The Pack Retribution

The Pack - Retribution LM Preston

The Pack - Retribution Copyright © 2012 by LM Preston All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission of the author.

ISBN 9780985025106

PUBLISHED BY: Phenomenal One Press, PO Box 8231, Elkridge MD, 21075, www.phenomenalonepress.com, [email protected]

Book Description: Revenge doesn't have a name, but has chosen a victim - Shamira. But she's never been the type to lie down and let someone hurt her family or her friends. In order to find the mastermind behind the threat to all she cares about, she must give up the one person who's found his way into her guarded heart, Valens. Valens refuses to back off easily , and neither will Shamira's friends. They join forces with her in order to deal with a new enemy who seeks to kill everyone in Shamira's life that dared save the missing kids on Mars.

For my children and my husband, who helped me dream the impossible and gave me the support to achieve it.

Chapter 1 One year ago today. Shamira’s eyebrows knitted into a frown. She should be over it. Going back to where it ended should give her a sense of peace, triumph even. But it didn’t. She felt the cold punch of nausea in her gut as a slice of dread seeped into her veins and flowed upward to her chest. Releasing a sigh, she bit her lip to force the sickness down. The voices of her friends’ filtered through her darkened thoughts and she leaned back against the black leather seat of the car trying to keep her hands from fisting. The desert sand blew around them. The shrieking howl of the wind seemed to warn them to retreat. High in the sky, the sun reflected its light off the wavy terrain which was littered with rocks. Poles of silver reached for the sky to suppress the strong sandstorms that often riddled these outerlands, making them difficult to navigate. “Shamira?” her best friend, Hedi, called. “She’s spaced out dreaming again,” Anthony chuckled. “This place still gives me the jitters.” “Me too. The name Monev still leaves a sour taste in my mouth. I don’t know what’s worse—the drugs they sold, or the kids they killed to do it. The way Monev had those kids mining scream from the Mons, starved and beaten...” Hedi’s shoulders shivered. “If we wouldn’t have gotten them out of there before the place blew up…” her voice trailed off. Friends. Shamira couldn’t help but smile. Over a year ago, she’d never had friends. Didn’t want them, because then she was blind, an anomaly kids picked on and demeaned. Shamira still had the palest blue eyes that she’d demanded remain the same after her surgery. It was a reminder to stay true to who she was—even before she had sight. The only friend she’d had then was her baby brother. He’d accepted her blindness and her surly angry disposition. He loved her

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in spite of it. Heck, who was she kidding? The edgy anger always hovered nearby, but she didn’t give into it anymore. Anthony was driving his big, bad car that Valens had given him. His rich deep voice filtered back to her as she sat sandwiched between Valens and Dion. She took a deep breath to cover up her anxious fear-laden sadness. “Don’t bug her, she’s in the zone, frowning again.” Valens’ rich soothing voice rumbled in her ear. He leaned in to land a quick kiss on her neck, his curly blond hair tickling her shoulder. She couldn’t help but smile a bit at his protectiveness, and the way his kiss tingled. But she couldn’t let her self get absorbed in the safety he gave her, the haven she hadn’t known she’d craved until Valens came into her life. Her gaze strayed out the window to see her two other team members on each side of the car, racing to get to Olympus Mons in their matching silver motorcycles. Shamira took a deep calming breath, stilling herself to get it together for the sake of her team. They drew closer to the one place that still gave her nightmares. The Mons, they called it, an imposing location for their final training session. It was indisputably the largest dead volcano on Mars, thanks to them, just 365 days ago, in 2161. A constant reminder of how Monev had used kids to mine their product of death. It was a ghost that taunted her with memories born from the scars she’d thought she covered up. Cal, their Security Force Elite Leader, pulled up the rear in his cycle, always a constant teacher and protector to them all. Her mentor was determined that they had to have their final session of training here before summer break. He wanted them to go back to where it had ended. A symbol of sorts, she figured, to represent the take-down of Monev and the beginning of their training as cadet Security Force Elite members. “Shamira? You hear me?” Anthony’s booming voice filled with laughter broke through her troubled thoughts. “Stop daydreaming and give us the scoop.” 2

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She shook her head and surfaced from her brooding. With a grin, she leaned up between him and Hedi. “Scoop? What scoop?” “Before Anthony pulled you out of your murdering and maiming daydream,” Hedi giggled and flipped her fiery red hair, “we were talking about the adoption.” Shamira broke into a beaming grin and wiped a chestnut curl from her forehead just to prolong the moment. “Oh, the skinny is—it’s final. I’ve got a new brother and sister for good. Now I have more than one kid to worry about, and a sister that follows me around like glue when I get home.” She rolled her eyes. “Oh joy.” She couldn’t hold back her goofy beam. “Stop playing like you don’t love them. You run home from training to see them.” Dion laughed and laid his head on her shoulder. “Yeah, well, what can I say…being worshipped by kids makes me feel special.” Shamira pointed at his wavy head. “Hey, don’t go smoochin’ other guys while I’m sitting here. You know I’m possessive.” Valens tickled a soft spot on Shamira’s neck. Shamira moved his offending finger away and sat back as Dion winked at Valens. “Stop it, you guys.” Her expression turned stern, “Okay, we have to get serious here. This is the last training mission before we go home. Cal said he wants some readings on the landmines surrounding the Mons.” They all huffed when they recognized her working tone as the future head of the Security Force Elite for Mars. Grumbling a bit, they quieted. A shot boomed behind them. Hedi screamed. Her head hit the window. Anthony fought to control the wrenching car. One after another, raining laser shots hit their car. Flashes of lights sparked off the hood, which deflected the rain of fire. The brown sandy terrain was unforgiving, and they slid into a fishtail before recovering to pick up the pace. 3

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“Jerk it left! You’re going to hit Mitch’s motorcycle!” Shamira leaned over Valens to roll the window down, her gun drawn. Anthony swore under his breath. He yanked the wheel just in time to avoid fatally crashing with Mitch’s motorcycle. Dion and Valens slid out their guns, angry and ready to fire. Valens pulled Shamira across his lap and moved over to the middle of the seat. “I’ll take the roof, let’s switch!” He pushed the button to release the sunroof window. “What the hell is this?” Anthony hit the steering wheel with his fist. “Hedi, drive while I get my smokin’ gun from under my seat,” Anthony barked. Hedi reached over to steer for him. “What’s with the adjectives, Anthony? Just shoot the weapon. Kay?” Shamira’s gaze slid from side to side, but she didn’t see anyone—nothing. Her chest tightened with terror for her team, but she suppressed it. She grunted, pushing her sight deeper, tapping into her enhanced ability to see through most objects. She growled. Nothing was working. Whatever it was that was attacking them was muted. She couldn’t even pick up the sound of a motor, and her hearing was exceptional. Blue, tiny blast of laser shots that looked like needles of fire hit the car in rapid motion with excessive pops. “Who’re the bastards doing this? I can’t see a thing!” Anthony aimed his gun in the direction of the erratic fire attack. “Me neither. Just blast the bastards!” Dion fired. Attempting to get a better aim, he kneeled on one knee with his head slightly out the window. Shamira spotted one of the motorcycles veering off. “Kurt’s going after something. Follow him!” Shamira commanded. Her super-enhanced eyes delved deeper within the red dirt pack terrain of rock and dust around them. Still she couldn’t get a glimpse of anyone or thing that was raining firepower at them. It was like ghosts were pursuing them. Shamira adjusted her body to prop on her knees. “Crud! The wind is picking up and the sand with it. Can’t see through it. I 4

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can’t cover Mitch. He’s following Kurt, and Cal’s passed them both to run down some ghost.” The car swerved. Anthony attempted to dodge the spray of attacking fire. Hedi let out a yelp. Her head hit the top of the window frame. Hedi’s hands slipped off the wheel causing them to veer out of control. “The wheel, girl! Get the wheel.” Anthony dodged another random onslaught of laser shaped bullets. Hedi recovered and grabbed the steering wheel firmly, pulling them out of an erratic tailspin. Shamira’s eyes continued to scan the land. They fired their weapons in the direction of the moving targets that seemed to surround them. Valens hit something dead on and Shamira caught a glimmer of a camouflaged motorcycle before some type of cloaking device recovered. The attacker disappeared before she could lock her gun on him. It was as though whatever hid it, shorted for a brief second. As suddenly as the onslaught of random fire started, it ended. Hedi’s fingers came off the wheel and Anthony’s smoothly replaced hers. He pushed the car faster, chasing an invisible foe. “Anthony, go left, I see something.” Shamira pointed and Anthony snatched the car left. “No! Mitch is down!” Hedi shrieked. Anthony swerved the car left then right, trying to decide whether to follow the attacker or save Mitch. Shamira held in a sob. “Get Mitch, I’ll find out who’s doing this.” Then she fell back into her seat. “I don’t know guys, it could be a trap,” Dion warned. His eyes scanned the area. He rested back in his seat to reload his gun. Shamira leaned further out of the window and took another cursory glance around them. “I bet it is, but we don’t have a choice but to play along.” She sighed. “At least the laser fire stopped— for now.”

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Chapter 2 Shamira’s heart felt like it was being squeezed. Tears of anger were blinked back while she locked her jaw, determined. Although the past year had softened her edgy and angry disposition caused by the pain of being an outcast, a pariah, and a handicapped girl with no social skills, times like this scared her. It made her struggle with being a friend to her team and a protector while fumbling to keep the part of her that was finally able to feel emotion for anyone intact. She didn’t want to lose the freedom she now allowed herself—the freedom to care. But she needed the fighter she held at bay—the part of her that had no mercy, no discernment as to who she would have to hurt in order to save the ones she loved. To keep that broken part of herself hidden just below the surface and allow her to not give into her fear that she may lose them all—the people that cared for her. But to allow her to think—think with her head and not with her anger. Anthony pulled the car alongside Mitch, who was several feet ahead of his fallen motorcycle. His helmet had landed a distance away. The twitching of his leg back and forth before it suddenly dropped flat to the hard packed sand worried Shamira. Her penetrating sight studied Mitch’s face, beyond his skin, the muscle, and then skull to check for hemorrhaging. The skull was one of the few vulnerable spots on a Security Elite’s body, and Mitch’s was swung to the side at an odd angle. Hedi pushed the car door open and stumbled over to Mitch, followed by Dion and the others. Shamira slowly got out of the car. She moved her inspection of Mitch’s body downward to his chest. Her tongue clicked against the root of her mouth while she made the mental inspections she was trained to make. Willing herself to remain emotionally detached, she approached the others. “He’s got a concussion, some broken fingers and bummed knee. Try to wake him.”

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Valens reached into his pocket and stuffed a small vial under Mitch’s nose. Shamira crossed her arms while inspecting their surroundings. The tall volcano stood in front of them, black, solidified lava coated the sides of the peak. Blackened indentions in the red sand littered the distance lead to the Mons. Her inspection surveyed the surroundings and revealed no obvious clues as to who would attack them or why. She gulped back the bile at the memory of the landmines that had littered the ground, almost killing them on their last visit. Thankfully, most of the landmines appeared to be dead. Anthony stood behind her. “We have to split up. Kurt’s still missing and so is Cal. Had to be some heavy-weaponed-up fools to attack the eight of us.” Dion cracked his knuckles. “They’re not answering their com devices and everything here seems scrambled. No signals in or out.” Shamira shook her head, angered. “Set-up. It’s a set-up. No one knew Cal was bringing us here.” Her hand flipped up in an angry wave. “No one. He only told me about us coming to the Mons when I walked him to his bike before we got in the car. The reason he brought us here instead of the other places most cadets were trained is still a question.” Anthony wiped his hand down his face. “Could be part of our training.” Dion snorted. “Naw, I talked to one of the older Elite officers, they said the final phase of training only involves research. Study of different terrain—using survival skills, things like that.” Shamira turned toward them. “You’re right, Cal joked with me that it would be a cold night to sleep under the stars. Guess we were supposed to spend a couple of days here on nothing. No food, water, only our own survival skills.” A shiver tingled down her back. “But I just can’t shake the obvious. Something went really wrong.” Valens dipped down on his knee, landing soft slaps to Mitch’s face. Mitch’s body jerked like he’d been hit by cold water. With a 8

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trembling pale hand, Mitch grasped Valens’ jacked. He let out a groan, then opened his mouth for the vial of medicine Valens tipped up to his lips. He coughed several times, before one last swallow and braced himself when Valens helped him stand. Mitch let out a roar. His face twisted with pain. Blood flowed around his eye and down his cheek. “Screw waiting. We have to find Kurt and Cal. If those bastards stopped shooting at us, then they went after them.” His nose flared while he visibly struggled to stand straight. Hedi reached in her backpack and pulled out her head covering that would protect her from laser shots. “Put on your gear, boys, our fearless leader has that look of ‘kill’ in her eyes.” Shamira’s lips thinned, her back straightened and the numbness of the taste for revenge comforted her. “Right. Kill. We split up. Meet back here within the hour if you don’t find anything. They could be anywhere. Those guys didn’t look friendly. They don’t realize we don’t run and hide—we hunt.” She pointed in the direction beyond the side of the Mons. “I’ll take the back side, everyone spread out. The landmines surrounding this side appear detonated, but you never can be sure.” She sighed, “Just be careful.” She pulled her gun off her hip, temporarily missing some of her favorite weapons she’d used before she’d became a cadet. But instead she tightened her hand on the one weapon she knew would do the deed of bringing down their attackers if needed— her gun. Valens put a hand on her shoulder. “Wait, I’ll go with you.” Her eyes shuttered closed but for a moment. Guilt throbbed in her chest at putting her team in danger. For not reacting sooner, and for being too dependent on Valens’ quiet strength. “No, I got this. I need you to watch the others. Make sure they don’t do something stupid….please.” She forced a smile at him, hoping he would take the hint and back off. Valens’ chin dipped, “Fine. See you in an hour.”

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Chapter 3 With caution, Shamira bent her legs and navigated the remnant landmines. She hated to admit that she liked working with her team. The uneasy feel of acceptance was still new to her, and now she thirsted for it. Her gun’s heaviness felt secure. But she clenched her fingers tightly around the handle for comfort. She held her weapon up and tugged at her protective hood with her other hand. Slowly, she made her way around the side of the mountain. The windswept holes from the landmines that had exploded over a year ago caused her to bite back her disgust at the failure of the Mars rehabilitation program. This was supposed to be a place of hope for reformed criminals and their families, but instead it was a place of war. No different than what many were running from, the war with a life of crime or justice. Bits of sand flew around as the wind picked up. She shrugged off the discomfort to press on. Mars weather was always windy which matched her jumpy disposition. Shamira slipped her shades over her pale blue eyes. The sand was kicking up and coating her suit. Her eyes closed while she briefly tried to pick up any sounds of something approaching. She was thankful that her hearing was still sensitive, a side effect of her fifteen years of blindness—all but two years of her life. Wind howled and sand splattered against her, stinging the exposed parts of her face and her hands. She walked on, stepping over clumps of jagged red rocks, sand and sparse green vegetation. She came closer to the Mons, the volcano Monev had used kids to mine and produce their deadly addictive drug. They ha sold it on the streets of Mars for the drug heads that hung out in the gaming hells of the planet. Those places now were burnt to the ground, thanks to them. Thanks to her team. Her concern for Kurt and Cal caused her to sweat and the hairs on her body to stand up. Her heart beat faster

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in her chest and she prayed for a clue—a glimmer to point her in the direction of their attackers, ones she would kill in a minute had she not been trained to detain suspects instead. “Where are you?” Shamira bit her lip as she half walked then ran around the perimeter to cover ground on their search for the others. Annoyed after an hour of searching, she headed back to the meeting spot. About a mile away, she heard a faint call for help. It sounded like Dion, or maybe Anthony. Shamira took off in the direction of the screams and ran until her chest hurt from the exertion. Dread crept from her gut to her chest and she fought against the sting of tears. She didn’t cry, wouldn’t let herself. As their leader, she had to be strong for them all. Fighting, she pushed down the urge to call out. The ever-present fear that she would alert others to their location, made her shake her head against the screams from the others. How could they be so careless? Finally, she rounded the bend where Anthony and Dion knelt. A stab of fear hit her dead-on when her eyes landed on the fallen body between them. Frantic, she searched around for Cal’s bike. It was strewn in pieces. His helmet rested several feet away from his body and his eyes were opened in shock—in death. “No! No! No!” Shamira chanted. Sprinting to the lifeless body, she stopped at his feet and collapsed to her knees. Voices sounded around her, telling her he was dead. That they’d found him like this. She shut out Anthony and Dion’s words of sympathy. She could save him, Cal had to live. He was her mentor and friend, like a second father to her. With trembling hands, she grabbed his leather jacket. A broken cry escaped her lips as she shook him, hoping he’d awaken, “Cal, up…get up.” Power she’d tried to repress during her year of Security Force Elite training bubbled up from her stomach. The heated reminder that it was always present taunted her. It surged up through her body in pulsating waves. Anthony tried to pull her off of Cal. She pushed Anthony away with the force she’d been holding back. 12

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Anthony yelled and flew several feet in the air, landing with a thump and a curse. Trembling hands patted Cal down. Shamira’s erratic gaze pierced through Cal’s form fitting blue training suit, through the thin layer of nano-skin that gave the Security Force Elite officer’s their super strength, to his heart. The heart that had stopped beating. She backed out looking for the moving bio-tech cells that lived in the technosuits of the Elite Security Force members. The cells were immobile, dead, unmoving. “How? Who… Oh, no,” she slumped on Cal’s chest and for the first time in what seemed like forever, tears flowed. Blood dripped from her lip as she bit back a sob. Dion’s hesitant touch on her shoulder brought her out of her grief. “We’ve got to get him out of here. We can’t communicate with the Security Force; our coms devices are dead here.” A quiver of sadness jumped in her stomach. She turned away from him and wiped her face, “I know, I know.” A gulp sat heavy in her throat. “Take him to Anthony’s car.” She inhaled a large shocked breath, then put her hand over her mouth. Shamira’s hand dropped at her inner chastisement at her carelessness. “Anthony. God, I knocked him out of the way.” Standing, she released her breath when Anthony’s thick, dark form limped over to them. Her hands rested on her hips, “The meeting place, we have no choice—we can’t leave him here.” “That woke me up. Glad to see the old Shamira back, ready to kick ass,” Anthony’s face held a sad smile that didn’t touch his eyes. “What now…who would’ve done this? The planet is supposed to be clean. Monev disbanded and Renu long gone.” Shamira clenched her fist and collected her jumbled emotions, “I don’t know. The remaining Monev gang members were shipped to Earth and executed in the Waters. Renu’s ship was found in pieces, floating in space. It’s suspected that he’d died. Proven, in fact, with reminisce of flesh and particles left behind.”

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Mitch lifted Cal’s limp body. A black wavy curl of hair escaped from his protective hood to fall over his pale skin. Sweat beaded on his brow. “Where do you want me to take him?” Anthony pointed to his car, his dark skin riddled with patches of sand from his fall. He stepped toward Mitch to help, but stopped when Mitch lifted his chin and proceeded toward the vehicle. “The trunk has a flat bed trailer collapsed under the floor. Push the button on the left and it’ll come out.” “Hey, you want me to do that?” Dion’s brown eyes scrutinized Mitch’s slight limp. “No, I got him.” Mitch carried Cal’s body to the car. Shamira turned to Anthony. Her jumbled feelings back under control. “Sorry about…” “I’m good. It’s understood. I’d wondered where all that pent up power went to in the last year.” Anthony looked past her, a frown forming on his face. “Wh-what is it?” Confusion marred Shamira’s features. “No, not….” Anthony moved Shamira out of the way and took off running, his limp apparently forgotten. Dion followed closely behind. Air thundered against her chest as she pivoted. Valens was also carrying a limp body. Hedi was walking beside him. Her freckled face damp and red, framed by her wild auburn hair. “Kurt? Is he?” Shamira couldn’t wait to find the answer. She ran toward them. “He’s fine, just knocked out,” Valens called. “What do you mean?” Shamira inspected Kurt’s dark features then ran her hand over tightly curled black hair and brown skin. She touched the gash over his eye, her lighter brown hand a contrast to his darker hue. Valens’ green eyes were filled with concern. “Something’s wrong with his suit. Like it shorted and attacked his system. I gave him a shot of adrenaline, and it stabilized him.” “Will he be okay? Man, we don’t need this right now…another one of us down!” Anthony slammed one fist into the other. 14

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Hedi frowned in bewilderment at Anthony. “What do you mean? Who else is hurt?” Shamira turned to Hedi and crossed her arms in front of her. “Cal. Cal’s… dead.” “Oh my God! No. No. How? No!” Hedi burst out in tears. Dion pulled her into his arms, his deep tanned skin a contrast to her pale flushed face. She sniffed into his soothing caress and he kissed her face. “I’ll take him.” Anthony lifted Kurt’s limp body from Valens. The others rushed behind them leaving Shamira and Valens to talk. Shamira studied Valens while a series of emotions flickered over his face. “We have to take them back to headquarters.” She let out the breath she’d been holding, “I failed them. Screwed up bad. But I’ll fix this…I will.” She walked away from him. Valens tugged at her shoulder, pulling her to a stop. “When are you gonna give us a chance? You’re not in this alone.” She put her hands on her hips. “Yes I am. I’m supposed to be your leader. Training for Cal’s position as the Head of the Security Force Elite and on the last day of my training—now the first day of my probable demotion, I let my leader get killed and my teammate hurt.” Anger at herself boiled within her and she had to force herself to look Valens in the eyes. “C’mon, none of us saw that coming. Not even Cal.” Valens stepped closer and put his hands on her shoulders. She tensed. “I’m not making excuses for this.” She stepped back from him. But he held firm. “I’m…just give me some time to deal with this, okay?” His shoulder’s dropped and he stepped in closer. His thumb teased her cheek. “Okay. I love you. You know I’m here when you need it.” Valens dropped his hands from her shoulders. “I love you too….and, thanks for understanding.” She went to the car.

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The others quietly piled in. Valens got in and pulled her onto his lap. This time though, she didn’t resist, but relaxed into his hold. Dion did the same with Hedi. But Shamira couldn’t stop her eyes from watering as she reached out to touch Kurt, who was slumped over in the front seat. Mitch rechecked the trailer and Cal’s body before he climbed on his motorcycle. Anthony nodded at Mitch’s wave to follow as he led the way back to the Security Force Headquarters.

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Chapter 4 A maelstrom of thoughts flashed through Shamira’s mind as she fought to keep her composure. She couldn’t show weakness. Wouldn’t give into her feeling of self-pity and disappointment like she wanted to deep down. The last year had been the best year of her life. After the dismantlement of Monev and the news that Renu, its leader was dead, she was able to relax a bit. She’d trained with Cal and her respect for him grew each day. He’d taught her to rely on her wits to survive, taught her to suppress the fierceness of her power that had become her burden over the years, and to rely on her skill alone. With that restraint, came calmness. Besides, once they’d gone to Earth to be dipped and their technosuits became part of their bodies, she discovered that her hidden energy could hurt her. Not only could it short out the suit, it could kill her if she didn’t release her power in subtle waves. The invisible suit that was a second skin on each Elite officer could never be taken off. If she released the electrical stream she harnessed within her, the suit would push it back into her body and possibly cause her to implode. It was decided that Cal should teach her to control her inner strength so the suit could do its job and protect her body from external attacks such as laser fire or knives. Although the suit gave the Security Force Elite officers super strength, it just improved her already enhanced strength, making her ten times stronger than even a fully mature Security Force Elite officer. “How did they kill him with his suit on? They practically took out Kurt too,” Dion said. Shamira’s lips turned up in disgust. “Yeah, great. If the suit worked so well, how was Cal killed? It was supposed to keep us safe. With the leader of Monev dead we have to figure out if he sold what he knew about the Security Force and our suits. And to

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who? Who would want to give up the struggling rebuilding of Mars to kill the ones that were created to protect it?” Valens tightened his arms around Shamira’s hips. “There are a lot of people out there that wanted Renu’s power—Monev’s kingpins had it all. And Renu had been dipped in a technosuit himself, maybe he sold the secret to making it to someone we don’t know about? Then there is the other deal he had that someone would kill for. Remember the owners of the technology that runs the air filtration system here on Mars? They wanted to cut a deal with Renu.” Hedi touched Shamira’s arm. “Yeah, George Cruz and his family. The owners of Telwell Industries were never prosecuted in the shut down of Monev. They got off with just a fine. Since they created the technology to make the air on Mars breathable, they were basically untouchable.” Anthony grunted, “Yeah, only because the bastards could shut down Mars and kill us all if they cut off the air filtration system. Man, politics suck!” Valens leaned up. “I got coms up. You want to talk to your father?” “Not really. But I don’t have a choice. Shamira grabbed the tiny coms earpiece from Valens and stuck it in her ear. Briefly, she closed her eyes to brace against telling the deputy security force leader, and her father, that she had failed. “Deputy Elite Officer, Nelson Nobel,” her father answered. “It’s cadet Shamira Nobel. We have two men down.” She paused, “We’re on our way back to headquarters.” She swallowed. Her father fell silent for a moment, “Situation details.” “Security Force Elite Leader, Cal Long—dead. Cadet, Kurt Johnson, alive and unconscious.” “Location?” She bit her lip. “Leaving the Mons.” “Got it, we got a connection for Cal’s suit. His distress signal just went out. Help is on the way. Copter on the way now. And Shamira…I’m on my way.” 18

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Warmth filled her chest. Her father, champion and rock, would always be her backup. Her eyes watered because he constantly found a way to make her feel special—even when she’d been handicapped. He’d cheered her beyond her depression and taught her she could be more than others thought a blind girl ever could—more than she’d wanted to believe. She sat back into Valens chest and took a deep breath. “They’re on the way. Keep moving. They are coming with air transport.” Valens tilted forward and whispered into her ear. “You’re doing great. We’ve got your back against the elite. It’s not your fault. We’ll get the guys who did this to Cal and Kurt. We’ll do it together.” He rested his chin on her shoulder and softly kissed the exposed skin just below her neck. Tendrils of warmth took her mind off the interrogation ahead. She loved Valens more than anyone besides her family. He calmed her, encouraged her…but she hated that she was starting to crave his support like a drug. She needed to do this herself and was afraid that she’d one day have to make a choice that she selfishly couldn’t make. “Yeah girl, you know we’ve got your back. Always. Road dogs to the end.” Anthony gave a weak chuckle. “Ditto.” Dion reached over to tap her arm. “Yeah.” Hedi bent over and hugged her. Shamira allowed their pats and touches. Unfortunately, she’d still felt a bit uncomfortable with their physical contact. It was as if they sensed that about her and worked together to get her to loosen up and show her affection. For that she loved them. Without realizing it, they constantly gave her something she’d always wanted, but was too afraid to hope for. True friendship. “Okay guys, too much touchy-feely going around for me. Let’s get our game faces on so we can find the creeps who did this to Cal and Kurt without the old guys pulling us back.” Ready now for her father and the other Elite officer’s questioning, she smiled. 19

Chapter 5 It seemed like only seconds passed before the skies filled with flying cars and helicopters. Sirens blaring, they landed. Anthony pulled his vehicle to a stop. Shamira opened the door and hopped off Valens’ lap. Her father’s car slammed to the ground and the twisting sand kicked up with the winds around him. Special Nobel bolted out his car to run toward her with Elite Officer Finch at his heels. “Where is he? Where’s Cal?” Elite Officer Finch demanded. Shamira’s father rushed up and grabbed her in quick hug. She pulled back and knitted a brow at the concern on his face. His usually kind dark brown features, highlighted by deep dimples, were washed away by concern for her. “There,” Shamira pointed, “on the trailer. Kurt is in the front seat.” Officer Finch nodded toward the trailer and the medics rushed to the car. Shamira expelled a deep breath. “We were blindsided by an attack. And couldn’t see them. Even I wasn’t able to penetrate their camouflage. It was like they were invisible. The only thing we could see was the light from their laser fire when they fired around us. Kurt took off after what he thought was an attacker and Cal followed.” Her father’s arms crossed in front of him. He gave Officer Finch a slight nod. “Hmm, sounds like Elite Officer Cal was trying to get Kurt to pull back.” He put his hand on his chin. “Did you see anything—anything that can clue us in on who did this?” Valens and the others walked up behind her. His hand pressed on the small of her back. “I fired one dead-on, but my bullet ricocheted off of it.” Shamira chimed in, “When he connected, I saw a flash. Like the device hiding them shorted for a brief moment. Someone in a sand-colored helmet…then it recovered and that’s when they took

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off and stopped their attack. We couldn’t even hear their engines revving.” Anthony growled low in his throat. “The bastards ran. We stopped, but Mitch was down. Kurt and Cal were out of sight.” Deputy Elite Officer Nobel put up his hand. “Hold on a minute. They split up. Left you? That’s not like Cal. Something must have tipped him off. Who knew you were coming here for your final training session before your promotions?” Shamira released an aggravated sigh, “No one. Elite Officer Cal didn’t even tell me until we got into the car. I didn’t tell the others. All I knew was that we would be going to the Mons and that we were going to check out the landmines to make sure they were all deactivated.” Officer Finch was pensive. His hand tapped the gun at his waist. “Why would he need to do that? Did he say why he wanted to check them out?” “No. He didn’t. He told us that our final training session would be the one to conquer all our fears. It would take us to the next level and make us invincible against anyone that would try to bring another Security Force Officer down.” A flash of grief crossed her father’s face while Cal and Kurt were rolled away and placed on the copter heading out to the Security Force Elite Medic center. Shamira stifled a sob and swallowed, then blinked. God, it hurt. Felt like a punch in her chest to see them being taken away. The others quieted in silent respect until the copter left with their fallen comrades. Her father was Cal’s 2nd in command, and easily slid into his lead role. Fury flickered within his eyes. “I don’t know who would do this, but we will find them. Go to headquarters and get checked out. Officer Finch will lead the way and each of you will be questioned before you can leave today.” Shamira stepped forward. “We want in. We deserve a chance at finding out who killed Elite Officer Cal.” “I understand. I’ll bring it before the board. Until then, check out for the summer and we’ll decide if your team will be pro22

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moted and put on the case.” Her father gave a brief nod and turned to go. Officer Finch crooked his finger at them before he left. They followed and piled in to Anthony’s car to make their way to headquarters. Shamira had a sinking feeling this wasn’t over. That someone had purposely killed Cal. Now her team had to prove they were not involved. And hopefully confirm that they should be promoted. With a sinking feeling, she realized her year of peace had ended. But deep down, her simmering powerful beast rejoiced—hungry for a new fight.

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Chapter 6 Headquarters came into view. The paved road was backdropped by sand, houses with rock gardens and streetlights. Cars stopped allowing Anthony to plow his way towards the Security Force Headquarters following Officer Finch’s sleek black patrol car. The facility held the main security force offices, hospital and underground training facility. It stood over thirty-eight-hundred feet tall and had been expanded within the last year to include an orphanage of sorts for the kids that had been retrieved from Monev, and who were awaiting adoption by parents on Mars or Earth. Various cars flew into and out of the rounded dome of the tall tubular building. And Anthony sped by them to park. Shamira tapped her fingers on her knee waiting until they stopped. Interrogation was never one of the fun things that went with the job, but it was necessary. Maybe if she played her cards right, she’d find out if there were something more to this incident and Cal’s murder. “Well, we’re here. Y’all ready for the beat down inspection from the old boys?” Anthony shut off the car and watched Officer Finch walk toward them. Shamira started to open the door. “Ready as ever. Just tell the truth and ask some questions of your own. I want to know if something was up before now.” “Well, I sure don’t want Finch questioning me. He never liked me, and the feeling is mutual.” Dion got out and turned to pull Hedi out by her hand. Hedi laughed. “Dion, please, you don’t like none of the guys in authority. You’ve got serious issues with management.” Valens smirked. “Uh, Hedi, I think that’s the pot calling the kettle black. You go rogue on your instructors all the time.” Hedi pursed her lips, “Humph, so do you.” Anthony leaned on the car. “Well, here he comes.”

