Page 7 of Red Zone Awakened

CHAPTER3

Red Zone Warriors surveillance vehicle

Four blocks from CommTECH’s research facility

Houston, Northern Territory

The screensin the van went blank.

“Hunter?”Striker barked.“What’s going on?”

“I don’t know.I’m bringing up the general news channels.”

The screens remained blank.

“Is the problem at our end?”Striker looked at his tech.

The man shook his head.“All the signals have been cut.”

“This isn’t good.”Friday paled.“The last thing we heard was a freedom cry from that Scottish man.”

“Don’t say it,” Striker ordered Hunter, whose lips were twitching.

“Say what?”Friday’s wide blue eyes stared up at him.

“Nothing,bébé.”He rubbed his thumb over her lower lip.There were certain things his genius wife would never understand, and a movie reference from over a hundred years earlier was one of them.

“Something’s happening.”Hunter pointed at a screen.

An image of the terrace filled the screens, but it was a very different scene from the one they’d witnessed minutes earlier.Reporters sat on the ground in front of the dais, their hands on their heads.On the stage, scientists knelt with their hands tied behind them.One was the Red Team’s target, Rueben Granger.Another was Keiko’s friend Abigail.

A fight had taken place, and the camera panned to show viewers the bodies of CommTECH security lying where they’d fallen on the expensive painted tiles.Around the edge of the terrace, masked gunmen trained weapons on their hostages.

But there was no sign of Mace.

Friday’s fingers clamped around Striker’s wrist.“You don’t think…”

“Mace is too stubborn to die,” Gray Hanson drawled from the front seat of the van, where he sat rubbing the silver-tinged stubble on his chin.As usual, the man seemed disconnected from what was going on around him.Something Striker would worry about another day, after he’d dealt with their current crisis.

“Plus, he’s massive.If he was dead, we’d see his body for sure,” Hunter said.

“He isn’t dead.”Sandi came up to stand behind them, her tone making it clear she would not allow her brother to die.As though her word on the matter was enough to prevent it.Sandi Carmichael, one of the first female Rangers, had many skills.However, keeping her brother alive with just her will wasn’t one of them.

On-screen, a young woman with short blond hair and luminous white skin walked forward to stare into the camera.“My name is Susan Neal.I am a Freedom fighter.For too long, we have lived under the oppression of the conglomerates, our lives dictated to us by companies who care nothing for the value of their people, only for the value of their stock.And we will no longer stand for it.”

The camera zoomed in on her face.“We control all signals in and out of this building.The CommTECH security team has been eliminated.We are in charge of this research facility now.”She turned her back on the camera and strode toward the scientists, holding up what looked like a dog collar.“This is an EMP band.”She threw it to one of her masked team.

The man fastened the band around the head of Rueben Granger, who whimpered like a kicked puppy.

Susan gave the scientist a cold smile before turning back to the camera.“We demand that Miriam Shepherd call a fair and open election to ensure that this territory is run by elected officials and not by a company more interested in profit than its citizens.We want to return to an unbiased system of government.One that favors the poor and not the interests of business.If the CEO of CommTECH does not meet our demands to start the process for a fair and public election within the next hour, we will eliminate one member of thisworld-classscientific team.After that, we will kill a scientist or member of the press each hour until our demands are met.And if our demands still aren’t met by this time tomorrow, Keiko Sato will die in front of her millions of fans.”

She held up a tiny black box.“A flick of this switch will ensure that the EMP band around Mr.Granger’s head emits a signal that will cause all of the data chips within it to explode.The chips CommTECH implanted to enslave its people will ultimately kill them.This is on you, Miriam Shepherd.You and your lust for power.You and your never-ending greed for wealth.”

Susan turned back to the scientists.“Tell me, Miriam, just how important is your head of tech?How valuable are these world-class scientists?How badly do you want them to live?You have one hour to decide.”

The screens went blank for a second before returning to studio news teams, already dissecting the Freedom terrorist’s message.

Striker looked at his wife.“What’s the likelihood of Miriam Shepherd giving in to Freedom’s demands?”