Page 32 of Red Zone Awakened

“Stop it,” he told the woman.“I don’t want to fight you.”

“Then put your hands behind your back so I can secure them.”

“I’m not doing that, either.”He seemed at a loss for a second, then he huffed out a breath.“Can’t we just talk?”

Keiko gaped at him.Talk?

The woman laughed and kicked the side of his knee while slamming her fist into his face.Mace lost his balance, roared, and reached out for his opponent.With his arms wrapped around her in an attempt to restrain her, he held her with her back pressed against his front, his arms pinning hers to her sides.

“I said I don’t hit women,” he growled.“That doesn’t mean I won’t tie you up and store you somewhere for Enforcement to find.”

The woman let her head fall forward, then swung it back hard and caught Mace’s chin.At the same time, she stamped down on his instep and jerked forward, shaking herself loose from his hold.

She circled him once again.“I can do this all day,” she said, giving him a cold smile.“It doesn’t bother me that you won’t hit back.”

Well, it bothered the hell out of Keiko.

If Mace wouldn’t fight the woman, she’d have to step in for him.Unfortunately, she didn’t have the woman’s skills, so she couldn’t go out there and slap her around, which meant she needed a weapon.Something solid that would knock the bitch out when Keiko swung it at her head.

Her only option was to run up to the apartment and grab the first thing she saw that would work as a club.She was about to do just that when something caught her attention out of the corner of her eye.There was a laser rifle on the corridor floor, not far from her feet.Pushing the door wider, she bent down, sneaked out a hand, and dragged it back into the stairwell.

The door silently closed as Keiko considered the gun.It was heavier and a whole lot more complicated than she’d thought it would be.There were buttons all over the damn thing, and none of them were clearly labeled.Would it have killed the manufacturer to write “death” beside one and “stun” beside another?Why the hell were there so many of them?How many things did a gun have to do?

With a huff of frustration, she examined it closely.Which one would stun?She didn’t want to kill the woman; she just wanted to stop her from hitting Mace.Maybe the blue one?Lightning was blue, wasn’t it?And that was as electric as you could get.Red must mean danger, like death, right?She had no idea what yellow meant.Perhaps it was the flashlight button.

Oh, to hell with it.

She pressed the shiny blue button, cracked open the door and dropped one of the cushions in the gap to ensure it stayed open, just in case she had to go out into the corridor.With a steadying breath, she stuck the gun out, and squeezed the trigger.

And missed.

They stopped fighting and spun to face her.

“Oops,” Keiko said.

Mace took advantage of the distraction to grab the woman, but she elbowed him and wrenched free.As she took a step in Keiko’s direction, he reached for her arm and jerked her back toward him.Keiko pulled the trigger again.There was a strangled scream.The woman froze.Her face contorted.Her muscles spasmed.And she fell to the floor, where she writhed in place.

“Yes!”Keiko thrust the gun in the air.And accidentally shot out a light.

“Give me that.”Mace took it from her.

“I got it right.”She beamed up at him.“I only wanted to fry her a little, not kill her.I thought it was the blue button, but I wasn’t sure.They should label them more clearly.”

The woman groaned, and Keiko walked over and kicked her leg.Not too hard—after all, she wasn’t wearing shoes.“That’s for hurting Mace.”

When she looked back at him, he seemed exasperated.

“What?”she said.“I’m not the one who can’t hit women.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” he grumbled.

“It is when one’s kicking your ass in a fight.”

“She wasn’t kicking my ass.I was lulling her into a false sense of security before restraining her.”

Keiko lifted an eyebrow at him.

“Whatever,” he said.“Help me get her tied up.We’ll dump her in a bathroom and leave her for Enforcement.”

The still-spasming Freedom fighter managed to smile smugly as she looked at Mace.“Totally… kicked… your… ass,” she said, forcing each word out.

Keiko glanced up at him.“Want me to shoot her again?”

He just groaned.