Page 81 of Red Zone Awakened

A shiver ran up her spine.

She was looking at a bat.

Not just any bat.Mace’s bat.Which meant he was still alive because man and beast couldn’t survive alone.A surge of hope rushed through her, followed closely by outrage.She’d told him not to set the bat free, and he’d done it anyway—probably to keep an eye on her.What was he thinking?His bat made him vulnerable.Did he want to die?When this was over, she planned to give them both a piece of her mind.

Ifshe survived.

* * *

What the fake Rock lacked in speed, he made up for in brute force.Mace’s head snapped back when he took a punch to the nose.Blood spurted.The damn thing was broken.Again.He wiped at the blood with the back of his hand.

With his ability to anticipate movement before it happened, he should have had the advantage, but it was lost in the narrow confines of the corridor.In a space this tight, strength beat speed hands down.

They have her.

The bat’s voice in his head was a distraction, and Mace took a step back to give himself time to deal with it.That step took him nearer the end of the corridor.Closer to being hemmed in.His huge opponent grinned knowingly as he advanced on Mace.

Is she hurt?He dodged the fist that came at him and jabbed Rock over his kidneys.Once.Twice.It barely made an impact.The guy was one massive steroid-enhanced muscle.

Some.Don’t like these bad people.

A flurry of strikes in both directions left Mace breathless and spitting blood.Rock showed only irritation, and slow dread crept into Mace’s mind.Would this really be the fight he lost?The one where he let his team down?The fight that took him away from Keiko when he’d only just found her?

His bat sent him an image of her.Alone, small, and vulnerable, surrounded by people out for her blood.She didn’t stand a chance.And every second he was away from her was a second closer to her being sacrificed for Freedom’s cause.

Over his dead body.

Rock pulled him in tight and pummeled his stomach while snarling in his ear, “Any last words, asshole?”

Vomit rose in his throat.“How about a Glasgow kiss?”

Rock pulled his head back, looking confused and disgusted.Obviously, he’d never heard of the move.Mace didn’t hesitate—he sent his head into his opponent’s face, using it as a battering ram to take out his nose.There was definite satisfaction that it was the giant’s turn to bleed.

Rock staggered backward, giving Mace an opening, and he didn’t waste it.Using every bit of force he could muster, he struck one of the only two vulnerable spots he saw on the guy—his throat.

His punch hit true, and for a second, a look of startled bemusement filled the giant’s face as his hands flew to his throat.And then he crumpled.His windpipe crushed.His life over.

Mace didn’t waste any time gloating.He stepped over the body and picked up his weapon as another Freedom fighter appeared from the stairwell.Mace shot him in the head and didn’t bother hanging around to watch him fall.Instead, he ran for the elevator.His nose was broken, but the bleeding had stopped, and one of his eyes was swelling shut.He could ignore both complaints.His main worry was the pain in his chest every time he took a breath, indicating his ribs were cracked, maybe even broken.

But none of that mattered.All that mattered was getting to Keiko.He wished he could use his bat to pass on a message to assure her he was coming.That he’d keep his word.That somehow, some way, he’d get her out of this alive.

If it was the last thing he did.

* * *

“This is an EMP band.”The woman, who’d introduced herself as Susan Neal and was obviously in charge, held up the innocuous-looking piece of equipment for Keiko to see.Hard to believe it could kill with the flick of a switch.

The way it had killed Abigail.

She’d spotted her friend as soon as they reached the edge of the stage, but Abigail was no longer Abigail.There was blood on her face, and her limbs lay at unnatural angles.For the first time in Keiko’s life, she understood what the word lifeless meant.It wasn’t death—it was theabsenceof life.Abigail was a shell.Everything that made herherhad disappeared: her joy, her shyness, her fierce loyalty.It had all fled, along with her spirit.

Her friend was gone.

It was a knife to Keiko’s gut.And to have Abigail lying there, discarded for all to see, made her death seem worse.No, not her death.Her murder.But instead of weeping, Keiko held her head high, refusing to give her murderer the satisfaction of seeing her mourn.She’d save that for later, when she could give her friend’s memory the respect it deserved.

“I’ll give you a choice,” Susan said, tearing Keiko’s attention away from Abigail’s body.“You can wear the band and kneel on the stage beside the delightful Rueben.Or you can address the cameras with a statement I’ve prepared for you.”

Susan’s chilling blue eyes were filled with amusement instead of the disgust or despair Keiko would have expected from a civilian who felt compelled to execute people to further their cause.With her blond hair and cold eyes, the terrorist was strangely familiar.It took Keiko a moment to realize the woman reminded her of Miriam Shepherd.And for the first time in all her years of working closely with CommTECH’s CEO, Keiko wondered if Miriam would also find it easy to kill for her cause.