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Finch stood in front of them, his thick blond hair spiked up in a crew cut, his arms crossed, and an angry scowl on his face. “Questioning starts in five minutes. Stow your gear in your lockers and report to the Intog rooms where I’ll assign you an investigator.” With a quick once-over, he turned and walked away. “You heard the prick. In five.” Dion shrugged, dragged his hand through his thick curly hair and walked away. “Hedi, your man has serious attitude,” Anthony said and trailed Dion. Hedi threw a long red curl over her shoulder, “Just like I love ’em.” She winked at Shamira before leaving with the others. Shamira faced Valens. “You ready for the inquisition?” Valens gave a weak smile. “I guess. Cal gone…now this.” “Sucks, don’t it? I don’t care if they promote us or not—we’ve got to find out who did this to Cal. We were there. It was my responsibility to be his back-up.” Valens put his arms around her and gently pulled her close. He smiled at her resistance and twitched the muscles in his chest where her fingers pushed slightly. “It wasn’t your fault. All of us were his backup. Together…We’re in this together.” He leaned down and kissed her languorously, as if he had all the time in the world. Torn by her guilt and desire to take the comfort he offered, she hesitated. Then with a sigh, she greedily deepened the kiss, plunging into the warmth of his mouth as her arms snaked up around his neck. He gave a soft chuckle and nipped her full bottom lip, then pulled back. “I love it when you lose control and try to eat me up.” Butterflies filled her stomach as she itched to move the wayward blond curl from over his eye. Shamira’s arms dropped and she stepped back. “It’s your fault—you’re a tease.” The flicker of guilt at the brief interlude from her guilt at Cal’s death caused her to take another step away. “I know, but it made you feel better, didn’t it?” Sadness clouded his green eyes. 26

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“I guess,” she grimaced and her weak smile dropped. “I better hurry up.” “No, we better.” He grabbed her hand and they walked to the elevator. The elevator door opened. Elite Officer Dax got off. His bulky arms folded in front of him and his usual scowl deepened on his pale face as his eyes fell to their clasped hands. “Humph, fraternizing again?” he mumbled, then curved his finger at them, standing in front of the elevator. Shamira took a deep breath and swallowed back a retort as she pulled her hand out of Valens’. Dax was one of their trainers. One they most disliked. Disrespect to any Elite Officer would hinder their promotion, therefore they gave him some space. Besides, mouthing off wouldn’t solve anything, so they allowed him to get away with the oozing off of his dislike for them. All she wanted was to put her team on the case to track down Cal’s killers. If tolerating Dax’s crap was a way to do it—then so be it. Valens lifted his eyebrow at her. He defiantly held her hand while they followed Dax onto the elevator. Shamira smiled to herself at Valens’ quiet challenge and felt comforted in his confirmation of friendship. So she gave into the challenge he initiated and tilted her chin at Dax, whose lip thinned in response. He pushed the button and cracked his neck while the elevator rose. “Cadet Shamira, you’ll come with me for questioning. You’re my first to interrogate. Valens, Elite Officer Finch will deal with you.” Shamira cleared her throat. “Did the others already begin?” she asked, purposely refusing to address him as an Elite Officer. Dax tilted his head slightly and cut a harsh gaze filled with contempt at her. “Not your concern. I don’t recall you being promoted to Security Force Elite Leader. Yet. Why they would consider promoting a kid when there are other more qualified Elites available?” he grumbled quietly. “Until then, your father will take over, and you’ll be under investigation with your team until you are absolved of any negligence.” 27

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The elevator door opened and they sauntered behind Dax down the light wood-covered walls to the interrogation rooms. Elite Officer Finch was waiting for them. He nodded at Valens to follow. Shamira took a deep breath fought to gain some composure for her session with Dax. He pressed his fingertip to the flat silver panel on the wood door and pushed open the clouded window. She rolled her eyes at the heavy metal table and matching chairs with white walls. It was time to deal with the pinhead. “Sit.” He pointed to the chair opposite the one he’d slid out for himself. Expelling a breath, he pulled over the small computer flashpad and said, “Create file for subject, Cadet Shamira Nobels.” The flat, thin device beeped and responded in a computerized tone, “Cadet Shamira Nobels, Security Force Elite cadet in training for Security Force Elite Leader. Direct subordinate to Security Force Elite Leader, Cal Long. Interrogation file created by Sector Nine Security Elite Leader and investigator, Officer Manuel Dax.” Shamira sat back in the hard chair. She folded her arms while he typed on the flashpad. By the look on Dax’s face, he planned on having her here a while. She played over what could’ve gone wrong today, but couldn’t figure out who would do this. With her team’s destruction of Monev—the crime organization that had caused the breakdown of the secure structure of peace and order on Mars—no threat to the Security Force had surfaced in a year. The kids were saved and the crime completely halted on the planet. Since the main henchman were taken into custody or declared dead, Monev was no longer a threat. All the members of the gang that had lived were put to death on Earth. Cal’s twin brother Renu, Monev’s leader, was laid to rest in a memorial service only because he’d once been trained as an Elite Officer. Unfortunately for Cal, he had to plan the memorial service for a brother who’d been kicked out of the Security Force as a teenager for killing one of their competitors. It didn’t help matters that his reunion with his brother consisted of Renu kidnapping and tortur28

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ing him last year before Shamira and her team destroyed Monev’s holdings. “Cadet Nobels, before we start, give me your wrists. I need to inspect them for any recording devices.” Dax held out his hand. Shamira pushed back slightly in her seat. Resting her elbows on the table she lifted her hands up for inspection. “If you don’t mind, I don’t like anyone touching me.” Her stare was unwavering. “It’s a side effect of my former blindness.” “Humph. You didn’t seem to have a problem with Cadet Valens touching you.” His cold blue eyes studied her. “For a seventeen-year-old trainee, you sure act like you’ve got a right to call the shots.” His finger jabbed the table, “Not here, and not during my interrogation. Here, I ask the questions and give the demands. This is procedure. If you don’t do it, I’ll note it in your file. ” “Then note it, but you’re not touching me.” She put her hands on the table and folded them. He glared at her quietly and pushed the flashpad aside. “What was the last conversation you had with Security Force Elite Leader, Cal, prior to leaving for your final training session?” She moved her index finger on the table. “He was in a good mood, you know, like always. He’d joked about the surprise he had for our last day of training. He mentioned how proud he was of me and how far the team had come in their training. Then he said he had to check out the landmines at Olympus Mons to make sure that they were still dormant.” “You didn’t think that comment strange? Having to check out landmines for activity?” “No, I trusted Elite Officer Cal to be honest about his purpose for our trip.” Although, she admitted to herself that she’d wondered at his strange reasons for wanting to check out his brother’s sadistic haunts. She’d known from experience not to press Cal further. He’d made it clear he was her boss and if it was anything he thought she should know, he’d tell her. His main rule was not to question him—ever. Because, she’d desired to be a Security Elite Officer her entire life, she complied with his request. 29

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“After you got to the Mons, what happened?” Shamira told him how they were attacked. That Kurt took off after a possible attacker and Cal appeared to be following him to either assist him or bring him back in to safety. “Did you think it was odd that no Senior Elite Officer besides Elite Officer Cal, accompanied you on your final training session?” “No. Since everyone is busy with their duties in addition to the rebuilding of Mar’s infrastructure after the cleanup of Monev, no one had paired up when training the team.” The earlink on Dax’s ear beeped. The small computerized phone fit snugly in his ear and would have remained unnoticed if not for the faint blue light that flickered from within his ear cavity. He gave her a look that said, don’t move, and waved a finger over the device. “Elite Officer Dax here.” He paused, apparently irritated. “I’ll be right there. I’m just finishing up. I’ll take the cadet named Anthony next.” Shamira made a silent prayer that she wouldn’t have to be questioned by Dax again, and felt sorry for Anthony who’d suffer the fate next. He pretty much felt the same as she did toward the man. He ended his call and turned his steely gaze on her. “This session is over. For now. But let me make this clear. Real clear. I don’t see why they would select you and your subpar team to lead up any division of the Mars Security Force Elite. None of you have been trained with the rigors equaling the current Security Force Elite. My opinion, your team and Cal’s carelessness is the reason our Leader is dead today. You don’t have what it takes to lead them, and you and your pretty boy spend too much time smashing faces. I’m not recommending you or any of your team for promotion. None of you are worthy. Get out.” Dax hit the table. Shamira sat there, dumfounded at the hate and venom that spewed out of Dax. She knew he was close to Cal. Friends with him since before they came to Mars. Her heart sank. How many other officers felt the same way, or would after they’ve heard about Cal’s death? He blamed her for Cal’s death, blamed her and 30

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her team—her friends. Heck, if she were honest with herself, she felt the same way. With a gulp, she choked on her guilt. She fixed an unaffected look of stern rebuttal on her face, then stood up and walked out the door.

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Chapter 7 Shamira stormed into the training gym, then to the locker room in the back. The dim lighting on the wall did nothing to calm her. Breathing hard, tears welled up in her eyes and she let out a scream. A year ago, her life was never this complicated. Sure, she’d been the butt of jokes at school. Had no friends and set out to save a few missing kids by taking out her frustrations on the lowlifes who sold drugs and kids into slavery. But that was in the past. Now, her life had changed. She’d been taught to suppress the urge, the hunger within her for a fight—to take revenge. Friends, she had friends now. A boyfriend who loved her even when she was blind, and she loved being with him, even though she wouldn’t admit it out loud. Now with Cal gone, she had to get her head straight. Had to bring these killers in and she was afraid that having friends— having Valens, softened her. She kicked the wall with a right foot and punched it with a left hook. Dents, then cracks in the metal and wood planks appeared with each punch. Hedi waltzed in the room, her uniform discarded. “Tsk, tsk. Girl, you are going to get in trouble, big trouble if you keep punching that wall. Gross misuse of your technosuit’s power.” She’d changed into a black miniskirt that complemented her red nails, pink lips and hair. Her long red hair was tucked behind her ear as her saucy smile fell. Shamira slouched on a nearby bench and let out a deep breath. Part of her wished she could be like Hedi and smile or giggle when stressed. “Why? Who…oh, Cal. I should have…” she bit her lip, trying to force back her jumbled words and loss of focus. Hedi put a finger to her mouth. “We didn’t know what to expect. Gosh, none of us even knew he planned on taking us there…to that…hell. The truth is, when I saw the Mons standing there, still in one piece after we blew it up. I wanted to vomit. That

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place—Monev, still makes me sick. Sometimes, I can’t even believe that we made it out. Free, because of you.” “Yeah, well what good am I if I can’t even do my job and keep my team safe? My mentor safe? Freak, I should’ve ridden my motorcycle…not sat in the car to be with Valens.” “C’mon, none of us could have guessed we’d be ambushed. Stop blaming yourself.” Shamira pulled it together. Funny, Hedi, was the only one to ever catch her losing it. Leave it to Hedi to put her back on the right track, and to stop beating up on herself. “It’s just that being promoted is so important to me. But I’m done. Over that. Whether they put us on the team or not, I’ll get to the bottom of this. I didn’t let anything stop me before I became a cadet, and I’m not starting now.” Hedi gave her a mischievous smile. “I like the way you’re talking.” Dion came up behind them and hugged Hedi from behind. “Man, you’re hot. Your house or mine.” Dion kissed Hedi on the curve of her neck. Anthony followed with a scowl on his usually smiling face as he scratched his wrist. “Dax is a prick. I swear if he tells me one more time why he doesn’t think I should be a cadet I’m gonna punch him in the face. Not to mention, I think the bastard knows every sin I ever attempted and heaped on about twenty more just to piss me off.” He shrugged, “But I held it together and didn’t give the sadistic, power-hungry snot the satisfaction of breaking me. And man, I was itching to punch that cocky smile off his face.” Mitch came in and went to his locker. “You should’ve, but you would’ve had to get in line behind me.” Anthony glanced at Dion who was mauling on Hedi. “Man, get a room. Hell, now is so not the time for that.” Dion smirked. “Hater. Not my fault Alisha broke up with you.” Anthony pushed Dion’s shoulder. 34

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“Hey, stop it, Anthony. I was liking that,” Hedi teased and slapped Anthony’s hand. “Fighting over Hedi again?” Valens chuckled as he came in the room. Then he turned to Shamira and pulled her into a hug. Feeling edgy and uncomfortable, she pushed him away. He gave her a concerned look, but didn’t let go. “Excuse me. I have to check on Kurt, then go to my office.” Shamira looked up at Valens, her body tense. She warred with her desire to kiss him or get him out of her way. Reluctantly, he dropped his hands, then stepped aside. “I just came back from the infirmary. Kurt’s awake now. They are questioning him and posting a guard at his door tonight.” Shamira put her hands on her hips. “Great. That means they won’t let us in and we can’t ask him what happened.” “What now?” Mitch asked. Shamira leaned her back on the locker. “Meet at my house tomorrow night. I’ll tell my mom we’re training. Hedi, check on any of the former contacts, business partners or any recovering dream addicts that we can question to find out if there is a new bunch of creeps trying to take over where Monev left off. Download it and send it to my home account.” Anthony grinned. Mitch winked. “We’re back.” Dion rested his chin on Hedi’s shoulder. “Kurt’s so gonna be ticked he’s not in on this.” “Who says he won’t be?” Hedi laughed. “I’ll break into the computer system and release him to my care tomorrow. We live next door to each other and our parents are dating. We’re practically sister and brother.” “Hedi, you are so sneaky. Just like I love you,” Anthony winked. “I know. Old skills die hard. Years as a hacker with Monev at least gave me this one itty bitty skill.”

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Shamira sighed. “Alright guys, I got to go check my email and get out of here. I want to beat my dad home so I can tell my mom about Cal myself.” Valens followed her to the door. “Wait.” She stopped and slid around to face him. “You forgot to kiss me goodbye.” Her hand came up to stop his descending lips. “Valens. I’m sorry but we can’t do this at work anymore. You want a kiss, I’ll give you a big one when you and the guys come over tomorrow.” A blond curl hung over his deep green eyes and she reached up to move it, her dark tan hand rubbing against his pale skin. He caught her hand and kissed it. “See you tomorrow. Love you.” She smiled her thanks for his understanding. “I love you too, Valens.” Shamira made haste to get to her office. She ran up the stairs to the next floor and hurried passed the numerous Security Force Elite and Mars Planet Police while ignoring their stares. Swallowing down her grief, she kept a straight face and walked into her cubed in office in front of Cal’s. Cal’s secretary had been moved out and up a row when Shamira started as a cadet and Cal’s protégé. The tanned panels trimmed in silver invited her. This time she was thankful her walls were high enough to afford her some privacy. With a plop, she sat in her chair and stared at her computer. She skimmed her mail messages from Cal and copied them to her tip drive to take home. A new message beeped on her computer and she frowned thinking it odd. Usually the only emails she got were from Cal, but she pressed the touch screen to retrieve the message anyhow. It took a while to load, appeared to be stuck in the virus protection software, so she turned to gather her black backpack. She stuffed some of the training folders and historical files she’d printed out about the Security Elite in her pack and turned just as the message flashed on the screen. Let the bodies hit the floor. One down and many more. 36

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Her jaw locked, and anger bubbled up at the challenge at the threat that taunted her. She rushed to save the message and before she could click the screen the message disappeared. Frantically, her heart beating fast, she clicked to get to her email folder. Nothing! It was gone. She hit her fist on her desk and mumbled. “I should turn this in…but I’m not. No trace of the message is left behind. Humph!” Anger simmered in her stomach, and it pushed away her cage of grief. The power that sat within her like a ball of fire welled up the more she stared at the screen. Within a minute, a virus attacked her computer and the screen went black. She yanked out her tip drive and stuffed it in her bag. Expelling an angry puff of air, she grabbed her bag and headed to the parking lot. She had to get home, do more research and come up with a plan to find out who killed Cal. Especially now, since they just warned her that Cal’s murder was just the beginning.

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Chapter 8 Shamira took the stairs two by two to the parking garage. Glad there was no one on the stairs, she stopped in front of the door to catch her breath, fix her face and casually stroll to her motorcycle. A beam of relief shot through her. She flung her leg over Pearl, her souped-up gem colored motorcycle. Pearl would do the driving for her. “Pearl, drive us home.” She wanted to think through some of the turmoil flooding her mind. She bit her lip, thinking, while the motorcycle took off. The message was encrypted. Short and sinister, it left no room for mistaking who sent it—Cal’s killers. It sounded vindictive. Obviously, its creator wanted to make a point. But what point—that she was next? With Monev gone, Mars was better off. Sure, there were former drug addicts left behind, but Earth’s Department of Drug Intervention sent antidotes and built treatment centers for those who wanted it. The criminals, mostly men who were the backbone to Monev, were gathered—at least the ones who were well known. Then they were shipped to Earth and if they couldn’t be rehabilitated by the computerized implants the scientist injected in their brains, they were executed immediately within the Waters. Around her, the red sands, sparse green sprouts of grass and rock decorations framed the homes in her neighborhood. She groaned, being no closer to clues about Cal’s killers, she became further agitated. One thing she had to figure out, and now, was why Cal wanted to investigate the Mons in the first place. Even Cal was a bit put off with anything that concerned Monev’s old torturing grounds. Shamira wasn’t surprised considering that Cal had gotten a face-to-face, one-on-one taste of it first hand. Pearl pulled up in the driveway. Home. The one place she felt at peace. Even with her new friends she realized that those relationships took a lot of work. At home, with family, it was given

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with a depth she’d never had the opportunity to take for granted. Since friendship and boyfriends were new things to her, she was still afraid to assume they would never change. But now with her brothers and sister, she felt full. “Home, Pearl.” She slid off her motorcycle, giving it a slight pat on the back. “Go park yourself.” Shamira walked to the door, pressed her fingertip to the knob and opened it. Taren, her newly adopted sister, stood there as if waiting for her. Her long black braids hung closely to her head. Taren’s light brown skin was flushed with pink as she giggled at Shamira, who stood there with her arms wide open. She ran into Shamira’s arms. “I’ve been waiting for you all day! I knew it was you at the door.” “I know, little sis.” She kissed Taren’s cheek, still a bit concerned at her small size for a ten-year old. But she figured that a few years of near starvation would do that to a kid. She stood up and Taren grabbed her hand. “You’ve been keeping those two knuckle boys’ heads in line today?” Taren nodded. “Yep, I punched David in the stomach and crashed Manny over the head with my new boxing gloves Daddy gave me. Daddy said he’s going to train me to be like you.” Shamira smiled. “Be like me, no,” she shook her head, “I’ve got too many issues. You don’t want to be like me.” “Yeah I do, I got issues too!” Taren squeezed her hand. Shamira’s mother, Katherine, came into the front room dressed in her work uniform. She looked as though she was forcing a smile when she turned to Taren. A sprinkle of light freckles stood out on her mother’s fair skinned nose and was highlighted by her straight black bob. “Taren baby, go tell your brothers that dinner’s on the table.” Her mother bent and kissed Taren on the forehead. Taren took off. Her mother pulled Shamira into her arms. “I’m sorry, Shamira. Your father called and told me what happened with Cal today.” Shamira closed her eyes and hugged her mother back. This was another thing she was starting to get way too used to, her mother’s 40

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hugs. Last year, she and her mom seemed so far apart. But since then her mother worked hard to let her know she loved her, and Shamira didn’t take one moment of it for granted. She’d thirsted for this all her life. She just didn’t want to confess how much she wanted her mother’s support. She let go and plopped on the couch. “It happened so fast. Too fast, like someone was waiting to set us up.” Katherine shook her head in bewilderment. “I don’t know. We have had such a peaceful year. Rebuilding what Monev tried to take from the settlers—from you kids. Ugh, more than likely it’s a wannabe operation.” “Did Dad tell you if we are going to get our promotion to Security Force Elite Officers? It’s important to my team—to me.” Her mother reached over to touch her shoulder. “Right now, they consider you all still trainees. They’ve postponed your promotions until further notice. Earth officials will have to give the final direction in this. Cal’s death changed so much for the progression of Mars, and now Mar’s relationship with Earth. The entire Security Force Team on Mars and Earth has been shaken up by this. Cal’s body is going to be frozen and the funeral held after an autopsy by Earth. They have to figure out how he was killed in his technosuit. All our suits were revamped after the Monev episode. This was never supposed to be able to happen.” “Thanks for letting me know.” Her mom gave a slight nod. “I have to go now. Your dad and I will be at headquarters. None of you have to report for training for the rest of the week. So, enjoy your week off. I’ll see you in the morning. Think you can handle your brothers and sisters tonight?” Shamira shrugged. “You kidding? Piece of cake.” Manny and David ran into the room. Although neither were brothers by blood, they both had thick brown hair and lightly tanned skin. David looked up at his mom, who he favored with light skin and dark hair. His thick firm arm pumped up as he shook his fist 41

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in the air. “If Dad doesn’t take those boxing gloves from Taren, I’m hiding them.” “No. Burning them!” Manny added. His thin frame jumped while he stomped the floor. “Oh, c’mon, what could a little girl with boxing gloves do to hurt you two strong boys?” Her mother laughed then grabbed her bag and walked out the door. “Bye boys. Be good to your sister.” Both boys waved and turned their amused faces to Shamira. “What time is it?” Shamira threw a look over her shoulder to make sure her mom was gone. “Wrestle time! You’re butt is so mine,” she growled. The boys took off running and Shamira chased them, laughing. It was one of the games they played when her parents weren’t home. Also, her one surefire way to wear them out so they would go to bed and give her time for training.

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Chapter 9 A sigh escaped her lips, but Shamira’s eyes hadn’t left the door. Her team was running late and she was mad. She didn’t find anything in Cal’s emails or files that indicated why he wanted to go to the Mons. Not even one thing that could tip off anyone about who would’ve wanted him dead. Yeah, she read the historical files on how and why the Security Force Elite on Earth and Mars was created. A new world order by the Earth Rebirth Council to clean up Earth and to rid the world of crime was the catalyst for the Security Force Elite both on Mars and Earth. The criminals that could be rehabilitated with hypnotic software that would remove the subject’s desire to commit crime were released into the Mars relocation program. Others that were too violent and twisted were put to death by electrical drowning in the Waters. Because his crimes were committed when he was a teenager, Renu, Cal’s twin brother and former Security Force Elite cadet, slipped through the cracks and got clearance to come to Mars. Since he was a juvenile and appeared to be rehabilitated, he and his goon friends were allowed to settle on Mars. Problem was Renu went underground shortly after he got to Mars and was thought to be dead. She sighed and gnawed on her nail while staring at the door. Her mother came out of the kitchen. “Staring at the door won’t make them get here any sooner. You know they’re always late.” Her dad walked in the room and sat next to her on the large comfy couch in their living room. “Yeah, definitely something you have work on your team about. Once you get promoted they’ll dock your pay for tardiness. Not only that but it will effect the funding Mars gets from Earth if the force is seen to be inefficient.” Agitated with her parents’ nagging, she shrugged. “I know. We’re just going to do some training sequences in the training

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room and I want to get it done so we can go to the midnight movie.” “Movies? You said you hated movies, even after you got your sight you hated going,” her father laughed. Thankfully the doorbell rang. Shamira sprang up to answer it. Valens stood at the door with the others behind him. He smiled and gave her a quick kiss on the lips before she had a chance to react. “You owed me that.” Shamira smiled at his dimpled face. “I know, besides I had it coming.” She looked passed him and saw Kurt standing stiffly behind Hedi. “Kurt! Hey, I’m glad to see you’re okay.” “Thanks. I’m good. Ready for what you’re dishing tonight.” He nodded. His almond-shaped black eyes winked at her. “Let’s move, we’re going straight to the training rooms.” They followed and gave a quick hello to her parents. Manny and David came running in the room. David blocked the hallway leading to the training rooms. “We training today? I got some new moves to try out on Valens.” Manny stood behind him. “Me too. Shamira taught us some real dirty moves. I think I’m ready for Anthony.” He pointed at Anthony, and then waved a fist in front of each eye. “I got my eye on you. Done. You’re gonna be so done.” Anthony bent over and tickled Manny’s stomach, then stopped to rub his wrist. “Itches,” he mumbled absently. “Yeah, little man. I’ll be ready for you later.” He patted Manny on the head. “When you gonna grow some? I was twice your size when I was eleven.” “Yeah, well, I may be little, but I can still kick your a…” “Manny!” Shamira put her hand over his mouth. “You trying to get me in trouble? You know Mom thinks you get that potty mouth from us. I promise to practice with you both tomorrow. Cover the training door for us. Okay.” David winked at Manny. “What do we get for it?” “Oh please, here.” Hedi rolled her eyes then dug in her purse and gave them some candy. “There’s more where that came from if you keep her parents and Taren up here.” 44

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Manny blew Hedi a kiss. “You are so my favorite, babe.” Dion laughed. “Get over it, kid. She’s mine.” Shamira led them down the stairwell to the underground training room she used with her parents. Mostly, she was the only one to use it. Her mother preferred to train at headquarters. Lately, since her father was Deputy Security Force Elite Leader and head of the Mars reconstruction program, he trained at the office also. They sat in the main training area where soft benches lined the walls. Valens leaned on the wall with Kurt next to him. Shamira made sure the door was locked then stood in front of them with her hands on her hips. “We have a problem. A big problem. Someone sent me an email soaked in a detonating computer virus yesterday before I left. The message was, Let the bodies hit the floor. One down and many more. On top of that, after I saw the message it disappeared and blue-screened my computer.” Hedi pursed her lips in thought. “Yeah, I heard about a virus after I left. I went to my desk and did a quick hack job before the entire system went kaput. I knew it wasn’t me, but I downloaded what I could and put it on my drive. When I got home I forwarded it to your system. Did you get a chance to look at it?” Shamira nodded. “Yeah, and it looks like there’s not much we don’t already know. That means the Security Force doesn’t know any more than we do, which is nothing.” Her arms folded over her chest. “Which means we have zero.” Kurt smirked. “I wouldn’t give up that easily.” Shamira’s gaze went from Kurt to Valens. With a nod, Valens winked at Kurt as if they shared a hidden secret. Kurt adjusted himself on the wall with a slight grimace passing over his features. “There’s talk on the street that unknown people have been hanging around some of Monev’s destroyed hideouts. You know pillaging stuff that was left behind. Sort of like they’re looking for something.” Shamira’s lips pursed. “Monev had a lot of things someone would want to take over. The list goes from their drug production, 45

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organ transplant contacts, and the secret to how they bought the Mars Security Force Elite with the Mars Police to their knees.” Dion nodded. “Yeah, but let’s face it. No one else on this planet has the smarts, contacts, or money to pull off what Renu and his boys did. They’ll never be another Monev—ever.” Mitch grunted. “That don’t mean there ain’t going to be a fool who thinks they can pull it off. But that still don’t justify killing Cal. Starting a drug factory can be done quietly and doesn’t have to mean killing the head of the Force. Seems to me this is personal.” “Personal, my butt. Who the hell cares?” Anthony banged the wall with his fist. “We need to go to Sector Seven. The Force hasn’t been able to implement full clean-up there and the Mars Police force is weak there. I’d bet my keys to my bad ass car that if there’s something going on, it’s there.” “I agree with Anthony. I think Sector Seven would be a good place to start.” Valens pushed himself off the wall. “Good. Do we have a contact there? Anyone who’s still around?” Shamira asked. Valens rested his head on his closed fist. “Maybe one. If she’ll talk to us. Nan’s parents still live in that area. She was denied placement in the Security Force Elite school, because she wanted to take care of her mother who refused drug treatment.” “Let’s go. We’ll leave out the back door so my parents don’t see us. They think we’re going to the movies. I’ll text them that we’re gone once we get there. If the force knows what we are up to they’ll definitely keep us out of the loop.” She turned her gaze to Hedi. “Think you can cloak us and make it look like we went to the movies?” Hedi smirked. “You ask, I deliver.” Hedi pressed a button on the mini-computer on her wrist. A 4D keyboard and screen sprang up from the device. After several typed commands Hedi let out a giggle. “Done, I can only scramble it for two hours. As far a headquarters knows, we are at the movie mall together.” 46

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“Thanks.” Shamira went to her weapons closet and pulled out her collapsed sword that looked like a club, clipped it on her belt with the other weapons and led the others out the door. She climbed on Pearl. Valens slid on behind her. “Mind if I ride with you? My bike’s not working and I rode in Anthony’s car.” Her chin lifted as she felt the familiar tingle of awareness that always assailed her whenever Valens was near. Her long browngold braid hung over his arm. “Program in the location. The others can follow me.” He reached over and punched in the coordinates to Sector Seven. She tightened her hands on her handlebars and relished in the anticipation of a new lead. She’d been dormant too long and hoped that this Nan would have some answers about the new scum in town.

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Chapter 10 Sector Seven hadn’t changed much. It was littered with brown and black buildings huddled together on the city blocks. The streets were dimly lit with sandswept ground separating the bundles of buildings. Shamira sped down the sector’s road and realized the place was rather vacant compared to her last visit a year ago. One thing had changed though, a big thing. It now had an entire city block of rubble in place where Snake Ice, a gaming hell on Black Snake Avenue, used to sit. Thanks to the kids that were enslaved by Monev and their use of the explosive computerized beetles from Valens’ collection of high-tech weapons, they blew up the place. She pulled to a stop at the end of the Black Snake Avenue. The others parked their cycles next to her. Valens stood when Mitch came up to meet him. “Why’d we stop short? I thought Nan lived two blocks down.” Shamira and the others gathered in a circle while scanning the empty street around them. Valens took some gloves out of his pocket and put them on. “We can’t take these cycles down her street. It’ll scare them off.” Shamira rested her hands on her hips. “How do you know?” “I check on them, bring her food and supplies. Her mom had a hard time kicking the dream habit on her own, but she did it. Now her mom works in the center, trying to help others that denied artificial cure, kick their habit and live through the withdrawal.” “Man, Valens, you just keep on earning my respect, dude.” Anthony gave Valens a soft punch on his arm. “Now what?” Mitch crossed his arms. Shamira felt a bit edgy with the silence around them. “We’ll ask her if she’s heard anything on the street. Maybe someone’s still supplying them with a sub-product of dream. If so, we need to find out who that is.”

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“Well, let’s take the high road, up the side of the building then down the street.” Dion pointed up at the tall brick structure beside them. “You’re kidding, right?” Hedi eyes traveled up. “Climbing buildings was not part of my training.” “No worries, Valens always has a trick in his pocket to help his team out.” Kurt chuckled. “That I do, my friends, that I do.” Valens reached into his jacket and pulled out a bag. “Put these on your fingertips, knees and shoes. It’ll help us get up the walls, but from building to building…uh, I wouldn’t risk it.” He scooped out a handful of flat, round, metal looking discs the size of a thumb tip. The disc were firm but flexible. They all put on the discs that bent and stuck on. The devices secured themselves to their fingers, shoes, and knees as though they were skin. “I’m still confused here.” Hedi gazed warily up at the building. Mitch and Dion winked at one another. Then spoke in unison. “We got that part covered.” “The part where we go from building to building?” Hedi pulled on Dion’s jacket. “Like how?” “Don’t want to spoil it, babe. Trust me, it’ll be a blast.” Dion grabbed her hand, heaved her on his back then ran up the side of the building. Shamira got a rush of excitement. Valens held out his hand. “Ready?” “All my life.” Shamira smacked his hand. “Beat yah!” She dodged past him and jumped on the outer brick wall of the tenstory building. Totally trusting any of Valens’ creations, she scrambled up the side like a spider. It was amazing. She held in a snicker. Her grin widened, she couldn’t believe she was actually able to climb a building. Dion and Hedi had a good lead on her so she cheated. Mentally, she pulled from the simmering energy in her gut. The power was born from her brush with death when she was a baby. It 50

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bubbled up to give her extra strength that surpassed the enhanced strength given to them from their technosuits. She practically leaped several feet higher. With a giggle, she pulled herself up by her hands, barely using the tags on the tips of her shoes. Sticking out her tongue, she passed Dion and Hedi. “Hey, you’re cheating! No sneaking strength the rest of us don’t have,” Hedi called with a laugh. Shamira was the first to make it to the top. She tugged herself up and slid her foot over the ledge and onto the roof. Dropping to one knee, she yanked Hedi up by the hand while Dion flipped over the ledge. The others followed, seemingly trying to outdo each other on their various flips over the rooftop. Shamira smiled. “Showoffs!” “Skill babe, plain and simple skill.” Anthony slapped hands with Mitch and Dion. Valens slid over beside her and put his hand on the small of her back. He leaned over and whispered in her ear, “Don’t let them fool you. They’ve been practicing with me while I tried out these babies.” She stared at him with awe. “How do you get them to be the guinea pigs for your prototypes?” With a cocky grin, Valens shrugged. “Mitch asked me to create something like this for them. Kurt and Dion have been teaching them some of the slick techniques from their old days as Assassins with Monev. Both could climb without this device. Mitch and Anthony just wanted some help to keep up.” “No fair you guys didn’t ask us to come along.” Shamira’s eyebrow lifted. “You were too busy shadowing Cal and learning to be the next Security Force Leader to have time to goof off with us. And Hedi was training with the Computer Security Team.” Dion came up beside them. “Ready to fly?” Hedi’s eyes bulged at Dion like he was insane. “Fly? How? You’re kidding, right?” 51

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Mitch lopsided grin got wider. “Naw, we’ve been doing this ancient art of hopping buildings called Free Running. These new toys Valens made for us will help you girls hang. The rest of us have been doing it without the prototypes for weeks.” Hedi pointed her finger at Dion’s chest. “So that’s where you boys have been sneaking off to at night. You too, Valens?” Valens smiled sheepishly at Shamira, then Hedi. “Someone had to go along to keep them out of trouble. Besides I had to study what they were doing to find a way to perfect it.” “I so can’t wait to try this.” Shamira eyed the ledge of the building. Her eyebrow wrinkled while she tried to guess the distance to the next building. Hedi shook her head nervously. “You would. You’re worse than the rest of them. Can I remind ya’ll that I’m not in training for this.” She stepped back. “I’m the inside computer geek.” Shamira gawked at Hedi dumbfounded. “You look and act nothing like a geek. And you know you like it. You just need us to give you a little push.” “Yeah, like this.” Mitch pushed Dion forward. Hedi yelled in fear. Dion ran then made a laughing leap through the air and over the side of the building out of sight. Hedi’s hand came up and punched Mitch in the arm. “Are you crazy!” Mitch laughed. “He loves it when I do that.” He hopped then vaulted into a run behind Dion. Arms opened wide, he flew over the side of the building. Shamira was itching to try, but she saw the fear in Hedi’s eyes. She grabbed Hedi by the hand. “Don’t let them see you chicken out. I’ve got you—let’s do this together.” Shamira tugged Hedi along as she started to run. Hesitantly, Hedi ran alongside her, then started too relished in the new adventure and sped up. Valens called behind her. “Duck and roll when you land!” “Gotcha!” Shamira held tightly to Hedi’s hand while they leaped off the side of the building. “Don’t look down!” “No way.” Hedi squeezed Shamira’s hand tighter. 52

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Shamira dragged Hedi with her. She spied the top of the building. Mitch and Dion waved them on. “Now! Flip now!” Mitch yelled. Shamira yanked Hedi’s arm forward to force her into a spin. They flipped together landing on their knees with their hands still tightly clasped together. They looked at one another in silence for a moment. Both Hedi then Shamira burst out in laughter. Behind them several thumps and bumps from Valens, Kurt and Anthony signaled that they landed. “It’s good to be back. Ye-ah boy!” Kurt exclaimed and slapped hands with Anthony. Shamira’s chest filled with butterflies of adrenaline. She jumped side to side on each foot ready for the next building. Valens pulled her in a hug. “Like that, don’t you?” His voice deepened. “Just what I needed,” Shamira answered then kissed him, butterflies tickling her stomach at his closeness. “Ready for the next one?” She nipped his bottom lip with her teeth. Valens squeezed her tighter and whispered. “Yeah. Dion’s got Hedi. You want to do it with me or by yourself?” “I can go it alone this time.” Valens shook his finger and tsked. “Yeah, but then you’d miss out on this new move I’ve got up my sleeve. I’ll teach it to you and then you can do it yourself on the next building.” Her curiosity and thirst for a challenge piqued. She grabbed his hand. “Let’s do it.” Valens let out a chuckle and pulled her forward. “I’ll dive first and pull you over my head. You dive over me and pull me with you.” “Got it. So you land first and I’ll land over you.” “Yep.” They started running. Valens whooped. “Top this, suckers!” Dion answered. “You are wrong. So wrong—in so many ways. Hedi won’t make it.” 53

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Anthony shouted. “You go boy! But Kurt and I got something for you!” Shamira sped up. Valens yelled. “Now!” They sailed through the air. She felt like she was on fire with tingles of awareness and a pure high. “Yes!” Valens flipped her. She pointed her toes like a ballerina. Dragging him over her, she sailed through the air. He flipped forward and with a thump then a roll Shamira followed to land in front of him. She stumbled slightly and he hauled her forward into his arms and kissed her. “See, we’re made for this.” Her hand rested on his rapidly beating heart that matched time with her own. “Yeah. We are.” She closed her eyes when Valens leaned in for a hungry kiss. Melting, she let out a small groan. “Man, cut that out. Get a room,” Anthony snickered when he landed. Shamira and Valens broke apart to grin at a grouchy Anthony. “Stop hatin’.” Mitch hooted then landed out of his flip behind Anthony. Kurt followed with the grace of a ninja warrior and landed silently behind them. “Ya’ll have to work on the landing.” Dion and Hedi staggered noisily behind them. Dion slid Hedi into his arms for a quick kiss before turning to Kurt. “No one’s got it down like you, Kurt. You were one of Monev’s best assassins before you went rogue on them to join Valens.” “Yeah, man, you got style—finesse, but to me, a kill is a kill.” Anthony scratched his wrist. “What’s wrong with your wrist?” Shamira asked. “Stupid rash. It’ll be okay though.” Anthony stretched. “You going now or what?”

