Red Awakening (Red Zone 2)

“My pride.”

“Then we’re good to go. Unless you want to try some more kung fu moves on me.”

“Turns out, you can’t do kung fu in a dress. Who knew?”

At least she’d stopped arguing with him. Must have been because she’d hit her head on the floor.

He turned back to the panel. “Do you know where the security hub is in this building?”

He resumed flicking through the maps. There was a landing pad on the roof. That could come in handy, if he managed to get a message out to his team telling them he needed a pickup, and if Freedom or Enforcement didn’t shoot them out of the sky while they did it.

“Why do you want to know where the security hub is? I’m pretty sure there aren’t any security personnel in there now.”

Did she have to question everything? Couldn’t she just answer him and help him save her ass? She was making it damn hard to keep her alive. “Do you know where it is or not?”

She pushed past him and stabbed at the screen. “The security hub is located there. It’s marked ‘Development’ on the map.”

She gave him what he could only assume was supposed to be a death glare. It wasn’t very impressive. Especially seeing as she’d just proven she couldn’t back up her threats with action. What was she going to do if he double-crossed her? Bite his ankles?

“Okay. I’ve had time to think, and I agree we should stick together until we get out of this building.” She lifted her chin. Royalty, deigning to consort with the commoners. “But no more picking me up and carrying me around. And don’t even think about sex. We are never riding that train again. Keep your hands to yourself or you’ll be sorry. I can defend myself.”

A bubble of laughter burst out of him, surprising them both. “No, you really can’t. But it’s kind of cute that even after that dismal display of your combat skills, you still think you can hurt me. Princess, you got to know that if you attacked me, you’d be unconscious before you could land a blow.” With a shake of his head, he turned back to the screen and flicked through the plan to the floor she’d mentioned.

“The bigger they are, the harder they fall,” she snapped.

“Like I haven’t heard that before. Can you communicate with the network or any of your colleagues?”

“No. I tried as soon as the trouble broke out. I’ve been trying ever since. I can access my integrated datachips, but I can’t send or receive information.”

“Basically, you’re a stand-alone PC. One that isn’t connected to the network.”

She cocked her head and considered him. “What’s a PC?”

“Never mind.”

A blast echoed through the building, and Mace clamped a hand over Keiko’s mouth, afraid she’d scream and draw unwanted attention.

“Shh,” he hissed as he closed his eyes and listened.

She yanked on his wrist, trying to loosen his hold, but it was like a butterfly attempting to move a mountain. Pointless. He ignored her and listened. It took a second to sort through the different sounds reverberating through the building. But then he heard it. A sound no human should be able to hear because it was on a frequency that lay outside their natural range.

He leaned into Keiko until his lips were close to her ear. “They’re communicating with each other on a higher frequency than most common signals. One that’s limited to a short radius. My guess is they’ve jammed every wavelength except the one they need to contact each other.”

She stiffened against his hand before again attempting to tug it away from her mouth. Reluctantly, he let it drop, but he was prepared to smack it back into place if she took a breath deep enough to scream.

“How do you know that?” she whispered. “Do you have implants that enhance your hearing range? How is that possible without damaging your eardrums? Which company designed them?”

Of course. He told her about the terrorists’ actions, and all she was worried about was product competition. “Focus. There are terrorists searching the building, looking for you. We need to move. They’re close, if I can hear them. Those sound waves don’t travel far.”

“After this is over, you’re going to explain those implants to me.”

Yeah, he’d get right on that. After this was over, he planned on being as far away from her as possible. And for some reason, that thought made his stomach clench.

“Take off your shoes.”

Her response was another glare. Would this woman ever do anything she was told? Her constant hesitations were slowing them down.

“Take. Off. Your. Shoes.”