Red Awakening (Red Zone)

by Janet Elizabeth Henderson

  And hope Striker listened.

  But even if the plan changed and they didn’t go ahead with blackmail, Keiko would still know he’d set her up. She would never again look at him with desire and vulnerability. And he couldn’t deny the stabbing loss he felt knowing that.

  “Kiss me,” he ordered. Letting himself steal one last minute before they went up to his hotel room.

  She came to him eagerly, unaware that he was the bastard who was going to mess up her life. Unaware that she’d hate him before the night was over. But nothing Keiko could feel toward him would be worse than what he already felt.

  Because he’d slept with the target.

  He’d compromised the mission.

  And he had no regrets.

  Chapter Five

  Mace led Keiko to a sofa near the concierge desk in the lobby. “Wait here a minute. I just need to make a quick call.”

  “Can’t you do that from the room?”

  His eyes turned molten. “We both know that once we get up there, I won’t be able to focus on anything but you.”

  She liked the sound of that. “Okay, go make your call. But hurry.”

  He pointed at the sofa. “But you stay here. Right? Don’t move. Got me?”

  “Go.” She shooed him off.

  With a nod, he strode toward the reception desk, rooting in his jacket pocket as he went.

  As Keiko grinned after him, she saw someone watching her out of the corner of her eye and turned to find the concierge smiling at her, his eyes sparkling with amusement.

  “You’re not going to wait there, are you?” he said.

  “Nope. Can you help me?” she asked him. “I just checked the hotel system, but he forgot to add me to his room, and I want to go up and…surprise him.” She wasn’t above batting her eyelashes as she asked. But she was also on the verge of laughter, which the man could clearly see.

  He shook his head and chuckled. “If it was anyone but you, Ms. Sato, the answer would be no. But I think it’s safe to let you up to your friend’s room.” His cheeks flushed pink. “I’m a huge fan. You make government news interesting and easy to understand.”

  “That’s a really sweet thing to say.” And she meant it.

  “Just telling the truth.” He glanced over at Mace’s back. “I’ve added you to Mr. Armstrong’s suite. He’s in the penthouse. Your chip should get you inside now.”

  “You’re a sweetheart.” Before running to the elevator, she kissed his cheek. “Thank you.”

  His face turned a deeper shade of red, and he cleared his throat. “My pleasure,” he called after her.

  The penthouse elevator shot straight to the top floor, and seconds later, Keiko let herself into Mace’s suite. In front of her, a wall of windows framed a spectacular view over Houston, and beyond the glass was a patio with a pool. With a slow smile, she headed straight for the doors to the patio, stripping as she went. This was turning into the best birthday a girl could have.

  Unzipping her dress, she used her communications implant to contact Abigail. Her friend’s face appeared on the lens inserted in her right eye, telling her that Abigail was sitting in front of her console—probably working, as usual.

  “I’m guessing you aren’t coming back to my place,” Abigail said with a grin. “It’s going well then?”

  “Oh yeah.” Keiko stepped out of her dress and tossed it over one of the plush white sofas as she passed.

  “Where are you? Wait a minute, are those sofas? Was that your dress? Please tell me you didn’t go up to one of the rooms on the top floor. Those places are a petri dish full of bacteria.”

  “No, I’m not in one of the nightclub’s rooms.” As if she’d go there after the long lecture Abigail had delivered on the topic on their way to Retro Haven. “I’m at his hotel, and I’m sending the details right now, just in case things go south. But they shouldn’t.” Not after what happened in the car. She unhooked her bra and dropped it on top of a low glass table before throwing open the doors to the patio.

  “Got the details,” Abigail said. “The Hilton? Posh. Was that your bra? Can you stop looking at the clothes you take off? I don’t need to see them. And should I call Enforcement if you aren’t back by a certain time?” She looked worried.

  “If I don’t turn up at the press conference tomorrow afternoon, raise the alarm.” Keiko planned to keep Mace occupied until then. If they only had this one night together, she intended to stretch it as far as it would go. “Are you sure you were okay going home alone? I would have gone back with you. I didn’t have to leave with Mace.”

