Red Awakening (Red Zone 2)

His jaw clenched and unclenched. “You were supposed to wait downstairs.”

“And you weren’t supposed to have sex with the target,” the guy without the eyepatch drawled.

The woman in the pool coughed, but it sounded suspiciously like she’d said “dumbass.”

Keiko couldn’t have agreed more. “You’re a bastard.”

His lips thinned. “Yeah. But I’m a bastard who’s trying to save you from being blackmailed.”

“I’m overwhelmed with gratitude.” Keiko glared at him.

“Tell her what we need and why,” Mace told Eyepatch. “Give her a chance to choose to help us first, before you strong-arm her into it.”

Keiko didn’t care about their arguments or what they wanted. She’d reached her limit for the evening. Instead of spending a hot night with her dream man, she’d flashed her body to a bunch of people with guns, and her Viking had turned out to be a lying weasel.

“Save it,” she announced and turned for the door. “I don’t care what you want. There’s no way I’d help any of you now. I’m leaving. You can work this out without me.”

“Damn it, Keiko, help me out here,” Mace barked.

“I’ll get right on that,” Keiko called to him as she strode toward the door.

“I can’t let you leave,” Eyepatch said, motioning for the man with the cold eyes to block her path.

She felt like her head was going to explode. “I thought you said you wouldn’t hurt me?” Was everything a lie?

“Seriously, Keiko?” Mace said with exasperation. “You believed a guy who’s holding a gun on you?”

“I believed you, too,” she reminded him. “Seems I’m more gullible than I thought.”

“Look,” Eyepatch said. “We all need to calm down here. I didn’t lie to you. I won’t hurt you. But I will contain you if need be. We need to resolve this between ourselves. We can’t have you walking straight out of here an’ telling Enforcement all about us.”

“I wouldn’t do that,” Keiko said. “I promise.” If they could lie, so could she.

Mace groaned, telling her she wasn’t fooling anyone. His patronizing expression was the last straw. The tenuous control on her anger snapped, and without thinking it through, she shoved him hard. If she hadn’t surprised him, she wouldn’t have been able to budge him. But he did budge. He slid backward, lost his balance, and slipped into the pool with a loud and satisfying splash.

“What the hell?” he shouted when he surfaced.

Turning her back on him, she fought to swallow the fury that made her itch to snatch one of their guns and shoot Mace in the backside. Instead, she confronted Eyepatch, the obvious leader of the group. A man who was clearly easily amused, because he was grinning at Mace. A sight that made her anger boil up all over again.

“Is this funny to you?” she demanded.

“No, ma’am,” he said, wiping the smile from his face fast.

“Just tell me what you want and let’s get this over with. I never want to see any of you again.” She glared down at Mace. “Especially you.”

Chapter Six

They were seated in the hotel room’s lounge, facing each other in a tense standoff. Mace hated that Keiko wouldn’t even look at him, but he understood it. She sat on the edge of one of the sofas, wearing her sexy red dress, but all Mace could think about was the moment when she’d been standing naked beside the pool. It didn’t seem right that he’d touched her, been inside of her, but the only glimpse he’d gotten of her gorgeous body was in that second.

His sister, Sandi, was right—he did let his dick do his thinking.

And it was going to get him killed.

“You’ve jammed all signals in and out of the penthouse, haven’t you?” Keiko’s back was straight, her knees firmly together and her expression cold. There was no sign of the passionate woman who’d climbed all over him on their trip to the hotel. And he didn’t blame her. She was in the enemy camp.

“We couldn’t risk you calling Enforcement,” Striker said evenly, making Mace want to punch out his unpatched eye.

“I see.” Keiko sounded perfectly calm and in control. Suspiciously so. It didn’t bode well for any of them. “I have calls I need to make to my superiors at work. There are things that have to be arranged for tomorrow’s press conference.”