Red Zone (Red Zone 1)

“You spied for Freedom. You’re one huge walking, talking trust-issue, waiting to bite us on the ass.”

She opened her mouth to object, and he squeezed her waist to silence her.

“This is my call.” He kept his voice even, free of any emotion, wanting them both to know he was deadly serious. “You heard the deal I made with her. We have her for a year. No questions asked. We have complete control of her for a year.”

He felt a shudder rush through Friday and could only imagine the twisted things going through her overactive mind. She paled as she looked up at Mace, making him want to reassure her again that she wouldn’t be touched against her will. Not by anyone. Not ever. Not if he had his way.

“What happens at the end of the year, genius?” Mace wasn’t cowed by either of them. “What’s to keep her from spilling everything she finds out once the year is up?”

“I won’t.” Friday’s confident answer might have meant a little more if she’d known exactly what her promise meant.

Striker ignored her assurance. It was easier than trying to ignore the heat of her body as it pressed against his. Even as he focused on Mace, he was still aware of her curves beneath her ugly jumpsuit. Her softness pressing against his hardness. He shook his head to clear it, aware that his increasingly intense reaction to her wasn’t in character for him. Sure, he found her attractive, but the need to keep her close and protect her was growing by the minute.

“Yeah,” Mace mocked her. “You’ll keep our secrets. There’s no way you’ll run to Freedom with them the first chance you get.”

“I won’t do that. I wouldn’t.” She looked up at Striker. “You have to believe me. I will never speak about what happens during our year together. You have my word.”

Mace snorted.

“We don’t have time to deal with this right now,” Striker said to his second-in-command.

“Will you listen to yourself?” The big guy threw up his hands in disgust. “You’re risking all of us on an unknown future. On a woman who is a proven security risk.”

Striker held his friend’s eyes as everything within him stilled. They needed Friday. He was beginning to think he needed her. His reaction to her was visceral. All of his instincts, his changed instincts, were telling him to keep her close. He broke the stare-off to look down at the woman in his grasp. She was pale, but stoic. A woman used to making the best of some crummy life situations.

“After you take the antidote,” he said. “Will your implants automatically reconnect to the grid?”

“No.” She glanced at Mace. “They can be removed and analyzed, but they won’t reconnect. The only way to get any information off them would be manually.”

He could see her big brain working overtime, trying to find a solution to their trust dilemma that would reassure them.

“Are you willing to sever your ties to Freedom in order to come with us?”

Mace scoffed at the question. “Like she couldn’t contact them again in the future.”

Friday’s face paled further. Her huge eyes became more vivid as she watched them. He knew she was struggling with a decision. He also knew when she’d reached it. Her shoulders slumped slightly, but her chin remained high. There was resolve in her eyes.

“I will sever my ties.” She licked dry lips. “I’ll also agree to be implanted with a monitoring chip once the Interferan-X is out of my system.”

Striker’s hold tightened around her waist. His gaze flicked to his friend, noting the shock and reluctant admiration in Mace’s eyes, before turning his attention back to the brave woman in his hold.

“You know what that means, chère?” He deliberately pitched his voice soft, soothing.

She swallowed hard and nodded once. “It means you will know everything I do and everyone I contact. It means you can control my communications. For the rest of my life.” She looked away from him.

He heard the words she didn’t say. It meant she would never truly be free. The hold CommTECH had over her would be replaced with his hold. Part of him wanted to shout his objection, to throw her over his shoulder and take her somewhere private where he could reassure her using his hands and mouth. The urge, the need, to keep her safe and give her the freedom she desperately wanted, rose in him like a wave. One that almost drowned him. Instead of doing any of those things, he looked at the man he trusted most in the world. “That good enough for you?”

“Yeah.” Mace sounded a little stunned and a lot impressed. He considered Friday the same way he did those puzzles he obsessed over.

Striker understood. There was a whole lot about their client that got under a man’s skin and made him think.

An alarm blared from Mace’s wrist unit. His mouth thinned as he checked it. “Enforcement breached the perimeter beacons I set up. We need to get out of here. Now.”

They were out of time. He cursed, grabbed Friday’s arm, and started to run for the broken front door.

“Wait.” She shook free and rushed back across the room. Hurriedly, she dug into her pocket and came out with a credit chip, which she left on the counter.

When she turned back and saw them staring at her, she blushed. “We broke their door, ate their food, and drank their water. I don’t have enough to cover what we took, but it will help.” She kept her eyes low and snapped the words as though she was ashamed of what she’d done.