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Chapter 11 They climbed down the last building on the block. Lights framed the structures and traveled alongside the sidewalks. Shamira stuffed one hand in a pocket and closed her eyes. She briefly pummeled herself into the complete darkness that reminded her of the safe place she’d lived within most of her life. Being blind hadn’t been a handicap. It had been a safe haven. It was a familiar place that allowed her to be what she needed to be. A place without the weakness of what was seen, only what she believed. A faint sound of young voices wafted around her. Her eyes fluttered opened bringing her back to her dim reality. “I hear something. Someone over there in that abandoned building.” Valens chin dipped. “That should be where Nan lives. Several families share the bottom floor. The top floors are for the Help Center and the homeless.” “Good. You leading the way?” Shamira asked. “Yeah, she’ll let me in.” Valens went ahead of the others. His hand fisted up, froze for a moment, then knocked on what appeared to be the back door to the building. The door was a thick, makeshift door of hollowed metal. They were sandwiched between two empty buildings in an alleyway. The sand-swept corners hadn’t had the luxury of the sand drains that drew loose fragments of sand within it to clean the streets. This part of town was neglected in the Mars cleanup, Shamira guessed. Valens knocked once more before the door clicked open and a girl’s head appeared. Shamira closed in behind him to study the girl. Nan stood about Shamira’s height with brown hair and large blue eyes that appeared tired. The girl was extremely thin with a weak malnou-

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rished look about her. Shamira couldn’t help being angry at seeing another casualty of what Monev left behind. Valens reached into his pocket and pulled out some coined credits of money and handed it to the girl. “Nan, thanks for talking to us. Here’s some credits for food since I wasn’t able to get by here this week.” The girl’s thin face brightened with a large beam of gratitude. “No, thank you. We are so grateful you help us, but now the Security Force Elite Reconstruction Program will start supplying us food and supplies while training some of us to work the underground heating systems and wind towers. If you didn’t get us moved to the top of the list I don’t know how long we would’ve been able to survive.” “Great, I told them about your mom and what she was trying to do.” His face turned solemn. “But, I’m actually here for information.” “Anything I know, I’ll tell you. What’s going on?” Nan sent a cautious look toward Shamira. “Do you know if there’s been any underground illegal action? You know, someone trying to supply dream to some of the recovered addicts? Anyone’s lives being threatened?” Valens asked. Nan looked confused. Then she turned her head slightly and peeked behind her. She stepped forward and closed the door. Whispering to herself, she wrung her hands. “Well, there’s something going on. One of the recovering addicts who was having a hard time of it, showed up a few weeks ago and said he was quitting the program. He and a few others packed their stuff and left. None of them had kids or family here on Mars to help them.” Shamira came up next to Nan. “Were they over their addictions? Did they ask for food or anything to help them to survive after they left?” Nan bit her lip. “No, both were working through the withdrawal pains. It takes almost a year to work through them; the pain hits less often depending on when you last used. A lot of the grownups here had a stash of dream to last them a while after 56

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Monev got destroyed and they would use what they had. We still have some people who are just now out of supply and decided not to go with the rehabilitation program offered by Earth.” Kurt leaned over. “Something is off. You saying that several of the recovering drug addicts packed up and left? How were they acting? Did they seem like they were using again?” Nan’s face frowned in thought. “Now that you mention it, no. They acted like they were fully recovered. No shivers, scratching, or denial of food. If I wouldn’t have known they were users before I would never had guessed they were addicts. The only other option is that someone gave them a synthetic of the cure Earth sent for users to take for the almost instant relief of the addiction.” Shamira put a hand on the doorframe. “Why wouldn’t an addict take the Earth cure in the first place?” “Many of them don’t trust the Earth cure. They think Earth will put something in the drug to control them, or track them like animals.” Nan frowned. “But my mom doesn’t believe that. She believes an addict has the power to overcome their addiction on their own, and by doing so, they understand the pain of the recovery and will choose not to go back to that life again.” Anthony snorted. “Yeah, right. I doubt that works for most of Monev’s victims. They made sure dream and scream would hook a fool, and good.” “We’ve seen success in most,” Nan replied. The door opened behind her. A tall boy with spiked up hair stuck his head out. “Hey, your mom’s askin’ for ya.” Nan looked over her shoulder at the boy. “Please tell her I’ll be right there.” She waited until the boy left before turning back to Shamira. “One more thing, do you have any names? Ideas where they would hang out if they aren’t here?” Shamira asked. Nan bit a fingernail. “I know one of them was called by a nickname. Freaksheep. He used to brag about how he’d been a top dog until everything went to pot. He said he started using dream to 57

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pass the time since he didn’t know what else he could do to make a living before he came to us. But now, dreamheads that didn’t want treatment find hideouts in the outlands. I don’t know where, but I overheard a few of those that left say this was better than there.” Valens patted her on her shoulder. “Thanks Nan. Call if anything else weird comes up?” “Sure.” She stepped back inside. Shamira folded her arms. “Sounds like a copycat organization maybe starting up. But Renu just didn’t sound like the type to share his secrets. Especially what kept him in control of all the other turned criminals.” Kurt teased his chin with his thumb. “No, he wasn’t sharing any information. At least not to anyone who wasn’t close to him or didn’t have a need to know reason for being involved.” Mitch grunted. “All those guys were supposedly murdered. Even Renu. So who would be left to pull it off?” Dion leaned on the building and crossed his legs. “What about some of the kids? I mean some who were assassins could be pretty devoted to Monev.” “Considering that you and Kurt are the only assassins we know, do you have any leads to some of the former kids who were recruited as assassins by Monev?” Dion spit on the ground. “Naw. Didn’t like any of them when I was with Monev, so I didn’t look for them when most of the kids were recovered by the Security Force. But because we got out of the organization before we turned seventeen, we didn’t have to make a choice to be elevated to permanent members. Those who never got out, either chose to become a Monev assassin for life—or they gave their lives.” “You had Kurt vouch for you when you came to us. Wasn’t he your friend?” Shamira asked. Kurt’s gaze locked with Dion’s. “No. I just knew I could trust him. We did some jobs together. He never failed—neither did I. Most of the other kids on my jobs, they just didn’t have it in them 58

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to survive. They were decoys we knew weren’t going to survive. Anyway, if you failed on a job and survived the hit, there was a chance you wouldn’t survive Monev’s discipline.” Kurt turned away in disgust. Shamira tilted her chin towards Dion and watched as he scratched his wrist, then raked his hand through his dark hair. “How many assassins were they training?” “Thousands, I guess. But those kids melted into the population. I figure they were glad to have a way out.” Dion pushed himself off the wall. “Anyway, looks like the trail’s only lukewarm for now.” Mitch stuffed his hands in the pocket of his black jacket. “Yeah, I’m out. Who’s coming, maybe we can still make that movie.” Shamira expelled an angry breath. She closed her eyes briefly and the sound of tapping within the wind teased her ears. Sprouting a frown, she opened her eyes, the feeling of apprehension making the hairs of her neck lift. A yell vibrated the air strongly from Mitch. He was thrown back into Kurt. And blood dripped from his temple. Kurt pushed Mitch off of him. He took on a fighting stance and grabbed his gun. “What hit him? Can’t see a thing.” Shamira heard it. About six sets of feet landing on the ground surrounding them. “There are six or more! Weapons ready.” The clicks of guns echoed. Shamira searched for their attackers and caught the shimmering of their tight suits. In an instant, they became visible. Men in form-fitting hoods with visors covered their eyes were poised to attack. Shamira glowered. The burning power within her stomach surged. She charged the slim man in front of her. He pointed his gun at her head. She glided to the ground. Slid on her knee, and kicked upward into his groin. He bent over with pain evident in his eyes. Her fist trembled from the adrenaline, and the numbing peace of combat focused her. A roar erupted from her throat. She punched upward into his chin. He flew through the air. And his head hit the wall with a crack. No time to second-guess herself, 59

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she just had to bring him down. She ran to him. Blocking out the mayhem of her friends fighting behind her, she clenched her fist tightly. Her chest heaved gulps of air as she towered over him. With a press of her knee on his chest, she reached to snatch at his masked covering. The exhilaration of being able to get some answers pulsated through her blood. His hand dropped and he let out a gurgle. “You’re dead, and so is everyone…you…care…” He tightened his fist. Shamira lifted up his mask and the veins on his face blackened against his pale skin. He cried. A gasp escaped her lips as her attacker’s body disintegrated into ashes. Her knee hit the pavement amid the putrid dust of burning flesh. A gasp escaped as she swallowed back her vomit. Jumping up, she pivoted to help the others. Fury now laced her attack. Hedi was holding her own. She took a punch and was thrown against a nearby wall. Hedi’s attacker raised his gun, aimed at her head. Shamira leaped up behind Hedi’s assailant and grabbed him around the neck, then twisted his chin. With a crack of his neck, she released the dead assassin. Within seconds, he disintegrated into an ashen heap on the ground. She wouldn’t lie to herself and claim guilt, the old energy inside her loved a revenge kill. And this was that—for Cal. “Yuck!” Hedi slumped against the wall. She coughed, waving a hand in front of her. “It stinks.” Shamira chased the other attackers who fled. One shot several small fire-laced missiles into the air. Ducking, Shamima stopped. The bombs landed with a crash through the upper windows of Nan’s building and within seconds the entire top half of the building exploded, filling with fire and smoke. Shamira’s heart sank. A scream exploded from her throat. The reflex to save Nan kicked her into a run. Anthony came alongside. As they reached the building, a thundering explosion ignited the 60

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entire thing and rocks, glass and debris lit up the sky. Anthony grabbed her, yanked her to the ground and shielded her from the blast. Hot tears of disappointment and failure filled her eyes. Pelts of debris hit them, but all Shamira felt was the pierce of another failure. What had she done? Brought death to Nan and her family? She had to find out who was stalking them, and then she’d kill them. Kill them for Cal, for Nan and for Mars. Mitch limped to where they stood holding the bleeding wound at his hairline. “Hell, who’s calling headquarters this time?” Shamira closed her eyes for a brief moment before waving her finger over her earlink. “Me. Freak! Two interrogations in less than two days. I’m good as fried.”

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Chapter 12 Hedi smiled slyly at Shamira. “Guess I’ll show our actual location now. Screw! I’m telling you if they ask about this—no one, I mean no one better talk.” Everyone agreed to keep their mouths shut with nods and grins. Shamira added, “I don’t think we should tell them about the leads we got. If we do, we’ll be placed on office detail.” “I ain’t sayin’ nothing,” Anthony agreed. “Us either. I’m tired of being cooped up at headquarters. This is what we all signed up for, not sitting on our butts all day researching bull,” Kurt said. “We are street and they’ll never take that edge from us.” Shamira crossed her arms. “Yeah, now this is war. It feels like it’s directed at us personally. Why would they blow up Nan’s building?” She felt sick every time her eye caught a crackle or pop off the rubble beyond them. No one—not one of them were able to make it out alive. Let the bodies hit the floor. One down and many more. Her tongue forced back the vomit that threatened to strip her of her fake composure over the disaster that befell Nan and the others. Part of her really just wanted to scream and kill something while crying. Valens sighed. “God, I feel like…” his shaking hands raked through his hair. “Damn, we were the last people she spoke to.” Shamira watched the grief on his face and she went to hug him. “I’m sorry Valens. It’s my fault for asking you to take us to your lead. We all feel bad about this. Our only choice is to bring these guys in now.” A growl erupted from Valens. He squeezed her tightly. “I know. Now we have to face the force.” His angry eyes traveled heavenward as the helicopters and Security Force Elite vehicles

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swarmed the area. Fire trucks followed, a signal that their respite was over. They all stood still and waited for the onslaught of Security Force Elite to settle in and assess the environment. More people dead, and all because of her mistakes. Releasing a deep breath, Shamira’s eyes turned in the direction of her father. He wasn’t smiling. He was angry. As luck, or bad-luck, would have it, Finch and Dax were with him. “What happened here?” her father growled. “Looks like a massacre.” Shamira flicked a glance at Anthony. “We were visiting a friend. Then we were attacked. Several of the men that came at us killed themselves somehow when they were hurt. The remaining men shot at us and hit the building with our friends in it.” She heard Valens gulp down a swallow at her half-lie. Her father eyed her suspiciously. “I’ll buy it—for now. Elites Officers, Finch and Dax take the others back to headquarters for questioning. Cadet Shamira is riding back with me.” She fought hard not to close her eyes in distress. If her father wanted her to ride with him…he didn’t completely buy her story. Dang! Fine, she would tell him some, but not all. Something in her felt that this war was personal, not just against the Force for taking down Monev…but somehow she felt it was targeting her. Terror rushed through her at the thought of what that could mean for her family and friends. Hopefully, they just wanted her, and not to hurt her by hurting the ones she loved. Valens whispered, “Good luck,” then walked past her to follow Dax. Her father grabbed her arm and dragged her to the car. She hurried to catch up to his long stride. At over six-foot-five, he towered over her petite frame, but she kept up. He gave her a slight push toward the door. “Get in. Program Pearl to drive to headquarters. This is going to be a long ride.” She flicked her wrist and commanded her motorcycle to go to headquarters and park. In a huff, she settled into the seat next to 64

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him. Her chest felt a slight pull from her guilt at disappointing her one champion, her dad. But yet again, she had to do it in order to save them all. Shamira clasped her hands tight against the tremor caused by her final look at Nan’s burning building. It didn’t help her to fake a straight face for the purpose of keeping calm for her father’s interrogation. He climbed in, punched several buttons on the dashboard, then took several audible, calming breaths. “Cut off coms. Top Secret discussion—on mute.” He ground through his lips the command to his vehicle’s security system. Uh-oh, it’s going to be one of those talks. She sat back in the seat and closed her eyes while she feigned calm. “What the hell is going on? And don’t pretend like you don’t know what I’m asking you.” The car pulled forward. She swallowed slowly to stall for a response. “We were visiting a friend, like I said. Valens had been helping her family.” He mumbled, “Yeah right, this is rather far from the movies you told your mother you were heading to.” His fingers squeezed the wheel. “You want to give me the actual reason you were down here? Mysteriously, the same place as the old Monev gaming club Snake Ice used to be?” “I know what it looks like, but we wanted to check on Valens’ friend. He thought she might know something. I won’t deny we want to be on the case to find Cal’s killer, and now who blew up the people that lived in that building. But this visit—it was personal.” She blinked back tears, feeling guilty telling a lie to her father. “Why do I think you are holding something from me?” He pushed backwards in his seat. “Well, I’m going to be crystal clear here. I know you kids want in, but you are still cadets. You have another two years of advanced, focused training after you graduate. That training doesn’t involve working on active cases in highly dangerous situations.” She glanced at him. “That’s not the only way we are useful to the Force. Let’s face it, we have hidden entrée to leads that you 65

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don’t have. Those leads shut up when grownups come knocking at the door. Especially the Security Force or the Mars Police, and you know it. I don’t see why we can’t be promoted. It’s what Cal would’ve wanted.” “Right now, you guys are not being promoted. You know what your promotion is based on? You staying out of trouble!” His fist hit the wheel in sync with his last words. “Don’t mess this up for yourself or your team. I know you kids aren’t the cause of Cal’s death. Cal made a big mistake. He should’ve taken another Elite with him for your final training. It’s done that way. Always. But knowing him like I do, he felt he could protect you and also felt that you all were more than ready for a promotion.” “Do you know if he had any suspicions? Or thoughts that he had to investigate something that was starting up? Like a new copycat to Monev?” He laughed. “Why should I spill it to you? Give me something and I’ll give you something.” At that moment she knew her dad had more information that he was holding. “You first.” He shook his head. “Negative. I’m your father so I call the rules. You spill, then I’ll decide if I want to.” “Okay. I think the attack is personal. That it’s an outright attack at the Force—but more specifically on my team. When I downed one of the guys who attacked us, he threatened that there was more to come.” Her father nodded and slowed the car in slight traffic as they approached the Force. “Cal didn’t take anyone on your final training session because he wasn’t confident all Monev’s moles within the organization were flushed out.” She inhaled a deep breath. “What now?” He winked at her. “I’m leaving that up to you, Security Force Leader in training.” Pulling in to the garage, he searched out a space amongst the chaos of other cars returning from the explosion site. 66

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His expression turned serious. “Internal Affairs, Elite Officers, Logan and Garcia will be questioning you. Be glad it’s not Elite Officer Dax again. Get out and go straight to Intog. ”

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Chapter 13 Great! This is freakin’ unreal. I’ve got to figure out who’s doing this. Whether it’s revenge on me, the people directly part of Monev’s death, or the Security Force. Shamira wasn’t in the mood to deal with that snake Garcia and her sidekick Logan. They loved playing that good cop, bad cop scenario. Today though, she’d be one of their victims and she hated it because right now, her team appeared like they weren’t able to hold it together. That they were bringing some hated attention to the Security Force and that the Security Force was losing control over their planet once again. Just great. Now Earth would consider their acceptance of the band of kids from the poisoned organization, Monev, to be a threat instead of a help. Internal Affairs Elite Officers never seemed to accept her team. Shamira always got a bad feeling from them when they had interviewed her and her team for their indoctrination into the training program. Her team did have a less than stellar background, but they’d proved themselves with their lives—which was something most cadets didn’t have to do to become trainees. All the other cadets had to do was be born to an Elite officer or a member of the police force to be evaluated for acceptance. She purposefully walked through the halls, a frown on her face that slipped her back to the days before she came to the Force. Days when, as a blind person, she didn’t have to face people’s contempt, hate, love, or laughter head on. The place where she could sit in the dark, smell them, assess their emotions and decide which pile they fit in. The kill pile or the help pile. Now with sight, heck enhanced sight, she had to fix her expression to respond to what she saw and sensed so openly on the faces of those around her. She’d hope she would get used to this by now, but she hadn’t. As a reminder of what her life had been, she kept the same ex-

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tremely pale blue eyes, that others had said looked dead. But now those eyes held power to see through walls, skin, and track heat. Lot of good it did her though, it didn’t help her realize they were being ambushed. Nor did it help her to see through the suits of her attackers. It was almost as if those who were after her knew she had to ability to literally see right through them. The Intog rooms were just ahead, and she spied her team members being led one by one away for questioning. The thick doors with a peek-a-boo window were soundproof, but everyone on the force knew what was going on in there. Someone on the team was getting chewed up and spit out. Several of the senior Elite Security Officers were conducting their questioning. Shamira inhaled and rolled her eyes as Dax led Mitch away. She grabbed her brown hair in her hands and tied it into a knot at her nape. Taking a deep calming breath, she faced down Elite Officer Garcia. “Finally.” Garcia folded her arms in front of her tan uniform. Her brown hair pulled in a severe bun that made her pale skin look deathly against the dark bags under her eyes. “I made it, didn’t I?” Shamira figured why play nice. She wasn’t in the mood to be phony. She didn’t like Garcia, and faking it wouldn’t help her cause anyway. Garcia narrowed her eyes, barely containing her anger and contempt at Shamira’s insolence. “Last one here, though. What kind of leader in training is that?” Garcia snatched Shamira by the arm. Shamira sidestepped Garcia’s attempt to grab her. “Don’t touch me—ever. I know my way to the Intog room.” Shamira spun around and opened the door to the same room she’d been in earlier. There sat Logan, smiling kindly at her with his laughing brown eyes, and brown skin. “Shamira, glad you made it back to us safely.” His hand waved over at the chair across from him and he sent a quick reprimand gaze at Garcia. “Excuse my partner. She’s a bit high-strung.” 70

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Shamira wasn’t falling for their bull today. She wanted out of this interrogation and back on the street to figure out who was doing this to her team. “Whatever. Let’s get this over with.” Garcia snatched her chair out, and sat down to stare unwavering at Shamira. “Tell us why you were in Sector Seven.” Shamira repeated what she told her father. Then leaned back and watched the ball bounce as Logan asked the next question. “Hmm, I’ve been reviewing some of the history we have on your team members. Several of them have a sketchy past that is not recorded.” Logan smiled, his eyes assessing Shamira. The chair squeaked when Shamira leaned back in her chair, determined to appear nonchalance. “Your point?” “Well, let’s see here. Mitch, he was a drug dealer for Monev. Said you found him in a club. He’d been held hostage by Monev for almost two years. His psychiatric scores came back as borderline psychotic.” “Again, I ask. What’s your point?” Shamira tapped her finger on the table. Garcia growled. “The point is—do you think he can be trusted? Hell, let’s go down the list while we are here. Anthony—hmm, former drug runner for Monev, he’d been with the organization for 5 years. Hedi—former hacker and sexslave for Monev. All that abuse would have messed with anyone’s head, not to mention a girl with skills to hack and destroy our computer system.” “So what?” Shamira leaned forward her hand fisting. Garcia stood up, reading from the handheld tablet with her team member’s rap sheet scrolling on it. “Kurt and Dion—oh, this is good—assassins in training for Monev, with a possible kill list of over thirty victims apiece before they decided to join the,” her eyebrow lifted, “girl, Shamira in her rampage vigilante gang against Monev.” She smacked her teeth. “Neither boy do we have any information at all on besides what you told the force about them. Neither Kurt or Dion knows the true names of their parents since they were held by Monev so long.” 71

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“I trust them. They saved my life, and the lives of hundreds of kids who were captured, abused and broken by Monev.” She put her hands on the table and leaned forward. “Maybe if you two were doing your jobs right—you would have been able to help them.” She smirked. “But we all know that neither of you did. Did you?” Garcia jumped at her and pushed Shamira by the shoulder. Shamira didn’t budge, but her lips tightened into a snarl. “Getyour-hand-off-of me!” Logan put a hand on Garcia, who mumbled as she sat back. “Insolent…brat. I...ought.” Logan released a deep breath. “Elite Officer Garcia, I can handle the remaining interview here.” He nodded at Garcia. Shamira caught the slight eye signal that passed between them. Pla-ease. I know you are no better than her, Logan. Shamira fought not to roll her eyes. Logan cleared his throat, as Garcia left the room. “Now, back to the interview.” He put his fake smile on again. “Who was this Nan exactly? What was her last name?” “I didn’t give her last name. I try not to learn the last names of my friends. She’s just someone who needed food. We gave her some.” “Instead of going to a movie? Isn’t that where you were going originally?” “We dropped her off some money, because we were close by and she needed it.” Shamira hoped she evaded his trick question. She watched him for a sign, but he didn’t give one away. “Valens seems to have connections to the kids who were part of Monev. Did he ever allude to working for Monev? Uh…indirectly of course.” “Never. He’d never work for them. They kidnapped and tortured his little sister—he wanted to infiltrate them and bring them down as much as I did—even more. So, again I say it plain. No!” “Well, not work, but what about pretend to work with Monev in order to find his sister?” 72

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“Never would have.” “Okay. Also, I have in my records that shortly after you returned from the incident of Elite Lead Cal’s death, your computer had to be replaced. Any idea why?” “It was broken.” She crossed her arms in front of her. Logan stared at her a moment. “Look, we are not trying to pin you or your team to these incidents. We are trying to absolve you from it. These questions are necessary, and I hate to say it harshly, but you all are probably suspects in both incidents. Either you answer my questions seriously, or I have to note your noncompliance in your file. One of which is already riddled with noncompliance to questioning from Elite Officer Dax.” “I hear you. I’m giving you all I have.” “Somehow, my instincts tell me different.” He moved aside the flashpad he’d been typing on. “We are not against you. We are all a team and in this together. One day, hopefully you will be my leader. Even Garcia’s leader, provided she doesn’t put in for a transfer back to Earth. I personally want to see you succeed, but I can’t help you if you don’t give me something to work with. I won’t ask again.” “I have nothing. If that’s all you have to ask, can I go now?” He shook his head as if disappointed. “Sure. Here is my card. Call me if anything else…comes to mind.” She grabbed the card, folded it in her hand. “I will.” As she walked down the hall to her team’s training rooms, she ditched the card in the trash.

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Chapter 14 As Shamira rounded the corner to the training room, she bumped into Katie. She really didn’t have time for Katie’s bull today, but had no choice now that Katie stood between her and getting the heck out of the hallway. “He-llo, Cadet Nobel.” Katie’s hands were draped on her slim waist. Her pale blonde hair framed her taunting brown eyes. “Where you going?” “Out of my way before I move you.” Shamira never liked Katie. Disliked her immensely for many reasons, but her main reason was the fact that Katie purposefully tried to pair up with Valens in all their training sessions. Katie was training on Mars and then graduating to join the Earth Security Force, and Shamira couldn’t wait for her to leave. “Um-um-um. I’m not budging until you tell me what kind of trouble your team is in. Well, they’re not officially your team, but you guys are like what…oh yeah, like a gang.” Katie laid a dainty index finger up to her chin and feigned a look of innocence. “Don’t worry about us. Just get out of the way. I have to—” “Meet your friends. Yeah, I was just going that way too.” Katie moved slightly and waited for Shamira to pass. Shamira wanted to hit her. Really just knock her out, she was so ticked off from her meeting with Garcia and Logan. “I don’t have time for your games. Don’t follow me.” Katie shrugged and followed Shamira anyhow. Shamira walked passed her and stopped briefly to take a deep calming breath before she made herself, and her team, look worse. They entered the team training lounge. Shamira charged into the cozy room of video games, large overstuffed couches and strewn pillows. No one was there yet. “Hmm, looks like it’s just you and me.” Katie sauntered in front of Shamira and whispered, “I heard what happened. You

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guys were with Elite Lead Officer Cal when he died. Somehow you screwed up your training session and caused him to get killed.” Her eyebrow lifted accusingly. “Oh, and that you were also in Sector Seven when a building was mysteriously blown up.” Shamira stepped up to Katie. “You don’t need to worry about us. If you want the facts, ask someone else and get out of my face right now before I do something you’ll regret.” Katie leaned back. “I’ll let it slide this time. Or maybe I’ll ask Valens, he seems to like talking to me—alone.” She walked to the doorway and twisted back. “It’s strange why he would want someone like you. You’re so different than him. Whereas he’s all gorgeous, loving and just plain likeable—you’re so—not.” Waving her hand, she left the room. Shamira balled her fist and seethed at the empty doorway as Valens walked in. “I hate that girl. I really do.” Valens eyebrow kinked up. His arms opened and went over to give her a hug. “I can’t kiss you when you’re frowning like that.” He chuckled and tapped her lower lip with his thumb. “Keep pouting and I’m going to nibble right here,” he said in a low whisper. Tingles traveled up her arms at his teasing. Shamira relaxed, a grin sliding on her quivering lip. “She just…” He kissed her before she could finish and a flood of calmness came over her. Shamira’s anger seemed to melt away. She snuck her arms around his waist and deepened their kiss. She loved this—the way he always made her feel. Voices sounded behind him and Valens hesitantly stopped the kiss. She let out a giggle. “I needed that. I think I was going to choke someone if I didn’t calm down.” “I know. Katie’s really not that bad, and she can be useful. She works in the records department and has ways to research stuff Hedi can’t get to.” 76

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Hedi bounced in the room in front of Dion and the others. She jumped on Valens back with a laugh. “Caught you!” “You’re one to talk.” Shamira stepped away from Valens. “We always catch you kissing.” Hedi jumped off Valens and went to hug Dion. “I can’t help myself. Dion’s so hot.” Dion smiled down at her. “Flattery will get you anything, babe.” He gave her a long kiss. “Oh, give me a break!” Anthony shook his head. Kurt elbowed Anthony before he sat on the arm of one of the sofas. “I tried but you didn’t want to go out with Rhonda. Your loss, my gain.” Hedi came up for air and looked at Valens. “What is it Katie can access that I can’t? Remember my hacker skills here—you are making me envious if you start using her to help. Besides, my BFF doesn’t like her, so I don’t like her either.” Mitch rolled his eyes. “You don’t like her because she’s pretty, and competition.” Valens held up his hand. “Hold up, I was just saying she could help us out. Sorry I suggested it.” Shamira cleared her throat. “Can you guys come over to my house on Saturday?” She nodded discreetly and Hedi smiled back at her with understanding. Her team had come up with body language for when they didn’t want to speak out loud in case cameras were taping. They all agreed. Valens put his arm around Shamira. “We’re gone. I want to spend some time alone with my girl before I have to pick up Mina.” Shamira was relieved to be able to spend some time with just Valens. It had been almost two weeks since they’d had a chance to slip off and do their own thing given that she’d been away with Cal during her waking hours.

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Chapter 15 Valens showed up early the next morning. Shamira hurried out of the house before her siblings realized she was gone. Stopping to check her appearance in the mirror, she smoothed down formfitting pants that Hedi let her borrow. She sauntered over to where Valens stood in front of his motorcycle trying to imitate the sexy walk Hedi seemed to pull off effortlessly. He gave her a cocky grin while he handed her a helmet. As their hands touched, the familiar tingling sensation went up her arm. He still unsettled her. Sometimes she didn’t feel comfortable with the closeness of their relationship. It seemed like the last year he’d been easing deeper and deeper within her heart. Before she’d met him she’d been too scared to let anyone close; to be anyone’s partner, friend or even girlfriend. But she couldn’t deny that loving him allowed her a freedom she’d never had before. Valens was the sole reason she had friends. He kissed her before putting on her helmet. “Stop it.” “What?” “You know what. Stop thinking about how you don’t want me.” He pivoted and climbed on his motorcycle. She slid in behind him. “That’s not true.” He laughed, and then drove off. “Yeah right. Every time you think I’m getting too close you get this look in your eyes.” His rich voice oozed through the audio device in her helmet and she tightened her arms around his waist while he wove in and out of light traffic. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. My eyes look dead. You can’t read them.” “Yes, I can. Those pale blue babies give me this look that says ‘back off’. I should know. I’ve been trying to get closer to you since I first met you.” He briefly clasped his hand with hers.

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“Trust me, you are closer than anybody.” She sneaked a kiss to his neck, something he’d done with her that made her shiver inside. “Umm…I like that.” Valens held her hand and kissed it. “I know you trust me more than you do other people, but I want more,” he whispered. Fear gripped her. Shamira closed her eyes and pushed her desire to give him what he wanted down deep. When Valens said things like that, she got a fluttering sensation in her heart and wanted to melt inside him. Shamira’s chest hurt from wanting him. That fear of totally allowing Valens into her heart made her throw the walls up all over again. Instead of coming back with a snappy retort, she watched the passing homes, shaped like cottages made of rock and sand. The tall silver rods spouted up over the buildings and sand-swept streets. Rock carvings in yards and the sprouts of brown grass blurred around them as they made their way to the park. They rode in silence. Valens drove through the park of fake grass and numerous playgrounds until they got to a gated section in the back of the recreational area that held the greenhouse garden. “They’re closed.” Shamira read the sign hanging over the lock on the high curved gate. “Not for us.” Valens parked his bike in front of the gate. He pulled her hand on his waist and held it until he pulled off his helmet. “Why am I not surprised? You know someone that knows somebody that…” Valens brought her hand up to his lips, lingered and then kissed it. Sliding his hand to grip her fingers, Valens gently nipped at the tip of Shamira’s finger. “That knows someone.” He got off the bike and strode over to the gate while Shamira followed. “Sam? Sam? I’m here.”

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Shamira followed behind Valens and he snaked an arm low around her hips. A gray haired older guy with dark brown skin and bright black eyes limped up to the gate smiling. “I figured you were running late. I closed the place so it would be empty for you.” Valens gave the man a genuine smile. “Thanks Sam, you always look out for me. This is Shamira. The one I told you about.” Sam’s grin got wider. “Hello, you are a beauty. Look at those eyes. Skin like cinnamon, just like you said.” He handed Valens a flat computerized key. “Well, you two have fun.” “Thank you, Sam,” Shamira said with a smile. “No. Thank you. Both of you remind me of my wife and I at your age. Inseparable.” Sam limped away. “C’mon. I want you to see this place.” Valens tugged her with him, and stole a quick hug. His nose tickled her neck before he planted a soft kiss just below Shamira’s ear. A giggle escaped from Sharmira’s lips as neck warmed where he kissed her. She tilted her chin then shyly pecked his lower lip. “I love when you do that,” his voice deepened. “What?” She closed her eyes and just breathed in his scent. “Kiss me on your own.” Shamira smiled, then opened her eyes before stepping away. Valens shrugged at her distance then grabbed her hand and tugged Shamira alongside him. She gazed around the garden and was in awe. She’d never smelled anything so wonderful. The scents, although strong, seemed to blend together in soothing harmony. They were planted and potted in a way that made designs of different Earth birds. Aggravation and grief from the last few days seemed to hang inside her like lead, but melted away at Valens kind gesture. It bought her out of that place where she felt safe and where Valens fought to keep her out of, the place in her heart and mind where she buried herself in barriers miles thick. The garden seemed to go on for forever. Real grass, imported from earth. Tulips and roses mingled together as they flanked 81

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large statues of ancient humans garbed in clothes from an older time. Warmth surrounded them in a moistened blanket as the slight smell of fresh water mixed with the fragrant blossoms. “Here, down this path is your surprise.” Shamira stopped walking. “Surprise? You know I don’t do surprises.” But she couldn’t help the bubble of excitement in her chest at his teasing. “You are so lying.” Valens kissed her on the cheek and led her down the brick paved walkway through the flowering trees. A gasp escaped her lips. They walked into the clearing of neatly cut grass surrounded by hanging flowers of pink, white and yellow. A large red blanket was spread out with a woven basket in the middle. Matching checkered lounge pillows were stacked neatly next to the picnic basket. “I have no words.” Shamira bought her hand up to her lips. “This is beautiful. I…” He twisted her around to him and kissed her softly on her lips, his hands cradling her face. “You’re beautiful. And I love you.” Before he could cover it, a brief flicker of pain showed in the depths of his gaze. Giving in, she relaxed her face to show him how she felt. Something she didn’t do often, she whispered. “I love you, too. Thank you. For loving me even though…though I don’t know how to show it.” She hugged him close. The stress of the last few days laid heavy on her. She took a guilty moment to rub her face against his chest. The secret fear that the attacks were directed at her filled her with such sadness it was a struggle to keep from crying, right there in his arms. Keeping this secret was the hardest thing Shamira had to do since finding her friends, but she didn’t have a choice. She had to figure out who was doing this and save her team. “Hey, we better enjoy this feast Sam put together for us.” Valens tugged her with him. He plopped down on the soft blanket and snuggled her close on top of him. Valens rested his hands on 82

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the curve of her hips. Then he nuzzled his nose in the crook of her neck. “Ummm, you smell good.” “Stop it. That tickles.” She let out a weak giggle. “I’m hungry. I didn’t eat breakfast since I was sneaking out of the house.” “Good, then it’ll be me feeding you.” She beamed. “Let me up so I can take a peek.” Valens wrapped his arms around her waist. “Nope.” He held her firmly. His stare held such hunger that it scared her. Shamira swallowed back a sob at his naked expression of love. “You and I both know I can win this, right?” “No fair. You can’t use your strength outside of the duties of the Security Force, directive 23-987.” “You got me there.” Shamira pursed her lips. “Don’t tease me like that.” Valens tsked her. “You want to get up, then you have to tell me something.” Shamira studied Valens face, suspicious. Every time they played this game, she always told him way more about herself than she’d ever admit to anyone. “What?” “What did that guy say to you at Nan’s?” Shamira nibbled her bottom lip. “What makes you think he said anything?” “I was behind you when you had him down. I wanted to make sure you were okay since my creep took off. I saw this…look on your face. Something I have never seen there before.” “I’m not talking about this now. Let me up.” Valens sighed and released her. Shamira sat next to him and crossed her legs. Her eyes were glued on the basket of food. “Didn’t mean to push too hard.” Valens stood and opened the basket. “It’s just…what happened to Nan, I feel like…like it was my fault.” He handed her a croissant filled with jelly. She grasped it and bit off a piece. “It wasn’t your fault. You didn’t know someone would follow us there. We all thought it was just an attack against Cal.”

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He grumbled, “Attacking Cal is the same as attacking the Security Force, a direct threat to all of us. I should’ve known we were targets too.” “I knew, and still wanted you to take us to Nan. It was my decision. I’ll take the blame.” She stuffed the croissant in her mouth, feeling horrible about how Valens felt. And that others who trusted Valens were killed because of her decision. “I don’t need you to take blame for this. I’m a man, 18 years old, and never had a problem claiming what’s mine. I knew Nan trusted me. I also knew that no one in that neighborhood wanted a Security Force member there. If it wasn’t those men, it would’ve been someone else.” “I know.” Shamira finished off her food and took the juice offered. Changing the subject, she inhaled loudly. “I remember Earth had a lot of flowers. It smelled like this when I first stepped foot there for my eye surgery. But going there at that time sucked because when I came back, David had been kidnapped. At least when we went to Earth earlier last month to be fitted into our technosuits my nose adjusted to the smells.” “Yeah, it was fun. I haven’t seen that many of my cousins in a long time. My dad was glad he was able to be there too.” Valens lowered his gaze. “He got to visit my mother’s grave.” Nervously she looked at him. His love of Earth scared her. “Do you still want to move there?” Valens hugged her close between his legs and rubbed her arm with is thumb. “No. I’m on the Mars Force for good. Besides, all my friends are here.” Lifting her chin, Valens kissed her. “You’re here.” “Yeah, you sure do have your fair share of friends and then some.” Shamira delivered a soft punch to his stomach. “But do you have to like everyone? Like Katie.” “Jealous?” Valens chuckled. “No.” “I like people. You know, helping them if I can. My mother was that way. That’s what I remember most about her. Besides, I 84

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figure if she can’t be here with me, I could at least…well, share a piece of what I remember of her with those who need it.” “Oh, I get it. I’m your charity case?” Shamira exhaled. “Someone you have to take care of?” She pulled away and crawled to the pillows to put some space in the middle of them. Her stomach filled with butterflies, but she couldn’t look at Valens when he answered. Valens crawled up close and his embrace caged her in. “You were never a charity case. When I first met you, you were setting some street pusher up for a beating. I was just glad I was able to get in on the fun.” His finger traced her jaw. “Yeah, and when I followed you to set up Lenny. You knocked him out by yourself.” Valens pecked her lower lip, and trailed kisses along her chin to her ear. Then whispered, “No, I’m your charity case. Just glad that you let me in that place you hide. Happy, that I’m the only one that knows the real you. That you’ll share that special piece of yourself that you keep hidden.” He took her bottom lip in his before deepening their kiss. “With only me.” She closed her eyes as her heart melted just a little more.

