Page 43 of Red Zone Awakened

CHAPTER18

“Canyou do that thing with your magic fingernail again and change the cameras?”Mace asked.

“I’m beginning to think Friday’s idea of signing you up for basic tech lessons is a good one,” Keiko said as she went back to the control panel and changed the feed.

“Stop.”He held up a hand.

A shiver ran through her.“What is it?”

He pointed to the screen in the top left-hand corner.“We’ve got incoming.Freedom fighters in the stairwell.We need to move.Main entrance elevator.Now.”

She hurried after him, and he ushered her inside.

“Where’s the security hub?”he asked.

“Here.”She pointed to the location on the panel inside the door.

“Take us to that spot, but on the floor above.We’ll take the stairs the rest of the way.We need to get rid of Freedom’s eyes on the building.Otherwise, they’ll always know exactly where to find us.”He thrust a tube of bruise cream at her.“Put that on your ankle while we’re moving.”

She took the tube and then pressed in their destination—and nothing happened.

Mace watched her, his mouth set in a tight line as she entered the location into the panel again.It made no difference.They weren’t going anywhere.

“They’ve disabled the elevator.”He grabbed her hand and pulled her back into the corridor.“They’re cutting us off.We need to hide.”

“Wait.”

“Keiko, we don’t have time.”

She ignored him and studied the ceiling, her heart racing so fast she feared it might explode.“Look for a panel with three raised dots in the corner.That’s the one with access to the crawl space.The guy who fixed the AC in my office last summer told me all about it.There’s one in the ceiling of every room in all CommTECH buildings.”

She was grateful when he didn’t argue but started examining the ceiling panels.“There.”He pointed to one just in front of the elevator doors.

“Can you jump up and push the dots?That’ll open it.”While rubbing her sweaty palms on her stolen shorts, she kept her eyes on the corridor, waiting for Freedom to appear.

Mace bent his knees, jumped, and pressed the exact spot Keiko would have needed a ladder to reach.The panel slid down silently.

“Bingo,” he said.“You’re a genius.”

“True,” Keiko said.“Now hurry.Get in there.”

“You first.”Without hesitation, he grabbed her by the waist and thrust her through the opening into the crawl space.

She clutched the edge, pulled herself inside, and rolled out of the way to give him room to join her.Again, all he did was bend his knees and jump.He caught the edge and pulled himself up, angling onto his stomach fast before his head had a chance to hit the concrete above them.

Keiko reached past him and slammed her hand on the button to close the panel.A few seconds later, they lay flat on their stomachs in the dimly lit space, listening for movement beneath them.

The area between the decorative ceiling and the concrete of the building was filled with a network of metal beams joined together by a steel mesh that supported the panels beneath it and was strong enough to hold their weight easily.There was only one entrance to the crawl space in each room, with no way of crawling from room to room unless access had been cut in the thick concrete walls for that purpose.So, basically, they were trapped in the small space above the apartment lobby with nowhere to go.

In the dim light, she turned her head to find Mace watching her.Keiko gave him a tremulous smile, and he winked, making her shake her head at him.She inched her hand toward him and clasped his arm, needing the reassurance of touching him.Slowly, he lowered his head to place a gentle kiss on the back of her hand, stealing her breath as well as the panic building within her.

In his gaze, she saw promises: he wouldn’t let anything happen to her, no matter how much it cost him.She squeezed his arm and blinked back tears.Stupid tears of fear—she was afflicted with them.

“They’ve got to be here somewhere.”A voice came from directly beneath them, making Keiko hold her breath.

“They must be hiding,” another voice said.“You, guard the stairwell.The rest of you spread out.Check everywhere, including the elevator shaft.”

Heavy footsteps ran off, but they still didn’t dare move, unsure who remained beneath them.The hum of the air-conditioning pipes seemed to grow louder as Keiko’s hearing became more focused.The air was thick and musty, filled with dust whipped up by their presence.