Red Zone (Red Zone 1)

She stared at him, wishing she could see into his mind. He was far too composed for her liking. And then it hit her. “You lied to me! There aren’t any levels, are there?”

With a huff, she folded her arms and tried to block out his laughter. She’d been conned. Admittedly, she’d loved every second of it, but that wasn’t the point. She’d wanted to investigate him. To learn him. To get to know every inch of him. And that would never happen if he kept distracting her.

“I can’t believe you told me there were levels.”

“I can’t believe you fell for it.”

“You’re evil.”

“Bébé, I was desperate. You were planning genetic experiments to turn my cock into a candy bar. I had to do something to get us back on track.”

“I’m never going to believe a word you say ever again.”

He shrugged. “I can live with that.”

Impossible man. She ignored his smug smile and focused on the scenery. Oruro was a nowhere place. Once famous for its mining—silver and tin—now it was a city overtaken by dust from the high desert. Even though it was still populated, it felt abandoned.

“The Technology War started in Bolivia,” Friday said absently as she watched the crumbling brick houses zoom past.

“I know. I was around when it happened.”

She felt her cheeks color. “I’m sorry, I forget.”

“It’s all good. You’ve had a lot to take in, and a short amount of time to do it.”

She angled in her seat, turning toward him. “Did you join the fight down here?”

“No. I was deployed in the Middle East when the fight over Bolivia’s mining operations started.”

“They were mining for lithium.” She searched through her memories. “The mineral found in the salt flats south of here. The one used in batteries for old cell phones.”

He chuckled. “We considered them cutting edge at the time. But yeah, it was used for batteries. As far as I can gather, it was also in short supply, that’s why the big companies started putting pressure on Bolivia to hand over its mining operations.”

“But the demand for lithium didn’t last long, it was only a few years later that they discovered lanthanum worked better. Now everyone’s searching for ladmium.”

“You know what bothers me?” He flashed her a grin. “The person who named all these minerals had no damn imagination.”

She rolled her eyes at him. “The minerals are related, that’s why they sound the same. Although, to be technically correct, ladmium isn’t used for batteries.”

“You’re just aching to tell me what it is used for, aren’t you?”

She tried hard to keep her mouth shut. To keep the information to herself. But it wanted to get out. “It’s a conductor used in implanted data chips. It functions as a bridge between the brain and the data chip’s receptor. The chip then converts the electrical pulses of the brain into other signals, which communicate with tech outside the body. Ladmium’s a really fascinating element to study. It uses the electricity within the body as a power generator for the chip, as well as enabling the information to move smoothly between biological and technological elements.”

“You make me want to kiss you when you go all geeky on me.”

His words made her feel warm inside and embarrassed at the same time. “Lithium, the cell phone battery element, was found in huge quantities in the salt flats. Bolivia, back before the war, was an extremely poor country, but one with integrity. They didn’t want to rape the landscape to get to the mineral, and even though demand was high, they slowed down output to preserve their landscape.”

“Yeah,” he scoffed. “They were all about integrity. Limiting the amount of lithium produced had nothing to do with driving up the price.”

He had a point. “Whatever the government’s motives, it was the fight over lithium that started the war.”

“Because the companies tried to bribe Bolivia with free cutting-edge implants in order to get their hands on the lithium. I remember. They told Bolivians they would be ahead of the world, that they’d always have access to the latest gadgets. That they’d get their implants first—at a greatly reduced price, of course.” He snorted. “The companies kept talking about how great it would be to be able to talk to your TV or make a call with just a thought. I remember thinking that only a complete nutjob would have a chip implanted into their head so they could talk to their TV. At the time, the news was full of stories about how radiation from your cell phone could fry your brain. Having that same technology inside your body seemed like a mighty irrational reaction to the radiation warnings.”

“I have a data chip inside my head. More than one, in fact. Does that make me a nutjob?” She frowned. “I don’t exactly know what a nutjob is, but it sounds insulting.”

“Bébé,” he said on a sigh as he reached over and threaded his fingers with hers. “We live in a different time, with different dangers. You said it yourself, when you were arguing with Mace, most of the problems we worried about then have solutions now. You aren’t a nutjob.” He grinned. “Mostly.”

He pulled her hand to his mouth and nibbled on her knuckles, at once derailing her thoughts and stealing her irritation. She narrowed her eyes at him. Did he know the effect he had on her? Was he doing it on purpose? He looked innocent enough, but she could never really tell with him.