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Chapter 16 Shamira sneaked in the back door of the house. The walkway lit as she tip-toed in, the smile still on her face from the time she had with Valens. Although she loved him, more than she ever thought to allow herself, she wondered how long she could do both. Be with him and become the person she needed to be to lead the Security Force. She’d struggled with this for the entire year while training with Cal. Cal had never really talked about his wife. A girl he’d met while he was in training for the Force. But Shamira’s mom had told her that Cal’s wife was killed during a shootout with the Mars police and some thieves robbing a store. Cal’s wife wasn’t an Elite Officer with the enhanced power of the technosuit. She was one of the Mars Police. The Mars police were well-trained officers, but they had to rely on their weapons and training only. They weren’t dipped in the special suit that fitted the Elite officers as a second skin to protect them and enhance their strength. Cal, her mom said, was devastated after the death and made it known his focus would always be his job. He’d decided not to remarry. Shamira groaned. That’s what her focus needed to be. Reaching her dream, and saving the many lives that were affected by how well a job she did. Her love of Valens snatched away the strategic edge she had when she was blind. Extreme focus with no emotional distractions was something she took for granted then. This new life filled with love and relationships still unbalanced her. The insecurity she felt with Valens never left. Did he really love her, or was he with her because he saw that she needed him? Was she holding him back from his dream of living on Earth? He was so charismatic and handsome that all of the girl cadets, save Hedi, flirted with him every chance they got—like she wasn’t worthy to have him.

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Maybe, not dating any other boys was her problem. The whole situation made her feel uneasy about her relationship with Valens. This relationship thing was hard. It hurt her every time she saw disappointment or pain in his gaze when she pushed him away. How much more pushing away could he take before he gave up? When he could have someone love him as openly as he loved her, why would he allow her to keep her feelings hidden away from him? Sure, Valens said he wanted to come into her safe place. She loved him too much to fool herself into believing that what she offered was enough. Valens deserved more, much more. Luckily, the others had left the house. Shamira went to her room to change and do some research before the team came to go to the Outlands. Her room was bathed in dim lighting. She’d never liked it bright. With a crack of her neck, Shamira tossed her jacket on the purple blanket on the bed. Amped up, she kicked off her shoes and snatched up a brush to pull through her waist length hair. She sat at the computer and tapped her fingers. Guilt at second-guessing her team crept up her back, Shamira pushed passed it and logged into the computer. Using the hacking skills she’d perfected with Hedi’s help, Shamira downloaded a list of questioned Security Force and Mars Police Officers that were suspected of dealings with Monev. Her eyes bulged at the size of the list. Twenty-five members of the Mars Security Force Elite’s three-hundred were serious suspects. The beat cops—the Mars Police—had almost one-hundred of the thousand that were suspected of dirty double dealing with Monev. “You’ve gotta be kidding. That many possible dirty force members playing both sides.” She bit her lip and scrolled down the list. “No way!” Shocked at her discovery that all but ten of the members suspected were released back to their jobs, two of the Security Force Elite members, and eight of the Mars Police were put to death in the execution Waters on Earth after their trial. 88

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One by one Shamira checked her teammates’ psychological profiles. Mitch, Kurt, and Hedi seemed to have the most problems adapting to being free. She was stunned to realize that all of them suffered from insomnia and night terrors for which treatments weren’t working. Shamira was surprised because they’d never mentioned it. All of them were changed by the events that led up to the destruction of Monev, but truth was, none wanted to talk about it. They never discussed their adjustment problems; they’d grabbed at the chance to be normal kids. At least it seemed that way. Truth was, after living a life of fighting for your life, they would never be normal. They had just been through too much, and seen too much, to pretend it was safe on Mars. The alarm clock went off. “Screw! I’m going to be late.” She jumped up and hurriedly dressed. Her hands fluttered across the safe in the back of the closet and reached in to grab her weapons belt. A smile slipped on her face, because tonight they’d be one step closer to finding these killers.

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Chapter 17 Shamira opened the door to meet Valens’ sister, Mina, staring up at her. “I was just about to knock.”Mina’s beaming smile brightened. “I’m staying the night with Taren.”She twisted her black braid with her fingers. “Oh, okay. Everybody just got home a few minutes ago. They’re down in the game room having a junk-food fest while my mom is in the training room.” Mina’s thumb tapped at the handle on her bag. “I know the way.” She scooted around Sharmira and skipped into the house. The door closed behind her. Shamira jumped off the porch to meet the others. They waited in front of her house on their motorcycles. Except for Anthony, who drove the sports car he won in a card game between her, Hedi, Mitch and Valens. “Pearl, come out.” She waited for her motorcycle to drive from the garage and smirked at Anthony who was grinning at her from the driver’s seat. “You know that is a no-go, right? There’s no way we can sneak up on anybody with that ride.” “Why not? She blends in,” Anthony replied. “No. Take Valens’ motorcycle. It’s safer.” Anthony groaned and mumbled a curse. His eyes were still filled with merriment. “Girl, you lucky I like you. I don’t usually let chicks boss me around.” Shamira climbed on Pearl and Valens slid in behind her with a chuckle. “Who are you kidding? You know this girl can whip your butt and make you do what she wants,” she laughed. “Throwing her weight around again, Valens. You better check her,” Mitch snorted. The other guys agreed, laughing. “Can we just focus?” Hedi huffed. She winked at Shamira before letting out a whistle.

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Leaning forward in her seat, Shamira got serious. “Let’s ride to the perimeter of the Outlands, to Meccan. We can park the rides and go in on foot so they won’t hear us coming. I researched the place and saw pictures of the terrain. I have an idea where they may be hiding.” Valens tightened his arms around her while they drove. “I’ve been asking around. The people that live in the Outlands are pretty much harmless. Some are too poor to live in the Sectors. So, they built shelters on the West portion of the land because of the sand management towers. They also tap into the generators underground for warmth. But we can’t be careless, we don’t know who might be there waiting for us.” She revved her engine and slipped between cars that littered the border of Sectors 7 and 6. “Freaksheep may have moved on. There’s no guarantee he’s still out there. If he got clean on his own in that short of time, he had help. I’ll bet my life on it.” “So, what did you tell your parents we are doing tonight?” Valens asked. “Double date, with you at Sector 6 virtual beach and restaurant.” “Oh, they actually bought that?” Valens’ eyebrow lifted. “They know you hate anything that has to do with Earth.” “True, but they know I’ll go anywhere with you and Hedi just to shut the both of you up. Besides, it’s easier for Hedi to fake the signal to something that’s close to our location, and Oasis Hawaii is the closest hangout spot near the Outlands.” After forty minutes, the scattered line of buildings ended. Two miles later, they arrived at the sand-swept edge of Sector 6. The dimly lit paved, one-way road dead-ended. Rocks formed an unevenly stack for them to drive through. They rode several more miles to one of the rock forests. Large red rocks seemed to glow in the setting suns and stood like small mountains that littered the vast wasteland of sand and small rock. The temperature dropped due to the limited underground heating pipes and generators. The air quality dipped also as they drove deeper into the Outlands. 92

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The air filtration towers that processed breathable oxygen were fewer and farther between. The adrenaline built within Shamira’s stomach. No one knew they were showing up, and yet she wondered if there were any more surprises coming. Odds were someone would be waiting for them. She’d have to admit, being the hunter was much more enjoyable than being the prey. After today, she’d have to turn the tables for good. “Almost there, park our bikes at the end of Rock Haven. We have to go in on foot in case they have it guarded.” Shamira lifted her hand and pointed. The scattering of rocks opened up the way to the portion of the Outlands called Meccan. She’d figured that if anyone tried living in the Outlands, Meccan would be the only place they’d be able to survive. They could plug into the underground piping lines and kick up the only air filtration tower in the further portion of the Outlands. Valens moved his hands from her waist to her thigh. They drove around the last of the boulder at the end of Rock Haven when she shared her thoughts, “The people who live there aren’t killers. They wouldn’t have guards. It’s too hard for regular folks to get their hands on firepower here now that Monev’s shutdown.” Shamira bought the cycle to a stop, kicked on the brake and breathed the thin air of the barren land. Glad night hadn’t come just yet, her shoulders relaxed. They’d have just enough time to make it. “I hope you’re right, but everyone has ways to get what they want don’t they?” “Guess so,” Valens answered, “Here come the others.” He got off the bike to meet Anthony. Mitch’s hand was on his gun. “I’m ready. I got a new toy Valens souped up for me.” Shamira licked her lips, admitting she was ready too. “Hey, Valens, did you bring the glide pads?” 93

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Valens tucked his gloves in his pocket. “You know me…I come prepared, or you would end up getting killed.” He eased off the black backpack. With a teasing smile, his eyebrow lifted as he dug inside. “You all know, you act like I’m Santa Claus.” Anthony laughed and grabbed four of the glide pads from Valens when Valens’ hand cleared the bag. “Hell ya man, you are. The only person in my life to give me a present. My dad’s thing is hanging out, not gifts.” “First one to give me one, too. Except, my adoptive dad is starting to go a little overboard with gifts. I had to tell him to stop.” Kurt added a low chuckle in his throat. “I told him the cookies he leaves out for me at night are all right, though. Too bad the old man never got married and had kids of his own. Good for me, I guess.” Kurt’s eyes became glassy for a moment, before he turned away. Lips thinning, Dion squeezed Hedi. “You’re lucky. My adoptive father’s an ass. Hates that I’m in the Mars Police Force training program. Said he didn’t get why they would even consider a thief and a killer for the program. Then told me I joined the beat cops because I’d never be good enough to be a real Security Force Elite Officer. The bastard. As soon as we get promoted and do our year on Earth, I’m never looking back. All he is to me is a place to sleep.” Venom filled his words. Hedi tilted her chin toward Dion worriedly. She interlaced their hands. Then she grasped the flat oval piece of metal that Valens gave her and stuck it to the bottom of her shoe. “Well, my birth mom isn’t exactly used to having me around, either. She asked if I’d been hurt like she was when I was captured by Monev. I told her…what the hell did she think would happen to a little girl taken by grown men? The same men who assaulted her in front of me and kidnapped us both. Ugh!” Hedi sniffed, and wiped a stray tear away. Shamira’s heart sank. She reached out to her. “I’m sorry Hedi, I…” 94

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Hedi planted a fake smile on her face and a saucy grin appeared. “But that’s in the past. I got out of it by showing them I’d be worth more stealing money from Earth officials by hacking into their bank accounts and ciphering off millions of dollars. After that…they mostly left me alone. Until Thor.” Anthony finished putting on his tags and pulled Hedi into a bear hug. “You’re safe now, Hedi. All of us would kill to protect you. Thor will never have the chance to hurt you again.” Hedi pinched Anthony’s cheek and stepped out of his arms. She threw a genuine smile at Shamira. “You boys are okay, but my BFF can handle it all-by-herself. Heck, she made sure to teach me how to do it also.” Shamira’s heart warmed. “Hedi, you did just fine before I came along.” Hedi didn’t realize how important Shamira found their friendship to be. Shamira put a hand on the clubbed saber at her side. Its handle was heavy in her hand as she handed it to Hedi. Hedi shook her head. “No. No…don’t you dare give me that. It was a present from your father.” “I know, but you use it if we get in trouble tonight. Just like I taught you, okay? It would mean a lot to me if you did. Besides, I want to use the new globes Valens made for me.” Tears fell from Hedi’s eyes. “Okay, just for tonight, and then I’m giving it back.” Hedi wiped her face with the back of her hand. “Here I go again, being the weak link.” Dion reached over and held her hand. “Shhh. Don’t say that about the love of my life.” Shamira straightened, her eyes watered. She blinked back the unshed tears. Taking, a deep breath, she pushed away the horrible images Hedi’s confession flashed in her mind. “Listen, we go in there and question everyone. I want to know if there is still drug production and selling going on. We need to find out the names of the suppliers. And where is Freaksheep? How he got clean and who cleaned him up? Last though, find out who’s been raiding the destroyed Monev stomping grounds trying to bring back the dead. 95

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Until we figure out who’s doing this…it’s going to get a lot worse.” “We got your orders.” Mitch’s face filled with anxious anticipation. “But can we fly now?” He tapped his foot on the packed ground and lifted several feet in the air. Then he bent in a surfer pose and took off. “Ye-ah bo-oy!” Anthony followed. “I’ve been waiting to try these babies. Yeah!” Shamira held in her laughter, trying to remain serious. It was hard around them to stay angry and focused on revenge. They softened her. The only one she could count on to stay somber was Mitch, and even he couldn’t stay surly. Hopefully, she could keep the dark room to her soul closed and behind her…just a little longer.

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Chapter 18 Flying several feet in the air reminded Shamira of surfing on waves she’d only seen on Earth virtual reality games. She had to admit to loving it. Only thing was, she knew sand kicking up in your face hurt a heck of a lot more than water. She pulled down the tight black mask. Tucking it in snug into the neck of her shirt, she wondered if she should’ve worn her cadet uniform instead of her form-fitting sand-colored suit. The others were behind Valens, and to the side as she glided through the windy desert. Shamira forced her enhanced sight several miles ahead. Searching for heat, light, or any sign of life. After a bit she spotted the faint sign of a fire. She pushed further. The orange hue of heated bodies of all sizes gathered about half a mile ahead. “I see people, and fire.” “It’s right where you said it would be.” Valens pointed. “There’s the air filtration tower.” She lifted her chin at the large metal cylinder that rose up out of the ground toward the sky. “They’re right above the heating pipes. We need to go on foot.” Her hand raised then slowly lowered to signal the others. They landed and walked through the sand toward what appeared to be a small village of people who’d made homes from rock and tents. No one talked. The time for laughter was behind them. Their hands were poised over their weapons but they hesitated as kids darted around the small encampment. Kurt walked up next to Shamira. “Families. There are families here.” A ball of apprehension sat heavy on Shamira’s chest. “It looks that way. But I know from my past that looks are deceiving. Just be ready for anything.” She didn’t want the mishap that happened at Nan’s to happen again. But she had to take the risk. There was no choice in the matter.

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Valens held up his hand. “Let me go first. I may know some of them.” Mitch snorted. “Who don’t you know? I agree, Valens should go first. He’s got a way of bugging people into letting him help them.” Valens tossed a frown at Mitch. “Thanks…I think.” They cautiously approached the small village of people. Young kids ran back and forth out of some of the rock dome homes and tattered patched tents. A few adults stood around the scattered fire pits had vented tops. There were barriers strategically placed to stave off most of the sand that wasn’t managed by the sand towers. Valens led the group into the encampment and held up his hands at the frightened gasp of the women cooking at the fire pits. Stepping forward, Valens’ face looked calm and friendly. “Sorry to scare you, miss, but I’m here looking for my father’s friend. They call him Freaksheep.” Shamira’s eyebrows lifted at Valens’ obvious lie. One of the women stood. Her ragged layers of clothes swayed around her. The scarf was covering her hair, but making her sunken cheeks look harsh and severe. “He doesn’t live here. Comes and goes like most of them.” Shamira walked up, but Valens moved over just in front of her. He bowed his head and said, “Good, well at least I’m closer to finding him. Um, ma’am, I’d like to give you some credits for your trouble.” Valens reached in his pocket and pulled out some smallcomputerized chips of credits. She eyed them skeptically. “What are you paying for, boy?” “Nothing. I just see you have kids here. They need to eat.” “Yes.” Her hand grasped the credits. “Thanks. But you better get out of here. There’s some folks that come and go that don’t like you clean ones hanging around.” Valens looked confused. “Clean?” “Yes. If you haven’t noticed, we are outcasts. Women and children whose husbands decided to work the crime gig. Too bad 98

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that didn’t work out. They left all of us to live off scraps.” She shrugged, a look of disgust on her face. “If I’d known my scum of a husband was going to get involved with selling flesh again, I would’ve stayed on Earth with my family. No, he was chemically rehabilitated, they said. Told me, we’d have a new life on Mars.” “Ma’am, if you want to go back to Earth, the Security Force could help you.” She shook her head; tears welled up in her eyes. “I can never go back. I’m a disgrace. My family warned me he wasn’t no good. I…cursed them, stole from them in order to pay my way here. If I go back, I’ll be tried in court. I may even be sent to the Waters to be executed. I can’t do that to my babies. They deserve at least their mother around.” “I understand. Do you know who Freaksheep hung with? How he got clean? I’d sure like to know how…you know, with my dad having the same problem kicking his dream habit.” She got a stricken look on her face. Then she glanced down at the other woman at the fire pit who stared at her in terror. “Can’t talk no more. Get out of here, now, before…before you find trouble.” A little girl ran up behind Shamira. She jumped with surprise and the girl put her finger to her lips as if to tell her to be quiet. The urchin slapped Shamira on the leg and ran off, stopping to look back as if she wanted her to follow. Shamira tapped Valens on the shoulder. “Let’s go.” She walked quickly in the direction the little girl had run. The girl seemed to slow from time to time as she led them out of the perimeter of the village. The others followed until the girl stopped several feet ahead. Hesitantly, Shamira approached the child. She figured the kid was around twelve years old. “Hi, do you know where we can find Freaksheep?” The girl looked around, agitated, playing with her fingers. Hedi sighed then reached in her pocket. “Want some candy?” 99

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The waif licked her lips and reached to Hedi’s outstretched hand. “That guy…don’t ask for him ‘round here.” The girl stuffed piece after piece of the soft candy into her mouth while Hedi kept handing them to her. “He’s still around. The other two left though.” “You know the other one’s name? Why they came here?” Shamira asked. Another piece of candy was popped in her mouth and she greedily licked her fingers. “They need people.” She swallowed the candy, poised to enter the next piece. “Ya’ know, grownups to work the caves. They killed one of our elders that told him he should leave. The guy with Freaksheep, one was named Tiny. Uh, and the other man’s name was,” she frowned, “Keeper.” Hedi gasped and dropped the candy she was handing to the girl. The girl scrambled to pick up the dropped pieces. “But he’s gone. They go to the fiend pits to recruit druggies. At least that what my mom whispered to Ms. Addie.” Shamira’s head jerked toward the slight sound of a click from a gun. Before she could react, laser fire flew through the air to hit her square in the shoulder at the nape of her neck—just below the area void of her technosuit protection. It glowed from the burn. She felt as though a hot poker pierced her skin. The sting was so intense she bit down on her lip to suppress a cry of pain. Licking heat from her raging power within, it snaked up her stomach and into her chest. She growled and charged off running in pursuit of the shooter. With a tap of her foot she was in the air. The others were at her heels. Sand kicked up against the dark setting of the night, and she pushed her super imposed vision ahead. Her attacker sped away on a quad wheeled sand buggy. His long jacket flying in the wind behind him, he picked up speed and disappeared behind wind-blown sand. Shamira stopped, chest heaving, as anger and the loss of the hunt filled her with aggravation. She landed. The others caught up and dropped beside her. 100

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“I don’t know about this.” Anthony scanned the wide spans around them. “I smell a trap.” Kurt narrowed his eyes and pulled out his gun. “A bad one.” “I hope it is. I’m in the mood to kill someone today.” Shamira peered into the night. “Did you hear who the girl said were Freaksheep’s friends? The Tiny guy…I don’t know him, but Keeper… Do you think?” Hedi pulled out the collapsed saber Shamira gave her. Suddenly, blast after blast rained on Shamira and her team. They ducked low to avoid the fire. For a moment the onslaught stopped. A flash—a direct flash of light—revealed their attackers’ covered faces. In an instant, Shamira realized, they were surrounded. Men, too many to count, appeared out of thin air. With a click, they exchanged fire. “Protect your faces!” Shamira yelled and yanked down her protective flexible mask. Her suit activated and a faint buzzing sounded in her ear at the nanonytes manipulating her adrenaline to give her enhanced strength. A crouch here, a twist there, as she dodged the laser fire aimed at her. She closed in on several of her opponents before she was surrounded from behind. They charged in on her. Shamira slid into a split, punched one in the groin, then flipped her foot around to land a powerful kick to another. One attacker flickered out of sight. The other punched her in the face. Her head flew back from the blow and she brought it forward with force to head butt her attacker in the nose. He cried, “Ugh! I’ll kill…” “Try it!” She landed punch after punch on his face to his chest. She couldn’t help the rush of pleasure filling her. Spinning around, she landed a roundhouse to his head. She dropped to jab him, but he disintegrated into ash before her eyes. It didn’t stop. No rest was insight, as others attacked her from behind. She went into a melee of attacks through her assailants. Shamira’s chest burned. 101

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Hedi screamed and the others fought around her. Shamira couldn’t get to them, she wanted that creep who took a shot at her and started it all. Someone grabbed her neck from behind and another masked man came up in front her. “You’re not dying today,” he snickered. “But I’m going to beat you up good so you wish you did.” He tossed a club from hand to hand. Shamira forced herself to relax. His partner tightened his hold on her neck. Anger, vengeance and her beast of energy lay waiting within. She’d let him take the first hit, and then she’d get her turn. She smirked. The guy swung the club at her ribs. She winced. Dropping her head forward, she feigned a grimaced. Laughing, she jammed her head backward against the man holding her arms. She snaked an arm around the bent-over attacker. And balanced on the guy’s shoulders while she lifted her legs up and around the attacker facing her before he could land another blow. “Ugh.” A look of surprise crossed his face. She tightened her legs. Yanking her legs closed, she roared, until she heard a crack. His body jerked and turned to ash. The attacker behind her recovered, and pushed her off him. She stumbled while trying to right her stance. He hit her over the head with the butt of a gun. The throbbing blow forced her to her knees. “Uhum.” A fresh flow of adrenaline pumped through her. She attempted to regain her senses. An elbow came down at her. Rolling away, she screamed at her assailant. He scrambled after her as another dove for her. She flipped up and around to land out of their reach, then yanked out her gun and shot one, then the other to the ground. Their bodies instantly turned to piles of ash. Shamira covered her nose briefly as the wind blew their remains around her. Hedi yelled, “Knives! I need more.” Shamira ran to Hedi and reached into her belt for the star. Flicking her wrist, she released it. The star cut through three of the 102

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men between her and Hedi. Their screams were cut off in an instant as their bodies fell to ashen heaps. She and Hedi fought back to back. “Tap the saber’s handle twice with your thumb. It’ll extend knives out of the blade.” Hedi lifted her arm. “Oh yeah, I like this.” Several more attackers closed in. Shamira dug in the pouch on her belt and took out six small metal balls. “There are too many!” Hedi called. She broke away from Shamira. “I’m about to even the numbers!” Shamira eyed each of her targets while balancing to kick a charging opponent in the face. Mentally, she commanded the balls to attack—another of Valens’ creations that worked on her brainwaves and mental commands. The balls shot through the air. Metal nets extended from within them. They wrapped around the heads of their victims, choking off their airways. One after another fell to their knees. Ruthlessly, they fought against the tightening nets. Shamira pulled out a truth tick from her belt. She landed a kick to the burly man’s face in front of her. Before she could attach the truth tick to his neck, he grunted and dissolved into cinders. Heaving gulps of putrid air, she turned to help the others. “Cover!” Mitch yelled. At Mitch’s code word for gas mask, she tucked in her formfitted hood and pushed the small button inside. It activated the built-in gas mask that tightened the stretchable material over her mouth and nose. The clear flexible visor protected her eyes as she rolled onto her stomach. Mitch whistled then threw a smoke bomb into the foray. In an instant their attackers disappeared within the black smoke. Shamira crawled from beneath the edge of the dark cloud, looking for surviving opponents. She caught a glimpse of the man on the quad and kicked her shoes on to follow. Gun aimed ahead, she fired twice. He fell off the quad. It sped forward without him. She dropped to her feet and straddled him as he attempted to crawl away. Rage pulsed through her. She punched him and held 103

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his arms up on the side of his head. “Who are you! Who’re you working for? Keeper?” The pale man’s face gave away nothing. He coughed. “You’ll find out soon enough. Snake…and Keeper kill painfully…” He laughed and squeezed his right fist. Black lines of poison crisscrossed on his face. Agony blossomed on his face briefly, before he turned to ash. She vomited from the sour odor and pushed her hands in the sand to get the stink off. “Who was he? What’d he say?” Valens asked from behind. “He didn’t say, but I’d bet he was Freaksheep or Tiny.” She stood up and wiped her hands on her pants. She glanced over at where they’d come from to the heaps of simmering ash from where their attackers had succumb to their self-inflicted poison before they could be captured for questioning. Kurt kicked at a black spot of ash. “Those were assassins. Good ones. If Keeper’s involved, how the hell did he not get caught by the Force?” “If? It’s not like a name like Keeper is common. Hell, this stinks. Bad. Real bad,” Dion said, his hands fisting and opening only to fist up again. Mitch sifted the dirt mixed with cremated ash through his fingers. “I don’t think we need to tell anyone about this. That is, if we expect to be promoted. Hell, or get completely kicked off the force at this point.” Shamira sighed. “You’re right. I don’t want to be the one to report this and go through another interrogation.” “Ditto,” Anthony replied. Shamira tapped on her glide pads. “Let’s get out of here before more of them come.”

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Chapter 19 They hurried back to Shamira’s home. No one spoke. She was glad for the quiet because it gave her time to focus on what the last guy said to her. “You’ll find out…soon enough, soon enough…” Shamira couldn’t shake the feeling that the threat was personal. She’d never seen him before in her life, but if he was working with Keeper, then Keeper was more than likely the puppet-master. The guy had looked at her like he knew her—had a hit on her. She didn’t know much about Keeper though. Nothing except that he was part of the kingpin branch of Monev. Someone, as far as she knew, who should’ve been dead. She stopped her bike at her driveway. Valens sat back. He gave her a final hug and got off the cycle. Shamira just sat there, her fingers tightening on the handlebars. Her adrenaline kick from the nanonytes should pull back and force her to normal strength. It wasn’t. Her skin was still prickly from the energy and anger. The strength from within her body, and not generated by the suit. She took several deep breaths before Valens’ hand came down on her shoulder. She jumped. “You okay?” Shamira groaned. “Yeah. Just keyed up.” She forced out, “Don’t…want to be touched.” She gulped. “Sorry.” Her eyes closed against an unshed tear. The look of hurt Valens gave her made her ache when she had to push him away. It couldn’t be helped. Sometimes…she was afraid he’d be the first person she hurt if she lost control. She could lose him forever. He moved his hand. Opening her eyes, Shamira swung her leg over the bike and the others walked over. “Pearl, park.” She couldn’t look at Valens and didn’t feel as though she had the right considering how she treated him at times like these.

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Hedi’s hands were shaking. She handed Shamira the collapsed saber that looked like a small club. “Keeper. I know I didn’t hear that kid right. God, I hope not.” Dion snuggled up behind her. “You heard her right. That bastard is alive. Damn, he’ll hunt us one by one.” He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close. Kurt shook his head and leaned on the garage door. “No, he’ll catch our asses and torture us within an inch of our sorry lives.” “Uh, can we think positive here? My ass ain’t going to get caught.” Anthony walked to his car and leaned back with his leg bent casually to the side. “Think positive?” Mitch ran his hand through his straight inkblack hair, a surly expression frozen on his face. “I’ve been a victim of Monev, but Keeper is a killer, plain and simple. From what I remember of the numerous threats I got while getting beat up nightly, Keeper is the trainer of high-level assassins. I don’t see a positive thought, anyhere in sight.” Shamira stretched, trying to get rid of some of her anxious energy as she processed what they confirmed. She had to get her friends to back off in order to keep them safe. As their leader, she’d failed them. Bad. Keeper was a trained killer with the skill to train others and to hide well. And…he was after her. She yanked off her gloves and spun around to face them. “If Keeper was one of Renu’s friends, then he is definitely after revenge. We destroyed Monev and were the reason Renu, his leader, is dead. Tell me about Keeper. Kurt and Dion, weren’t you trained by him?” Dion stood up straight behind Hedi. His arms dropped from her waist. “Yeah, he trained me.” Dion’s gaze pointed to his feet. “Some.” Kurt stoic face didn’t show a resemblance of concern. “He trained me also, but early on. Then I was moved to work under his flunky.” Kurt’s eyes took on a glassy quality; his hands fisted at his sides. “But the training Keeper did, it was all about pain—pain in every orifice of your body. How to withstand it, how to give it, 106

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how to drag it out, and how to shorten it. He believed that in order to give pain, you had to experience it. Once you survived his ‘training’ then you got to work with his team who actually taught you how to fight.” Shamira rubbed Kurt’s arm. His hand covered hers and, with a nod, she pulled her hand away to put on her hip. “How does he attack? Did he always have this technology to conceal his killers in training?” She watched Dion closely, sizing up his response. “You should know. Since he trained you. You’ve never talked about your training with him—maybe he was training you to infiltrate the Security Force.” It killed her inside to lace her words with accusation, but she had to anger them—to get them to back away from her for good. Their lives were too important to her—more so than her own. Dion stepped around Hedi and stood in front of Shamira. “What the hell you looking at me like that for?” Hedi’s hand jutted out. “Back off. She’s just thinking out loud. No one here is a suspect.” Shamira turned to Hedi, frowning. “If you didn’t notice. The force sees us as suspects. At least the Internal Affairs team does. I need to know everything if we are going to find Keeper and stop him before we, and many more people, end up dead.” She tilted her head toward Dion. “You have anything you feel guilty about? Were any of you trained to infiltrate the Mars Security Force? I found out that there’s a lot none of you are telling me about yourselves. Or about how entrenched you were with Monev before we met.” Her eyes traveled from Dion, to Kurt and the others, narrowing with each move. Dion charged at her. Valens slipped in front of him. “Back off. Calm down. Just tell her what she wants to know. You did work with him.” Dion pushed Valens chest. “Screw you, and her. I don’t need this shit.” He stormed off, climbed on his bike then sped away. Hedi faced Shamira. Her hands fisted. “What’s wrong with you? Why’d you do that? We aren’t the enemy. Even if Monev did 107

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train someone to break into the Security Force—you should know we’d want to be free of th-that, horrible place.” Shamira held her ground and folded her arms over her chest. She hated doing this, but she needed them to get out of her way in this. Now, before any more of them got hurt. “I just asked a question…one he didn’t want to answer.” She turned to Kurt. Hedi’s mumbled curse sounded as Hedi got on her motorcycle and rode off behind Dion. Kurt came up to her, anger apparent in his features. “Where are you going with this, Shamira? First you act empathetic, then you start blame.” His jaw clenched. “We wouldn’t know how he attacks. He trained us in sustaining torture. His lackey, Blood, trained us in fighting techniques and stealth assaults. Keeper was trained by the best. Renu.” He turned away and waved a hand up. “I’m done.” Kurt calmly got on his bike and left. Mitch shook his head. “You always did think you were better than everyone—even your friends who saved your sorry ass over and over again.” He spit on the ground at her feet before heading out behind Kurt. Anthony opened his car door. “You’re not going to keep friends acting like that.” He threw a glance at Valens. “Check your girl, Valens, before she screws up what we have going.” He got in his car and left. Shamira swallowed. She had to do it. Get tough and make them back off. The rest of this journey she would do alone. It was getting a bit discerning that every time they were together lately, something happened. Something deadly. Valens released a long breath of air, his back to her as he walked to his bike. “I’ll see you at headquarters tomorrow. Tell Mina I’ll pick her up there in the morning.” He got on his bike and without a backward glance, he sped off. Shamira closed her eyes, her heart ached. He hadn’t even tried to kiss her goodbye. Guess she’d pushed them hard enough. She shrugged the guilt away and walked to the door. This sucked. She really wanted a kiss right now, and she screwed it up. Training 108

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room tonight was a definite. The only way she could calm down enough to get sleep. She opened the door. Her eyes landed on her mother who was dozing on the couch. Relief flooded her. She plopped in a nearby chair, the weight of the death toll following her heavy on her mind. Thank God her mom was asleep. One less person to deal with today, she closed her eyes briefly as she moved forward to get out the chair and go to the training room. “You missed curfew.” Her mother tossed the blanket draped over her legs to the side. Shamira slowly opened her eyes, hoping the tears she fought hard to keep in check wouldn’t show up. “Just by a few minutes,” she said hoarsely before she cleared her throat to cover up her mishap. Her mother stood up. Admittedly, Shamira watched her a lot lately, since after the Monev takedown things had changed. Before, their relationship was strained, but now…it was just plain awkward. She knew her parents loved her. Heck, now her mom even said so more often than before. But as far as affection and acknowledgment, her mother was just the same. Oh, she gave them to David, Manny and Taren, but with her she just didn’t know what to say. “You’re pushing my patience too far. You have work in the morning. Responsible would-be adults go to sleep so they can get to work on time.” Her mother eyed her suspiciously, “Where have you been?” Forcing a relaxed smile on her face, she answered, “A double date. Oasis Hawaii Club.” An eyebrow lifted. “That doesn’t sound like your kind of place. Sure you didn’t stop off anywhere else?” “No, we just went there and raced a bit. You know…” Shamira swallowed, “to let off some steam before going to work.” Switching the subject, Shamira plopped in one of the chairs across from her mother. “Hey, did you find out anything about our promo109

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tion?” A suspicious eye studied her, but after a moment, her mother relaxed some and leaned back. “You have a meeting with the Security Elite Mars board and the Internal Affairs officers to determine whether your team will get promoted…or terminated.” Shamira shot up out of her chair. Heated power laced with anger hummed in her blood. “What? No, they can’t do that.” Rubbing her temples with her fingers, her mother answered, “I’m afraid they can, and will, if they prove your team may have been negligent in Cal’s death. Your father and I aren’t allowed to vote, of course.” Cautiously, she stood and touched Shamira’s hand, then dropped it to pivot away. “I’m sorry, but it’s way past my bedtime. Mina and Taren are sleeping on the floor in your room. Don’t wake them, I just got them to sleep.” Shamira looked at the place where her mom would have touched, then put her hand gently there and closed her eyes.

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Chapter 20 Shamira exhaled the breath she’d been holding. So many thoughts were running rampant in her mind. Her control was slipping away. She had to get to the training room—now. Her shoulder lowered to crack the crook in her neck. Then she jogged to the basement, and jumped down the steps to the training room and the weapons cabinet at the bottom of the stairs. She leaned against it while she took off her weapons belt to change into her training outfit. The formfitting suit had flexible pads that replicated the pain of a punch, gunshot, or knife attack to teach the bearer’s body to get accustomed with fighting through pain. The numbing effect of physical pain was what she needed to get her head straight; to distract her from her saddened heart. So many suspects to consider. Her team, she trusted them, but something was off. Badly off. Why was it that whenever they went out together they were attacked when no one outside of their team knew where they’d be? Was one of them working against the team? The Force? She admitted that she trusted Anthony, Mitch and Hedi more than Kurt or Dion. She’d met them first and if she was honest, there was much she still didn’t know about any of them. Heck, there were things she didn’t know about Valens. Were they playing with her? She honestly didn’t know. Shamira exhaled and inhaled in a rhythmic fashion to calm her racing heart. Then she grabbed a blindfold and tied it around her head to cover her eyes. Complete darkness. That safe place she’d been able to hide in when she was blind. The place of no intrusions by friends, boyfriends or anyone. That place was where she needed to go to rejuvenate her edge. To think about who was behind this, because it just didn’t seem like one person could do this by themselves. Her thoughts flew to the Internal Affairs officers that interrogated her team.

