“It is so tempting to leave him here,” Keiko said in disgust.
“I’ll deal with him.” Mace grabbed the dead man’s hand and pressed his thumb to the cuffs. They snapped apart. “Let me help you up.”
He reached into the pocket of his jeans, and Keiko caught a glimpse of the silver datapad. Her heart jumped when she realized what he planned, and she looked around, checking to see that no one was watching. With the injector in his hand, Mace grasped Rueben under his arm and hauled him to his feet. Once he was steady, Mace removed the silencer.
“Did you have to be so rough?” Rueben said by way of thanks, rubbing the spot where Mace had held him—and injected him.
Mace slid the injector back into his pocket. This was it. The reason he’d come on this mission—inject the scientist, get access to the data, and stop the faulty datachip from being sold. His mission was complete. And strangely, rather than feeling used, Keiko felt proud.
“You two need to get me out of here,” Rueben said. “Sato will tell you how important I am. My brain makes this company billions. I need to be saved for the sake of all mankind.”
Keiko’s jaw dropped.
As usual, Mace didn’t waste time with words. He just punched the scientist and lowered him to the ground, storing him in the space behind the podium. “That should keep his big brain safe,” he said.
“Is he alive?”
“Would defeat the purpose if he died. But trust me, he’s safer unconscious. It’ll keep him out of trouble until this is over. Come on, princess. It’s time to go.”
With one last look at Rueben, she shrugged and followed Mace. Her eyes rested on Abigail’s body, and she fought the urge to rush to its side and say her farewells.
“She’s already gone,” Mace whispered.
“I know.” She turned away from the sight.
The fighting had calmed down, seeing as most of the combatants were already dead. The smell of blood mingled with smoke to form a stench that Keiko would breathe in her nightmares.
They hugged the sides of the pergolas that were randomly situated throughout the terrace. Mace crouched low behind a group of outdoor furniture and handed her a gun. “Take this. The safety’s off. Point and squeeze. Fire at anything that isn’t me.”
She looked past him to the last of the fighting. “Enforcement is winning. We need to get out of here.”
He pointed to the wall at the edge of the terrace. “We’re going that way. Stick close behind me. Stay down.”
They moved out, keeping low. The screaming, crying, and wailing had faded to background noise beneath the pounding of Keiko’s heart. A blast hit the wooden structure beside them, and they threw themselves flat on the terrace floor. Mace signaled for her to wait and cocked his head as though listening. Was he talking to his bat? She scanned the sky but couldn’t see it. He motioned for her to come closer, and she crawled to his side.
“My team’s coming for us.” His voice was so soft, she read the message from his lips more than heard it.
“We can communicate again? The signal jammer has gone?”
“Yeah.” He stared at her. Waiting.
It took a second to realize what he was waiting for—her decision. Would she call out to Enforcement? Would she sell him out? If he had been anyone else, she would have been insulted. But this was Mace, and he knew only too well what betrayal felt like.
She reached for him, cupping his cheek. “Let’s get out of here. I’ve had enough of this building and of CommTECH. I want to go with you.”
His eyes warmed with approval as he turned into her touch and pressed a kiss to her palm. She dropped her arm and curled her fingers tight to hold the kiss to her.
“I’m going to count to three,” he said. “When I do, run for the door at the end of the terrace wall.”
“What about you?” Her heart stuttered at the thought of being separated from him again.
“I’ll follow.” He crouched up and peeked over the edge of the mammoth sofa. “Ready?”
No, she wasn’t. She was nowhere near ready. “Yes.”
He nodded his approval. “One. Two. Three!”
She didn’t wait. She ran, sprinting for the doors. Trusting Mace to not only cover her but to follow.
She didn’t make it.
A man stepped out from behind the pergola. He had a gun in his hand, and it was aimed at her head. She screeched to a halt in front of him as terror stole her voice, making it impossible to scream or to call out and warn Mace that they’d been found—by one of Miriam Shepherd’s twin heads of security.
