Red Zone (Red Zone 1)

“It’s a motorbike. Vintage. Get on.”

“Where?” She looked for the passenger capsule, but there wasn’t one.

He looked down and shook his head. “Sit behind me. Wrap your arms around me and hold on tight.” When he looked back up at her, it was fierce. “Now.”

The word acted like a whip. It hit her hard, making her rush into action. She fastened the helmet and climbed onto the back of the bike. Sitting with her legs spread wide wasn’t comfortable. Having a strange man between them made it worse.

“Wrap your arms around me. When I lean, you lean, too.”

She did as she was told, although her face burned at the thought of being so close to him. But then, it was something she’d best get used to. The man owned her now.

“Tighter.” It was an order.

His muscled back was a furnace against her chest. She pressed her breasts flat against him, scooted forward until her hips were flush with his, and wrapped her arms tight around his middle. She clung to fistfuls of his shirt. He smelled of citrus and sandalwood, a heady combination that made her already roiling stomach quake.

The bike roared into life. She gasped at the noise. It sounded nothing like the low hum of the hover vehicles.

“Don’t let go.” With that last order, the bike shot forward, taking them into the balmy streets of Munroe.

They headed out of town, toward the glowing lights of the thirty-foot-high wall that marked the southern edge of the Northern Territory and the start of the Red Zone.

The world’s deadliest no-man’s-land.

And Friday’s only hope of escape.

Chapter Three

After three tries to remote communicate with her helmet using her now-defunct implants, Friday realized she’d have to turn on the audio manually. Getting used to life without her enhancements was going to be hard. Hopefully she’d have more than four days to work on it. A green light blinked in her visor to let her know she could now talk with Striker.

“Why are we using this machine? It’s noisy and attracts attention. You may as well send Enforcement a message giving them our location.”

There was a pause, and then deep rumbling laughter sounded in her ears. It surrounded her, making her shiver.

“This baby is faster on the ground than Enforcement hoverbikes, that’s why we’re using it.”

“But if they can hear us, they’ll just send someone up ahead to cut us off. I thought you were good at this outlaw thing. Was my information wrong?”

There was more laughter. She was beginning to wonder if she’d put her life in the hands of an idiot.

“Trust me. I know what I’m doing.”

Yep, she’d get right on that. She looked over her shoulder. The beams from the Enforcement bikes blinked in the sky as they skimmed the rooftops. Her fingers clenched tight on his stomach.

“They can see us.” She leaned to the side, peering around the smuggler. Up ahead more red lights cut through the night. “They’ve cut us off.”

A strange stillness overtook her. So much for her great rebellion. It was all for nothing. She’d failed. There was no way they could get out of this. There were too many Enforcement personnel to count, and they were hopelessly outnumbered. She had no doubt that if either Striker or she was connected to the public communications network, they would have been flooded by messages telling them to surrender. But they weren’t connected to the network. And there would be no warning. Instead, she’d get blasted by laser fire and die, without even knowing it was coming. It was over. Her life was over before it had even started.

“Promise me…” Her voice cracked a little. “Promise me you’ll kill me before you let them take me.”

“Why so dramatic, chère? Nobody is gonna get you.”

“Promise me. I can’t let them tamper with my memories or my personality. I’d rather die than live like that. Promise me you’ll kill me.”

He sighed. The sound wrapped around her, easing her anxiety. “We’re gonna have to work on what you think of me. I don’t know what you heard, but I don’t kill innocent women.”

“Even to save them?” Her throat became thick. “Please.”

His muscles tensed under her hold. “Okay, chère. I won’t let them take you alive. But you gotta work on your faith in me. They aren’t taking us at all.”