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Shamira straightened her back, then cracked it to the side before crouching. “Outside attack sequence. Big men with knives and guns.” Her command for the computer would throw her into a virtual battle with men she projected into the system. This time, the men were similar to the assassins who attacked her. With a sneer, she prepared to fight. After a few hours of blindfolded battle, the burning energy within her was at rest. “Stop simulation.” She yanked off the blindfold and sauntered to the computer. “Time for some quick research.” She sucked on her bottom lip as she sat at the computer center to hack into the Security Force Internal Affairs database. She researched all the Security Force Officers who served as investigative committee officers for both the Security Force Elite and the Mars police. She tried to find any leads or connections that would suggest that someone was suspected of working for Monev. Only one came up. Her fist hit the desk. Officer Garcia. She had been investigated due to her ‘friendship’ with a runner in Monev. A much younger man. Shamira figured from the sketchy details of the boy, that he was around twenty years old now—if he was still alive. Shamira frowned. “Hmm, you’re not such a big shot after all. I wonder why they let you keep your job.” Looks like I’m on your trail tomorrow. She tapped her fingers on the desk. “Hopefully, I ticked off my team enough for them not to follow. Maybe, just maybe, I’ll find out if you are working both sides.” Shamira shut down the computer and ran up the steps two at a time. Her door sat opened. She entered slowly. A foot away, she spied Mina, Valens’ sister, asleep on the floor near the door. Her sister Taren was sleep in her bed. Shamira couldn’t help but smile. Taren was trying to steal David’s spot in her heart. Taren also suffered from nightmares and often came into her room at night to sleep at the foot of her bed. Shamira went to the bed and touched Taren’s shoulder. “Taren, Taren…move over,” she whispered. 112

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Taren looked up, a smile on her face as if she’d been awake. “I was waiting up for you, Meera.” Shamira smiled at the nickname Taren used. David had always called her that and now Manny and Taren did also. “Don’t do that. You need to sleep.” She climbed into the spot Taren had vacated. Taren grabbed the other pillow and scooted to the far side of Shamira’s queen-sized bed. “I never can. ‘Til I sleep here, because I know you will protect me. Just like you saved me from the mines. David said you would save us, and he was right.” Taren snuggled down and within seconds started snoring lightly. Shamira lay back on the bed and felt the weakening warmth fill her chest as her eyes watered. David, Taren and Manny meant so much to her. Unlike her friends, their love was overflowing, safe, and bonded to her. She didn’t think she could love another kid as much as she loved her brother David, but she’d been wrong. Manny and Taren gave their love and trust so freely that she couldn’t keep herself hidden from them. They’d weaseled their way into her heart; even Taren suckered her into something she’d hardly done with David. Taren she’d let into her haven, her room and shared her girly self. At least in the morning, Taren could play in Mina’s hair instead of insisting on styling Shamira’s and helping with makeup. Makeup sessions that had turned into disasters because Shamira never wore makeup when she was blind, but thanks to Hedi, she had a full collection of cosmetics. Finally her racing heart settled into quiet rhythm. With a final sigh, she was sleep. Her nose tickled at the smell. Slight smoky…electrical. She must be dreaming.

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Chapter 21 The smell was overpowering. A side effect of being blind for fourteen years of her life sometimes made her smell things in her dreams. She turned over. A pop, then a sizzle tickled her hearing, and she jumped up in bed. Eyes open, she took in another deep breath and choked. Transparent smoke clouded the room. Her throat convulsed at the metallic taste of burning mixed with pure energy. Her blood pumped frantically through her veins; tears welled in her eyes from the smoke as fear laced through her veins. She checked on a sleeping Taren and scrambled to the foot of the bed to check on Mina. Terror seized her as she’d awakened thoroughly and realized her dream was a living nightmare. Another pop and sizzle, then a boom as an electrical charge like thunder hit the house. Her muscles froze. A brief sharp twinge rose through her body, temporarily immobilizing her. It passed and her brow furrowed at the discomfort, but the need to get them out of there resumed with vigor. She shook Taren. Tingles of deep fear skipped over her skin as she saw a thin line of light snap out on the ceiling. Something was wrong, very wrong. “Get up! Get—” She coughed more, tears escaped from the intensity of smoke that seemed to instantly fill the room. Taren groggily rubbed her eyes. Then fits of coughing hit her. “What…how…Mi-na.” Shamira jumped off the bed, dragging Taren by the hand. She crouched on her knees and shook Mina. “Get up. Mina. Wake up!” Mina opened her eyes, and then closed them to rub with her fist. “Sleepy. Burning.” Shamira yanked Mina up to stand. “We have to get out! Get the others…in the back of the house.” “Daddy will get Mom out.” Taren started another coughing fit.

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Shamira hurriedly pulled them toward the doorway. Moving strictly by instinct from finding her way around when she was blind, she pushed them forward. Mina tugged Shamira’s hand. “I can’t see anything,” she whimpered. Shamira took several deep breaths while she tried to remain calm. She released Taren’s hand for a moment to touch the doorframe. It was hot. “David! Manny!” Her throat constricted as a flash of them lying unconscious on the floor taunted her brain. She kicked the door opened. Splinters of woods flew into the smoky hall, and the door hung lopsided by the top hinge. Frantically, she groped in the darkened hall that led to the living room. Whatever that electrical shock was that hit the house, caused the electricity to die. Irritated, she hit the flattened manual light switch. “Shamira! Where are you? Shamira?” Taren nearly screeched. Although the initial shock of smoke had started to clear, the acrid smell of the chemical expelled in the air remained strong. Shamira heard Taren stumble and scream. Her eyes watered and she reached for Taren’s hand. “Taren…” Freak! I can’t fight this…no one. “David!” she screamed for him. Then the blinding paralysis hit her. The electrical shock battered the house and pulsed stronger and stronger. Shamira froze in anguish, tears ran from her eyes and she fell to her knees. “Oh…God…no.” She shook her head. Failure. Death. Like the man said, and her family too. Like an angel in the night to pull her out of the depths of hell, she heard David. Her brother was yelling her name. Pain crippled her and she couldn’t move. It was as if her body was dead, but it wasn’t. The nanonytes within her were attacking her. Causing her muscles to spasm and lose control. Zigzags of fire cut through her bones; she felt as though someone was cutting her with a million knives. Inside and out of her entire body, she felt ravaged. Nowhere was free of the all-consuming torture. She couldn’t even speak. 116

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“Over here!” Taren called. “She can’t move. Her whole body is just shaking.” Mina was smoothing down her hair and rocking back and forward. “Fire!” Shamira fought through the haze of pain and looked up at the ceiling, now filled with tendrils of fire within the small cracks. Go! Leave me! she screamed, but the words wouldn’t move beyond her frozen lips. David and Manny rushed to her. David bent and held her trembling face within his hands. “I’m going to save you this time, Shamira. Remember. Like I told you when you saved me from the Mons.” Calmly, he smiled at her. Her heart filled with butterflies of joy. David looked so sure. Deep down, she felt pride. Yes, she’d saved him and she prayed he could save her now. “Manny, get the girls out. I’ll take care of Shamira,” David demanded. He sounded much older than his eleven years. “Uh, you can’t move her by yourself.” Manny shook his head while he pushed Taren and Mina to the door. “Run! Get out. Get help for Mom and Dad.” David tugged her a few inches. “Guess not. Grab her other arm.” He bent and quickly kissed Shamira’s forehead. “I’m sorry…but got to help us save you. You’re strong, I know it.” He sniffed as a tear streaked down his cheek. Shamira managed to blink her eyes. All the warnings of not tapping into her hidden powers—a strength she’d been forced to push down in order to let the nanonytes do their job—echoed through her head. She sighed. A lot of good suppressing them did her, because now they could cause her death. Maybe even the death of her parents and her brothers. Crack. The ceiling broke. Pieces of it fell around them. Immobilizing pain coursed through her again. She shivered, closed her eyes and tickled it—the forbidden power within her. The energy that interlaced itself with rage and was created from the fight she put up for 117

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her life long ago. That rage was born from clawing back from the depths of death to bring her back from the dead. She was a baby when it happened, but it has cursed her for the rest of her life. It bubbled up within her, a heated heaviness that pushed through her blood, awakened and hungry. Power, greater than the nanonytes ever was able to replicate, skipped over her skin. “Whoa.” Manny dropped her wrist. “What’s wrong with her? She’s hot.” He started to cough. “Her power. She’s using it. It’s okay; it doesn’t hurt too bad. She can control it.” Manny tugged her again. Her back bowed and a rush flooded her as the dead nanonytes didn’t awaken to counteract her power. Without thought, only reflex, she jumped up off the floor. The throbbing pain coursing through her veins renewed her fight to get them out of the house alive. She twisted her hand, and then grabbed their wrists. A roar poured from her. “Run!” Shamira tugged them out of the burning smoked-filled living room. She slid to a stop as a fiery ceiling beam fell in their path, blocking the door. “We’re dead,” Manny cried. “I don’t want to die by…” Coughing fits hit him and he covered his mouth with his fist. “Not today,” Shamira replied hoarsely. Anxiously, she looked around the room for a way out and pulled them toward the window. “No…No… the window’s closed! You are cra-z-y!” Manny yanked his wrist. “Shut up! She knows what she’s doing.” David punched Manny in the arm. Shamira released his arm. Her tongue felt a bit like lead in her mouth as she forced out the words, “I. Run. Through. Follow.” Both boys nodded. She charged the window, through smoke, and the scattered licks of fire. She burst through the glass window with a howl. Her body so charged that she didn’t feel the cut of the glass on her forehead, ears or face. A crash sounded behind her. Her body was pushed forward onto the ground from the force of Manny and David’s fall. 118

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She crawled from under the boys, her aches drowned by her heightened adrenaline and power surge. Her nanonytes slowly revived and the warring pain with her inner power and the protective layer of technoskin burned her body from the neck down. She felt as though she was wrapped in a burning cocoon of fire that was eating deep into her skin. Tears fell uncheck and she pushed herself up. With several deep breaths, a moment of angry meditation, she willed her power to bury itself deep within the depths of her body. A small group of her neighbors stood in front of the burning house with Taren and Mina. She took a deep breath and faced toward the house hoping her parents would emerge. Dread and sadness so deep hung heavy around her. “I’m going back in.” David stood next to her, flicking embedded pieces of glass off her face, and arms. “Me too.” He wiped his hands on his pants. The sound of sirens in the distance drew closer and closer. Shamira took a step toward the house only to be pulled back by several of the neighbors who’d come out to help. Their warnings were drowned out by her growl as she snatched her arm out of their grasp. “Get off me! My…my, oh God, my parents are in there.” Tears fell unchecked from her eyes. Jerking her arms free, she ran towards the burning house. Before she reached the door, a thundering sound of an explosion riveted through the home, causing it to collapse upon itself. David and Manny were on her. They scratched and pulled on her wrist, pleading with her not to get burned. She stopped her struggle, her heart breaking with sadness as she fell to her knees and pulled the boys close to her as she sobbed. Her fault, her threats, her mistakes caused the death of her parents. She would end this and she would do it—alone.

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Chapter 22 Security Force members, the fire department and rescue crews worked diligently to get her parents out alive. At least they hoped her parents still lived. Shamira stood there just staring at the house as her heart broke. So many tears—a lifetime of them built up from holding back her emotions—drenched her face. Someone had taken her brothers and sister away to soothe them. But all she could do was hold her powerful beast at bay until she could find and kill those that would destroy her world. Someone touched her, enveloped her in their arms from behind. She smelled him and her eyes closed—Valens. She couldn’t do this with him, couldn’t bring him and his family into her torture. Could she do this? Push him away forever to save him and her friends? Selfishly, a part of her didn’t want to be alone again. He made her feel whole, less afraid to be vulnerable. Yet there she stood, ripped open and aching from her failure to protect her family. “Shamira, talk to me, baby. Turn around so I can see you.” Valens spoke softly, his steady voice knowing just how to seep its way into her heart. Taking a deep breath to ready herself with misplaced anger, she seethed, “Get—off—me!” She whirled around out of his arms. “Don’t you get it? I don’t need your pity, sympathy….not a thing from you.” Her fisted hands rose up to the sides of her face. “I just need to be left alone.” Confusion marred his face. “You’re just upset. Come here. Let me hold you.” He widened his arms, welcoming her to a safe haven for her tears. She wiped her face with her arm. “I’m sorry about Mina. That she was here when it happened.” She swallowed and moved back from him.

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He studied her, and dropped his outstretched arms. “Officer Thompson said your parents are still alive. Weak, but still alive. They’ll save them. They’ll get them out of the house.” “Thanks…for letting me know.” She walked away and sought out some answers. Officer Drakun was talking with the clean crew who investigated the crime scenes. She came up behind him; his tall thick form belied his gentle nature. He turned and his grim expression showed concern. “Hey, it looks like the crew found them.” Relief flooded his features. “I just want you to know, the rest of the force doesn’t give a damn what Internal Affairs is accusing you kids of. We know you all are loyal to the force and we’re behind you all the way.” Shamira nodded at him. “Thank you.” Emotions, raw and painful, filled her chest at his admission of support. He didn’t know how much she needed to hear those words from an Elite Officer of his standing. She’d always tried hard to gain the respect of her mentors and peers. Taking a deep breath, she plastered a grateful but fractured smile on her face for him. “Who’s leading up the Clean Crew?” The Internal Affairs department had become even more distant once it was confirmed that there were Security Force Officers that were involved with Monev. And she wanted to know exactly who was involved with figuring out who was doing this to her family. “Officer Lynn. You know she’ll get them out safe if she has to crawl in there herself.” He chuckled. Shamira cleared her throat. Thankful that it was Officer Lynn, someone she and her parents knew they could trust. “I know.” Also, she didn’t remember seeing Officer’s Lynn’s name on any of the list in her research for suspects. Twisting her stiff shoulder, she decided to get some answers. She headed toward Officer Lynn to check on the progress of her parent’s recovery from the debris of their destroyed home. Shamira slid her chin to the side, feeling Valens’ presence as he stared at her. A glimmer of the sun flashed off the silver on his jacket as he spun away to leave the scene with his sister and her siblings in tow. 122

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Officer Drakun ran up behind her. “Oh, just came to tell you, Cadet Valens took your brothers and sister to his home. The council called in and wants everyone to return to headquarters after your parents are retrieved. There’s a mandatory meeting.” “All right!” A cheer sounded from behind the house. Shamira ran off in the direction of the chaos. Her heart felt as though it was lodged in her chest. She rounded the corner in time to see them lift her mother out of the rubble. “Over here! Land the med-plane closer so we can load them on!” Officer Lynn directed over the noise. Shamira dodged through men hauling equipment and other officers to get to the men carrying her mother’s unconscious body. “Mom! Mom!” Her mother’s eyes fluttered. “Sha…mira. Love you…” Shamira choked back a sob as her trembling hands grabbed her mother’s. “Love you too! Get better, please. Please don’t—die.” Her tears dripped on her mother’s hand as she kissed it through her sobs. The men were moving fast alongside her, carrying her father. “Dad’s coming.” She pulled at his sleeve as they walked past. Officer Lynn came up beside her. “Sorry, we have to take them now.” She signaled for the crew to move quickly as they carried her parents into the waiting plane. Shamira’s squeezed her eyes shut as the plane lifted and her parents were taken to the hospital. Officer Lynn lightly touched her shoulder. “I’m sorry, kid. But I know they’ll make it. Their vitals were getting stronger once we got them some oxygen. Hang in there. Let me give you a ride. We’ll beat all these guys to headquarters.” Shamira was in too much pain to put up much of a fight. She blindly followed Officer Lynn to a small car parked ahead.

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Chapter 23 Officer Lynn pulled into the parking lot at the Med Center. It was a circular structure, ten levels high, that extended out of the Main Building. The windows were tinted and the roof was one of the parking lots for Medical staff. Shamira was thankful that Security Force members and Mars employed personnel were treated at this facility, which would allow her to see her parents everyday she had to report to duty. Officer Lynn cleared her throat. “You know they have them in intensive care. No one can go up. Not even you, I’m afraid.” Shamira’s chin dropped as she pulled in the feeling of hopelessness. She swallowed to force her anger in check. It would be abated when she killed the men that dared to threaten her family. Sniffing, she flexed her fingers into fist. “Fine. How soon… I’ve got to see them.” Officer Lynn’s dark eyes held concern. “I don’t know. But I hope they’ll be better by tomorrow. Your parents are strong, not just because of their enhancements, but they were the best in our class, only 2nd to Cal. In order to be the Security Force Lead, cadets had to be a force within themselves. That’s nothing you can teach. Both your parents had that. You have that. I’ll find out their condition and as soon as I get word on their status I’ll come to the meeting and tell you.” Shamira gulped back her tears, but her eyes watered in spite of her attempt. Her parents, her world was being ripped apart and she was no closer to finding out who or why. She managed a nod and got out of the car. She jammed her hands in the long jacket someone had thrown over her shoulders. The numbing pain from this disaster made her forget the little details, but one thing she did know was that whoever attacked them was long gone by the time the force got there. Whatever they used detonated itself and her house. Not to

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mention, it had the ability to shut down the nanonytes in their technosuits, rendering her and her parents immobile. She just hoped the forensic team could find out what or how her enhancements malfunctioned. Her thoughts jumbled, Shamira absently pressed the elevator button as she mumbled a brief greeting to the officers around her. She exhaled and headed to the lockers where she kept extra clothes and weapons. The hall leading to the cadet locker room was filled with cadets who littered the hallway talking about the attack on her home. Some whispered as she walked by, others uttered their apologies, some snickered while she moved with her chin downward in thought. She lifted her head, searching out a clear path; her eyes landed on Valens. Katie’s arms were wrapped around his neck with his hands resting above the curve of her hip. The girl was leaning in to kiss the side of Valen’s mouth. Seething rage slapped Shamira. She let out a growl as she stormed up to them to push them apart. God, it hurt, but she had to do this. She had to end her connection to him. “Good, I’m glad you moved on.” Remembering that she had to let him go in order to save him, she nodded in Katie’s direction. “She can have you, this is over,” then pushed between them to get to her locker. She heard commotion behind her, Katie calling his name and Valens telling her to get off him. Shamira closed her eyes, a lone tear fell as her heart broke into pieces. She couldn’t back down; she had to let him go—all of them. But seeing Valens with Katie nearly crippled her. It wasn’t fair. No fair that she had it all, friends and a boyfriend who loved her, just to lose it all again. She doubted that they’d ever forgive her. “Shamira!” Valens grabbed her shoulder when she entered the empty locker room. “Wait.” The devastation she saw etched on his face almost made her give in and tell him everything. But she couldn’t give in to the weakness of her new dependence on others; she had to do this right. She had to do the job she was born to do. There was no 126

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choice. “I meant what I said.” Shamira jerked out of his reach to stand in front of her locker. “And don’t ever touch me again.” Valens grabbed her arm and twisted her around. “It wasn’t what it looked like. She was hugging me because she felt sorry for Mina’s and your attack. I was pushing her away. It was just a hug.” His voice cracked, “I love you, only ever you.” “It’s not what it looked like. She was leaning in to kiss you. And you didn’t exactly look like you weren’t interested.” Shamira held back a sob, and willed her face to harden. “Anyway, it’s not about her.” She snatched her arm away from him. “It’s me. I’ve wanted to be the Security Force Lead all of my life. I’ve been wanting to end this thing with you for awhile. I—can’t—do—this with you!” She squeezed her eyes shut to grasp some composure, and forced them opened. “I will not choose. And you can’t make me do it anymore. I don’t want you more than I want this. Having you takes away my edge. I’m done with this…I-I don’t love you anyway. Never enough to pick you over my dream. Just…just leave me alone. Back off!” She pushed his arm off of her locker and started to open it. He slammed it closed and jumped in front of Shamira. Agony filled his eyes as he grasped her arms tightly. “I love you,” his voice cracked. “And never asked you to choose. But I’m tired. Tired of being the only one here fighting for us.” He released her. A lone tear ran down his eye. His jaw tightened. With a nod, he leaned back against the lockers. “Fine, have it your way. Just don’t expect me to fight for your love any more. You want me…you’ll have to fight for me. I just hope by then, it won’t be too late.” Angered, he punched the locker and stormed away. Her eyes closed as she heard the door slam behind him. At that moment, that very moment, she’d felt more alone than she had her entire life. Biting her lip, she groaned. She leaned against the locker and slid down to her knees and sobbed, “I’m so sorry Valens.” After a moment, she grabbed her clothes off the floor and headed for the shower to finish crying. 127

Chapter 24 After she’d dressed in her spare suit of black leather, she took a quick look to see if anyone was around. Gingerly, she walked across the locker room to Valens’ locker and used her enhanced eyesight to peer deep within his locker in search of the stick tags he’d use for their free-flying outing. Confirming their presence in the lower drawer, she entered in his combination and scooped out the flat disc. She took a final cautionary glance around and stuffed them in her pocket, hoping he wouldn’t notice their disappearance. Shamira headed to the meeting room. Her expression unyielding and her emotions safely buried. With Valens angry at her, she could pursue the killers alone. She wondered about what she’d found so far. The crime group, Monev still had assassins running free. But why Cal didn’t confide in her that he was suspicious of such a threat she didn’t know. Everyone associated with the crime organization was supposed to be taken into custody. It wasn’t like the Security Force to be so careless. She trusted her team, but didn’t know why Dion and Kurt weren’t able to share more about their knowledge of the assassins who attacked them at every turn. Hopefully, Dion nor Kurt had anything to gain by holding back information that would help Monev. There had to be someone on the force still searching out possible Monev survivors. But if there were still moles in the Security Force, maybe they worked to divert any suspicions of possible threats. Biting her lip, she also wondered if their attackers were a completely new adversary, but with the contacts left behind by Monev. The meeting room door was closed. Crap, I’m late. She slowly opened the door and her eyes met with Officer Dax’s angry gaze. The hologram from the Planetary Protection Agency walked around the front of the large conference room. The packed room

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was filled with Security Elite Officers, Mars Police Force leads, Security Officers that supported the Elite, and a hand full of cadets, including her team. She found an empty seat and listened intently while ignoring the stares from her friends. “The problem with these recent attacks on our leadership will not go unanswered. Not only did we lose Mars Security Force Elite Lead, Cal, but there was an assault on the Earth Security Elite Force Lead, Vic Thompson. With the current attack on the Mars Deputy Lead and his family, Earth is shutting down the airways until the killers are found. I expect you to take care of your problem. Earth’s been essentially crime free for over twenty years, and we’d like to keep it that way. We plan on shipping another thirty reformed criminals to Mars in two weeks. Make sure they get processed by your re-engagement department and not recruited by whomever is sabotaging us.” The gray haired man’s light brown eyes appeared to float on his dark brown features as his hologram stood on the platform. “I’ll take one question, then I have to speak to the president.” Shamira cleared her throat. “Sir, I was wondering who will be leading up the Mars Elite Force now that our leadership is unable to do so. And how that will affect the promotion of the current class of cadets.” The depths of his eyes were endless and golden. “That was two questions, Cadet Nobles. Officer Dax will be a temporary, until Mars Deputy Elite Special, Nelson Nobles has recovered. He will decide what’s to become of your team, and the remaining cadets.” He nodded to Elite Officer Dax who looked smugly at Shamira. “With that answer, I’ll take my leave.” Everyone’s attention turned to Officer Dax. He stood and leaned on the table with a directed gaze at Shamira. “Cadets in the graduating class will be promoted…with the exception of team Underground. Cadet Nobles’ team will remain on light duty, under investigation until Internal Affairs reports their findings. After which time, the Board will decide how to proceed.” Shamira’s jaw clenched. 130

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Dion rocketed from his seat. “This is bull! We bought Monev to you on a gold friggin’ platter and this is the thank you we get for being attacked?” He kicked his chair back and barged out of the room. Kurt, slowly pushed out his chair and followed Dion and Mitch out of the conference room. Officer Dax nodded at Internal Affairs Officer Garcia, who stood and followed the boys. “Now, back to business for those who want to be part of this organization.” He cocked his gaze toward some of the Earth recruits, before staring at Shamira. “The attack on Special Nobles’ house was found to be deliberate. Some altered micro-computer based drug was shot throughout the house and immobilized Special Nelson and Elite Officer Katherine Nobles. Their condition is critical, but they are recovering. We need everyone on the street. Call in all your leads and find the bastards that did this! We only have two weeks to get answers before the last group of settlers come here and Earth’s lockdown starts. Meeting adjourned.” Everyone got up and headed for the exit. Shamira waited, hands on hips staring down Officer Dax. How could he do this to her team? Make them wait while the others graduated to the next level? She had to talk to him before she poked around and did some investigation on her own. Maybe, there was a chance to save face by finding out where those assassins were hiding out, and how many there were. She’d have to include her team so they wouldn’t get too suspicious. They may even find more information about the birth of a possible new crime organization. She waited until the room cleared and Dax was gathering his paperwork before she approached. Taking a deep breath, she grabbed the last piece of paper off the podium and handed it to him, holding it firm until his steel gaze looked her in the eye. “Don’t punish the others for my mistakes. All of them deserve to move on to graduation. They wouldn’t betray the Security Force, it’s all they have and they wouldn’t jeopardize a chance to gradu131

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ate. Cal was like a father to some of them… I’m begging you to please just save your punishment for…me.” His cool eyes studied her. “It’s not that easy. You and team Underground are a unit. If you screw up—they screw up. My decision stands, now…get out of my way, some of us have criminals to catch and not friends to play with.” He snatched the last paper from her grasp, grabbed the handle of his briefcase and sauntered out the room.

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Chapter 25 Shamira straightened her shoulders on her way to Cal’s office. She hoped to get more answers there, because the only way should could convince Dax, the now acting leader of the Security Force, that her team was innocent was to shove the evidence in his face. That, she admitted, she would greatly enjoy. She made her way down the hall trying to hide her residue of anger from her discussion with Dax, and nodded greetings to fellow cadets and Elite officers who whispered their support. One officer stopped to tell her he was sorry about her dad and the bum deal Dax gave her team. She appreciated knowing that others supported her, but all she really wanted now was answers. Standing in front of Cal’s door, she recalled the code he used to get in, and entered it on the keypad as her gaze flitted around to make sure she went undetected. With a slight click, the door slid open. She touched the button on her left to stop the door’s progress. Then it clicked once more and closed behind her. Working fast, she swiped her fingers across the mini-computer on her wrist. It would scramble the tracking signal from her technosuit and would make her location unreadable. She looked deep within the walls to verify Cal’s admission that he’d requested no cameras in his office since he handled private affairs within he didn’t want traced. Quickly, she went to his desk, opened the drawers and slid her hand under the frames looking for clues to where his secret files were held. She’d remembered walking in on him once and he hastily pushed something onto his lap. The item had disappeared as they spoke. “C’mon. Where would you hide it? Cal, you have to help me out here…” She forced her sight within the desk to make sure she didn’t miss anything and caught a glimpse of papers lied flat under the

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drawer of hanging folders. Her heart thumped excitedly in her chest. She’d found what she was looking for. Shamira fiddled around the deep drawer after taking out the loose folders. Pressing down on the bottom, she slid it back and forth until it gave. One final push, the firm piece of wood at the bottom of the drawer collapsed backwards to reveal several file folders. Shamira inhaled and opened the first folder. As she absorbed the contents, she sank to her knees at the brevity of Cal’s suspicions. “How could they? Why didn’t you tell us that all Monev’s assassins went missing?” Shamira blew at a lock of brown hair that escaped her bun. “God, that would explain why that little girl said Keeper was still alive. If I can remember correctly, he was the leader of the assassins who trained Dion and Kurt. Since all of them went missing there’s no record of the Security Force searching for them. The investigation was …” She turned the page of Cal’s notes over as she studied drawings he’d made of Snake and Renu, his twin brother who betrayed him. “Suspended by Internal Affairs? What other leaders in Monev are still running free?” She picked up the diagram he created. It represented tiers of the crime organization who’d kidnapped children of the Security Force members over a year ago, to enslave them as bait to capture their parents who’d been untouchable—until then. Renu was at the top, Snake just under him with another named Keeper. A scribbled note in Cal’s hand had ’Assassin’ over Keeper’s name and ‘Drugs and Body trades’ over Snake. But the one sketch that made her swallow back the bile that rose in her throat was the one that read, “Mars Security Force? Mole?” She read further. “The Mons…you took us there, knowing you suspected a regeneration of energy in the drug lab we burned down, and you didn’t even tell me? Why? Why didn’t you trust me with this, Cal? Oh, but you gave clues to your concerns to my dad, Officer Logan…and Dax, humph.” Voices filtered in from outside the door. Hurriedly, she cleaned up and put the folders into her backpack. She opened Cal’s wea134

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pons closet. The vest with weapons sewn snugly within caught her interest. She yanked off her outer jacket and slid on his leather weapons vest. Tentatively, she grabbed the belt of gadgets from his closet created by Valens’ dad, who specially made his weapons. Her heart trembled as Valens’ face flashed in her mind. Cal had also mentioned divulging some of his suspicions with Garcia. Shamira figured Garcia was an easy target compared to Dax or Logan since she did beat cop work. Hopefully, Garcia may actually have a contact if she was working with the Monev. After one final glance around, Shamira smirked as she reached for the controller to Cal’s most prized possession—his souped-up motorcycle that he only used when he was off work. He’d told her if anything happened to him, it was hers. With a final nod of respect and regret at his loss, she slipped out his office. Within two steps she looked up, and nearly bumped into Dion. “Oh, hi… you cool off yet?” Dion frowned at her. “Do I look like it?” She shook her head. “Definitely not.” “Well, I almost cursed out Garcia on my way here. She actually smacked me—in my face! She’s lucky I want this damn job so bad I didn’t smack her back … Sorry.” He stopped short to run an angry hand down his face. “Anyway, look I gotta do something to get us back on the list for promotion. I talked to Anthony and Kurt. We figured we could contact some of our old friends—well, I wouldn’t call these guys friends exactly but they were trained like Kurt and me. They should know what might be going down, because they decided to stay on the streets. Didn’t want to be under no adult, if you know what I mean.” Shamira’s eyebrow lifted at his recollection of ‘friends’ still out on the streets. “Then where do they live? How can we trust them?” Dion grinned. “Who said I trusted them? I have my ways of getting information from them. My old ways.” He winked.

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She snorted. “I understand. Seems like pulling something from our past is probably the best way to handle this. It’s what saved us before—it can work again.” “With their leader, Renu dead, Snake may just want to run his own thing. But he wasn’t a drug man; he just liked to kill. I think he may have someone working with him, because he will need money. Before Kesha blew up their office building in Sector 1, she released a computer virus to wipe all their funds clean.” “Yeah, I heard that. What made her want to join the Earth force?” “Love. She fell for one of the Earth cadets—Rob. Remember him? Well, she followed him there.” Dion’s expression turned serious, as he flicked his gaze past Shamira to Cal’s office door. “So…uh, where you coming from?” “The meeting, but I got to go now. Later, I’m going to see my parents. They should be getting cleared for visitors today.” He eyed her for a moment as if thinking. “That’s good. I’m real sorry about, you know…what happened.” “Yeah, well, I’ll call you or Anthony when I get back here later.” Dion nodded. “Sure, make sure you do.” She headed for Phillip’s desk. He was an Earth cadet in the class that just got promoted. He worked part-time in research during his training rotation. She walked down the hallway covered in light brown woods, to the open office of cubicles in steel. She couldn’t miss Phillip’s because he’d hung one of his drawings on the front of his cubie, with a sculpture of a vampire holding out chocolates. She couldn’t figure out how the kid kept his slim muscled form, with all the candy he ate. His Asian heritage probably had a lot to do with it. She strolled to his desk and stood there a moment tapping her booted foot on the carpet while he worked on his computer, his back toward her. Clearing her throat, she said, “Phillip?” He swirled around in his gray, cushioned chair—unlike the other standard metal chairs the rest of them had, and smiled. His 136

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tan skin and almond-shaped brown eyes, accented by his jet-black hair. “Shamira,” he beamed and said, “the gods have answered my prayers and my caramel goddess has dropped that sunshine geek to run to me.” Shamira rolled her eyes, not really in the mood for his teasing, but if she wanted his help she’d have to play along. “Phillip, you know I’m not single…” “Oh, yeah, you are single, so don’t play hard to get with me, babe. Katie didn’t wait a second to spill the dirty details and…well you know, your trash, her uh...” He leaned back in his chair, his voice deepened and got serious. “My treasure.” “Look, I would hang out and play words with you, but I was hoping you would…uh,” she tried to think of a way to flirt with him, like Hedi always did with the guys. Shamira bit her bottom lip, coyly raised her eyes at him as she sat on his desk. Lowering her voice to a husky whisper, “Could you do me a small favor— please, Phil-lip?” She smiled shyly. “Oh, you are good! Been picking up lessons from your redheaded around-the-way friend Hedi?” He chuckled. “I’d do anything you want for a…kiss,” he whispered back. She fought her desire to tell him off, and slowly took a breath. Shamira felt like she was cheating on Valens. Although she found Phillip attractive, he didn’t stir feelings in her that Valens did. “No.” He shrugged. “Then my answer is…no.” “C’mon why are you being so difficult?” She couldn’t stop her fist before it hit the desk. “This is important, and you know the only guy I want is Valens.” “How do you know? Word is, you’ve never given another guy a chance. I bet if you did, I could make you just as happy as the blond humanitarian. Besides, I’m not changing my mind. Either give up the kiss, or get out of my cubie.” He nodded toward the opening. She shuttered her eyes closed, and her chest felt like it was throbbing. Doing this could mean a permanent end to her and 137

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Valens if he found out. But it couldn’t be helped; she had no choice. “Okay, just on the cheek. But I need this favor quick.” Phillip looked amused, but took the bait. “Sure, I’ll take what I can get.” His index finger tapped on his cheek. Shamira let out the breath she’d been holding. Then closed her eyes and bent forward to give him a kiss on the cheek. When she was barely within an inch of his cheek, he turned and kissed her on the lips. Surprised, her eyes opened when his hands rested on her shoulder. She stood still, stunned, before she mooched him in the face to push him away. “Hey! What the heck did you do that for? Do you have a death wish?” She wiped the back of a hand across her lip. Her heart pounded in her chest as Valens face floated within her thoughts and her ache for him re-submerged. “I may not be with Valens— but I’m still in love with him. So don’t push your luck, Phillip.” “Sue me? I couldn’t resist, you are way too gullible.” He laughed. “But a deal’s a deal. Whatever you want, I’ll give it to you. And keep it just between us, cause you have that look of mystery about you. Besides—you just made my year, babe. “ She huffed and folded her arms. “Can you check the communications database and find out who were the last few people to talk to Cal on our training day?” His eyebrow lifted. “Oh, yeah, I knew I’d pay big for that kiss. To do that, I have to break some serious rules. I could get kicked off the force.” Phillip eyed her for a moment, his buoyant expression fallen. She glowered. “You promised. It’s important. And don’t you dare repeat this to anyone.” “Fine, just promise me one thing. If you don’t get back with Valens, you’ll give me a call.” He beckoned her closer to his computer with his finger. Shamira leaned in, hesitant. “I guess. But until then, if you pull a stunt like you did earlier—I’ll knock you out cold.” He winked. “That’s a good enough answer. I’ll take what I can get. You know what they say… that thin line between love and a 138

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little hate never hurt nobody.” He spent several minutes pounding on the keys. “Last person he spoke to was Officer Garcia, but talked to Special Dax just before he left headquarters.” “Thanks,” she mumbled. Shamira checked her watch knowing Garcia’s shift would end soon. It was getting late. She rushed to the garage in search of Garcia’s sports car. Shamira fought to hold her anger in check. Dax and Garcia. Which one had betrayed Cal? Garcia’s car was in her usual spot as Shamira had hoped. She tightened her leather jacket, dug into her pocket and pulled out a small tracking gadget, no bigger than a fingertip. She brushed against the midnight blue ride as she attached the tracking tag. Cal’s motorcycle was covered and tucked away in a small alcove in the garage, viewing distance from Garcia’s ride in her assigned parking spot. Shamira casually made her way to the bike. As deep as her loathing for Internal Affairs Officer Garcia went, Shamira never really had a concrete reason to dislike the woman. Now, though, she was starting to think she did. Shamira uncovered Cal’s sleek black and silver motorcycle. While activating the ignition, she slid on as the seat automatically adjusted to her height. She twisted around and put on his helmet, which also amended to fit snugly on her head. The computer within the helmet activated. “Welcome Cadet Nobles, I’ve been waiting for you,” it said in Cal’s voice. Prickles of butterflies filled her stomach at the sound of her mentor’s voice, and a tear leaked from her eyes. She missed him, her dad and mom. But she couldn’t dwell on that now; she had to save them. She had to end this. Shamira cleared her throat. “Lock on transmission device— 3298Z.” “Confirmed and locked,” it responded. The elevator door chimed. Shamira squeezed the handlebars. She set at the ready watching Garcia’s furtive glance while the woman walked to her car. 139

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“Subject’s moving. Do you desire auto stealth mode?” Cal’s voice echoed in her ear. “Yes. And while you are at it, feed me specs on the subject’s history.”