  Abigail shook her head. “I’m sure. Anyway, I couldn’t come between you and the only Viking in Houston.” She leaned toward her camera. “Is he a good kisser? Please don’t tell me he’s a dud.”

  Keiko kicked off her sexy red heels before striding out onto the warm tiles of the patio. “Oh, he’s a good kisser, all right. He’s a good everything.”

  “Everything?” Abigail opened and closed her mouth a few times. “Please tell me you didn’t go at it in the nightclub bathroom, because there are more germs in there than in the private rooms.”

  “No,” Keiko cut in before she got another lecture. “We had some fun in the car on the way over here.”

  “That isn’t hygienic, either,” Abigail wailed.

  “You can lecture me on germs in public places tomorrow. Right now, I have more important things to do.”

  “What’s more important than protecting yourself from other people’s bacteria?” Abigail appeared genuinely confused.

  Keiko slid off her panties and tossed them to the tiles beside the pool.

  “Is that your underwear?” Abigail said. “You can’t just leave it on the patio floor. In a hotel. Do you know how bad the cleaning practices are in hotels? I hope you don’t plan to put those back on later.”

  “Take a deep breath. I have a spare pair in my bag. Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to climb into that pool and wait for my date to arrive. See you at the press conference.” She cut the feed on Abigail’s horrified face.

  She sauntered past the private bar to the edge of the pool, surprised to find it was glass-bottomed, making her wonder which room was under all that water. Soft, blue lights illuminated the water as she stepped down into it. It was the perfect temperature for the muggy summer night, and the water felt sensual against her naked body.

  After swimming to the far end of the pool, she rested her arms on the ledge, where the water gently trickled over into the night, only to be caught a few feet beneath and recycled back into the pool. The sound of the waterfall high in the sky soothed her. The stars sparkled overhead, and the water caressed her body. It was perfect. All she needed was some music. She sent a mental command to the entertainment system to play something romantic.

  There was silence.

  She tried again. But still no music materialized. One by one, the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. It had to be a problem with the penthouse’s entertainment system, right? But instincts were screaming something else. Remaining calm, she dialed the concierge to ask if someone could get to the bottom of the issue. There was no response. Her heart started hammering erratically, and she sent out a comm message to Mace through the hotel’s network.

  The message fell into dead space.

  The implants that had been working just minutes earlier when she’d spoken to Abigail were now unresponsive. She tried hotel security. Local Enforcement. Her boss at CommTECH. All calls ended in silence. Her stomach clenched as an icy dread rushed up her spine. Something had disabled her implants, cutting off her access to the outside world. Which meant she needed to get out of the water, get dressed, and get some answers.

  “Don’t scream,” a man said.

  Keiko gasped and spun toward the voice. Three strangers stood in the shadows at the edge of the pool—two men and a woman. Her breath caught in her throat, and her hands trembled as her knees threatened to give out, making her grateful for the water holding her upr
ight. Her heart pounded so loudly she could barely hear anything over the sound.

  “I’m impressed,” the woman said as she stepped into the light. “Usually, as soon as somebody says ‘don’t scream,’ there’s screaming.”

  She was tall, athletic in build, with light brown skin and mid-brown hair that was long enough to tie in a ponytail on top of her head. But it wasn’t her looks that made Keiko’s breath hitch. It was the fact she was decked out with weapons.

  Working hard to breathe evenly, Keiko assessed her situation. Her implants weren’t working, and she couldn’t reach out to the data network for help, which meant the intruders had somehow managed to jam the signals. She was naked and in water, which definitely didn’t give her an advantage—although they couldn’t touch her unless they got into the pool, too. There was no point in screaming for help, seeing as she was fifty floors above the rest of the world. That left waiting for Mace. He was her only chance at getting help. She just had to stall until he arrived.

  “Who are you?” She was surprised at how calm she sounded when she was screaming inside, but all those years of putting on a show of confidence for the cameras were now paying off big-time.

