Page 95 of Red Zone Awakened

CHAPTER39

Top of the Righteous Center

Houston, Northern Territory

Sandi didn’t havethe patience, or the time, to talk Freedom out of their shuttle.Plus, after all the trouble they’d caused her brother, she figured they didn’t deserve for her to go easy on them.So as soon as the elevator door opened on the roof of the Righteous Center, she started firing.Less than a minute later, three Freedom fighters writhed on the ground, each with a bullet in their leg.

“A little warning, perhaps,” Ignacio grumbled as he disarmed the terrorists.

“I did warn you.I said, when the doors open, I’m going to get the shuttle.”

“Yeah, I thought you meant you were running for the bird, not that you planned to go all Rambo on everything in your path.”One of the fallen women tried to pull a gun on him, and he kicked it from her hand while pointing his firearm at her head.“Don’t mistake me for the friendly one,” he told her.“I wouldn’t have aimed for your leg.”

The woman sank back with a gasp.

“Get in here,” Sandi said to her teammate.“You can chat up the talent some other time.”

Ignacio climbed into the back of the shuttle as Sandi fired it up.“If that’s the talent, I might take a vow of celibacy, just likemi madrewanted me to.God rest her soul.”He crossed himself.

“Your mother wanted you to be a priest?”She found that hard to believe.

“Funny, no?”Ignacio flashed her the killer grin that had women falling at his feet.Although Sandi had never been one of them.To her, he was just another pain-in-the-ass brother.

“Hold tight.”She pressed the accelerator and maneuvered the small aircraft off the top of the building.

“Still can’t get used to flying cars.The wings seem too small to work properly,” Ignacio said.“Makes me feel like I’m stuck inThe Jetsons.”

“It freaks Mace out when elevators go sideways.”Her heart clenched at the mention of her brother.

“We’ll get him,” Ignacio said.

“Damn straight, we will.”There was no other option.He was the only family she had left.The only real family she’d ever had, and she wasn’t about to lose him.

The comm unit buzzed to life in her ear.“Five minutes behind you,” Striker said.“I’ll provide cover while you land on the terrace.What’s your ETA?”

“Coming up on it now.”And it didn’t look good.Smoke billowed from the sixty-sixth floor of the CommTECH research facility, part of the terrace wall had been blown to hell, and there were bodies scattered everywhere.

“Swoop in,” Ignacio said.“I’ll keep an eye out for Mace.”

Sandi tilted the craft and dove to skim over the damaged anti-surveillance grid that sat several feet above the terrace.It was easy to make out the black-clad Enforcement figures in the chaos.They fired systematically at what remained of the terrorists while reporters hid or ran for their lives.

“There,” Ignacio called out.“South side, beside the broken wall.He’s fighting with someone… Damn it, he’s fighting one of the Mercers.”

“Coming in on the east side,” Striker said.

“I’m going around again.See if we can find somewhere to land this thing.”Sandi took the shuttle into a tight turn, and just as she leveled out, she saw her brother.Her heart stuttered.He was hurt.It looked bad.

“If he’s not careful, Mercer’s going to back him right off the building,” Ignacio said.

“He’s smarter than that.”She hoped.Sandi shot over the terrace, looking for a place to land.There was nowhere.She clenched her teeth tight for a second before addressing their team leader.“Do we still have contact with Mace?Can we tell him to get to the helipad on the penthouse level?I can’t find anywhere to set this thing down.”

“Negative,” Striker said.“We lost contact.Hunter’s trying to reestablish it, but he isn’t having any luck.”

“Is it the signal jammer?”Sandi asked, wondering if it was possible to get a shot at it and finish the job of taking it out.

“No, the signal jammer’s down.It’s more likely Mace’s comm unit’s been disabled.”

“With the way he’s fighting,” Ignacio said, “I’m not surprised.”