Page 74 of Red Zone Awakened

CHAPTER29

“Are you listening to me?”Mace said.“We don’t have time to screw around.I need you to stick your magic fingernail in the panel and disable the system.”

His jaw clenched as he watched Enforcement surround the building.Even now, with the herd thinned somewhat by the distractions his team had set, there were still too many of them.No matter how much he studied the surveillance footage, he couldn’t see an escape route.He needed to change the camera angles.And for that, he needed Keiko.

“Keiko, get your ass over here.”

With a frown, he turned to see what was holding her up.She’d better not be getting into stuff she shouldn’t.That woman needed a keeper.

Damn.

She stood in a pool of blood, the body of a dead Freedom fighter beside her.Her eyes were glued to her feet, herbarefeet, which were covered in someone else’s blood.She was frozen.Staring.Barely breathing.Trapped in the moment.

He covered the distance between them in the blink of an eye.He’d seen this before on the battlefield.She was in shock, her system overwhelmed by the horror she’d encountered.

There was no time to waste.Mace picked her up and ran, kicking open doors until he found a restroom.He set her on the wide black ceramic benchtop beside the sink and waved his hand for warm water.Keiko stared blankly into space, her mind stuck on whatever horror movie was playing inside her head.

“Hey, princess, come back to me.”He wanted to roar, but he kept his voice gentle and movements nonthreatening.

Mace brushed her silky hair back from where it’d fallen over her face and tucked it behind her ear.His fingers found the pulse in her throat: it was racing out of control, and her pale, almost translucent skin felt ice-cold to his touch.He shrugged out of his shirt and wrapped it around her before it lost its warmth.Her breathing came shallow and fast.If it didn’t slow, she’d soon hyperventilate.

“Keiko, baby, I need you to focus on me.”He kept his tone soft and soothing when all he wanted was to shout and rail.

There was no response.

Her pupils were dilated, her eyes glassy and unfocused.Wherever she was, she was stuck there.His stomach twisted tight, and his hands shook as he picked up a soft cotton hand towel from the folded pile beside the sink.From everything he’d gleaned about shock during his time in the army, he knew he had to calm her, ease her heart rate, slow her breathing, and keep her warm.

He ran the towel under the warm water, adding several pumps of fragrant soap in the hope that the scent would fill the air and take away the metallic smell of blood.Keiko didn’t move, didn’t register his presence at all.Gently, he lifted one foot and then the other, taking care to wash all traces of blood from them.

“You need to come back to me, baby.We’re in trouble here, and I can’t get you out of this building without your help.”

Still no reply.

Something raced through his body and slammed straight into his heart.Mace stumbled back a step.It took his stunned mind a second to realize what it was because the last time he felt it was when he’d watched his mother die.

Fear.

He was afraid that he wouldn’t be able to bring Keiko back to him.Afraid he couldn’t protect her.

Just plain afraid.

With shaking hands, he tossed the blood-soaked towel into the basket beside the sink and grabbed a fresh one to dry her feet.

He couldn’t understand it.After his mother died, he’d sworn that he’d never allow anyone to make him feel afraid again.Even when his grandfather beat him, he hadn’t been afraid.He’d mainly felt acceptance, knowing there was nothing he could do to stop it.When he’d been kicked out of foster home after foster home, again no fear, only acceptance.There’d been no fear on the battlefield with his Army Ranger unit, either.No fear in the moments after the bomb hit and he realized his country had betrayed him.And no fear when he woke a century later, in a different world from the one he’d known, with different genetics than he’d been born with.

But in that bathroom, standing before Keiko, he was terrified.All because of a tiny woman with a big personality who’d somehow worked her way under his skin in a way no one else had ever managed.

“Please.”He finished drying her feet and inspected them to make sure there wasn’t even a speck of blood left on them.“Keiko, come back to me.The blood’s gone.It’s okay now.”

Cradling her in his arms, he pressed his back to the wall and slid down to sit on the floor.He held her tight in his lap and wrapped himself around her, using his body heat to chase away the deadly chill that had her in its hold.He pressed her cheek to his chest, over his heart, hoping the sound would somehow, miraculously, help calm her own riotous beat.His other hand stroked her back: comforting her, soothing her, coaxing her back to him with his touch.

What’s wrong with her?His bat sounded lost.

“She’s in shock.I think stepping in blood was the last straw for her.She’s been through a lot.”And wasn’t that the understatement of the century.

Fix her,came the imperious demand.

“I’m trying,” he hissed instead of shouting, which was what he wanted to do.