  “You don’ need to know.” It was the man who’d first spoken. He stepped into the light, and Keiko sucked in a breath. He was tall, brown-skinned, and ripped. There was a patch over his left eye and a gun in his hand. “We don’ wanna hurt you, we just wanna to talk. Do as you’re told, and you’ll be fine.”

  She couldn’t help the mirthless laugh that escaped when she realized he’d said they didn’t want to hurt her, not that they wouldn’t hurt her. “Do you expect me to take your word on that?”

  “You don’ really have a choice now, do you, chère?” His strange accent was hard to place, but then she remembered where she’d heard it before—during a history lesson on Cajun culture. Keiko didn’t think anyone still had that accent. Guess the history class was wrong.

  The woman walked up to the edge of the pool, holding a robe out to Keiko. “Time to get out.” She smiled as though this whole surreal experience was great fun.

  Keiko held up a hand to ward off the Amazon. “Don’t come any closer.” It was a dumb thing to say, forced out of her mouth by fear.

  “Do I look like I can walk on water?” The woman shook the robe. “Come and get it. You know you don’t want to be naked while we talk.”

  “I don’t want to talk to you at all. I suggest you leave before you regret it.”

  “What are you going to do? Splash me?”

  The Amazon had a point.

  “Stop messing around,” Eyepatch said. “Ms. Sato, please get out of the water so we can talk. Just talk. I promise, no one will lay a hand on you.”

  “I think I’d rather stay right here.”

  “Damn it.” The woman let out an irritated huff. “One of us will have to go in and get her, and it’s not going to be me.”

  “It has to be you,” Eyepatch said. “She’s naked, and you’re the only other woman here.”

  “You’re married. You only have eyes for your wife. You go in and get her.”

  “My wife would kick my balls into next week if she knew I’d wrestled a naked woman out of a pool.”

  “Then don’t tell her. I don’t want to get wet, and I’m not stripping in front of you two.”

  “How about we just shoot her and go home?” the other man said, joining them. He was older than the others by a few years, maybe in his forties. Like the other two, he was muscled and decked in weapons. But unlike the others, his eyes were cold, and he seemed strangely remote from proceedings. As though he couldn’t care whether he was there or not. “That would be easier,” he said as he scratched the gold-and-gray beard covering his chin.

  “No,” Eyepatch growled as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “Ms. Sato. You have my word that no harm will come to you. Please, get out of the pool.”

  Was he serious? He wanted her to trust his word?

  “I’m good here,” she said. “It seems to me like this is the safest place for me, and I have no problem talking to you while I float.” Or watching them bicker like children. Was this normal behavior during an abduction? She always imagined it would be far more serious and a whole lot scarier. Maybe they were new to this?

  Eyepatch pointed at the Amazon. “Get her out. That’s an order.”

  For a second, it looked like the woman was still going to refuse, but she let out a disgusted grunt instead. “Fine. Turn around,” she snapped. “I don’t want you two perverts watching me while I strip.”

  Eyepatch turned. The other guy shrugged. “Like I’m interested in seeing you naked,” he said before turning his back to her, too.

  “I can’t believe I have to do this,” the Amazon grumbled as she reached for her boots. “I am totally going to dunk you a few times before I toss your ass out of there.”

  Keiko debated whether she should wait until the woman had undressed before telling her she planned to get out. It was clear that, one way or another, she was getting out of the pool, and she would rather walk out than get hauled out by Amazonia.

  With a sigh, she stopped the strip show. “Don’t bother getting undressed. I’ll get out.”

  “About time.” The woman picked up the robe and held it out again. “I’m glad you saw reason. Do you know how much hassle it would be to get all this gear off?”

  Keiko could imagine it would take quite a while for the woman to strip, given that she had a gun strapped to each thigh and who knows what else on her person. “I’ll get out. But first, I want to know if the man I’m with is okay. He should have been here by now. Are you holding him somewhere?”

  “Mace is perfectly safe,” Eyepatch said.

