Page 104 of Red Zone Awakened

“What the hell?”Striker snapped at his teammates.“She knows about his animal?”

“Yeah.”Ignacio took off his waterlogged shirt and wrung it out.“We need to take her with us and sort this out.”

Keiko turned a fiery glare on Ignacio, which would have been funny under any other circumstances.She was tiny, battered, and clearly exhausted.She was a woman at the very end of her resources, facing off against a man with twice her bulk and a whole lot more muscle.Striker could see why his friend was gone on her.

Worthy mate,his snake said in agreement.

“You’re taking me with you anyway,” she snapped at Ignacio.“I go where he goes.”She pointed at Mace before turning her face back to the sky.“Baaaat!”

Striker ran a hand over his bald head.“That won’t work.His animal doesn’t listen to anyone but him.”

“Not even him half the time.”Sandi brushed the hair from her brother’s forehead.

Keiko didn’t listen.“Bat, get down here.I know you’re up there!”

Striker didn’t see how she could know any such thing.He caught Ignacio’s eye.“You think it’s still trapped in the research facility?”

“Who knows?I haven’t seen it, but it’s got to be alive.”

Yeah, because Mace was still alive, and despite never having tested their premise that if one half of their weird little duo died, it would mean the end of the other, they all believed it was exactly what would happen.

“Bat!”Keiko screeched.“Get down here now.Stop messing around with your friends.”

Striker let out a sigh as two tanklike vehicles screeched to a halt on the rise above them.Gray bolted out of the first vehicle, closely followed by several more members of his team.

“You need to stop screaming for the bat,” Striker told Keiko.“You aren’t helping anyone.”

“We need to find his bat.If we don’t, they won’t survive.”She glared at him.“Do you have a better idea?No?Well then, butt out.Baaaaaaat!”

Gray came up beside them.“Should she be screaming like that?”

“Unless you have a gag on you, I’m not sure how we can stop it.”Striker nodded at Mace.“Get him loaded up.I’ll bring her in the second vehicle.We only have a small window to get out of here before the cameras are back online and Enforcement finds out exactly what happened.”

“On it.”Gray strode toward Mace.

“We need to go,” Striker told Keiko.“We need to get Mace and you to a doctor.”

“Not without his bat,” the stubborn woman replied.

“I don’ think you’re in any position to negotiate,chère.”

“Baaaat!”was the only answer he got.

Striker opened his mouth to tell her that her time was up.If she wanted to go with Mace, she needed to leave now.Only the words didn’t come out, because a tiny bat, one smaller and lighter in color than the rest, spiraled down from the mass above—heading straight for her.

“Bat,” she called, laughed, cried, reaching her hands high toward it.

And damned if the flying rat didn’t flutter straight into those hands.Striker’s jaw dropped as her shaky grasp brought the tiny creature to her chest and held it close.

“You’re such a bad bat,” she scolded.“You knew you had to come back to Mace, but you ran off to play instead.I’m not happy with you.”Her hands trembling, she walked the creature over to its other half, looking equal parts scared and relieved that she held it.She dropped to her knees beside Mace and placed the bat on his chest.“Go on, get back where you belong.”

The tiny, fluffy bat butted her hand, as though it wanted more petting.She let out a stunned laugh.“Later, okay.”And then she shooed it up Mace’s chest to his shoulder.“Do your joining thing.I’ll pet you later.”

And to everyone’s astonishment, it did exactly as it was told.One second, it was walking across Mace; the next, it was a tattoo on chest.Keiko ran her fingers over the bat drawing.

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

What she thought a two-inch flying rat could accomplish, Striker didn’t know.

Keiko stood on wobbly legs and turned to him with the same look a queen would bestow on her subjects.“We need to get him to a hospital.Come on, hurry up.”

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