Page 31 of Red Zone Awakened

That’s when he felt it.

The hard barrel of a laser pistol pressed against his back.He could have kicked himself for making the amateur mistake of only sending his senses out in front of him.He’d been so focused on getting to Keiko that he’d become sloppy.In a situation where mistakes could get you killed.

As he ran through various scenarios in his head, trying to decide on the best way out of his current predicament, his opponent nudged him with their gun.“Throw your weapon over there and put your hands behind your head.”

And things just kept getting worse—his assailant was a woman.

He couldn’t hit a woman.

It took all his self-control not to groan.He could almost hear his sister mocking him.“Women are just as violent as men.Chivalry will get you killed in a fight.It’s your weakness, and you need to deal with it, or you’ll end up dead.”

Yeah, well, he hadn’t dealt with it.And, with the indoctrination he’d received as a kid, he doubted he ever would.Nothing on this green earth would make him hit a woman.He wasn’t his father, no matter how often his grandfather told him he was.

“Did you hear me?”The woman nudged him again with her weapon.“Toss your rifle over there.”

He had no choice but to comply, so he threw his rifle over to the wall beside the door he’d been trying to get to.“What now?”

“Now I secure your hands and walk you back down to the terrace.”

Damn it to hell.He just could not catch a break.“Yeah, that isn’t going to work for me.”

Mace turned fast, snatched the gun from her hand, and sent it flying farther down the corridor.The woman didn’t seem too bothered about losing her weapon.Instead, she just shook out her arms, took a wider stance, and brought up her fists—ready to fight.For a second, her reaction threw Mace.He was almost a head taller than her with a helluva lot more muscle, although she definitely wasn’t without some muscle of her own.

“You need to think about this,” he told her.“I’m a whole lot bigger than you.Do you really want to fight me?”

With a smirk, she swung around and struck him with a roundhouse kick that sent him flying into the door to the stairwell with a thud.He fought the urge to rub his stomach.That shit hurt.

“Oh, I’d say that I really want to fight you,” she said as she rounded on him.“And don’t think that just because I’m a woman, I’ll be as easy to deal with as those two guys you killed.Unlike them, I know what I’m doing.”She scanned his body, assessing her opponent, searching for weaknesses.There was no fear, no wariness.She was used to combat.

“Lady,” Mace said, backing away from her, “I’m sure you have skills.”Hell, he could see it from the way she held herself, bouncing on the balls of her feet, her fists up in front of her.“But I don’t want to hurt you.”

There was no warning—she just flew through the air and pummeled him with a barrage of fists and feet.Definitely an expert in martial arts.Although Mace didn’t have those sorts of skills, he knew how to fight and had abnormally fast speed while doing so.The problem wasn’t that they weren’t well matched; it was that she was the wrong opponent.

He wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand.“Look, I don’t have any issues with Freedom.If you lot want to fight for the right not to have shit installed in your brains, more power to you.I’m just trying to get out of this building alive.And, to tell the truth…” He hesitated, feeling like a fool, but carried on anyway.“I don’t hit women.”There.He’d said it.Surely she’d cut him some slack for his stance?

Instead, she smiled slowly, spun, kicked high, and struck him on the side of his head.

Clearly, this was not going well.

* * *

Keiko was sitting on the steps, staring a hole through the door while mentally shouting at Mace to hurry up, when she heard the first gunshot.She froze in place, her ears straining for a clue as to whether it was Mace or Freedom.Unfortunately, she didn’t have his freaky auditory implants, and all she could hear was silence.

Until the next shot, then a third and a fourth.

It had to be Mace.Four cameras.Four shots.As quietly as she could, she got to her feet and padded over to the door.There was a loud thud against it, one that made her jerk back, a hand to her racing heart.

“Mace?”She called his name in that strained half-voice people use when they do and don’t want people to hear at the same time.

There was a grunt on the other side of the door, then some murmured words she couldn’t make out.What if he was out there and hurt?What if it wasn’t him at all?Quietly, she pressed her ear to the thick steel door and listened.Nope, that didn’t help.It sounded like there was a scuffle going on in the corridor, but other than that, she was still in the dark.

Should she open the door a crack to see what was happening?What if it was the terrorists?Then she’d be letting them inside.Her stomach lurched when another thud made the door shudder.

A voice called out.It was muffled, but it was clearly Mace.He was out there, and he was in trouble.A surge of adrenaline made her hands tremble as she unlocked the door.It felt like every cell in her body was standing to attention, battle-ready and waiting for the signal to pounce.It was a heady feeling.One that could easily become addictive.

Slowly, silently, she pushed the door open a crack and peeked out into the corridor.And what she saw made her jaw drop.Mace the Massive was getting his backside handed to him by a whirling dervish of a woman.

He stood in the middle of the corridor while she danced around him, striking out as she did so.And all Mace did was block her blows.Even then, he missed several because she was relentless in her attack.A bruise blossomed on the side of his face, and blood trickled from a split lip.But the look of pure helpless frustration in his eyes was the most shocking thing of all.