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Before

Her

Eyes

She stared in horror as it e out from under his shirt, until it sat there for a ely pleased with itself—if a bat could look pleased It was tiny, only a little bigger than her thu it look like a ball of fluff rather than a flying harbinger of death She stood, frozen in shock, her mind completely blank as she tried to make sense of what she’d witnessed There was no explanation for this Nothing at all As she gaped at the bat, the bat stared back at her And then, suddenly, it spread its wings and took flight Heading straight toward her

And that hen Keiko screamed

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Mace spun, clamped a hand over Keiko’s mouth, lifted her with his other arm, and ran up the stairs He barreled past the door to the floor above the security hub and sprinted through the open area with its low tables and infor This floor was ht as it was on other floors Still, most doors had a biolock on them, and he didn’t want to blast his way into a room—that was a sure way to let Freedom know their exact location

He turned the handle on the first door he found that didn’t have a biolock It was a private communications roo it Along one as a refresh else in the room Mace shut the door behind hi, and there was nowhere in the room to hide If they stayed quiet, hopefully the terrorists would assume the room had been locked up while it was empty It was the best he could do under the circumstances, and it wasn’t much

There was also one huge hole in his hastily constructed plan—Keiko was still screaainst his hand and the dull hu sound of the trapped noise If she didn’t calht to the to keep Freedom busy while he dealt with the hysterical woman in his arms

He needed the help of the animal who shared his DNA

The animal Keiko should never have known about

Pull the fire alar hie of the alarm

There was silence and then, Hungry He got the distinct i so he could track down some food

I need you to do this now, Mace barked at him

No Hungry