“I’ve been looking for you,” he said with a smile that ignited nightmares.
There was nothing human in this man’s eyes. Nothing to reassure her that she wasn’t going to die. She’d run straight into the arms of the devil himself, and all he did was smile as he reached out and calmly removed the gun from her hand.
“We’re going to have fun.” He grabbed her hair, pulled her to him, and leaned in to sniff her cheek. “You smell like innocence.”
The shock of his action, his words, was enough to unlock her voice, releasing her scream.
All he did was smile.
Chapter Forty-One
One of the Mercer twins had Keiko. Her hair was wrapped around his fist, and he was dragging her from the terrace.
No!
Mace was on his feet and running for her before he could think. All he could see was Keiko. He had to get to her. He had to save her from the Mercers. He’d heard rumors about what they did to their captives. Rumors that had made his stomach turn. They liked to play with knives. They liked to cut and slice until there was nothing left of the person in front of them.
And now they had his woman.
Look out! the bat shouted in his head.
But it was too late. The second twin attacked from the side, hitting Mace with the force of a truck. He crashed to the hard, tiled floor and felt something snap in his side. His rib was well and truly broken now.
He struggled to his feet, facing the twin in front of him but keeping an eye on the other brother as he dragged Keiko from the terrace.
Do something! he shouted at the bat.
Save mine, the bat agreed.
What the tiny creature could achieve, Mace didn’t know, but he was all the backup they had. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the bat swoop at the twin holding their mate. He didn’t see what happened next, because a fist shot out of nowhere and hit his face. He shook his head to clear it and then charged his attacker. His only thought was to eliminate the enemy and get to Keiko.
He rained blows on the Mercer twin, but the man danced around him. Taking the punishment in a way that made it clear he was used to it. Mace kicked out. Aiming for Mercer’s knee. Hoping to break it and bring him down. The twin twisted away, taking the blow on his calf instead.
An outraged screech drew their attention. The bat had clawed at the other brother, attempting to take out his eyes. Mace grinned at the sight of blood running down his face and swung back to strike the twin in front of him. The blow hit true. Catching Mercer on the jaw, sending him reeling backward.
Any other man would have fallen. Not this one. He shook off the blow and charged. Mace fought back, but part of his attention was fixed firmly on the scuffle in the corner of the terrace. The bat had attacked again, taking a swipe from the twin but injuring the man’s face in the process.
For a second, the bat’s dizziness and weakness were also Mace’s, and his opponent took advantage of his disorientation, hitting him with a roundhouse kick to the chest. It happened too fast to stop, and the force of the kick propelled his broken ribs straight into his lung.
He staggered back. Unable to breathe. Bleeding internally.
Dying.
Because there was no way he could get the help he needed before it was too late.
The broken edge of the terrace wall, where his grenades had caused damage, hit the back of his knees. His opponent watched him, waiting for his next move
, knowing that one kick couldn’t fell a man his size. Not realizing that the kick had killed him. For one long, heavy second, Mace wondered why Mercer didn’t follow up on the kick. Why didn’t he come in close and finish him off?
It wasn’t important. His opponent wasn’t important. All that mattered was Keiko. Was she safe? Had she gotten free? How was he going to save her now that he was dying? Now that he couldn’t even save himself.
His eyes found hers over the carnage on the terrace. Her Mercer twin had released his hold on her hair to wipe the blood from his face. Her eyes went wide when they connected with his. Her lips fell open as though to call to him. And then, he saw panic register on her face. Panic for him. Only Keiko would feel fear for him when she was in so much danger.
He swayed against the crumbled wall. It was getting harder to breathe now. Dizziness was stealing his sense of reality, and it seemed as though the world around him was becoming weightless. Or maybe it was him. He kept his eyes on the woman he loved. She was his lifeline, and he wanted her face to be the last thing he saw before it all went black.
