Page 38 of Red Zone Awakened

CHAPTER16

He should have letthe argument drop, but he couldn’t.Keiko’s ignorance put their lives in danger.Worse, it put hers in danger.And he couldn’t stomach the thought of her being hurt because of it.

“Have you heard of Friday Jones?”Mace asked as he studied the screens.

“What’s she got to do with anything?”

“Have you heard of her or not?”

“Of course I’ve heard of her.She’s the scientist who ran away with CommTECH secrets a few months ago.She tried to sell them to one of our competitors, but the Bolivian government intervened, a firefight broke out, and she died in the fray.”

“Friday Jones didn’t steal secrets, and she sure as hell didn’t die in South America.”He snorted.“She’s alive and well and married to our team leader, Striker.”

The color drained from her face.“That isn’t possible.Are you sure it’s the same person?”

“Oh, I’m sure.She ran from CommTECH when she witnessed a meeting between the world’s leaders that she shouldn’t have.And what did your perfect CommTECH do?They sent mercenaries and Enforcement after her to kill her.Until, finally, they sent in Miriam’s personal security guy, who locked her in a cell in an illegal mine in La Paz and waited for her to die.Fortunately, we got her out before that happened, but Miriam’s guy in the process.”

“No,” she said, her eyes widening.“That can’t be right.I gave the press release on his death.We were told he died in the same firefight that killed Friday Jones.He died protecting company secrets.”

“He died protecting company secrets, all right, just not the ones you think he was protecting.CommTECH’s mining ladmium in La Paz, a shit ton of the stuff, all ripped out of the earth illegally and with the blessing of the Bolivian president.It’s the same ladmium that’ll be used in your brand-new chip.The one you’re launching later this year.And they don’t have time to refine it before the chip goes public.That’s just one of the secrets Miriam’s security chief was protecting.That and the fact Friday was in the wrong place at the wrong time, saw something she shouldn’t, and they wanted her dead because of it.”

“It makes no sense…” Keiko muttered almost to herself, but he could tell she was wavering.“She would ruin her company if she put out a product containing unrefined ladmium.No one would trust CommTECH.The stock would plummet.”

“Not if they already had a scapegoat in place.”

“The company who’re meant to refine the ladmium?But CommTECH refines its own.”

“Not this time.”

She shook her head.“I don’t believe it.”

That’s when he opened his mouth and said the very last thing he should have said to CommTECH’s press secretary.“What if I can prove Friday’s alive?”

Her dark eyes held his, and there was a plea in them.Her world was crumbling around her, leaving her torn between remaining ignorant and knowing the truth.And for some reason, he just couldn’t let her stay in the dark.It was a dangerous place, filled with the secrets and machinations of CommTECH’s director and board members.She wasn’t safe there.

Mace reached into his back pocket and pulled out his datapad.This mission had been a series of screwups ever since it started, and one of them was his forgetting to wipe the information from the datapad after Friday took control of it on the terrace.He tapped the screen, telling it to replay the last actions, then handed it to Keiko.

The screen burst into life with an image of Friday’s frowning face, and Keiko gasped.

“I’m taking remote control of your datapad,” Friday said.“See this box?”A dialogue box appeared on the screen.“You type in the release command, and the injector pops out of the datapad.From when it emerges, you only have about fifteen seconds to inject it into our target.Otherwise, it will be useless.So don’t release it until you know you’re going to use it.”She let out a long-suffering sigh.“When you get back to base, I’m making you take a technology for beginners course.Your ignorance makes you a danger to the team.And it’s embarrassing.”

“I know enough for what I need to do,” Mace’s voice rang out.

“Obviously not,” Friday said.“I’m finished with your datapad.You can have control back.Do you think you can manage to wipe its memory once I log out, or do I need to talk you through that too?”

“Why did we rescue her again?”Mace said.

“She’s great in bed.”Striker appeared on his screen.His joke earned him a slap on the back of the head from his wife.

“Don’t screw this up, Mace,” Friday said.“People will die if you do.”The screen went blank.

Keiko’s hands shook as she looked up at him.“That was Friday Jones.”

“I know.”

“She’s alive.”

“Yup.”