Red Awakening (Red Zone 2)

Chapter Thirty

Mace ground his teeth. “We need to get out of here. The Freedom team will have gone back to the security hub by now. We need to take them and the cameras out.”

“Mace,” Keiko persisted, undeterred by his attempt to deflect her questions. “What happens if the bat dies?”

There was no getting around her. Unless he wanted to pick her up and carry her out of the room, he’d just have to answer the question. “We don’t know.”

Her bottom lip trembled slightly. “If the bat dies, you die, don’t you?”

It was too humiliating to answer, because his biggest weakness was two inches tall.

“Where’s the bat now?”

“Eating. Now can we go to the hub?”

“Eating what?”

Mace swallowed a groan. “Bugs.”

“You eat bugs?” She sounded horrified.

“No. I don’t eat bugs. The bat eats bugs.”

“After this is all over, I’m going to need some serious therapy.”

“Can we leave now?” He opened the door again and signaled for her to follow. They’d made it two steps before he felt a familiar tingling under his skin—his bat was returning.

He turned back to Keiko. “Don’t scream. The bat’s coming back.”

Wide-eyed, she looked around the corridor. “Now?”

“Yeah, now. Are you going to freak out? Do I need to cover your mouth?”

“I’m fine,” she said, but she didn’t look sure.

Mace backed her into the communications room, leaving the door open for the bat. He took a step tow

ard her and prepared himself to cover her mouth at the first sign of panic. That earned him a glare. He felt the hairs on his skin stand on end and knew the bat had arrived even before Keiko’s mouth fell open. He watched her as she stared in wonder and fear at the flying rodent.

“It’s so small,” she whispered. “And you’re huge.”

The bat fluttered between them, and Mace’s head filled with its joy at seeing Keiko again. He kept his eyes on her, saw the tremble in her hands and her breathing pick up. Saw her shoulders tense and a cold sweat break out on her brow, but she didn’t scream.

“What kind of bat is it?” Her voice shook as her eyes stayed glued to his other half, who was showing off for her by doing spirals in the air.

“Canyon. They’re one of the smallest bats in North America. They’re loners. And like living in caves and eating flies.” And it was embarrassing. Other members of his team had merged with proper animals—wolves, snakes, mountain lions—he’d gotten a flying rat that wasn’t even as big as his thumb.

“It looks furry. Is it soft?”

“I don’t cuddle with it.” Mace frowned at her. “How the hell do I know if it’s soft?”

“You touch it. It’s part of you.”

“It’s a bat. There are millions like it in Texas alone. It’s nothing special.”

Dumbass, the bat whispered in his mind, making Mace glare at it. Obviously now that he could talk, the bat wasn’t above using Mace’s insults right back at him. Taking a step back, Mace secured the door. Were they ever going to get out of the damn comms room?

“We need to go. Our window for getting out of this building is closing fast. Enforcement won’t stay away for long. Once they realize the other attacks on CommTECH are just diversions, they’ll be right back here.”