Red Awakening (Red Zone 2)

“Thank you,” she said softly. “Now keep him safe until we can fix him.”

What she thought a two-inch flying rat could accomplish, Striker didn’t know. Standing up on wobbly legs, Keiko turned to him with the same look a queen would use on her subjects.

“We need to get him to a hospital. Come on, hurry up.”

Ignacio started laughing, and Striker shot him a look that shut him up fast. Then, together, they ran with Mace to the waiting vehicles.

Chapter Forty-Eight

CommTECH headquarters

New York City, Northern Territory

Along with the rest of the world, Miriam Shepherd had watched her press secretary jump off the sixty-sixth floor of the research building in a misguided attempt to save a reporter, only to be scooped up by a waiting shuttle. A Freedom shuttle. One that was now in flames in Buffalo Bayou.

“Survivors?” The cameras in the area had been cut just before the shuttle hit the bridge. Miriam was watching the blazing aftermath on the screens in her office.

“None.” Daniel Mercer stood in the middle of Miriam’s office, a clear hologram from the crash site. His arm was bandaged, but he was as calm and in control as usual.

She knew she was talking to Daniel, because Charles was in the hospital. Someone had managed to get in a lucky shot, one that hit his femoral artery. Charles was temporarily out of action. Unlike Keiko Sato.

“Are we sure she was in the shuttle when it blew up?”

“There’s no way to tell for certain.”

“Is it possible they escaped the shuttle, maybe jumped from it before impact?”

“No. There are no signs of anyone having escaped. And definitely no signs of a rescue vehicle in the area waiting for them.” He stared straight into Miriam’s eyes. “Keiko Sato, the reporter, and the Freedom pilot are all dead. There is no evidence to the contrary.”

Miriam had complete confidence in her heads of security. If Daniel Mercer said there were no survivors, then there were no survivors.

“Is there any evidence that Keiko and the reporter were working with Freedom?”

“Negative. So far, our investigation hasn’t uncovered any links between Ms. Sato or the reporter and Freedom.” An Enforcement officer tried to get Mercer’s attention, but he waved him away, judging rightly that talking with Miriam took precedence. “We did, however, find out that the shuttle was heading to the terrace in an attempt to pick up the Freedom leader.”

Miriam smiled her usual icy smile. That nasty little Freedom woman was no longer a problem. “So, you think that it was purely coincidental that the shuttle was in place when Ms. Sato tried to save the reporter’s life?” Which was exactly how she would spin it to the press. Keiko Sato would go down as a hero. And her heroics would reflect nicely on CommTECH. Miriam would make sure that they did.

“Yes.” The Mercer twin waited for further instruction.

“Clean up the mess,” Miriam told him. “Then get yourself and your brother back to New York.”

The hologram blinked out, and she knew her order would be obeyed.

Now it was time to find a replacement press secretary and tell the world that Keiko Sato died a hero.

Chapter Forty-Nine

Shuttle crash site

Buffalo Bayou Park

Houston, Northern Territory

Daniel Mercer turned to the head of Houston Enforcement, who’d been trying to get his attention during his communication with CommTECH’s CEO.

“Yes?”

The man swallowed and took a step back. It was a reaction Daniel was used to. “There are fresh tire tracks from two vehicles on a path leading down to the water and evidence that at least two people made it out of the bayou alive. What are your instructions?”