Page 8 of Red Zone Awakened

“Not likely at all.Nobody on that stage is irreplaceable.Losing any one of those scientists would barely make a dent in CommTECH’s schedule and cause nothing more than a ripple in the news.Freedom has sorely overestimated just how valuable those scientists are to the company.”

Striker rubbed a hand over his shaven head.“If Miriam doesn’t care about her scientists, she’ll send in Enforcement to deal with the terrorists.That building will turn into a war zone.”

“With Mace caught in the middle,” Sandi said.

Striker felt the weight of responsibility.Mace wasn’t only Sandi’s brother; he was also his best friend and family to every team member who’d survived the bomb that ended the Technology War.

Each one of them should have been dead.Hell, they’d expected to die.Their commanding officer had given them five minutes’ warning that an experimental weapon of mass destruction was being deployed.

There had been tears in the man’s voice when he broke the news.“They told us not to contact our teams,” he’d said.“Told us there wasn’t any point.Fucking bullshit, all of it.A man deserves the right to say goodbye, even if that’s all he can do.I’m sorry, Striker.So fucking sorry.I argued that we needed more time to get our people out, but…”

Striker hadn’t said anything to console his commander.There hadn’t been time.Instead, he’d cut the communication dead and turned to his regiment, his team, the friends he respected and cared about, and told them that their country had decided they were collateral damage in an attempt to end the war.

Those words were the hardest he’d ever had to utter.

And he still had nightmares about the silence that followed.Silence that morphed into the sound of Gray’s strained voice as he frantically tried to contact his wife and children.To say goodbye.To tell them he loved them.To hear their voices one last time.But all communications from the area had been blocked now that a strike was imminent, and Gray’s teammates had to restrain him while dealing with their own grief.

Each had coped in different ways.In the corner of the cave where they’d set up camp, Jeremiah, their ex-chaplain who’d given up his calling to fight, sat silently praying, tears running down the big man’s face.Ignacio’s prayers were loud, calling on God in Spanish to protect his mother and rain down retribution on the government that had betrayed them.Zane hadn’t said a word but had punched the wall until his hand ran with blood.Hunter, new to the team and the youngest among them, had hugged his laptop tight to his chest.

“Is this real?”he’d asked Striker, his eyes wide with shock.

Striker had put a hand on his shoulder.“Yeah,mon ami, it’s real.”

As he looked around at his regiment, seeing some of them sitting alone, some huddled together, his eyes came to rest on Mace.He’d wrapped his sister tight in an embrace, keeping her between him and the cave wall, as though he could somehow protect her from the blast.Their eyes met, and over the distance that separated them, Striker saw pure determination in his friend’s gaze.

“See you on the other side, brother,” Mace promised.

“Si le bon Dieu le veut, mon ami,” Striker replied.If God is willing, my friend.

And then the world as they’d known it had ended.

However, they hadn’t died as expected.After a hundred years of sleeping in a cave, being genetically changed in ways no one could ever understand, they’d woken to a new world.One without their families and friends.One where they had only each other to rely on.Where they could trust only each other.Theywerefamily now.

Which meant none of them was ever left behind and forgotten.

Ever.

Striker took a deep breath.“We need to get Mace out of there and fast.We can’t go in to retrieve him.Not without running the risk of Miriam getting her hands on all of us.”

Friday trailed her fingertips over the snake tattoo on Striker’s arm, and he felt her touch straight to his heart.Inside of him, the animal that made up half his new DNA purred with contentment.“We can’t let CommTECH find out about your animals.They’ll rip you apart trying to discover the key to your symbiotic genes.”

Sensing that Friday was upset, the snake shifted on his skin, ready to separate from Striker’s body in order to comfort her.

Go back to sleep,Striker mentally ordered his snake.

Mate upset,it replied, a reprimand in its voice, as though it was Striker’s fault.Damn animal was merged with him but liked Friday way more than its host.

I’ll deal with my wife.You carry on napping,Striker said.The last thing he wanted was his diamondback “helping.”Thatneverwent well.

Friday stilled, her hand on the head of the snake, a tattoo on Striker’s shoulder.“What about Mace’s animal?You said he had problems controlling it.What are the chances of it separating from Mace?He can’t let it out.Not in there.”

“Don’t worry none about Mace.”Striker wrapped an arm around his wife.“He’s got it all under control.”Maybe.

He caught the eyes of his team and saw they were just as worried as he was.

“Please tell me his animal isn’t a bear,” Friday said, her tone making it clear she was still annoyed Mace wouldn’t tell her what he’d merged with during his hundred-year sleep.“Because people will definitely notice a bear rampaging through a research facility.”She thought about it for a minute.“It wouldn’t be so bad if it were an armadillo or a raccoon.”Her eyes widened.“It’s a raccoon, isn’t it?That explains so much.”

Despite their dire situation, the team couldn’t help but smile at her.