Page 16 of Red Zone Awakened

His face softened, and his big hand came up to cup her cheek.She didn’t know why she let him touch her, why she didn’t step back out of his reach.Instead, her breath hitched in her throat, and she stilled, mesmerized, before him.

“I know you don’t have a lot of reason to believe anything I say, but I promise I will not let you die.I won’t let Freedom get you.And I sure as hell won’t let you fall off that ledge.”His eyes went liquid with an emotion she couldn’t read, but seeing it made her heart ache.“Please, Keiko, in this one thing, at least, trust me.Let me protect you.It’s all I can give you to repay you for the damage I’ve caused.”

The ache in her chest grew, and she fought the urge to rub the spot where it hurt the most—right over her heart.She was a fool to believe him, but there was no way he could fake the sincerity in his eyes.He was telling her that he’d die to save her.How could she turn her back on that?

Taking a deep, shaky breath, she stared up at him.“If you let me fall, I will come back and haunt you.”

Mace’s lips quirked into a tiny smile.“I can live with that.”He straightened, his hand falling from her face.“Go hide behind the sofa.”

“Won’t the sound of the glass breaking attract attention?”

“They won’t hear it.They’re too far away.Now stop delaying the inevitable and go hide.”

“You know how crazy this all is, right?”

“Yeah.”He snorted.“Trust me.It gets a whole lot crazier.You’re experiencing only the tip of the iceberg.”

A gunshot rang out from somewhere on their floor, and her eyes flew to the door, as though she might be able to see through it.

“They’re getting close,” Mace said.

“How do we know it isn’t Enforcement coming to save us?”

“We only heard one shot.If Enforcement storms the place, all hell will break loose.Go.Get behind the sofa and cover your ears.”

Against her better judgment, Keiko did as she was told, all the while praying that her fragile trust in Mace wasn’t simply desperation on her part.

* * *

Mace ran a hand through his hair as he watched Keiko hide.There was a good chance his plan would go seriously wrong.He’d only tried to dampen noises a couple of times since his genetics had been changed by the experimental weapon that ended the Tech War and inadvertently created the Red Zone—a toxic cloud that covered the old US-Mexican border, the area Mace now called home.

His only experience with dampening sound had been on a small scale—covering the noise of dishes being smashed or car doors being opened, that kind of thing.Breaking a plate-glass window would make a massive amount of noise, and he wasn’t sure he even had the ability to neutralize it.But going out on the ledge was the only way they could avoid Freedom.Which meant ithadto work.

With one last glance toward the spot where Keiko hid, he picked up one of the chairs sitting at the table.It was now or never.Mace took a deep breath, opened his mouth, and emitted a series of high-frequency sounds intended to cancel out the sound waves made by shattering glass.Hoping for the best, he swung the chair.

There was a dull thud as the chair struck the window.The glass didn’t break, but the chair crumpled.With a disgusted sigh at the poor workmanship, he tossed the chair aside and reached for another.

“What are you doing?”Keiko hissed.

He glanced back to find her peeking over the sofa.“Get back down,” he ordered.

“This isn’t going to work,” she said helpfully before disappearing.

Mace turned back to glare at the window.Would it have killed her to give him a little support?He didn’t hear her coming up with any ideas to get them out of this.With a grunt of frustration, he swung the chair.

Another muted thud.This time, producing spiderwebs in the glass.One more blow should do it.Encouraged, he emitted the noises he hoped would cancel out the sound the glass made when it shattered and launched the chair at the window.The glass broke with a faint tinkling instead of an almighty crash, sending shards out into the night.He breathed a sigh of relief.It worked better than he’d hoped.

He strode over to the sofa and tapped Keiko on the shoulder.“Time to get out of here.”

She dropped her hands from her ears.“Did you change your mind?Are we going with my plan instead?”She peered out from behind the sofa, and her jaw dropped.“Why didn’t I hear it smash?”

Mace grabbed a cushion and strode back to the gaping hole that used to be a window.He leaned through it and dusted as much of the glass as he could off the ledge.

“I don’t understand why I didn’t hear it smash.”Keiko sounded bewildered.

“Strip the covers off the other two cushions.We’re going to need them.”

“For what?”She reached for a cushion.