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Chapter 26 Night came quietly around her as she followed Garcia’s car at a distance. The paved streets, bordered by smoothly rounded, glowing rocks, kept the red sand at bay. Shamira’s hearing was still sensitive, even though she was no longer blind, and she perceived the slight hum of the generators underground that warmed the cool Mars air. She spotted an air filtration tower ahead and acknowledged Garcia’s turn signal just short of the slender cylinder that stood over thirty feet into the air. Steam rose from the tower while it filtered the air to make it habitable. With a slip of her finger, a cover slid up and over her torso to protect her from the windblown sand. They rounded the park in the center of Sector Five, about twenty or so miles from headquarters. Over a year ago, Sector Five was considered a paradise—before the demise of Monev destroyed parts of the city. Her team of friends and the many other kids she helped freed were a part of that war. She choked up for a moment remembering the failure she’d felt at the cost of the freedom of so many kids from Monev. The disappointment that some of the kids she’d hope to save had died in the process of helping her cause. Passing through the large family park that separated the harsh streets of Sector Five and the plush, well-kept neighborhoods in Sandlewood where she lived, was never easy for her. Her chest constricted as she recalled the time she and David went to the park last year. She’d taken her brother there to play, and it was the last time she’d seen him since Monev kidnapped him. If she hadn’t met Valens, she would have never been able to save him, or her family, which was falling apart at the time. Thankfully out of it, she gained Taren and Manny as new siblings. She didn’t even want to contemplate on what would have became of them had she not found them when she did.

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Since then, she hadn’t brought her siblings here. Instead she dragged them to Sector Four where Valens lived. Sadness closed in on her, since David was the only one of them not to complain when she skipped over the park that held tormenting memories of his capture. Garcia made one final turn down Sable Street. Shamira stopped short of the city block since it was too narrow to keep her bike hidden. She slid her leg off the motorcycle and commanded her sight deeper onto the dimly lit street to observe Garcia park. Reaching in her pocket, she put on the sticky stubs Valens had created for the team. She had to admit she couldn’t wait for the rush of free running while following Garcia undetected. She missed her friends, wished they were here too, but it couldn’t be helped. One of them was doing double duty. She’d bet her life on it. She just wasn’t sure who. Maybe this time she wouldn’t be attacked by assassins, because now no one would be around her to send for them. Also, she had scrambled the signal on her suit so not even anyone from the Security Force could find her. Sticking on the last tab, she peeked around the corner, hearing Garcia’s hard footsteps walking casually through the litter of beggars, and stray cats. A small group of former recovering drug addict dream heads squatted on the ground playing handheld game systems that allowed them to jack-in and be part of the gambling games that were one of Monev’s main draw for their high paying customers. Her fingers rubbed against her thumbs. “You always did make the best toys Valens,” she mumbled and took a hasty glance around to make sure no one spied her ascent up the building. Slowly, the simmering returned, the rage that taunted her most of her life. It comforted her in times where she was on the hunt and stilled her fears. Pulling herself up and over the edge of the building, she back-flipped gracefully and landed on the roof. Stealthily, Shamira jumped from building to building while pursuing Garcia. “Where are you going, Garcia?” She picked up her pace and stood on the ledge. Breathe, relax, go, she coaxed herself to control 142

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the anxious lick of energy traveling up her back while she rocked on the balls of her feet. That angry raging part of her that had clawed her back from death, beat against her ribs. It threatened to spill over to war with her technosuit, something she couldn’t let happen if she wanted to live to get her revenge. As the calm peace of a year of intense practice settled within her, she leapt against the wind and with a twisted flip, landed with legs spread on the shorter building. She trailed Garcia for two more blocks. Suddenly, Garcia stopped across the street from Shamira. The officer glanced furtively around the outside of a rusty metal door on a windswept brick building several stories shorter than the one on which Shamira crouched, waiting. Several surreptitious knocks later, a tall, bulky boy emerged. The upper portion of his face was concealed by a knitted cap, but his pale skin was illuminated by the dim light above the door. Shamira made her way down the side of the building, never taking her eyes off them. Garcia punched the boy in the face. His hand remained fisted, but rested now at his side. Their argued voices got louder. Shamira shut her eyes briefly to concentrate on filtered words through the wind. “I won’t believe it! You…will do it!” Garcia yelled. The boy pulled out a weapon, pointed it at Garcia. “It’s true…Special…Nobles will…” Garcia nodded. “Fine, dead…” Her hand twisted and the boy’s gun was in her hand. Then she stepped forward, choking the boy before she uttered a whispered threat, leaving the boy visibly shaken. Shamira moved quickly. She was halfway down, hoping to stop the officer, but Garcia ran back toward her car. The boy warily observed Garcia’s retreat. Shamira snuggled closer to the building to remain undetected. The boy may prove to be more valuable for information than Garcia. 143

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Her feet landed softly on the ground. She stilled, awaiting the boy’s next move. He tightened his jacket, hesitated, and stuffed his hands his jacket. Pivoting, he searched the city street one last time before heading toward the alleyway. The wind kicked up, and the sand slapped her face. But she kept her distance while tailing him. Special Nobles dead? Can’t be. What the heck had they been talking about? Her steps faltered a moment while she digested what it could mean. She tucked the taunting thought of a possible additional threat to her parents could be the topic of the boy’s conversation with Garcia. Shamira stalked the boy around the corner of the building and down the deserted alleyway. The area smelled a bit smoky. It was probably caused by some faulty underground heating pipes. This area wasn’t on the list to be serviced by the Mars Reconstruction Department for a year or so. Geysers of steam sprouted from small cracks in the jagged sidewalks. Light from the street barely touched the middle of the rock-paved alley between the several imposing buildings of iron or rock. The boy hurried along, but comfortably, as though he was alone. Unfettered by the pulsating pieces of sand being carried upward by the whistling wind, he strode heedlessly on. Shamira tracked him with a frown on her face, barely able to hold her anger in check at the thought that Garcia and this kid were involved in some way with the fate of her family. Her muscles tensed, and her blood boiled. Taking a calming breath, she reined in her emotions when he pulled out a knife. She smoothly pushed her back on the wall, gulped as a gust of sand hit her closed lips. Shamira observed him opening a manhole midway down the alley. He pushed the heavy lid aside, leaving it open as he disappeared inside. Giving him a brief reprieve, she inched forward. A reflexive command delved her sight beneath the layer of ground to watch him descend deeper on the metal ladder. She waited a moment before she followed, climbing downward about two-hundred feet on the metal ladder suspended from the ceiling of the tunnel. 144

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While descending, she realized the boy had gone ahead into the carved rock tunnel to the left. With a final jump off the ladder, Shamira took a brief look around. Humph, train tracks for the underground heating system maintenance crew. She continued her pursuit. Shamira observed the boy standing as if waiting for something. She hung back, watchfully awaiting his next move. Within seconds, the booming sound of one of the small maintenance trains pushed forward from his direction. She ran toward the wall of the tunnel, activating the sticking mechanism of Valens’ climbing tabs and scaled the wall. The train stopped, its front poking forward. Shamira took a deep breath before she leapt to land silently as possible onto its roof. Every muscle within her body tensed as she flattened herself upon the metal roof. A squeak sounded in the hollowed space when the train took off. Her eyes closed against the onslaught of air pummeling her body. She held on as the train speed toward an unknown destination. Lowering her head a bit, her gaze traced the metal top below her to search out her target. The boy sat alone, his heavy but fit body slumped on one of the six seats in the travel compartment. She laid her head down on the cool surface, thankful for her enhanced hearing, the side effect of her prolonged blindness. Maybe, just maybe, he would think out loud, and she could get a clue to what was really going on. He snatched off his knitted hat, and threw it down onto the seat. Covering his face with his hands, he yelled, “I hate this shit!” Recovering, he took a look around. His brown eyes, set on his pale cheeks, looked pensive. “I did my damn job. They can kiss my ass, pay me and leave me the hell alone! Why would he send some sidekick to rough me up?” The train veered off the main track to a side tunnel that resembled a repair stop. It was dark, smelled a bit damp, and the tracks weren’t as maintained like on the main path. Bumping slightly along the way, the train came to a jerky stop on a dimly lit platform. 145

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Shamira moved toward the back of the train with caution as the guy sauntered on the narrow platform. Silently, she followed, concealed by the soft light and her tight black ensemble. With a blink, her eyes highlighted the dark path ahead. The jagged concrete walls narrowed and, after a few steps, the kid slid his gaze from side to side before knocking on a metal door. The door opened, and the sound of pounding music poured out. After a brief conversation, the boy pushed past the entrance. Shamira quickened her step to follow. Before the door could slam shut, she jabbed her foot forward and continued inward with her shoulder. “What the hell?” someone roared. She used the heightened strength from her technosuit to push the broad boy backwards, and closed the door. “Sorry, he forgot about me.” She smiled and winked. The surprised look on the guy’s face gave way to a scowl. Before he could speak, she rushed past him and melted into the crowded dance floor. She danced her way through the throng. The music pumped with rhythmic drums and guitars. Kids of all ages littered the floors, or leaned on the walls and tables. Heads bobbed, voices rose to the song boasting from angry lips of the band on the stage. She held in a cough at the strong scent of cigarettes and a sweet sickening smell similar to dream. Her hand went up to cover her nose, and she danced through the crush as she closed in on her target. He was arguing with some kid standing in front of a door on the side of the stage. The kid acted like he guarded the door with his life. “Hey! You new here?” A handsome fair-skinned boy grabbed her by the waist to dance close behind her. “Uh, yeah! You know that guy over there?” She relaxed into the dance briefly, hoping he had an answer. “Ki? You here with ’im?” the guy said with attitude in his voice. “He’s a kiss-ass. Freaksheep’s errand boy. Forget him. Stay 146

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with me and I’ll give you something that will blow your mind with the first puff.” She turned sharply out of his grasp. Her hand grabbed his wrist and forced his ear down to her lips. “What is it? What you selling?” She glared. Shock at her strength registered on his face. “Just some dreamash. Not as good as the old stuff, but will still give you a buzz. I-I don’t got none on me now, but I can get it if you go back to the bunk-down-shack with me.” “What’s a bunk-down-shack?” Confusion marred his features. “I thought you were—if you were with Ki, that’s where he sleeps. Where all the kids on the street go to shut our eyes without, you know, having to put up with the bullshit.” She let his wrist go. “You sell that stuff?” He swallowed, eyeing her suspiciously. “You sure you not a cop or something?” “No, I’m not.” She made herself relax. His eyes held Shamira’s, while the other dancers partied on, ignoring them. “I don’t, but I know someone who does. You know, can give us the hookup, if you want.” “No, not this time. Hey, what’s your name? Where can I find you if I want to party?” He relaxed, dancing a bit slowly. The kid grinned. “Here, and at the bunk-down-shack, if you know what I mean. Ask around for Drake. That’s me, baby.” She nodded and headed toward Ki. She’d thought they brought those bastards to their knees, ended the drug trade on Mars, and kids suffering because of it. But all they’d done was give Mars a small break. Her head went side to side as she grumbled with disgust. After a moment she spotted Ki, who stood next to Freaksheep, who was surrounded by two other large guys. I guess I killed Tiny, the one who gave me the second warning that I had a target on my head. She checked to see how the place was secured. Hoped she’d have a 147

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moment to get her hands on the Freaksheep guy who was talking to Ki, but there were too many witnesses. Shamira sighed and danced over to the wall next to them. Closing her eyes as if to the music, she slit her gaze at them and focused on snippets of their conversation. Ki stood rigid as Freaksheep yanked him by the shirt. “Do it! If you don’t, you’ll die,” he said with his nose on Ki’s. “I told you, I don’t sell,” he pulled away slightly, “the shit killed my brother!” Freaksheep whispered close to Ki’s ear. Ki replied, “There’s no one left for you to kill, ’cept me.” “You lucky I need you. When I don’t…” The crowd yelled out, jumping with hands waving. “I made sure it was done. Nobody will know what killed him. The message was sent.“ Ki jerked back. “Now, let me go.” A hard smack landed on Ki’s face. Freaksheep’s handprint remained. “Beat it! Before I change my mind.” Ki’s shoulder spun around as he headed to the back of the club. Shamira pushed through the crowd behind him and out the side door undetected. Several kids littered the tunnel leading from the back of the den. Shamira had to walk fast to keep a close watch on Ki as he weaved between them. The tunnel came to a dead end. A black metal ladder went up several feet before it was enclosed in a metal cover, concealing Ki’s ascent. Shamira waited a moment before she followed. Lights aided in their rise upwards. The echoed sound of Ki’s tennis shoes as they pounded angrily on metal, vibrated around them. Shamira figured Ki was too furious to notice being followed, and she accelerated her pace to make sure he didn’t get too far away.

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Chapter 27 In his anger Ki didn’t bother to close the pothole lid. Shamira grinned at his carelessness. Amateur. She sped up. With a final yank, she cleared the tunnel and trailed Ki down the deserted alley. She slid her formfitting hood up to cover her face, as well as to protect her from any deadly blows from her planned attack. Although Ki was careless, she remembered the gun he’d pointed at Garcia. Her heart thundered in her chest, the anticipation of the attack excited a part of her deep within. Impatient to get answers, she reached in her pocket for the metal ball, compliments of Valens’ father’s invention for Cal. She fought against her melancholy from their absence. The metal ball fit firmly in her hand, she squinted and, with a flick of her wrist, sent it sailing. The ball hit his thigh. Ki fell backward. He scrambled to get his bearings. “Who…” She lunged toward him. Her booted foot came down to push his back against the ground. Bending, she thrust her knee into his stomach. He attempted to struggle. But her hand came down to hold his neck in place. “What do you know about Special Nobles?” A flicker of fear crept across his face. He quickly recovered. His elbow came down on her shin. Shamira’s foot slid. And Ki twisted from under her. With a hop to his feet, he pulled out a gun. Unflinching, he pointed at her, his stare deadly. “I will kill you. Get the hell out of my way!” Figures the kid would have another weapon, Shamira berated herself. She stood, legs slightly apart, her hand on her weapons belt. “The feeling is mutual. Your choice? What will it be? And trust me, I will kill you first. If you don’t give me what I want. Special Nobels…what do you know about him?” “I’m not playing with you!” he growled.

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“Seems like you are.” Shamira shrugged. “Either answer my question or I’ll force it out of you.” She tapped her fingers on her belt. Her fingers inched closer to her star-knife. Ki’s lips thinned. He pulled the trigger. Shamira dropped on one knee and flicked out the star-knife as the small laser-like bullet whizzed past. The star-knife connected with his upper arm. Ki cried out. Dropping the gun, the knife cut through his jacket. He screamed a pitch higher. The star-knife returned obediently to Shamira’s gloved hand. She smirked. He sank to the ground, struggling. In a burst of energy, Ki jumped up. His other arm fumbled around on his waist, and came up with a knife. Shamira ran at him at top speed. Before he could throw his weapon, she kicked it out of his hand. With a jump, she landed a kick to his chin. Ki flew back and bounced several times on the ground. He tried to shake himself out of his daze, but Shamira pushed him back and sat on his chest. Tsking at Ki, she pulled out a miniature robotic truth chip. Then she jabbed it in Ki’s neck. He groaned. The miniscule legs of the tick dug deep into his skin to emit its poison. “Now, you’ll tell me the truth. You have no choice. Keep fighting it and you won’t remember what happened to you for a month.” “Who? Why are you…” he coughed, “Doing this?” “I’m Shamira, Special Nobel’s daughter!” His eyes widened. “The Sha…mira?” His head plopped back against the cold pavement submissively. “Shit.” “Yeah, you know me?” “Know of, you.” Tears slid from his eyes, the truth tick working. “I work for…Cal.” “Cal had you working underground for him? Why? Who else do you communicate with?” she demanded. “Wanted someone…still,” he gagged, the medicine’s poison working, “on the streets, find missing…Monev…leaders, and report drug oper…ation.” 150

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“What was the last message you sent to the officer Garcia?” She pulled the tick out of his throat. “Special Nobels will die.” Ki’s hand went up to squeeze his wound. “Why did you talk to her and not wait for Cal?” “She answered his private comm device.” He spit, “said he was dead and she would be taking over where he left off.” Shamira snatched the truth tick out of him. Then she stood up and stepped back. Her eyes narrowed. “Who gave you that message that Special Nobels would die?” “Keeper.” His eyes rolled around. He stumbled to his feet, wrapping his hand around his bleeding arm. “From now on, don’t contact anyone but me. I’m taking Cal’s place, and I’ll take care of you. Garcia can’t be trusted. Team underground will keep you safe—I promise.” Ki gave her a wry smile. “I know you will, but seems to me, you gotta watch your own back.” He nodded in the direction of the three shadows coming down the alley. “Trust me, I can take care of myself. Get out of here. I don’t want anyone to know about you…and me.” She pushed his good arm. “Whatever you want. Good luck. You want to find me, Cal‘s got a telecom signal he uses for me. I have an implant in my ear, I’ll pick it up.” With that, Ki ran off. Shamari pulled out several stars, holding them in one hand. Her opposite hand teased the handle to her laser gun. At the ready, she hunched at the ready for an attack. Air seeped out her mouth as one of her pursuers appeared in the dim light of the alley. Anthony chuckled. “Come here to hunt without us?” She relaxed and put her hand on her hip. “What are you doing here?” Mitch and Kurt stepped forward into the light.

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Kurt crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Keeping your back safe—even though you are kickin’ us to the curb every chance you get.” Anthony nodded. “Yeah girl, we starting to think—well…” “That you are falling back into your old trust issues. You remember them, right—the kind you had before we called you a friend?” Mitch frowned. Shamira rolled her eyes. “I told Dion to tell you to check your leads. Hit the street. Not waste time to tracking me!” she pointed at them. Anthony’s large form stood in front of her, his hands on his hips as he scowled down at her. “Our job is to protect you, the future head of the force. Our leader. As it stands, we failed with the last one. Now with all our jobs on the line, you need to know— in this, you ain’t going it alone!” Fury filled her. Didn’t they know how to take orders? She was trying to protect them and they kept getting in the way. “You will follow my orders. I’m your friggin’ leader, remember. Leave me. Hit the streets!” Kurt shook his head. “Negative. Valens and Hedi are on that job. Ours is to protect you.” She narrowed her eyes and flipped up her hand. “Who gave you a new direction? Valens?” She grunted. “Should’ve known he’d butt in. Who does he think he is?” Anthony put a hand on her shoulder. “The guy who loves you.” Shamira wrenched away. “It’s over between us! I have a job to do, and he keeps getting in my way!” Mitch stepped up to her. “Your damn way? Are you shittin’ me? He loved you when you were blind, helped you recruit all of us, and took a back seat to your bad ass attitude while you stuck your nose up at him.” Kurt put a hand on Mitch’s chest to back him away from her. “Shamira, he didn’t send us. He told us to follow your orders.” He 152

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sighed, “We came anyway, because we all care about you. Dion told us the deal and we ditched them to come to you.” She’d be a liar if she didn’t admit the hurt from Valens not coming with them. He’d always shown up when she went out alone, and for little over a year, he’d been her shadow. Her other half. She bit her lip to stop tears from falling. “Well I’m fine, so you can go.” “Yeah, together. ’Cause there ain’t no way in hell we are leaving without you. Those wimp Earth Cadets might scare easy, but we don’t. ” Anthony’s almond-shaped eyes narrowed. She pushed past him, and several shadows flitted around the exit to the alley. She hit Anthony in the arm. “What?” “Someone’s coming. Get ready!” She sank down, pulled out some stars while the other’s followed her lead. Mitch turned, his back to her. “Shit! More coming from the back.” Kurt snorted. “Of course, why wouldn’t they?” “Keep movin’, don’t make it easy for them.” She didn’t hesitate before she flicked three stars at the group of covered men that attacked. Two hit their mark. One of the assailants dropped to his knees to fire his gun, but turned to ashes on his way down. The putrid smell of burnt flesh filled the air, and another two felled assassins met their death with silver stars wedged in their foreheads. She spun out of the way of the return shot. “I’m covering you!” Anthony fired with a gun in each hand. She charged toward the three remaining attackers. “I’m getting some answers!” One threw down his gun. Barreling towards at her with a yell, his elbow snaked out to land on her jaw. Lights formed behind her eyes. The sharp pain came swiftly, knocking her off balance. His knife glinted as it swiped at her stomach. Twisting away, she side-kicked him at the knee. It cracked, he growled. His body bowed oddly toward her. And she landed a 153

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blow to the side of his neck. He roared, scrambling to get at her. She yanked a truth tick from her belt. The veins in his face blackened from the poison. She grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. “WHO SENT YOU!” She jabbed the truth tick on his neck. In a hoarse whisper, “Sna...” His body incinerated with a pop in her hands. Choking back bile, his ashes fell around her. She screamed her annoyance at his death. But turned to fight the others with renewed vigor. Her eyes widened when the guys headed toward her, ashes falling like rain around them. Kurt wiped his hands together. “We’re done.” Mitch nodded at her. “What about you?” She sighed. “Done, let’s go. I’m tired and I want to see my parents.” “Not happening, Hedi checked on them before we left. She wasn’t admitted in. They locked the doors at 8 p.m. Told her they should be ready for visitors in the morning,” Mitch responded. Anthony gave her the metal ball she’d thrown at Ki. “This yours? Did Valens create it?” Exhaustion and grief filled her chest to the point where it ached. “Yeah, it’s mine. Valens’ dad made it.” Mitch frowned. “I thought he only made stuff for Cal. How’d you get on his list?” She shrugged. “Cal let me use his stuff. I was his trainee.” They walked in silence to their motorcycles. She slid on Cal’s and started the engine. “Hey, they told me to tell you your brothers and sister are at Valens’ place. You can crash there too!” Anthony waved. “Okay.” The drive to Valens would be one of the hardest ones in her life. If he was there, she didn’t know what she would say, how she would hold up this hard front when all she wanted to do was be held in his arms and cry her eyes out. But she’d do it. Putting up blinders was her former way to deal with things. Shove away fear, pain and hurt, to show her anger. The rage that caused 154

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her rebirth, and of which she tried to control for the last year tried to lull her back. It was the only thing left she could count on to bring down whomever was trying to kill her and the ones she loved. Keeping Valens at a distance was something she had to do, there was no other choice.

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Chapter 28 Shamira accelerated Cal’s motorcycle into the desert just beyond Sector Two. Valens’ home was well hidden. His family had two of them, but decided to sell the home where his mother was killed about a year ago. His father couldn’t deal with living there afterward. Valens curled blond hair and soothing blue eyes continued to melt her. The closer she came to where she knew there was a chance she’d see him, the more she slowed, not ready to face him or his father. The first day they met, Valens tried to save her life. They met during one of her many set-up traps for Monev’s drug dealers that she’d suspect of kidnapping children to use for mining, selling and prostituting themselves for the crime empire Renu’s built. And what did she do? She fought with him. She’d never forget the time she’d first saw Renu face to face. She’d thought he was Cal, but…with an edginess that Cal’s joking nature didn’t seem to emulate. That time though was nothing like when she’d first confronted Renu. He’d almost killed her, and if it wasn’t for Kurt jumping in front of her, she’d be dead now. Jumbled memories poured through her head, the kids that joined in the fight, some who lost their lives to have the ultimate freedom from an organization that used them, beat them down, then discarded them for drugs and money. That victory was bittersweet now. Her heart jumped knowing that what she’d won had only been a battle. Cal had known, even with his brother dead, that Monev would find a way to go on—or at least, crime would. She sighed. Now what? After she located the source and killed him—then what? Would it end? Would the innocent be free? Would Mars be the Mecca of peace for the rehabilitated criminals and their families? She didn’t think so. Now it seemed it would only be the place for Earth’s discarded, for their throwaways and

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troublemakers. Like her and Team Underground. The Mars Security Force was tasked with making this a home for those that were just pawns in it all. A large gust of wind lapped her back as she came up to a seemingly barren patch of sand. She mentally communicated to her helmet the code to open Valens’ hidden home. The one he’d whispered in her ear the night he asked her to be his girlfriend. She swallowed the ache of her new cloak of loneliness and watched the sand disappear. The ramp leading to the garage opened. The bike rolled down the slope. She stared at the sand while it seeped through the miniscule holes in the paved driveway before the fissures closed up. The lights in the garage kicked on and she parked Cal’s—now her—motorcycle, she supposed. A sad upturn of her lip mirrored the pain of her losses. Squeezing her fist tightly, she fought against the shivers of her grief, fighting back tears. Tonight she didn’t like the answers she sought…and found. Corruption in the Force still was going strong. Monev was rising from the dead. What did her parents have to do with it? Or Cal? She guessed because of their position, or maybe their connection to her—they all had been doomed. Shamira slid her hand down the door’s cool metal frame and typed in the code to open the entrance. She heaved a sigh while the door opened. “Ahem.” Special Andrews stood just inside the door. His short brown hair was thickly waved with his blue eyes kindly observing her. “Oh, uh…Special Andrews uh… Mr. Andrews, I didn’t expect you to be up.” Shamira fought to look at ease and not tensed like she felt. She’d rarely seen him. When she was with Valens he was usually out working, designing and building the gadgets used by the force on Mars and Earth. “Just call me Jason. Valens warned me you kept late hours.” He nodded in the direction of the hallway behind him. “Your sister’s been crying for you.” 158

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“Sure, I’ll go see her. Um, thanks for having us.” Shamira started past him. The large room with scattered pillows, and brightly colored couches were a blur when she started on her way to Mina’s room. Special Andrew’s hand snagged her arm to stop her. “When you’re done with her, come see me. I’d like to talk to you.” “Okay, Spec… uh, Jason.” She headed to Taren’s room. Digging deeply for words she could use to comfort her little sister, she plastered a sanguine smile on her face. The words she was seeking to make this all seem better were hard to find, especially since she was the one who’d brought this vendetta on her family. She endangered their lives and snatched Taren’s new parents from her. She’d make it right, though. She would do whatever it took to take care of them all—avenge them all. She heard Taren’s crying and her heart broke. Mina was whispering to her softly. “It’ll be okay. Your parents are strong. They’ll make it.” Taren cried louder with wet, sobbing hiccups. “I just…only…had th-them for a year.” She sniffled. “They were even better than my real mom who…sold, me to the bad…ba…d men for dream.” Mina smoothed Taren’s hair back. “Your sister will save them, like she saved us. She’ll do it, and get who did this to your family.” Shamira walked in the room. “Yes, I will. I will.” Taren’s cries turned to a whimper. “Meera! H-have you seen them?” She ran toward Shamira and wrapped her arms around her hips. Unraveling Taren’s arms, Shamira bent and returned her hug. Burying her nose in Taren’s sweet smelling hair, she held Taren through her sobs. “I thought you weren’t coming back.” “Umm, I’ll always come back for you—always count on that.” Shamira turned her chin toward Mina. “And you too.” Pulling Mina close, she whispered, “You too.” 159

Chapter 29 Shamira tucked the girls in bed together. She glanced about the room’s pink and yellow decorated walls and pictures, before returning her gaze to her sister. She faked a calmness she didn’t feel, hoping it would put Taren’s fears at ease. Taren frowned at her with lazy eyelids, fighting sleep. “Where are you sleeping?” She tucked the teddy bear Mina gave her under her head like a pillow. Shamira lifted an eyebrow. “Why? You’re not planning on going on a stealth mission to my bed, are you?” Taren smirked. “’Course not. At least not on purpose. I sleep walk.” With a nod, Shamira tickled Taren’s stomach. “Yeah right.” Mina giggled. “You’re such a liar, Taren. You told me when Shamira gets home you were going to sleep—Ow!” Taren elbowed Mina and shrugged. “Big mouth!” Shamira got serious, “Hey cut it out you’s. I got some questions. Uh, about the Mons.” They both quieted. Taren frowned. “That was a bad place. The worst ever. I’m glad you burned it down.” Mina nodded. “Me too! David told me that Valens…he made sure Tiger stayed there. David said Tiger would never bother us again.” “He’s right. Tiger won’t ever bother you again.” Shamira grasped their hands. “Do you know if Tiger had anyone help him?

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You know, visit him there that looked just as mean or had a tattoo on their cheek?” They stared at her quietly as though confused. Taren whispered. “Keeper. His name was Keeper.” Shamira closed her eyes briefly, gathering herself for the next answer to her question. “How’d you know who he was, Taren? Did he…hurt you?” Taren sighed. “He beat me up. He wanted to see if I was strong enough to train.” Shamira rubbed her thumb soothingly on Taren’s hand. “What did he do exactly?” “Beat me,” she whispered. “But I kept getting up.” A tear fell from her eye, slowly making its way onto the teddy bear’s white fur. “Then one of the other kids told me to pretend to sleep if I didn’t want the bad man to take me with him.” She sniffed. “So when he hit me once more, I fell back and didn’t move, not even a little bit.” “I’m sorry. So sorry…” “The night you saved me—us—he was supposed to come back for me. He said I was strong, but he would break me. He said he would make me like him…an assassin.” Shamira gathered Taren in her arms tightly. “You’re safe now. Okay?” “I know, you’re here. But Mom…Dad, are they?” “They’re fine. I may be able to see them in the morning. You too, soon after that.” Taren hugged her tightly. “I’m glad. Glad. And…Meera, you’re the best sister ever.” She kissed Shamira’s cheek. 162

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“Thanks squirt, so are you.” Shamira eyes watered. “Well, go to sleep. I’m tired and you are too. Mina’s already knocked out.” “What’s new, she’s always snoozing on me.” Taren snuggled up with the teddy bear. Shamira gave Taren one last playful pinch on her cheek and left the room. David and Manny stood in the hallway waiting for her. “You finished with her? She’s been like that all day. We even tried giving her candy,” David said. “Thanks for taking over for me guys. Where’s your room?” Manny pointed. “Across the hall. You know, so we can protect the girls if something jumps off.” Shamira rolled her eyes. Manny’s been around Anthony too much. “Good place to stake out trouble.” “Well, you know me, I know how to take care of things.” Manny smacked his teeth and punched his fist into his palm. David made a fart sound under his arm then snickered at Manny. “Don’t listen to him. How’s Mom and Dad? I mean really.” “I haven’t been able to see them. They are guarded, but getting better. I’ll be able to see them in the morning, I hope.” She pushed them in the direction of their room. “Oh, Valens told us he would take us to see them as soon as they were better.” Manny climbed up onto the top bunk bed. “Yeah, he said we could ride on the backs of their motorcycles.” David punched his pillow. “I’m just ready to get my own, though.” Manny rolled his eyes. 163

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“Hey, you boys remember when you were held by Monev?” Shamira stood by the bed and tucked Manny in, who surprisingly let her. Then bent and did the same to David. David frowned. “I don’t try to remember.” “I was mostly on the streets. Except the time I got away from them and stowed away on the trash truck leaving the Mons.” Manny sat up, resting his head in his hand. “On the street, did you know of any places where Monev guys hung out that we didn’t blow up?” Manny bit his lip, thinking. “A few places, I guess. Mostly by the Mons and in Sector 3 or the barren lands. Kids on the street warned about not going there if you didn’t want to get caught.” He shrugged. “I had a hunger problem and went there thinking I could get some food and steal some money to last me for a while. I wanted to stowaway on one of those ships to Earth. I thought I could find some family there since my dad got shot at one of the gaming hells.” He leaned back on the pillow looking up at the ceiling. “You miss him much?” She caressed his face with the back of her hand. “All the time. He was a good dad. He just sorta made some bad choices. He really was rehabilitated. Monev tried to recruit him. When he refused, they shot him and came after me.” “I’m sorry. We’ll—” Shamira was cut off when Manny sat up and hugged her tightly before lying back down. “I’m happy now. I have a big family who loves me…just as much as my dad did. I miss him, but I love my new mom and dad just as much. And having a little brother ain’t too bad either.” 164

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David’s foot hit the bottom of Manny’s bed. “He’s a good sparring partner too!” She chuckled. “Yeah he is, and a great brother. I’m lucky to have the two of you guys to protect us.” She ruffled both of their heads. David mumbled. “I told you I’m getting too old for that stuff. I’m almost a teenager.” “You’re still a little bugger to me though. Both of you!” She waved as she walked out the door. Shamira headed straight to the labs where Specials Andrews would be. It was where Valens and his father did all their inventor stuff. Valens had shown her their super-computer once. She was awed. His father actually designed it so it would take his engineering designs directly from his memory, transmitted by brain waves, to create synthetic prototypes of his devices. Valens perfected the tool by improving the prototyping with metals and synthetics he’d researched. They were a great team. Shamira often wondered why Valens chose to do the Security Force task team work over his first love of inventing. The long hallway leading to the large silver door was painted a calming forest green. Pictures of Earth and Valens’ mom littered the walls. Her pale blonde hair mingled with Valens’ and Mina’s as they rested their heads on hers for the picture. Seeing Valens as a grinning kid made her want to seek him out, and let him prod her for answers like he was so good at doing. But she wouldn’t— couldn’t—drop the ball now.

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She stood in front of the lab door, and pressed her fingertip on the gel-pad. It opened. Special Andrews was sitting at the desk, typing away while looking at the 3D computer screen. “Have a seat. I’m just about…finished.” He swiveled in his chair. Shamira plopped on the cushions of a gray oversized chair, directly across from Special Andrew. He smiled at her, Valens’ smile, and her heart instantly ached so she turned her gaze to the computer behind him. “Designing something new?” She nodded at the image of a device that appeared to fit snuggly on the head of its wearer, a hat with micro-computers within. “No, that’s something Valens was working on for you. I’m just helping him. He’s…ah, stopped working on it.” She blinked away the tears that were threatening to fall. Composing herself first, she returned her gaze to Special Andrews. “Oh. Well, thanks for taking it over. What is it?” “It’s a prototype for you to communicate to your team telepathically. Great idea, but a bit challenging to create. We’ll finish it though, when he’s ready.” He cleared his throat. “But that’s not why I asked to speak with you. There are several things I want to discuss. First, know that I believe you and Valens have something special. I don’t want you both to throw it away, because of all that’s going on. You can work through this—your parents did.” Her eyebrows dipped. “What do you mean? I thought their relationship was always close. They never mentioned any problems.”

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“Hmm, well, maybe they forgot about them. They’ve been married over twenty years, sometimes when it’s good and strong, you forget when it wasn’t.” He crossed his leg, laying his ankle flat on the other. “But in the beginning, they didn’t even like each other. Your father was best friends with Cal, and your mother was dating…Renu—Cal’s twin brother.” Shamira bit her lip “What? She dated, Renu? A killer and traitor to the force?” “Hmm. Well, he didn’t act like a killer. He was rather charming, charismatic most would say. It was something about him that just…well, drew people in. He actually out-shined Cal and was considered a true contender to your father as Head of the Mars Security Force.” “Were you their friend at the time? How’d you know this?” He nodded. “Yeah, I was the skinny geek they took pity on and teased a bit. But I considered them my best friends. Because of a joke your father made, I came up with the idea of the technosuit you now wear as a second skin. Your father was the one to encourage me to approach the head scientist with my idea.” “How did my parents get together? Since my mother was dating the evil twin.” Jason smiled sadly. “When Renu was charged with killing Kent, the contender for the Earth Security Force besides Cal…well, of course they couldn’t date any longer.” She tapped her fingers on her knee. “I’m confused, if he killed the Earth contender, why’d you say he was in competition for Mars with my dad?”