She was so fucking beautiful. Too beautiful for him. Too clean. Too perfect. It was right that he wouldn’t have a chance with her. Men like him didn’t get to touch beauty like Keiko Sato. A beauty that was soul deep.
“No!” she screamed. At least he thought she did. He was focused on the perfect shape of her lips and saw the word ripped from them.
“Live.” Mace wanted to shout it to her. Maybe he did. But it could have been a whisper.
No! Not die! The imperial command was pushed into his brain.
Sorry, rat face. I don’t have a choice.
He kept his eyes glued to Keiko. Nothing but death could make him look away now. If he couldn’t have her, couldn’t touch her, he would take what he could get—the image of her imprinted on his soul. He would fill his being with her. Drink her in. While he still could.
As if in slow motion, Keiko turned to her attacker, snatched the gun from his hand, and shot him in the leg. He fell to the terrace with a cry of rage, but Keiko was already running.
But not for the door. Not for safety. Not toward the perfect future she deserved. The one he would never have been able to give her.
No.
She was running for him.
And she was shooting as she did it. Her gun blasted at everything around her. A random deluge of deadly intent. She aimed at nothing and hit it perfectly. A stray shot caught the remaining Mercer twin, the one who’d killed him, taking the man down. And Mace laughed at her blind luck. At least he thought he was laughing.
His vision faded as blood pooled inside him. He swayed, feeling the broken brick dig into the backs of his legs. Spots danced at the edges of his vision. Tired. He was so tired.
Do not give in, the bat ordered.
Mace smiled at the bat in his mind—maybe. It could have been a real smile, on his face for the world to see. He didn’t know. He couldn’t tell the difference anymore. His eyes stayed fixed on Keiko as she ran for him. His name on her lips for everyone to read. Her black silken hair flying behind her. Tears marred her dirt-stained cheeks. Her borrowed clothes were torn. Her knees were bloody. She needed a medic. She needed care.
And he wouldn’t be the one to give it to her.
He’d failed her. All he’d wanted to do was get her safely out of the building, and he hadn’t been able to do it.
The world shifted beneath him, as though it slid out from under his feet. The pink morning sky filled his vision, and he felt like he was floating.
So, this is death?
“No!” The shout tore through him, jerking his mind back to the concrete reality that suddenly felt brutally hard.
Keiko.
Fuck, she was beautiful.
As his eyes drifted closed on the image of the woman he loved, he smiled. He’d always wondered how it all ended.
Now he knew.
Chapter Forty-Two
Top of the Righteous Center
Houston, Northern Territory
Sandi didn’t have the patience or the time to talk Freedom out of their shuttle. Plus, after all the trouble they’d caused for her brother, she figured they didn’t deserve for her to go softly with them. So as soon as the elevator door opened on the roof of the Righteous Center, she started firing. Less than a minute later, the three Freedom fighters were writhing on the ground, each with a bullet in their leg.
“A little warning, maybe,” Ignacio grumbled as he disarmed the Freedom fighters.
“I did warn you. I said, when the doors open, I’m going to get the shuttle.”
“I thought you meant you were running for the bird, not that you were going Rambo on everything in your path.” One of the fallen women tried to pull a gun on him, and he kicked it from her hand, pointing his firearm at her head. “Don’t mistake me for the friendly one,” he told her. “I wouldn’t have aimed for your leg.”
The woman sank back with a gasp.
“Get in here,” Sandi told her teammate. “You can chat up the talent some other time.”
Ignacio climbed into the back of the shuttle as Sandi fired it up. “If that’s the talent, I might take a vow of celibacy, just like mi madre wanted me to take. God rest her soul.” He crossed himself.
“She wanted you to be a priest?” That was hard to believe.
“Funny, no?” Ignacio flashed her the killer grin that had women falling at his feet. Although Sandi had never been one of them. To her, he was just another pain-in-the-ass brother.
“Hold tight.” She pushed the accelerator and took the small aircraft off the top of the building.
