I can’t.There’s no space for you.There’s barely space for me.You’re too wide for this ledge.”

Her legs began to tremble, and tears threatened.There was nothing to hold on to.Nothing to stop her from falling.Just nothing.Lots and lots of nothing.

“How would you know there isn’t space?Your eyes are shut.”He sounded amused, but there was a thread of worry twisted in there too.

“I can’t do this,” she whispered.It wasn’t possible.She could hardly breathe, which was ironic, considering she was surrounded by air.So.Much.Air.

“No,” was the forceful reply.“You can do anything you put your mind to.You’re one of the bravest women I’ve ever met.”

Keiko pressed her forehead to the wall, wishing she could melt right through it and fall onto the floor on the other side.“That would be more reassuring if it wasn’t so sexist.Why not the bravest person?Why woman?Like we need a different standard?Where does this attitude come from?Were you born in the Middle Ages?”

“That’s it.If you can sass, you can open your eyes and move along the ledge.I’m gonna count to three, and if you haven’t opened your eyes, I’m climbing out there anyway.Then I’ll put you under my arm and carry you to the other window.”

That made her eyes snap open.“You wouldn’t.”

“The terrorists are getting close.We need to move now.Hold on to the wall and flatten yourself to it.You’re going to shuffle to the corner.I’ll be right beside you.The window we need is around that corner.We’re talking twenty steps at most.You can do it.I won’t let you fall.”

“I hate you,” she declared, but her voice trembled.

“I know.Now take the steps, princess.”

With her stomach pressed to the wall, her cheek brushing against it, and her palms spread wide on the flat surface in front of her, Keiko shuffled two tiny steps to the left.She couldn’t look down.Not that she’d see her feet anyway, being so close to the wall.But even if she could, she wouldn’t want to.Because then she’d know for certain how narrow the ledge was and how far the fall would be.

“That’s good,” Mace cooed.“You’re doing good, baby.Now, remember to breathe while you’re doing it.”

With his words, she started gasping in air but then caught herself.She needed to breathe slower.Excess oxygen would make her light-headed.And sixty-seven floors up was not the place to get light-headed.Her hands shook, so she pressed them harder against the wall.

“I can do this,” she chanted.“I can do this, I can do this…”

If Mace heard her, he didn’t comment.Keiko watched as, without hesitation, he climbed out onto the ledge to stand beside her.He stood with his back pressed to the wall, and it took her a second to realize he’d chosen that position because he needed the bulk of his body weight firmly on the ledge.Even flush against the wall, his toes would still be poking over the edge into nothingness.

Her heart leapt to her throat.Abort.Abort, her mind screamed at her as her palms began to sweat.“The ledge isn’t big enough for you.You’re spilling over.We need to go back inside.”

“I’ll be fine,” he said calmly.

“No, no, you won’t.”How could he be?“Please, Mace, I don’t want you to fall too.”

“That’s good to hear, but I’m fine, princess.I won’t fall.Trust me, I’ve dealt with worse and survived.”

It took a second for his words to register over the screaming in her head.“Dealt with worse?What could be worse than standing on a tiny ledge with no safety harness while terrorists hunt you down?What?”

He pressed a hand to the small of her back, which made her breathing ease somewhat.“Calm down,” he said, which had the opposite effect than the one he’d intended.

There was no calming down.There was only paralysis and brutal terror.“How should I do that?Because my heart’s racing, my legs are shaking, my hands are sweating, and there’s an idiot beside me telling me to chill.Exactly how should I calm down?”

To her shock and infuriation, Mace laughed.“Think about something other than the predicament we’re in,” he said when he stopped.

“Okay.I’m thinking about ways to kill you now.I swear, as soon as I’m off this ledge, I am going to rip you apart.”Calm down?What kind of idiot said stuff like that in situations like theirs?

“That’s the attitude.Anger’s better than fear.Feel the anger.Plot my demise.Bring it on.”

If she wasn’t too terrified to move, she’d have shoved him off the ledge right then.“Just stop talking,” she told him.

“First, I have to answer your question about what’s worse than this.Back when I was an Army Ranger, I once had to walk a narrow ledge carved into a sheer cliff face.Felt like one of those crazy Alpine goats that scale walls looking for food.”He paused.“You ready to take the next step?”

NO!No, no, no, no, no…

Keiko tried to swallow, but her mouth was dry.“Army Ranger?Is that something in the coalition countries?”She’d heard that the countries who were against implanted tech still had military and governments that were voted in.To her, who’d known nothing other than company rule, it seemed a strange way to live.