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He shrugged. “I guess he figured your father wasn’t any true competition for him—but, Kent was serious competition for Cal.” She let out the breath she’d been holding. “You mean, he killed the kid because he wanted his brother to be the Security Force Lead of Earth?” “No one knows for sure. Renu had a twisted sense of entitlement. Even though Cal was his brother, he didn’t seem to respect him much. But, what I do know is that Cal refused to take Earth, and your father was named for Mars, but recommended that Cal have the role.” She sat quiet for a moment. So many things were running around in her head. Her father was supposed to be the true lead of the Security Force on Mars, but gave it up for his best friend Cal. Why would he do it? Why would Cal even still want it? “Why did Cal take the position?” “I guess he had nowhere else to go. His parents were murdered when he was a baby. The killers were never discovered. But Cal and Renu’s parents desired for their boys to be put in the program they’d help develop. They were part of the original team that came up with the Earth Rehabilitation project. Maybe Renu just wanted to fulfill their desires, since his brother couldn’t.” “Oh. My parents, how did all this work out for them?” She thought of her difficult relationship with Valens, and hoped that after all this, they could repair it. Hoped that he’d still want her— love her. “Your mom had turned all her energy on success with the force. She had blinders on for any boys trying to be with her since Renu was out of the way. Not to mention she was disgraced that 168

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she had even dated him—been deceived by him like the rest of us. But your dad, he’d loved her the entire time. Probably since he first laid eyes on her. He didn’t show it to most people, but I was…the observant, quiet one of the group. Many times, I caught him staring at her when he didn’t think anyone was looking.” Confusion marred her expression. “How was he able to convince her to give him a try?” “Friendship. He was just her friend. They trained together. Since he was one of the best in hand-to-hand and sharp shooting, he tutored her. One thing led to another and one day they showed up holding hands. But it got harder after that. She wanted a promotion, but that promotion would keep her on Earth. He wanted to go to Mars to support Cal, his best friend.” “Why didn’t they tell me this?” She worried her lower lip with her teeth. “Hmm, I guess I know why. My mom and I don’t really, you know, talk much as it is.” He looked at her with kind understanding. “My wife had the same relationship with her mother, but it got better as she grew up and had a family.” “What did they do? My father, he—” “Gave up the idea of going to Mars, and eloped with your mom. But when your mom got pregnant with you shortly after their marriage, her position was gone. She changed her orders and took the job on the Mars Security Force as head of tactical operations.” Shamira’s eyes watered. It dawned on her, finally she got it. Her mother blamed her because of her pregnancy. Her mom lost her job because of her. She bit her lip to stop its quivering. “Oh, 169

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well thanks for the talk.” She had to get out of here. Had to go somewhere and cry, release, or punch something. Shamira stood up to leave, pivoting she walked quickly to the door. “Shamira! Cal wanted me to give you a message if anything happened to him. The message is for your ears only.” She stopped cold; her hand ran down the door frame, then tightened. “He said, ‘check the Mons for the beginning and the end’.” She nodded, and left the room.

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Chapter 30 Shamira lowered her head, lost in thought. She didn’t know where to turn, who to trust, or what to do next. A sigh escaped her lips. She didn’t want to tip off a possible traitor to the force, even if it was someone on her team. Looking up, her breath caught in her throat. Valens stopped short. His eyes held hers and he quickly swung a bag over his shoulder. Clearing his throat, he said huskily, “My dad told me you were here.” She didn’t know what to say, couldn’t speak. God, she wanted to kiss him so badly. “I…uh, I’m trying to find a place to sleep.” He looked at her, pensive, his expression severe. “You can sleep in my room. I’m not staying here.” She reached out and touched the sleeve of his jacket. Valens pulled away, his jaw tightened. “How’d your investigation go tonight?” “A bust. I didn’t get much information.” Shamira shoved her hands in her jacket pockets, scared that she’d give in to her compulsion to touch him again. “Anthony, Kurt and Mitch showed up. We were attacked.” She didn’t want to give away any information, until she figured out who was the mole. Any other time, he would press her harder. “Hmm, glad they were there for you.” He moved aside and started past. She couldn’t help it—leave them this way—she tugged on his jacket. “Valens…wait?” He looked down at her hand on the bottom of his jacket, then back up to her. His stare unwavering. “Can we be friends at least?” She licked her lips. “Since we have to work together.” He watched her closely, a flicker of longing on his face before he recovered. “I want all or nothing. Tell me you love me, fight for

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us—for me. If you can’t do that, I don’t want your friendship—and I don’t want you. I need time…to get you out of my heart. Just back off and give me that. Until then…” He pulled out of her grasp, “I’ll do my job. I’ll protect my leader until…I transfer to Earth.” He turned, adjusted his bag and headed to his father’s lab. She let out a broken sigh. He wanted to leave, go to Earth? He’d always had that dream, but she’d thought maybe…just maybe, he’d changed his mind. Now though, if he put in a transfer, they’d be separated for at least two years before he could transfer back, or she could transfer there. In her heart, at that one moment, she’d known she would follow him to Earth if she had to. She wanted him that badly. Just now though, having him was not possible with everything she had to finish on Mars. She walked absently to his room. The lights turned on and the black blankets on his bed beckoned her. The pictures of his favored inventions in different stages of development reminded her of the days they hung out in his room, and she cuddled in his arms listening to him talk about how he came up with his ideas. Scattered pieces of metals and fabric littered the corner of the floor. Shelves held pictures of them, of her. His pale skin against her cinnamon complexion accentuated their caress, making the picture look as though it moved. Some of the pictures of them were turned downward, and she went over to them, intent on standing them back up. The first picture she’d picked up was of them kissing. She smiled; tears ran freely down her face at the two fingers sticking up from the middle of their embrace. Anthony’s joking around and Hedi’s determination to capture every moment they spent together made this memory even more painful. They’d had their first kiss with all of their friends around. She held the picture to her chest and bounced back on the bed. Tears fell, sleep and dreams of Valens pacified her aching heart.

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Chapter 31 Shamira’s computer was beeping on her wrist. Eyes puffy, she pushed them open to check the time. Early, very early, she confirmed. She yawned and pulled the computer up to her chin to play the message that woke her. “Hello, this is Elite Officer Lynn. Your parents are being guarded, but they are able to take a few older visitors for just an hour today. Be there by 8 a.m.” She sprang up. Awakened with the elation of the message, she couldn’t stop herself from smiling. Taking one last sniff of Valen’s pillow, she got up and raced to the shower. Several minutes later, she was dressed and excited to finally see her parents again. It seemed like years had passed. She drove numbly to headquarters. The hospital for security force members was tucked neatly on the back of the main building. It made it easier to protect vulnerable force members from harm. The science labs that created and maintained all their devices were also attached to the hospital, since the three-hundred or so Security Force Elite members, who were outfitted with technosuits needed specialized attention in order for them to survive within their suits. Only the Elite members had the suits but other Security Force members were equally protected within their uniforms. After parking Cal’s motorcycle in its former spot, then covering it tightly, she made her way up the elevator to the hospital. The hospital was decorated like a posh spa. It smelled like vanilla and spice, the walls soothing in tans and greens. Water features were painted on the walls and in small sitting areas for families and staff. Their design soothed Shamira’s raging heart without her even realizing it. Her shoulders relaxed and muscles un-tensed with each step closer to her parents’ rooms. They were a

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few doors down from each other, and a guard stood just outside each door. She got to her mother’s room first and nodded to the guard. He moved aside to let her in. For the first time since David was missing, Shamira saw fatigue etched on her mother’s face. She slept unmoving. Shamira strolled up beside the bed. “Mom. Mom, can you hear me?” Shamira bent to kiss her mother’s cheek, her eyes briefly shutting while she inhaled the sweet aroma she’d always identified her with mother. Her mother had a fit of coughing. “Sha...mira? Is that…” Her eyes slowly opened then fluttered closed, before opening again. Tears fell haphazardly down her face and onto the pillow beneath. Smiling she answered, “Yeah, it’s me.” Her mother struggled to breathe, her lips attempting to turn up into a smile. “Thank God you made it out safe. They told me you kids…were okay.” Her eyelids drooped; she was fighting to stay awake. “I love you, Mom. I really love you, even though sometimes…” Shamira’s voice cracked. Her mother’s eyes closed, but she patted Shamira’s hand. “Shhhh. I know, I love you too…with…all…my…heart.” Then she promptly fell asleep. Shamira wiped a tear form her face, and leaned down to kiss her mother’s forehead. “Thanks Mom, I really needed to hear that.” With one last glance at her mother’s pale sleeping form, she left to find her dad. The guard standing at her mother’s door stopped her. “Cadet Nobels?” Shamira turned. “Yes, Officer Smith.” “We’re fighting for you kids to get your promotion. You deserve it, even if Internal Affairs is trying to stop you. Just keep doing what you are doing, we’ll never forget what you did—all of you.” 174

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“Thank you. My team appreciates all the support. We’ll make you proud. We will.” She headed to her father’s room. Hearing voices inside, she moved past the guard to figure out who was speaking to her father. A mouthful of air lodged in her throat seeing her team, all of them—even Valens—standing around her father with cards and flowers. Thinking back to her mother’s room, she realized they’d left things for her as well. “Hey. About time you made it.” Hedi giggled then came over and gave her a hug. Shamira tensed, trying to keep the distance she’d created with the team. Hedi picked up on her withdrawal. “Don’t fight it, you can’t get rid of our friendship that easily,” Hedi whispered, but stepped aside so Shamira could get to her dad. Valens wouldn’t look at her. He brushed past her and waved a farewell to her father. Shamira’s eyes followed him as he left the room. Shamira bit her lip to force down the pain at his departure, a goodbye, where he didn’t even acknowledge her, or look at her. Stiffly, she walked up to her father’s bed. Kurt stood beside her. “We’ll leave you to spend some time alone with your dad. We all want you to know we are here for you and yours. Know that.” They left quietly, her father waving his goodbyes. “Hey you.” She smiled at him. “Hey pumpkin.” He chuckled and pulled her to him in a hug. “You okay? Really okay?” He leaned back on the hospital bed and shot a glance at the IV in his arm. “They say I am. Did you feel it? That night?” She swallowed. “The numbness, paralysis?” “Yeah, I felt that, but then there was a gas. A sick smell before everything went black on me.” “We got out by then. I’m sorry Dad, I tried to come back in for you. Then, then everything just blew up. I was too late. I thought you’d died. That you and Mom were gone…forever.” 175

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“Humph, takes a lot more than that to kill me. How did you make it out if your suit didn’t work?” “I had to go there. Deep, and pull out the—” “Your power.” He nodded. “I guess you could since your suit wasn’t working to compress the energy back within your body. But Shamira, you have to be careful tapping into that strength. We made the decision for you to get the suit on to protect you, but if you tap into that anomaly that was created when they brought you back to life you could…” Shamira sighed. “Kill myself. I know, I can control it, Dad. But sometimes it teases me, when I’m angry or upset. I want to be free—it wants to be free.” She reached out and took his hand. “Besides, I had no choice. I had to save my brothers and sisters— you and Mom. Had to…” “I know. I know, you love us too much. Even at risk to yourself. But Shamira, it’s okay, to love others too.” He gave her that look of understanding. Like he knew about her and Valens, and she so didn’t want to go there with him. Not now or probably ever. “Dad, I, uh…” “I know about you and Valens. Something is wrong between you. Don’t let what’s happening ruin what you have with one another. Not many kids have that depth between them. It’s a gift with a job a life like this. And I see in you and him something that could last—something that could be great. Better than what the Force could ever be to you.” “I can’t talk about that now. I have to know…did Cal talk to you about his suspicions? Why he wanted our final training session to be at the Mons?” Her father shook his head. “We talked briefly, but nothing substantial. I’d have to think back over it.” The guard opened the door. “Special Nobels, the nurse is coming in to give you your dosage. We have to ask your guest to leave.” The guard entered with the nurse in tow. 176

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Her father waved them in. “Come back and see me, we’ll talk more about it. This medicine’s got me forgetful, but I know it’s something. Love you.” “Love you too, Dad.” She frowned at his answer. Planting a kiss on his forehead, she sent a wry smile his way. He was holding something back, she could tell. But what she’d have to wait to find out later.

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Chapter 32 Shamira had made up her mind. She had to get some leads on Snake. The girl they questioned told them that Freaksheep hung out on Sector 1 in the fiend pits to recruit. Shamira hoped she could follow him, maybe get some information. She had to find out who put the hit out on her, who was starting a possible copycat drug gang to Monev and who she had to kill in order to get them to back off. She walked in haste to her motorcycle. Hearing rapid footsteps behind her she stopped short. “Glad I caught up to you,” Kurt said. Every time she looked at him, she felt indebted. He’d saved her life once. For that she’d always be his friend, and couldn’t bring herself to totally shut him out. “What’s up? I’m in a hurry.” “I got a lead for you—us.” His almond-shaped eyes narrowed. “Lead for what?” She held her tongue before she blurted out that he wasn’t welcomed to go with her. “On Snake. The girl said something about Freaksheep and Snake picking up people at the fiend pits. I know what Snake looks like, and I know how to track him. The hangout she talked about, I hit the streets—did some research and found out exactly where it’s located.” Shamira folded her arms, a bit elated that he’d done the hard work of finding the location of where she hoped to find the two degenerates. “Where is it?” He smirked, an expression rare on his usually serious face. “You know I’m not going to tell you. But you can go with me. The others are hitting the streets trying to find out if there is a new drug in town. Monev usually introduces a new product as a tease, before they start major production.” “Fine, you got me. Let’s go.” She pivoted and led the way to the elevator.

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“So, what you driving these days? I heard Pearl got pretty beat up when your house collapsed.” He followed her onto the elevator. “Don’t tell anyone, okay?” She slid a glance at him and tapped the floor. He smirked. “You know I don’t talk much.” She nodded her affirmation. “Definitely don’t. That’s what I used to like about you.” “What you saying? I’m talking too much for you now?” He led the way out of the elevator to the concrete garage and pointed to his motorcycle. “I’m parked by the window. Where are you?” “I’m driving Cal’s motorcycle.” A brief look of shock marred his expression. “His squad cycle,” he said quietly. “No, his personal one. It’s black; the helmet is black and gold. I’ll meet you at the exit to the garage.” Her lips thinned making obvious her resistance to share more. After a brief stare, he nodded and walked to his ride. A few minutes later, while driving behind Kurt, she ran over the unanswered questions. If Cal figured someone was setting up a copycat crime organization, why didn’t he tell more people? He was the head of Mars Security Force; he had a ton of people at his disposal. If this Snake, a former Monev assassin, was after her, what did she have that he wanted? She did remember when she destroyed the Mons and had her confrontation with Tiger after she rescued David, Tiger told her there was a price on her head. That Renu called out a hit on her. But if he was dead, and Monev destroyed, who would pay the hit men? Who was driving the vendetta? She growled. Fiend pit? What the heck was a fiend pit anyway? Monev was known for gaming hells where they sold a drug called scream that gave the players and edge—a high. For the rest of the poor people who couldn’t afford the gaming they sold dream, a drug that was like a hallucinogenic, but the user got to pick the trip they took. That’s why the drug did so well, because the addict 180

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actually believed they had control since they decided where the crazy trip the drug would take them on for their high. The dry terrain of Mars passed by her in a blur as the road got rocky at their approach to the city of Sector 1. She was confident they’d get more answers. If anyone would know about Snake, it was Kurt or maybe Dion. Kurt was a more mature Assassin, and had been a captive of Monev longer than Dion. What she remembered of Kurt’s story was that he was on his way to his final mission to prove himself worthy to stay alive within the organization. Instead of fighting it out to the death, he’d sneaked away and joined up with them. Kurt slowed, his signal pointing left, and cut down one of the seedy areas of Sector 1. The street cleaner androids never visited this area, mainly because they’d been stolen or dismembered for their parts. They drove by deserted building after building, and Shamira’s anxious fingers tightened around the handles of her ride. The place Snake and Freaksheep did their recruiting was an abandoned building where kids and homeless adults hung out. Several teenagers were scattered outside of the tall, imposing stucco building. Some were smoking cigarettes, others were just watchful. Kurt pulled around the side of the building and parked his cycle. Shamira saved the location in the computer on her helmet and locked up the bike to follow Kurt. “You know anybody here?” Shamira flexed her fingers on her gloved hand. “I do, but I told them not to be here tonight.” Kurt cut a glance at Shamira and waved her to walk closer with him. He uncharacteristically put his arm around her, then whispered, “Pretend we are together.” She nodded absently as she observed kids talking, making out, and smoking. Young kids darted in and out of the doorway that was partially boarded up, while she and Kurt navigated around them to get in. Shamira almost gagged at the odor inside. The 181

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windows were boarded up and there was an open fire in the middle of the room, which cast a haunting glow on the concrete walls of the destroyed building. “What is this place?” She swallowed down the putrid stink around her. “A place where the homeless crash, and you can get some dream-ash if you ask the right questions.” He pulled her with his gloved hand. “I can’t believe he recruits assassins here? There are mostly kids here! And the adults look,” she peered closer, deep within a sleeping man on the dirt-filled floor. He had a blue residue in his chest, like a blue smoke was trapped within, “drugged.” Kurt grunted. “Are you surprised? People want to get high…someone just found a way to help them—the way of the world. We fight it, and the fools choose it over life.” She looked around, eyeing every corner of the large room that had a faint sound of music playing as it warred with the howling wind from outside. “Who are you looking for?” “Snake,” he spat. Shamira inhaled deeply, her eyes landing on a familiar face. “Over there.” She tilted her head to the left. “That’s Freaksheep.” “How do you know?” Kurt answered, skeptical. Shamira shrugged. “I was tracking him yesterday. He works with Snake. I know it.” “I bet he does, Keeper does the killing and Snake points out the hits.” Kurt tugged at her jacket, leading her between the scattered crush of people. They leaned on the wall for several moments, watching Freaksheep and the others, while he spoke to a few kids, young ones and teens, who stood around. Passing of blue filtered cigarettes made its way around the room. Shamira followed the distribution of the drug and realized that it zigzagged but started near Freaksheep. “He’s recruiting. Look, see what he did with that kid over there?” Kurt directed his stare. 182

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“Oh, I got it, he gives them a signal and sends them out the back door.” She tilted her chin. “The young ones through the broken window. What’s with the blue smoke coming out of the cigarettes?” “It’s called dream-ash. By-product of dream. I guess someone collected remains from when we blew up the Mons and is pushing a new product.” Kurt shook his head, watching another kid crawl out the broken window behind Freaksheep. “Sick bastard. I bet Snake’s close by. We better track him. Once he’s out of here, I bet he moves fast.” He started to walk toward Freaksheep who appeared to be leaving. She followed, ready for a confrontation. Walking through the crush of people, Shamira couldn’t help but hold her nose. The smell from the tiny cigarettes the kids were smoking had a burnt, sickening sweet residue that reminded her of vomit. Both Monev’s drugs of choice were hallucinogens of sorts but they were liquids, not this smoke form that was being sold now. Outside, kids of various shapes, ages and sizes were being loaded into a van at the end of the dark alleyway. Shamira started running with Kurt alongside her. Freaksheep saw their pursuit and slapped the side of the van. The last kid was jerked inside, before the van sped off, leaving Freaksheap behind. Looking undaunted, Freaksheap smiled and sprinted down the alleyway. “I’m calling backup—looks like a setup.” Kurt punched in a code on his computerized wristwatch. “No kidding.” Shamira picked up speed as they tracked Freaksheap down the alley and into another abandoned warehouse that was missing a door. Kurt pointed. “The bastard’s leading us to another alley.” “Yeah, I think that one’s a dead end,” Shamira confirmed by commanding her GPS tracking watch on her wrist to show 3D image of their location. Kurt’s watch beeped. “The others are here. They were nearby, and closing in on him from the other side.” 183

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“On bikes?” He nodded. “I think, but they have to get on foot, that alley ahead is narrow.” Kurt kicked through another broken door in the second building they’d followed Freaksheap into. This building was completely gutted; all the windows were missing as well as the doors. It was devoid of walls and was just another concrete box of a building. They pursued him out the final door and into the alley ahead. Dark, burnt sides of buildings crushed in on them as the alley appeared to narrow with each step. Its end closed off by a brick wall. “What the hell is he doing?” Kurt pumped his arms harder. Shamira was right beside him. “It’s a dead end. Where’s he running to?” Suddenly, after her next breath, she heard it. Tap…tap…tap. “Assassins! Trap!” Kurt looked up as he ran. Shamira’s eyes followed, and in the darkness, from several levels, men dropped to the ground out of broken windows scattered throughout the alley. Ropes whipped closed, and they silently landed around them like rapid raindrops. “You get that bastard! I’ll fight these off until the others come!” Kurt pulled his protective hood down over his face. He grabbed his gun and started shooting. Periodically, he’d jerk or flip out of the way of raining fire. Shamira slid her protective mask over her face. She flicked her wrist and sent the cutting star through the air to slice the arm of an attacker. Blood gushed, and his hand slackened before his gun fell to the ground. Building anger and fury filled her, and in an instant, she’d landed an uppercut to his chin. Pivoting, she kicked his chest and dropped to her knees to avoid laser fire from his partner, who hit the falling body of his comrade instead. A few charged her and she landed a kick, back-flipped over another and kneeled to toss another star at an attacker.

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Sliding her gun from her jacket, she fired at another then another. She made her way toward Freaksheap, who was getting away. A yell vibrated around them and she turned briefly to hear Mitch’s war cry. A smile slipped to her face when Kurt answered with his. Picking up speed, she was gaining on Freaksheap, when from behind, a blow to the back of her head sent her reeling forward, tripping her as she tried to regain her balance. The assailant didn’t give Shamira time to recover and came down on her back with two heavy fists, knocking her to the ground. Pain sliced Shamira’s back, her chin, and the air escaped from her lungs. She flipped over onto her back to kick him square in the neck with such force he gagged. Pushing up on her arms, her back bowed as Shamira wrapped her legs like scissors around his neck. With a squeeze and a twist, his eyes went vacant. Tendrils of black streaks multiplied on his face and his cindered body fell around her in pieces. She flipped up and took off toward the dead end. Freaksheap was frantically rubbing his hands on the wall, apparently looking for a hidden exit. The fighting behind her continued, but she only had eyes for him. Shamira charged him. Grabbing a ball from her waist, she threw it squarely at his face. The metal ball opened and a beaded metal web surged forward, slapping Freaksheap’s head securely on the wall with a sickening crack. Taking several deep breaths, she calmed the angry power just under her skin, pushing it down, and willing herself to keep this man alive long enough to get the information she needed. Disgust filled her at his feeble attempts to remove the metal webbing, whose hooked ends pulled him tighter against the wall. “Give me information and you may live tonight! Where is Snake? His hideout!” “Kiss off.” He coughed. “What you’d do to me is nothing compared to him, kid,” he spat, but it didn’t have any power. The spittle dribbled through the webbing around his face to slide down his neck. 185

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Her eyes squinted. “Really?” She reached in her belt and took out a syringe, figuring the truth tick was too gentle an option for him. The syringe filled with the truth serum would work much faster, besides she could make it a heck of a lot more painful for the man who persuaded kids to be sold into slavery. “Wh-what the hell is that?” A flash of fear crossed his face. She smirked. “Something kids do to bad guys.” With anger she jabbed the needle deep within his neck until he screamed in pain. Then she broke the tip off, leaving the needle deep within. “Is there a hit on Special Nobles?! When? Who?” His eyes glazed over, his lips plumped from the side effect of the drug. He groaned. “Please…take…needle,” he coughed. “Answer me!” She kneed him in the groin. “Yes, he will die.” Phlegm fell out of the side of his mouth. “By one of your…own, a friend.” She grabbed his coat, shaking him. “When? Who?” “Don’t know who, but…” His eyelids swelled, tears fell from his eyes during a coughing fit. “Tonight, he dies.” “No!” She stomped on his foot. “The kids, where are you taking them? Who’s taking them?” “Snake. To make…ash.” His head fell. “I’ve got to go, get…to my dad,” she mumbled and tugged on the metal ball, causing the hooks to release and retreat within. His body slumped to the ground as she spun away. Shamira jogged down the alley toward the others who stood waiting, the ashes of their attackers blowing in the wind. Her eyes landed on Valens and a rush of need filled her. She wanted to run into his arms, but instead she bit her lip to regain control of her anger. “What did you do to him? He was the only lead we had,” Valens asked harshly. A lump formed within her chest at the unusual roughness in Valens’ demand. She whispered, “I didn’t kill him. I’ve got to go and check on my father and figure out where Snake took those kids.” “We’re right behind.” Kurt fell in step behind her. 186

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“You, Valens and Mitch meet me at headquarters. I have someone I’ve got to check on.” Shamira bolted into a run and didn’t stop until she got to her motorcycle. The one final thought before she took off was of her father.

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Chapter 33 Shamira made it to headquarters in record time. She stood in the hallway, pushing the UP button on the elevator as well as repeating the floor number. “Nineteen. Nineteen. Hurry up. No other passengers!” Tapping her foot impatiently, she hurried off the elevator in the direction of her father’s room. Heart beating fast, she just had to check, had to make sure that he was all right. Four guards stood in front of his door. More than before. Cold fingers of anxious fear clawed up her back. Something was wrong; she just knew it. The hallway was a blur, she was running, then slid in front of the guards, who stood ready to fire. “Let me through, it’s my dad!” Busting past the burly bodies guarding the door, she pushed one, then another who attempted to hold her back. “My father. Dad! What’s wrong? Someone’s trying to kill him.” Tears ran from her eyes. The doctors were covering his face with an oxygen mask, fighting to hold down his convulsing body. “God! What happened! Who did this?” “Please, Cadet Nobles, you have to stay back. Stop fighting us!” Elite Officer Lloyd slid slightly from her push. “You will move out of my way before I hurt you. I have to see him now!” Shamira screamed. She couldn’t lose him again. Her insides felt like they were being ripped in two. The pain so unbearable, she sank to her knees and sobbed. Warm hands tentatively touched her shoulders. Valens soothing voice, her haven for this last year, whispered softly to her, “It’ll be all right. My father’s in there with him.” With a gentle squeeze, he lifted her and turned her into his arms. “He’ll let us in as soon as your dad is stable.” He hugged her tightly. “Shhh…” Gradually she composed herself and unraveled her fisted hands from his shirt. “Than…thank you. I’m okay now.” She

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pulled out of his arms, the back of her hand wiping away her tears. “You sure?” Valens studied her, concern, longing and love showing brightly in his eyes. Shamira nodded, afraid to speak, because she’d probably beg him to take her back right then and there. But she couldn’t, she chided herself, risking telling him until she figured out who, on their team, would try to murder her father. Freaksheap had taunted her in his truth telling, and his threat had come true. Someone may have killed her father tonight. Somebody she called friend. With a sigh, she turned away and stood quietly in front of the wall of guards that protected her father. On her tiptoes she peered over one of their shoulders and spied Special Andrews shooting medicine into her father, which caused his convulsions to subside. “Even though we aren’t together. I’m here for you. I wish I could do something to make you…to take all of your pain away,” he said quietly. Shamira swallowed. “You being here right now is helping—a lot.” She tilted her head to the side, unable to bring herself to look him in the eye when she asked, “Please, Valens. Can we still…can we be friends? I really need you to tell me you are still my friend.” Valens stepped close, almost touching and whispered. “Always.” At a lost for words, she smiled. “Thanks,” her voice cracked and a hopeful smile bloomed on her face. Special Andrews came up behind one of the guards. “Let her in. It’s her father, and she may not…just let her in.” Numbness enveloped her. It was as though she was walking in a fog. Her father’s bed lay flat, his brown thick muscle-corded body lax as a breathing apparatus protruded from his mouth. Her voice cracked. “Has my mother…is she okay?” Special Andrews stood next to her. “We had to sedate her. She crawled out of her bed and down the hall to see him when she heard the alarm. We didn’t want her recovery to be in jeopardy. 190

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Whatever device they used to disable the technosuits is also weakening the underlying muscle tissue, even organs.” Confusion marred her face. “Why didn’t I…suffer like them?” “They had a house fall on them. But the innate power you hold within protected you. I was there when they administered the enhancement drugs into your deceased body when you were just a baby. It was more than any grown man had ever taken. When you came back to life—I could have sworn you glowed with energy. Before I could blink, it was gone. When your technosuit was inactive, that power rose up in you again and protected you. We never took the time to study the effects of your recovery. Your father kept your powers a secret from us.” She nodded. “I know. He didn’t trust the Earth scientists to leave me alone.” Her hand caressed his cool jaw. “Will he be okay?” Will I be okay? “I’m going to stay here all night until he is. Trust me, if there is anything I can do to save him, it will be done.” “Thank you.” Her eyes were glued to her father’s form, watching for any sign of recovery. “What happened? How’d they find him?” “He was on the floor. Like he’d been fighting with someone. But no one was here. By that time,” Special Andrews, shook his head as if deciding not to share his thoughts, but put a hand on her arm, “I’m sorry though, you and Valens must go.” Valens came up beside her and reached out for her hand. Without a fight, she placed hers in his. They walked out of the hospital room and down the hall to the elevator in silence, hand in hand. His hand slackened and she held his firm. She couldn’t do it, wouldn’t let him slip away without telling him how she felt. “Valens, I’m still in love with you. I’m sorry, but there is something going on that I can’t tell you about. I want to…but I can’t.” “Shamira, I…” “I know I can trust you, but I have to do this by myself. J-just promise you will take me back when this is all over? That you 191

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forgive me for pushing you away? I promise to tell you everything tonight…at your house.” He observed her, warring emotions on his face. “Does that mean you are giving me everything? That after tonight, you won’t leave me? You’ll let me in your heart and stop pushing me away? Because I can’t keep doing this, loving you and…fighting you, to love you.” She nodded, her hand reached tentatively to caress his cheek. Relief flooded over her when he didn’t flinch away, but accepted her touch. “Yes, yes, I love you so much…I was just afraid. After that, I’ll give you everything. All of me like you want. I won’t be afraid to love you back the way you love me. And so much is going wrong for me right now that…everything hurts. The power in me is fighting to get out and when it comes I’m so different. But we can figure it out...” Valens smiled. “Yeah, tonight.” Pulling her into his arms, he kissed her. Shamira whimpered as she felt bliss, peace and love. Valens deepened the kiss, tightening his hold on her before she reluctantly pulled away. Shamira buried her face in his neck. “It seems like forever since I’ve kissed you. I wanted to s-so bad.” The door to the elevator opened and they walked inside. “Me too.” The elevator let them off on the main level. They walked through the enclosed connector ramp to the headquarters main building in silence, hand in hand. Shamira’s mind replayed and now she knew, just saving her life wasn’t so important. Saving those kids that were coerced into getting into that van was just as pressing. “Tonight, Kurt and I saw Freaksheap send some kids into a van. Once they got inside—they didn’t want to go. I saw one being dragged in when the door slammed.” His expression turned grave. “Not again. Why?” He sighed. “I know. I felt the same way. Kurt and I couldn’t stop it though, they pulled off, then Freaksheep ran. Now I realized he 192

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wanted us to chase him.” Shamira shook her head. “I made a big mistake. I should’ve followed the kids. Saved them…” “It’ll be all right. You handle what you have to handle, and I’ll get Kurt and the others. Trust me, we’ll find out where those kids were taken, and get them safe by tonight.” He tugged her hand. Turning her toward him, he leaned down for a kiss. “I love you. God, I love you so much it hurts to look at you and know you aren’t mine.” “I feel the same, and I promise, I won’t push you away again. I…can’t lose you.” Her expression got foggy as the terror-filled look of the little boy that was being pulled in the van appeared in her thoughts. “I know you will do it…save those kids. Can you meet up with me if you have a location?” Reluctantly she pulled away, then licked her lips, before stealing another quick kiss. He dug in his pocket. “Oh, here, this is something I created last week. It’s a flesh-colored telecom device that’s activated by brain waves. I gave everyone theirs already. You don’t even have to speak out loud for it to turn on and call anyone on the team.” He put the clear colored, sticky device in the curve of her ear. Then he leaned in and kissed her ear. “It can’t be detected and works on a hidden frequency. If I find the kids, and you are busy, meet us here. We’ve got to move fast.” They arrived at the adjoining hall to the offices at Security Force Headquarters. She squeezed his hand. “Tonight.” Valens leaned down, kissed her cheek and whispered, “Tonight.”

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Chapter 34 Shamira rushed to her father’s office. Something told her she could find a clue somewhere that would lead her to the assailant who attempted to murder her parents. Thankfully, the hall was empty. She wanted answers and she wanted them now. Reconciling with Valens wasn’t her intention, but with all that was going on in her life right now, she needed his steady calmness to keep her centered. He just…completed her, and understood her without judgment. If she had to tell him that one of their friends—teammates attempted to kill her father, and was most likely the mole that led the assassins to them at every turn, she had to be absolutely sure. Whoever it was, she didn’t know how she could restrain herself from killing them because of their betrayal. She’d never trusted anyone before the take down of Monev, and to give that trust only to have it used against her…was more than she could take. Her father’s office door was closed. She eyed it suspiciously, noticing several deep scratches around the decorative door handle. “Oh, uh…Shamira?” Anthony asked as he appeared out of nowhere. Shamira jumped a bit, surprised by his sudden appearance, then looked behind him at the cube wall just outside her father’s office. “An-thony? What are you doing here?” Her jaw clenched. And oddly, she got a feeling he was just as uncomfortable running into her. “I…um, just came to get something from Willa’s desk. She, um, had some of my stats here from our testing a couple of weeks ago.” He nodded at her father’s office door. “What’s up?” “Valens is looking for you. We have a lead on some kids that were kidnapped. He’s trying to find them.”

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Anthony’s face relaxed. “Cool, I’m on my way to his desk anyway. Knowing him, he probably went to the lab.” Her eyes narrowed. “Yeah, he gave me one of those new telecom devices he created. You got yours on?” Anthony scratched his wrist. He shrugged. “No, it itches just as bad as this rash on my wrist.” “Well, put it on before you go out with them. I may need to reach you.” Her eyes did a quick scan of the folder he held in his hand. Names and codes that looked strangely like a passcode list were on several pages within. He nodded, squeezing the folder in his free hand. “Yeah…sure, see you around.” Anthony rushed past her. She watched him depart, unable to shake the feeling that something was off—really off. But she couldn’t ponder too much on that now. Absently keying in the sequence to open her father’s office, she pressed in and waited to hear the click. With a hasty glance around, she entered. Something nagged her. They didn’t talk about an investigation, no one seemed to be concerned that her father had been poisoned. It was as if they didn’t even know. Maybe they think it was a relapse from the first attack, but she knew it wasn’t. Another thought snaked into her mind as she rummaged through his desk drawer. About the mole. The accusation that the mole who did this to her father was someone they greatly trusted or someone so far up the food chain, they could easily cover up a murder attempt. She had a sneaking feeling that it could be both. Shamira sat at her father’s desk and used his password to log in. Her fingers slid quickly on the 3D keyboard as she hacked into the security system. She wanted to see who’d been in her father’s room that day. Tediously, she sped through pieces of time before her arrival. “What the…” She panned back on the video entry and realized that the camera within the room was riddled with static. Someone had purposefully killed the signal to her father’s room about two hours before she arrived. 196

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An angry growl escaped her lips. “Can’t see who’s in there. Hmm, let me get the vids from the hall.” She backtracked the video and realized that one of the guards appeared to answer a call on his telecom. He’d touched his ear to activate it and spoke rapidly before running off—leaving her father’s room unprotected. “Who came down the hall after the guard left?” Her fingers scrolled forward through the videos, but nothing actually showed anyone go into the room. Two more clicks, and Dion’s face appeared. He’d slowed, stopped at the door, and the film ended. “Dion? Wait.” Shamira scrolled just a bit forward. The video fuzzed up and another figure appeared in the hall. “Anthony? No.” She put her hand up to her mouth. In disbelief, she watched him walk down the hall. Anthony, looked around like he was expecting the guards to be in front of her father’s room door, and upon assurance that no one was there, he took a step inside the room. Air trapped in her throat, her eyes watered at his deceit, and she felt like a knife was plunged into her heart. Anthony was her friend, a good friend. Like her giant protector, she’d thought. Now though, she knew him as a traitor and a killer. “I’ve…got to make sure.” She tapped on the video clip for the room, saw him walk across the threshold, and the screen went dead. Frantically, she clicked through the remaining minutes of video, only to realize they had been tampered with. They showed black, as though the image was rolling but it had been darkened out. Shamira let out a breath, and searched the videos until she located the one that recorded just in front of her father’s office. She clicked the cameras that followed Anthony’s departure. She pushed her finger rapidly. Her leg jumped to an anxious rhythm, while Anthony left in haste and got on his motorcycle. “You never went to see Valens…but you left? To go where? Who are you working with? And what’s in that folder that’s 197

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important to someone?” Her hand came down on the desk, anger and hurt crawled up like a ball in her gut. With shaking hands, she stood, went to her father’s weapons closet and grabbed a few handheld pieces and his gun. Thankfully, she hadn’t changed, but had enough time to track Anthony with full gear. If she found that he was the mole on the team she’ll have to find out if there were others. The best place to start was with him. It took just a few strokes on the keypad on her computerized wristband to find his coordinates. He didn’t have Hedi’s skill to cloak his whereabouts. “Anthony, you better have some good answers for me, or you…will die.”