“Still can’t get used to flying cars. The wings seem too small to work properly,” Ignacio said. “Makes me feel like I’m stuck in The Jetsons.”
“Mace gets freaked out when an elevator goes sideways.” Her heart clenched at the mention of her brother.
“We’ll get him,” Ignacio said.
“Damn straight, we will.” There was no other option. He was the only family she had left. The only real family she’d ever had, and she wasn’t going to lose him.
The comm unit buzzed to life in her ear. “Five minutes behind you,” Striker said. “I’ll provide cover when you come in to land on the terrace. What’s your ETA?”
“Coming up on it now.” And it didn’t look good. There was smoke billowing from the sixty-sixth floor of the CommTECH research facility, part of the terrace wall had been blown to hell, and there were bodies scattered everywhere.
“Swoop in,” Ignacio said. “I’ll keep an eye out for Mace.”
Sandi tilted the craft, diving down to skim over the broken anti-missile grid that sat several feet above the terrace. It was easy to make out the black-clad Enforcement figures in the chaos. They fired systematically at what was left of the terrorists while reporters hid or ran for their lives.
“There,” Ignacio called. “South side, beside the broken wall. He’s fighting with someone…damn it, he’s fighting one of the Mercers.”
“Coming in on the east side,” Striker said.
“I’m going around again. See if we can find a place to land this thing.” Sandi brought the shuttle into a tight turn, and just as she leveled out, she saw her brother.
“If he isn’t careful, Mercer’s going to back him right off the building,” Ignacio said.
“He’s smarter than that.” Sandi shot over the terrace, looking for a place to land. There was nowhere. She clenched her teeth tight for a second before addressing their team leader. “Do we still have contact with Mace? Can we tell him to get to the helipad on the penthouse level? I can’t find anywhere to set this down.”
“Negative,” Striker said. “We lost contact. Hunter is trying to reestablish it, but he isn’t having any luck.”
“Is it the signal jammer?” Sandi said, wondering if it was possible to get a shot at it and finish the job of taking it out.
“No, the signal jammer is down. It’s more likely Mace’s comm
unit has been disabled.”
“With the way he’s fighting,” Ignacio said, “I’m not surprised.”
Sandi scanned the sky and spotted the team’s helicopter on her right-hand side. So far, no one had thought to take a shot at them—they were too busy dealing with the fighting on the ground.
“If I can get close enough,” Sandi said to her teammate, “you can jump out and get Mace to the helipad.”
“Something’s wrong,” Ignacio snapped. “Mace stopped fighting.”
Sandi turned the craft so she was facing her brother instead of searching the terrace for a way to land. He was clutching his side, swaying in place. As she watched, he staggered back until his legs were against the broken wall. He was injured. Out of it. And all Mercer did was stand there watching, as though he couldn’t figure out what Mace was doing.
A flash of silver caught Sandi’s eye. Keiko was running toward Mace, a gun in her hand, firing wildly. A lucky shot to the shoulder took Mercer down. Keiko didn’t notice; she was completely focused on getting to Mace. And his eyes were on her. He staggered back a step, his legs catching on the wall.
“Let me down,” Ignacio said. “I’ll get him.”
“No time.” She swung the craft around, coming up behind her brother. “Hunter,” she said through the comm. “I need you to patch me into the general communication network. I need to talk to Keiko. And I need it to happen now.”
Ignacio shot her a look. It was dangerous for them to use the general network. It wasn’t secure.
Thankfully, Hunter didn’t question her—he just followed orders. “You’re through to Keiko,” he said.
And Sandi took a deep breath and grasped at the last chance she had to keep her brother alive.
Chapter Forty-Three
“Keiko, can you hear me?” A voice she didn’t recognize sounded in her ear as she ran across the terrace. She ignored it. There was no room for distraction. She had to get to Mace.
“Keiko, I hope to hell you can hear me,” the woman’s voice said. “This is Sandi, Mace’s sister.”
Red Awakening (Red Zone) Page 26