Page 56 of Red Zone Awakened

“Chocolate for dessert.”He tossed her one of the bars Miriam had stockpiled.

“Now you’re talking.”She ripped open the bar and demolished it, ignoring the bowl of chili.

Mace didn’t blame her.The canned stuff was nowhere near as good as his recipe.“Here, drink up.We don’t want to become dehydrated.”He placed a bottle of cold water beside her.

“Thanks.”Her eyes fell on his datapad, which he’d connected to the wall of screens.

“I found a wired-in port,” he said before polishing off his chili.“Once we’re done, we can call my team and, hopefully, come up with a plan to get out of here.”

Keiko carefully placed the empty bottle on the table, as though all of her focus was on the bottle and not on what she wanted to say.“Why can’t we just stay here until everything’s over?”

Mace grabbed another water bottle from the counter behind him, unscrewed the cap, and put it in front of her.“Because Enforcement will search the building, and when they find me, they’ll arrest me.”

She shook her head.“They don’t know who you are, and I won’t tell them.”

“Oh, they’ll know who I am by now.Every resource CommTECH has will be aimed at finding out everything they can about the man on the ledge with their press secretary.”

“Former press secretary,” she mumbled, and then her eyes hit his.“I resigned.I even wrote a memo.It will go straight to Miriam as soon as I reconnect to the network.”

Mace mentally reeled.Was she serious?She’d actually walk away from CommTECH?“You resigned?”

“While I was in the shower.The message is just waiting to send.”

A bubble of something like hope formed in Mace’s stomach.“Please tell me you didn’t put in there that you know all about her being a lying, murderous cancer on humanity?”

Keiko’s lips twitched.“You should have gone into public relations.You have a way with words.And no, I blamed Freedom’s attack for me wanting to get out of the PR game.”She blinked those thick lashes at him.“I have to protect my parents.As long as I’m with CommTECH, they’ll always be in danger.”

“Striker promised you we wouldn’t use them again, and I’ll make sure he keeps his word.”

To his surprise, she reached out and placed her hand on top of his.“I can hardly believe I’m saying this, but I trust that your team will leave them alone.I can’t guarantee other groups will, though.They’re an easy way of getting to me.Honestly, now that I think about it, I don’t know why it hasn’t occurred to someone before your team.”

“Probably because they had security watching them, and no other team was good enough to get past them.”

Her eyes went wide.“My parents don’t have security watching them.”

“Afraid they do, princess.Courtesy of CommTECH, I’d say.Right now that team thinks your parents are holed up in a religious retreat, cut off from the world.Otherwise, they’d be looking for them.”

“With each passing second, I discover something new and disturbing about CommTECH.”Her angry glare was just as cute as everything else she did.“I have no idea how I missed that my parents were being watched.”

“Because CommTECH wanted you to, and they’re very good at what they do.”And partly because she’d been willingly blind.Although, he didn’t say that part out loud.It was understandable.If he’d been neck deep with those assholes, he wouldn’t have wanted to see the cracks in the walls either.“It’s not your fault.”

“It feels like it is,” she said quietly.“My life has become one big complicated mess that could get everyone I care about killed.You’d think I would have seen that coming.”

“If you resign, will CommTECH think you’re in league with Freedom?That you were the one to sneak them in here?”Mace found himself holding his breath while waiting for her reply.

“No.It’s obvious who let them in.I liked that Scottish scientist; he seemed a nice guy.Guess you can never tell what’s going on with people just by looking at the surface, huh?”

He merely grunted.

“But it’s not only my parents’ safety that’s making me walk away from my career.It’s also that I know the truth about CommTECH now, and I can’t carry on working for them knowing it.And then… there’s Abigail.”She swallowed hard.“I need time to…”

“Mourn.”He turned his hand in hers and threaded their fingers together.

“Yeah,” she whispered.

Mace’s throat felt suddenly tight, and he cleared it.“Can’t say I’m upset that you’re done with CommTECH, but I am sorry your life’s been upended.”

“Well, you can start making amends by getting us out of here.I’m fed up with CommTECH, Freedom’s violence, and this tomb Miriam calls a panic room.”

He gave her hand one last squeeze and picked up the datapad.“I can do that.”Holding the device aloft, he said, “How do I switch this thing on again?”

“For goodness’ sake…” She reached for the datapad, but Mace snatched it away.

“Joking.”He grinned at her.

She rolled her eyes at him, but some of the sparkle was back.