Red Awakening (Red Zone 2)

Before.

Her.

Eyes.

She stared in horror as it emerged from Mace’s skin, crawling out from under his shirt, until it sat there for a moment at his collar, looking strangely pleased with itself—if a bat could look pleased. It was tiny, only a little bigger than her thumb, and it had beige fur from head to toe, making it look like a ball of fluff rather than a flying harbinger of death. She stood, frozen in shock, her mind completely blank as she tried to make sense of what she’d witnessed. There was no explanation for this. Nothing at all. As she gaped at the bat, the bat stared back at her. And then, suddenly, it spread its wings and took flight. Heading straight toward her.

And that was when Keiko screamed.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Mace spun, clamped a hand over Keiko’s mouth, lifted her with his other arm, and ran up the stairs. He barreled past the door to the floor above the security hub and sprinted through the open area with its low tables and informal seating. This floor was mainly for admin, which meant security wasn’t as tight as it was on other floors. Still, most doors had a biolock on them, and he didn’t want to blast his way into a room—that was a sure way to let Freedom know their exact location.

He turned the handle on the first door he found that didn’t have a biolock. It was a private communications room with a wall of screens and two armchairs set up facing it. Along one wall was a refreshment bar. Apart from that, there was nothing else in the room. Mace shut the door behind him and locked it. The lock wouldn’t keep Freedom out for long, and there was nowhere in the room to hide. If they stayed quiet, hopefully the terrorists would assume the room had been locked up while it was empty. It was the best he could do under the circumstances, and it wasn’t much.

There was also one huge hole in his hastily constructed plan—Keiko was still screaming. He felt the huffs of air against his hand and the dull humming sound of the trapped noise. If she didn’t calm down soon, she’d lead Freedom straight to them. He needed a distraction. Something to keep Freedom busy while he dealt with the hysterical woman in his arms.

He needed the help of the animal who shared his DNA.

The animal Keiko should never have known about.

Pull the fire alarm! Mace silently shouted to his other half, showing him an image of the alarm.

There was silence and then, Hungry. He got the distinct impression his bat was trying to find a way out of the building so he could track down some food.

I need you to do this now, Mace barked at him.

No. Hungry.

He didn’t have time for this. Freedom was coming their way. Keiko was scr… He looked down at her. The screaming had stopped. Her eyes met his, and he noted it wasn’t fear that filled them but rage. She glared at him as she opened her mouth again—and bit him. Hard. He dropped her and looked at his palm. There were teeth marks and a tiny spot of blood.

He held it up to her. “Stop biting me.”

“Don’t come near me.” She held up her hands to ward him off, as though that could stop him. How many times did he have to point out the difference in their sizes for her to get it? It was as though she was ten feet tall—at least in her mind.

“Keep your voice down,” he hissed at her. “You already brought Freedom down on us once with your screaming. The last thing we want is for you to lead them straight here.”

She looked around for the first time. “This is a comms room. It’s soundproofed.” Her voice rose with each word. “You have a bat.” She pointed an accusatory finger at him. “Living under your skin.”

He made a calm-down gesture with his hands. “We’ll talk about it in a minute. First I need to deal with rat face.”

Press the button, he commanded the bat. Now.

“You’re talking to it?” she screeched. “In your head?”

“I swear, if you don’t calm down right now, I will gag you.”

“Try it.” Her eyes blazed as she paced. “How can you talk to it? All communications frequencies have been jammed. It is an implant, right? I mean, it has to be some sort of new tech. What else could it be? It can’t be an actual bat. That would be crazy. Oh my word, I’m going crazy! I’ve snapped from the stress. I’ve crossed the line, and this is what it looks like on the other side.”

Press the damn button, he told the flying rat while he watched Keiko pace and rant.

Of course, his other half wanted to argue. No! Hungry.

“I mean, I work in the industry,” Keiko said to herself. “At least I used to, before I found out my parents were terrorists and the guy I had sex with showed me that everything I believed was a lie. But before that, when I was still a press secretary, I would have heard about a programmable bat that lived under your skin. You can’t keep that sort of tech secret.” Her hands shook as she threaded them through her hair. “It has to be tech. It has to. What other explanation is there?”

He could barely hear himself think over the noise she was making. “Please, Keiko, can you stop it for one minute so that I can deal with the bat?”

It was the wrong thing to say. It just sent her off into a rant about mutant Vikings. Mace couldn’t take any more. So he shouted the one thing at his bat that he could think of that was guaranteed to get its attention.