  A chill went up her spine at the familiarity in his voice. Had they been watching Mace? Was this all about him? After all, they were in his hotel room.

  “Prove he’s fine,” she said, making no move to swim to the side of the pool.

  “I can’t. He isn’t here yet. In fact, we were wondering if you could tell us where he is.”

  It definitely sounded like this might be about Mace. “I don’t want to tell you anything.”

  “Well, how about you just get out of the water and wait for him with us?” From his tone, it was clear Eyepatch was losing his patience.

  Tough for him.

  “Damn. I was really hoping I wouldn’t have to get in there, but seeing as you haven’t moved an inch…” Amazon reached for her boots again.

  “No.” Keiko held up a hand to stop her. “It’s fine. I’ll get out. Don’t look,” she ordered her intruders, bizarrely expecting them to comply. “I’m getting out.”

  The two men gave impatient grunts but kept their backs to her. They were strange criminals, oddly courteous and accommodating. The Amazon leaned over, offering a hand to help her out of the water. Keiko reached for it, but instead of climbing out, she yanked hard and pulled the woman into the pool. The loud splash made the men turn. Keiko didn’t give a damn about their attention; she’d achieved what she’d intended.

  With a graceful push, she climbed out of the pool and headed for the towels. Let them look. She wasn’t shy, and she wasn’t about to let her nudity embarrass her.

  The woman surfaced behind her, spluttering and coughing. Keiko smiled at her. Which only infuriated the Amazon further.

  “That’s it. I’m going to shoot her.” The woman glared at her.

  “Go ahead,” Keiko taunted the beast. “Laser pistols don’t work when they’re soaked.”

  “I bet a knife would work fine.”

  “Give it a rest,” Eyepatch said. “This is turning into a Three Stooges movie. Can we please try to act like trained professionals?”

  While they grumbled at each other, Keiko reached for a towel as she went over her options. There weren’t many. Unless… She’d seen a dumbwaiter in the dining room. The freight elevator was tiny, mainly used for sending up meals, but she bet she could fit inside it. All she had to do
was get in there. A surge of adrenaline made her shake, but it was easier to feign being calm now that she had an escape plan.

  “Don’t even think about running,” Eyepatch said as though reading her mind. “It won’t end well.”

  That made her hackles rise. “What if I’d rather throw myself off the building than talk to you?”

  “You seem like a smart woman, and that would be a dumb move.”

  He had a point, and with her fear of heights, she wasn’t sure she could go through with it anyway. Wrapping the towel around herself, she inched in the direction of the room with the dumbwaiter. That’s when she heard an almighty roar.

  “Keiko!”

  Mace had arrived.

  Her eyes stung with tears of relief, but she couldn’t just let him rush into danger. Not without warning him. “Get help!” she shouted. “Don’t come out here. They have guns.”

  It was too late. He hadn’t heard her. Or he’d ignored her and decided to play hero instead. Either way, he came barreling through the patio doors and straight into the middle of things.

  “Don’t shoot him,” Keiko screamed.

  But no guns were aimed at Mace. Instead, he took in the situation with a sweep of his eyes.

  “Are you okay?” he asked her.

  She swallowed hard, glancing between him and the team of criminals. A horrible, insidious awareness began to fill her stomach. Mace didn’t show any of the reactions she would have expected of him. He didn’t seem surprised to find her surrounded, being held at gunpoint by strangers. In fact, the main emotion painted on his face was one of regret. Cold, raw dread started to flow through her veins, making her heart beat faster.

  “Mace?” she said. “What’s going on here?”

  A flash of…something…flared in his eyes before he covered it with a wince. Had it been pain? Guilt? None of it made any sense.

  “I’m sorry,” he said to her. “I tried to stop them before this happened. If you’d just stayed in the foyer where I put you…” He trailed off before turning to Eyepatch. “I must have lost my damn comm unit on the ride over. I thought I’d put it in my pocket, but it was gone. Otherwise I would have told you there’s been a change of plans.”