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Chapter 35 Shamira jumped on her motorcycle, revved the engine and hit the road. The heavy winds aided in cooling her angry, heated skin. I’ll kill him. I swear, if he did this to my father…my friends, Anthony’s my enemy. I don’t—can’t believe it is him. “Something…something, still doesn’t seem right. I have to look him in the eye to be sure, but I will get my answers—from his lips!” she hissed. Her wrist vibrated and she spoke into her helmet. “Connect to locator for Cadet Anthony.” The computer within her helmet responded in Cal’s voice, a reminder to push her harder for answers. “Locked on Cadet Anthony.” “Predict possible routes and landmarks.” Her eyes blinked to activate a visual on the side of her helmet visor. The streets blurred by her while she swallowed her greatest fear—they were heading toward the Mons. The computer alerted, “Routes mapped. Sector boundary coming up. Air filtration main station and Olympus Mons, largest volcano on planet Mars.” Beads of energy crisscrossed on her back. Her beast, energy, anger was scratching at the surface, warring with the barriers of her technosuit. She inhaled slowly in calming breaths. “Why are you going there? What do you know?” She couldn’t believe he would go back there. Anthony had to have a reason. That place meant nothing but death to them. It was where they thought the war with Monev ended. Unfortunately, it was where the war began. It marked the first attack on them—on her and those that she loved. There, at that place where kids were used to mine drugs for Monev, she’d known nothing but destruction and sadness.

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A beep from the helmet sounded deep within her ear. It was a call from Valens’ device. In a blink of an eye, she answered, “Valens? Is that you?” “Yeah, it’s me. We found out where the kids may be. I’m heading out with the others now.” “Okay. I’m following a lead now. I may have answers about our mole.” “Good. Hey, you seen Anthony? He’s not answering his com.” “Yeah, I saw him earlier. He said he doesn’t wear it—that it itches.” Shamira forced herself not to think of Anthony’s deception so it wouldn’t transmit to Valens in any way. He made a sound that seemed like he smacked his teeth. “Figured he’d say that. He’s got a thing about things on his ears. Heck, anywhere on his body. I can’t get him to wear any of my inventions long.” “Humph, I can see that.” “Just so you know, to use the device it only catches loud thoughts so keep thinking loudly. I’ll check in after we get them. I love you.” Even while angry at Anthony, Valens voice had a way of tickling her heart. “Thanks. I love you too.” She tightened her hands on the handlebars. She couldn’t bring herself to tell him just yet. Her proof had to be iron tight. The helmet showed a close up visual of the back of Anthony’s motorcycle as it weaved down the last mile of paved road, before the barrier of the jagged rock wall. He was about a mile in front of her, maybe more, but it was a good distance to keep her out of view. She’d deduced that he was either going to meet someone, or look for something. He was speeding like he was being chased. But she knew Anthony wasn’t aware of her following him. It made her wonder if he was afraid someone else was. Now outside of the Sector’s limits, more sand flew up with the wind. But she accelerated her bike into the desert leading to The Mons, willing herself to put her fear and sadness of this place aside to get the answers to save her parents. She’d pass the Air 200

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Filtration towers and one of the Field Air Filtration Operation Centers on the way. It was the only way humans could live on the planet. It recycled the air, making it breathable and also helped manage temperatures along with the underground heating pipes. The Mons stood angrily, higher and higher the closer she drove. A simmering burn started in the pit of her stomach and she blinked, squeezing her eyes to fight against it. Bile forced its way up her throat at the memories of all the atrocities withstood at the towering reminder that the war on crime was still on. She swallowed it down as her eyes flicked to the side of the screen within her helmet to watch Anthony. Anthony stopped about two miles ahead at a small cluster of abandoned buildings that she figured were the original buildings for the Air Filtration Management System. A few years ago they’d moved the management of this site to Sector 7. Shamira slowed her pursuit. She had to figure out a way to proceed without the bike. “Computer, do you have a hovercraft attached?” Most rides didn’t, but the souped up models sometimes did. She hoped Cal’s would. “Yes. It’s detachable under the frame.” Relief flooded her. She couldn’t—wouldn’t mess up on this one, like with the kids earlier. Either she had to nail Anthony on his betrayal, or find out what was driving him to come here. There would be no slipping up on this, she had to get to him and fast. Slowing the motorcycle, she searched out a boulder, rock or formation where she could park it undetected. “Find a place to hide,” she commanded the computer controlling the bike. “Will do, release handlebars please.” Within seconds the computer took over and parked the bike behind a large boulder that just covered up its top. Shamira got off the back and it collapsed down on the wheels. She searched for the hovercraft and realized it looked like piece of the motorcycle. Her finger pressed the lever by the front wheel 201

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and she detached the hovercraft from beneath the frame under the seat. Briefly, she looked at her wrist computer. With a waving of her finger over the surface, the screen changed to a miniature map of the surroundings. Anthony was a red dot. She bent and pressed the button on the side of the hovercraft, which connected it to the navigation program on her watch. She kicked the back of the hovercraft’s curved back and balanced her stance on its flat surface. Sand spiraled up as the board lifted her several feet into the air. Her front foot tapped the hovercraft and it lowered an inch, keeping her above ground but low. With a tilt of her back foot, she rose into the air. Anthony’s dot had stopped moving. She figured he was checking out the abandoned air filtration station just off from the straight path Mons. It was within the perimeter and would be good option for him before attempting the dead landmine trail to the Mons. Sand flew behind her and around her feet as she maneuvered the hovercraft like skateboard through the sand. There didn’t appear to be any indication of danger. All Shamira saw was the volcano above and the scattering of a few buildings to the left of it. Anthony’s motorcycle was discarded ahead and he’d long disappeared behind the largest building. Searching about, she confirmed there was no one around— except Anthony. Shamira crept nearer to one of the buildings, her hand poised over her gun. The twenty-foot tower that pumped oxygen into the Mars air, sat as a backdrop to the scattering of buildings. Her foot tapped the front of the hover board to slow it and tilted it to the side. Then she dropped down on the paved ground beneath the four small one-story buildings. Voices danced within the whistling wind. Someone was with Anthony, and they were arguing. She wondered why she hadn’t heard the other person arrive. They obviously didn’t have a vehicle, or transportation. Shamira bit her bottom lip and pulled out her gun. The suspicion that they’d been there waiting for Anthony nagged at her, but she pushed it away. She’d find out. 202

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Pointing her gun, her steps silently mixed with the sand, as she rounded the building. Anthony’s large form looked ready to pounce. Just beyond them she spied a taller figure. He had a hooded mask that covered his face, except for his gray eyes. “Keep them out of this!” Anthony yelled. The other man’s voice was hidden in the howls of the sandy wind. “I’ll do anything! Just…” A shot rung out, Shamira charged forward. “Anthony! NO!” Like black rain, assassins cloaked in black form-fitting suits dropped from the buildings. She growled, shooting with one hand, and throwing wickedly sharp stars in the other. Determined to get to the man who killed Anthony, she kicked, ducked and struggled to get her protective hooding over her face. Someone landed a blow on the side of her jaw. It stung and she staggered. She grabbed his head. Her knee connected with his covered face. “Ah!” An arm yanked her by the neck. She snatched her knife from her hip and stabbed back into the soft tissue of an eye. Her elbow connected with her attacker’s stomach and she twisted around, landing a jump kick to his chin. A laser bullet whizzed by; fire sliced her jaw. Her neck jerked and she slipped, quickly recovering. Finally she pulled her protective mask snug over her face. Fully bulletproof, she was determined to end the lives of those who stood in her way. Anthony hadn’t moved, but the air warred around him. Running at top speed, she slid and kicked another charging attacker. The beast, fight, power deep within her stomach scratched at her stomach, clawing close to the surface. She bit it down, pushed it back and landed a punch to the nose of an opponent. A long sword sliced at her. Shamira bowed backward and flipped, landing a kick on the face of a masked man. Then did a split, and threw her knife at the neck of the sword handler. He popped, and black, putrid ash rained around her. Quickly, she 203

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closed her mouth, unable to stomach the thought of his dead remains dripping within. Swinging her leg around, she kicked another charging attacker. With a jerk of her feet, she hopped up. Knife in one hand, breathing heavily, she searched for her fallen gun. Her eyes on Anthony, she took a step. Blinding pain from a bat at the back of her head sent her stumbling forward. Tears formed in her eyes, air poured from her lungs, and she fought to push up to her knees. Got. To. Fight get to get to Anthony’s killer. Anthony’s murderer stood in front of her now. His booted foot kicked her squarely in the jaw. Shamira flew backwards. Her muscle’s tightened and brightness formed behind her eyes as she landed with a bounce. Shamira gulped, throbbing achiness enveloped her face. He ripped off her protective mask. His face a blur, she watched him through her tears of agony. Straddling her, he motioned to others. Her wrists were secured, with what she didn’t know, didn’t care…she only desired to see Anthony’s killer. The one behind the threats, the attacks, the killing—the one she had to eradicate to end it all. She gagged, her breath caught in her throat, as her eyes deceived her. “Cal?” Stars clouded her vision, followed by blinding pain.

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Chapter 36 A rancid odor tickled Shamira’s nose. She held back a choke, squeezing her eyes closed. Reminding herself to give the appearance of unconsciousness forced her to relax—a little. Someone was yelling. She fought back a flinch and listened. Hopefully, they’d give away a clue…anything to get her out of here. “We need the damn codes! What the hell was in that folder?” A rich deep voice demanded. “They weren’t the ones we needed. He’s dead, so that lead is useless.” Someone yelled. “Those codes will give us access to Earth’s research and put the Security Force in the palm of our hands! We’re too close to throw it in now. I’ll get what I need out of her, then toss her dead body to them for a warning.” “I could’ve just killed Officer Nobles. You know, tortured her for the code.” “No, we have something she’ll want to protect. When we get the code, we’ll kill them all.” He hit something metallic. “The inside man screwed the damn job up. He didn’t get the final code and left behind a mess.” She heard a slap. “Kill him, we gave him what he asked for, and he delivered nothing! I want his head delivered to me skinned by daylight!” “Done.” “Keeper, I mean it—pieces!” Shamira fought to keep her eyes closed. She was sick to her stomach just thinking about the blurry vision of Cal that taunted her. Maybe this guy had the answers. The desire to lay eyes on the one that more than likely attempted to kill her family gnawed at her. The scum who’d killed her father. But she didn’t, her father’s former training was ringing in her ear, wait it out and gain total

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victory. Her fist twitched. They’d referred to a she, Officer Nobles—that meant her mom. They’d be after her mom next if she didn’t put an end to this. Rumbling sounds of movement alerted her that there were many others in the room. Someone was shuffling papers and items, obviously searching for something. She remained still. Would it always be this way? “Deactivate her suit!” the man, behind the threats made earlier, demanded. More shuffling, then the sound of feet landing heavily coming toward her. “With a sedative like before? Or the poison?” “Sedative. The nanonytes in the suit will fight back and regenerate, so give her a shot of the virus to disable them. Make the dosage of the virus permanent, that way she’ll never be able to be an Elite again—much less be able to walk.” He added with a dry laugh. “Yes sir.” NO! Every cell in her body wanted to yell. He was coming closer. Her muscles clenched with the shift in the air. For the first time in her life—she cried out for help. Activating the device Valens had created for the team, her desperate plea reached for him. VALENS! Help….help! A static, jumpy connection was made before he answered. “Shamira? We know where the kids are. And are on our way to get them. What’s wrong?” A cold swipe of something alcoholic was brushed onto her second skin—onto her technosuit. Forcing herself to remain extremely still was killing her. Valens! I’m at the Mons! Anthony’s dead. I’m… A piercing stab jolted her at the base of her skull. Then another came just under her neck. She could fake it no more. “Ahhhhhhhhh!” she screamed. Her body started shivering, convulsing, and shaking. The metal rings around her wrist cut at her, but that was nothing compared to the tiny, fire licking needles of excruciating 206

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torment that covered her body from the middle of her neck where she was dipped in her technosuit to the tips of her toes. Valens voice yelled frantically at her, and remnants of his screams filtered through. “Where are you? I can’t lock on you…tracking is cut off… God no!” Saliva poured from her mouth. Her body jerked and swayed. The lids of her eyes shuttered closed when her body hit the ground. The man who did this, the one who’s voice she’d remember for the rest of her life, demanded, “Remember, I need her alive—but torture her as much as you can. It’ll show her not to play a grown man’s game.” He chuckled and she heard his footsteps stomp out of the room, a slam of a door behind him. Her teeth were chattering, but it did nothing to stop the burning on her skin. Fingers curled up like claws as her body battled the anguish placed upon her, but she fought it—until the beating came. The pounding of fist on her back, legs, arms, and face still didn’t dull the ache from the virus they’d poisoned her suit with. She opened her eyes against the battery from the beating, promising herself that she would remember each face. Her eyes swollen, she pierced her sight through the walls. She had to find a way out of here—and she would. She groaned, the fire on her skin didn’t abate, but grew more intense. Her muscles atrophied and she squirmed to flip over on her stomach to ward off some of the blows. Jeers vibrated around the room. “That’s right!” “She killed Kan…” “He shoulda killed her…” “That’ll teach her…” Burning power built up within her. Warring pain danced beneath her skin and fought its way through the barrier of the suit…she was on fire. “Ugh…um.” She struggled against the numbing stings with her back arched and her arms covering her face. Let it go…I have to 207

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… let it out. The years she spent fighting to control the energy she held within, were slipping away. She had to let it out, even if it meant her life. Dying this way… today—wouldn’t happen. It was too bad though that her grip on consciousness was slipping away too fast.

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Chapter 37 Darkness had been her friend for many years before she’d gained her sight. Now, it allowed her to cocoon herself from an onslaught of torture she’d never truly experienced before. She wanted to stay there forever, but couldn’t. She had to kill the one who’d attacked her family. Cal? It just didn’t seem like he could be this evil, but the other option was just…impossible. Shamira struggled to open swollen eyes, but gave up, choosing to wait and let her captors make their next move. The smell of blood, her blood, tickled her nose like a metallic mask. Everywhere burned, and she felt as though she was still being beaten. The pull of something strong gripped her wrist. Someone was forcing prickly metal pins in various places on her skull. It felt as though needles were tucked under her skin and were being pulled by strings upward into a knot and taking her skin with it. “Start the pain emitters. The beating we gave her will keep the suit’s embedded nanonytes from guessing at the threat to her system and allow the emitters to repeat the level of pain as though she’s getting beaten over and over again. Keep feeding her the poison to degrade her suit’s effectiveness and break it down. It will keep her controllable until I can kill her,” the familiar voice of her main tormenter demanded. Someone grunted. “Can I take the picture now to send to Keeper for the blackmail of Katherine Nobles?” “Snake, give me a minute to start the pain emitter,” responded a voice she recognized as some sort of doctor.

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In a flurry of movement the ache she’d been able to withstand intensified. Her lips shivered, her fist balled and she fought against her binds. Eyes flying opened she scowled at her attacker—the one that looked so much like Cal her heart broke at the possibility of such deception. This look-alike smiled back at her. His eyes cold, unflinching and filled with hate so intense she knew without a doubt she was as good as dead. “I’ll…kill…you,” she forced out, saliva dripped from her swollen lips. His grin widened and he swiped a finger along her chin to catch a wayward dribble. “I don’t think so. You tried before…but failed.” Realization hit her. RENU! He was alive. But how? “I see your brain still works. I remember when last we met, you tried to kill me. I thought I’d killed you but…one of my own stepped in your place.” Renu’s lip curled up. “But I killed him instead. Uh, Kurt, I believe was his name. Funny thing was I found out he survived—and joined your little misfit friends to bring down my empire.” “You’re…dead.” Her stilted threat forced from her lips. Her body throbbed, but her anger empowered her, tickled her inner strength and gave her the ability to speak where most others couldn’t. Renu nodded at her, his gray eyes assessing her. “I bet you think this is all about you. The assassin attacks, the hunting of you day in, day out…the hit on your family?” Shamira coughed. “My father…you kill...” 210

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He waved his hand at those around him. They responded by leaving the cement cell she was shackled in. “Yes, I hope I succeeded in killing the one and single man who stole everything from me.” Confusion marred Shamira’s tormented features. She fought furiously against the metal bindings that held her to the wall. “Your father turned me in, and because of him, my brother and I failed to succeed in our control of the Department of Galactic Security.” He pointed at his chest. “Not only did your father catch me smothering our competition—he turned me in and talked my brother into testifying! I promised I would make him pay—pay for my traitor of a brother, and for taking your mother from me!” She shook her head. “N-no! Cal, not…” Her body was wracked by shivering tendrils of pain. Renu gave her a taunting grin. “Oh, you think Cal was innocent? When we were kids, I came up with the idea that he would run Mars and I would control Earth. He had agreed to help me kill our competition. But your father—his friend came between us and he bailed on me at the last minute. But, now your Cal is dead…” “How did y-you…dead.” Renu came close and leaned down to whisper in her ear. “I never got on the ship. I cut off some of my flesh and some decoy Monev assassin I pumped up with my blood through a quick transfusion on the ship then I blew the damn thing up. I waited underground for the right time to kill my brother, your father, and his entire family. My cover was almost blown by your attack on the Mons, and we spent months digging our asses out, thanks to your breaking in and stealing my workers!” 211

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“What…do you want? Just…leave us. I’ll give…you what…” “I need the codes embedded in your parents’ technosuits that will give me access to the main computer of the Department of Galactic Security. Only the embedded codes of the Security Force Elite 300 can get me in. Unless you can carve them out of them from here, you have nothing I want more than what I’m giving you.” He smiled. “Your death, and theirs.”

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Chapter 38 Fire scratched beneath her skin, and with each graze it made, the pain emitter counteracted with a pulse of culminated cuts over her body. The convulsions pulsed through her, but her eyes never left Renu’s sadistically grinning face. “You look at me like you think I’m the crazy one.” Renu reached out and caressed her face. “But this is deeper than you think, much deeper. I’m not the only bad guy here. I’m just top dog, head man, the main man. But don’t think for one second, that if I die—there won’t be others right behind me.” He winked at her and reached over to a nearby table filled with menacing looking knives, needles, and surgical accessories. Anger boiled deep in her chest, and pounded on her heart egging her to break free and fight. Shamira refused to give into her fear while watching him lift and weigh tools of torture. “Who…help…you? I’ll k-kil…” He waved a finger at her. “Tsk. Tsk. I’m the one doing the killing here. Dax, was the one that did the killing…there.” He watched her, his snide grin filled with madness observing her realization of his deceit. Confusion knitted her features. “Dax?” Air rushed out of her lungs. Renu’s eyebrow lifted. “And others that you know…others close to you. The one I killed in front of you. Led you here to me.” She couldn’t say his name. Piercing aches pummeled her chest at the consideration of Anthony’s deceit. Shamira still couldn’t

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believe it. Something in her told her Anthony wasn’t playing for Renu’s team. One of his cronies pushed the door open. “Breach detected!” Renu’s expression closed. Hardness replaced his sick grin. “Find out what it is. Send Gary in to finish her up and send the damn picture.” Shamira smirked at him. “Scared?” He backhanded her. “No, but you should be. No one can save you now. If they do—Mars will suffer and I’ll blow up the air filtration system, to kill you all!” The sting from the blow spiked the level of pain pulsing from the pain emitter and she choked back a sob as her tormentor’s puppet came in the room. His pale baldhead and grim expression belied the joy she glimpsed in his eyes. She knew he loved torturing others, and she prayed for the day to come in which she could return the favor. Others followed, guns drawn as someone captured her image by taking her picture and hastened out the room. Sounds of a struggle just beyond the door tickled Shamira’s sensitive hearing. She fought to hold her eyes steady on Renu as Gary picked up the intensity of the pain emitter’s power. She bit her lip, praying her team was here and continued to fight against her binds. Shamira heard Renu direct several of his men to be on high alert and assume positions for defense, the corner of her lip turned down when she heard the first attack. Surging power poured through her and she was revived in the fight. Someone was out there…and they were there to save her. 214

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“Ugh…um.” She pushed, pulled against the shackles to her wrist. Her pinched face tilted up toward the commotion at the door of her prison. One man, then another, fell with various silent shots of light. Renu charged at her, pulled out his knife and tucked the point of it to the apex of her chin and neck. Her head reared back, and her knee jutted up landing a blow to his stomach. He roared and returned the blow by slicing jaggedly down the side of her neck. He landed another blow to her jaw. “You are lucky I need you alive—for now!” Her head wrenched to the side, but the sting was distant as she was now positive of an attack on his fortress’ defenses. With her technosuit on the edge of permanent deactivation, the strength she’d hidden within her for almost a year raged out as the barrier between it and her skin weakened. Shamira let the ball of energy break free as the final effects of the virus injected into her suit. She was ablaze. Power licked from deep within her. It flowed up her chest, down her legs and through her arms. “You—are—dead!” Shamira yanked her wrist with the metal bindings out of the wall. Renu’s expression registered shock, but he quickly recovered to stab her in the shoulder. She countered with a block downward and his knife slipped to the floor. He hit her chest with triple the power of an ordinary man. Her body bowed forward and she punched him with both fists in the genitals. He jabbed her. Then he fell to his knees. “Ugh.” Shamira’s head hit the wall and she remembered that he’d done a jacked-up enhancement job to himself some time ago. 215

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Renu grabbed a jagged metal pole off the floor, raised his arm and aimed for her heart. “Damn the codes! You die first—then Katherine!” Shots rang in the seemingly empty room. Startled, Shamira looked down at Renu, whose neck was seeping blood. His expression was filled with shock, then anger before he let out a wheeze-filled chuckle. “Then everyone dies.” His hand reached in his pocket, shaking he pulled out his hand and squeezed a silver remote in the shape of a bullet. Shamira reached for it, grabbed it as he fell back. “Too…late. Die…” Renu’s unblinking eyes stared up at her. Gunfire flew around her. She dodged them as her hand worked frantically to stop the beeping from the device. It didn’t appear to have any buttons, only a small red blinking light that hummed with each flicker. “Shamira!” Frowning at the sound of her name, and the familiar deepness that was Valens, she looked around for him but saw no one. The door closed as if by a ghost, and the exchange of fire outside was shut out. In a flicker of light, Valens appeared in front of her. “Don’t look surprised. You know me, I had to do a prototype of a suit like the assassins used. I’ve been working on it from the beginning of this.” His brow creased and he studied her bruised features, and her bloody shoulder. “You okay enough to get out of here?” He pulled her into a quick hug, kissing her lips softly. “Let me give you an adrenaline boost. It’ll help you heal faster and take off the edge off your pain.” 216

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“Hurry.” Valens took the syringe out of his belt and administered it on the side of her neck. “What’s that?” Valens pointed to the device she held. She groaned. “Renu set off a bomb to the air filtration system. If it blows, everyone on the planet will suffocate—or worse. We’ve got to stop this.” “You have to go do it. I’ll send a message to Hedi. If it’s connected to this computer system, see if she can hack it. Get to Dion, he’s clearing an exit for us. I’ll hack into the computer system here. I got to find out who’s been working for Renu.” Shamira nodded, and said a silent prayer that they were not too late. She stepped over Renu’s fallen body to pick up her discarded weapons belt. Rage washed over her at the thought that not only her life was in danger, but her entire family and Mars would die too if they didn’t defuse the bomb.

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Chapter 39 Shamira glanced down at her computerized watch she’d retrieved. Then she slid a finger over it as it vibrated Dion’s location in the dark tunnel just outside of her former cell door. A perfunctory look around alerted her that Renu’s gang had converted the underground heating systems tunnels nestled under the Mons into a hideout. Cal’s guess was right. Unfortunately, he underestimated his crazed twin brother’s hate and determination for revenge. Her gun was raised and ready. Shamira squeezed out the door to spy a tall man in a loosely shaped black shirt running down the hall in front of her. She followed him at a distance while periodically glancing down at her locator. Noises vibrated around her of men readying for a fight, and various shots and explosions racked the darkness. Adrenaline licked her skin. Unlike the artificial power from her technosuit, this energy was like coming home. It didn’t heal her wounds but it made her forget the pain. Almost electrical, it felt as if it danced joyful on her skin, happy to finally be free of its year-long cage. Although the hall was dark, her enhanced eyesight gave it a dim glow, while she made her stealth path toward Dion’s location. Her head turned slightly at a minimal sound of movement. Someone pulled her arm. Swiftly twisting, she held an invisible foe plastered to the wall by the neck. Her gun was pointed low into his belly. “Shamira, it’s me, Dion.” In a flicker of light like a camera coming on, Dion’s body became apparent. She exhaled, and released him. “Nice suit. We have to get out of here. Renu set off a bomb that will blow up the air-filtration device and suffocate all of Mars if we don’t stop it.” Dion sneered. “He would, the bastard.” He fumbled with some wire on the side of his black pant and snorted in frustration.

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“Damn, the suit only has enough charge to work until it’s cut off. I guess we are stuck visible for now. C’mon, Mitch is securing the hall that leads to the exit. He’s waiting for you. I’m covering Valens.” “Your communication device working?” Shamira followed him with her back slightly turned to cover the space behind them. “Not down here, something scrambles the signals so we get static and some parts of conversation. Hedi and Kurt are above, the can hear us better than we can hear them.” He aimed and fired at a lone opponent blocking their path. Within what seemed liked seconds, about fifteen men appeared in the fallen one’s place. She assessed them: some had guns, others didn’t. Shamira crouched, grabbed a knife from her belt and aimed. Her fallen victim slumped. Another jumped over him to charge at them. As Dion fired, she slid to one knee to dodge her attacker’s kick. Reaching out, she pulled his leg from under him. Then she stood and kicked him in the face as he fell. Her hand around her fallen victim’s neck, she kicked up into the chest of another. Throwing her body in a backhand flip, she kicked the necks of two charging opponents. She landed and crouched, with her gun in her hand. A sidekick from a tall man on her right jarred the gun from her fingers. She heard Dion’s scream as a bullet connected in the curve where his shoulder met his neck. Shamira’s chest constricted with guilt as blood gushed from his wound. Another punch connected with her face. And a laser bullet flew passed her, jerking her jaw to the left. The power beneath her skin surged, burning hot, causing a red haze to form around her. Like a beast set free, she kicked, stabbed, and hit each opponent who charged her. Jumping up, kicking one, then punching forward at another, electrical currents absorbed within their bodies causing her victims to shake and smoke. The smell of burning flesh filled the corridor as one then another fell dead to the ground. 220

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Silence enveloped her, and as if out of a daze, she shook her head. She raced to Dion. “How’d you…do…that?” he rasped. “You friggin’ glowed.” Dion’s eyes widened. Shaking slightly, she covered his wound with her hand while helping him stand. “I don’t know. A side effect from the drugs they gave me when I died before, I guess. I’m going to try to carry you out of here.” He fought against her and pushed himself up on a nearby wall. “No! Get out of here! Stop the bomb. I’ll try and get this device…to hide…me, so Valens can get out safe.” “No! I won’t leave you here to die. You’re on my team—you’re my friend.” He smiled, then coughed. “I know. NOW GO!” He pushed at her. In a flash of light he disappeared. Dion’s replica of the assassin’s suit activated.

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Chapter 40 Shamira ran into a rain of gunfire, tears dropping unchecked from her eyes for having to leave the wounded Dion behind. Mitch’s pale skin glowed slightly in the darkness like a beacon for her. He rained fire at the storm of assassins, downing them one by one, before he threw down his gun, disgusted. She reached for her gun while hanging back unseen. Her breath quickened, her fingers frantically tried to locate it, but it wasn’t there. Fumbling on her waist she grabbed two knives and a cutting star. Twisting her wrist, she aimed at the hands of their opponents. Their guns dropped to the ground. Mitch ran to retrieve them. “About time you showed up!” he grounded out gruffly. Smoothly, leaning to the side, Mitch kicked a charging opponent in the face. “I was busy. Dion’s hurt bad. Didn’t want to leave him.” Shamira jerked her elbow back to land on the chest of another assassin. Her palm upchucked the chin of another. Yanking the gun of one free, she back-kicked one more and shot two bulky men who took their place. “Stop playing nice! Kill these mothers! Valens will take care of him.” Mitch shot two in the chest. He grabbed Shamira’s hand, swung her around to deliver a death kick. The assailant’s neck broke with a crack. She landed with legs spread and fists high. Taking a hasty look around the tunneled corridor, she nodded. “It’s clear…for now. Let’s go! Got to deactivate a bomb!” Mitch took a small sphere out of his pocket. With a toss, smoke filled the corridor. “All clear.” He pulled a small plastic nose-plug out of his pocket and handed one to her. She promptly stuffed the form-fitting pieces up her nostrils. Mitch nudged her and followed her up a metal ladder attached to

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the wall. Shamira pushed the round, heavy metal lid up, then over, as it locked in place. The moonlight poured into the exit. Sparks from rapid fire lit the smoke filled darkness below. Shamira turned, looking for Mitch. “Ugh!” Mitch’s head surged forward, hitting the metal step of the ladder. “Mitch!” Shamira reached for his hand that held tightly to the step beneath her. Someone tugged at her shirt, and she pulled away to grab Mitch’s hand. More gunfire lit up the dull smoke-filled exit. A final grunt escaped Mitch’s lips as his hand gave way. She heard a thump as he landed to the floor below. “NO!!!!!!” Kurt yanked her up by her jacket. “The bomb! Hedi will get them out. She’s calling backup.” Shamira’s heart was breaking. She was losing them all, and it was her fault that they were there. “Mitch…he and Dion. Hedi’s…” She choked and wiped a hand down her face. Hedi’s red hair lit up the night as she ran toward them. “I’ve locked on the bomb. It’s ticking fast, less than fifteen minutes to get to the Air Filtration Command Center!” Shamira pulled herself together. “Get Mitch and Dion out! They’ll all die down there if you don’t.” “You know I will.” Hedi nodded. “Backup’s almost here. Now go!” Shamira hesitated a moment, and Kurt yanked at her jacket. She pulled away. “Anthony…his body, don’t leave him here.” She couldn’t bring herself to reveal Anthony’s deceit. Hedi’s eyes started to water. “Body? Are you saying…” Shamira eyes closed and she gritted her teeth. Pivoting from Hedi’s forlorn face, she ran to the air filtration control center. The Mons at her back, her arms pumped, her blood raged, and electrical power flared, dancing over her body. “I’m right behind you. Don’t stop! I’m locked on the location.” Kurt sped up next to her. He pointed ahead. “There!” 224

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Shamira’s body throbbed. Pain forgotten, her only fixation was saving the lives of those she loved as she slid up to the metal door standing between her and the bomb that would suffocate everyone on the planet. Lifting her leg, she felt a flicker of electrical power dance over her skin. Her heart racing, tears of anguish teased the corners of her eyes, she pounded on the door. One kick, two, a punch, another and the door bent, dented, but wouldn’t give. “Get back! I’ll shoot it,” Kurt commanded barely giving her time to step out of the way before he fired on the lock. The concrete frame of the door cracked as he shot at the door over and over again. The hinge’s hold loosened and Shamira kicked it several times, bursting it open. She stopped short, the tickling of heat and adrenaline curled up within her seeking a fight. “Where is it?” She searched the large room of slick tan rock floors, walls of white and multiple flat-screen computer panels on the walls. Kurt tapped the computer band on his wrist and pointed at one of the wall paneled computer screens. “Over there, behind the screen.” Shamira rushed forward, breathing fast as prickling anticipation and fear flowed through her. “How much time we got?” She started lifting the computer screen off the wall. Kurt grabbed the other end and they put it on the floor. “Not much…not much.” He studied the wall, a frown marring his brown features. “We have to break through the wall. It’s in there kinda deep. Damn! I hoped it was in a safe or something I could pick, not built into the damn wall. The sick son-of-a...” “I’ll do it.” Taking several deep breaths, a wave of refreshed energy poured through her. Punch after punch landed on the wall. White lights of electrical power sprayed out of each blow until her knuckles bled. The wall cracked, crumbled, and gave way to an alcove within. “Hold up! Careful, it might speed up if it’s jarred.” 225

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Trembling, she fought for command of the deteriorating situation. For the first time since she’d been a blind kid with all of this built-up power she didn’t understand, it took everything within her to cool down, back the power deep within her and regain control. Her body shivered, her chest hurt as if she’d inhaled too much water, and sweat poured out of her. She clenched her fist in an effort to regain control. Kurt reached around her and cautiously touched one of the wires exposed out of the makeshift bomb. It was a dark, thick palm-sized square with wires of various colors jutting from within. He jerked his hand away, then rummaged around in his pocket for a cylinder device about the size of a pen. “This will let me see inside it.” His other arm jerked up and he glanced down at the mini-computer on his wrist. “I don’t have time to deactivate it,” he gulped. Shamira’s gaze left the shell of the bomb and collided with his fear-laden expression. “It’s okay. I have an idea.” He shook his head. “No…you don’t. You can’t. You’ll die!” Shamira grabbed the bomb. Shoving Kurt out of the way, she dashed through the door. Releasing the pent up beast within her, she ran with renewed speed. “Faster. Faster. Don’t stop,” she chanted. Each breath was filled with needles of pain. Tears ran unchecked down her face. The device beeped loudly, and more rapidly with each of her steps. Kurt’s yell boomed behind her. Pouring out all the power she’d held within her, pulse after pulse drenched her entire body. The beeping bomb screeched its final alarm. Heaving gulps of air, she threw it forward into the sand swept winds, and with a powerful thundering boom, it exploded. “Ahhhhhhhhhhh!” Indescribable heat engulfed her entire body. Kurt’s cries were drowned by the blast of heat, and it felt as though her entire body was on fire. Fire so intense consumed her as she flew backwards. 226

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Her head crashed against the pavement, dunking her into deathly darkness.

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Chapter 41 I did it. They’re safe…safe. Blinding light pushed Shamira forward. Air rushed into her lungs and she lunged upward from a pillowed surface. “Nooooooo!” Her hand tangled in a soft, silky mass of waved curls and her blurry vision cleared as her hand slipped from within its soft cocoon. A fit of coughing shook her. Valens sleepy gaze locked with hers. A smile blossomed on his face and glowed within his eyes. “Shamira! You’re awake.” He snuggled her close in a hug and showered kisses on her lips, her cheeks, her eyes and neck. Holding her as if he was afraid to let her go, he whispered, “God I love you…love you so much. You’re back…with me.” She felt moisture from his tears on the side of her face. “Valens, I love you too. Sorry…so sorry.” Her voice croaked hoarsely, and she coughed breathlessly determined to tell him everything. “Anthony…he was the mole. My d-dad dead, Renu need codes to…kill.” Tears of distress from her weakness leaked down her face. He held her face within his hands. “Shh…shhh.” He leaned in and kissed her deeply while she whimpered, then tangled her hands in his hair. An expression of wonder etched on his face, as if he couldn’t believe she was alive. “We know it all, everything. Your father is alive.”

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“Bu-but, I didn’t mean to break up with you. I had,” she coughed, “to so…you and the others would be safe from them.” “I figured that out after we came to get you.” A tear slipped from the crease in his eyes. Valens bent in and kissed her. “Why didn’t you tell me? You know you can tell me anything.” “I-I’ll go with you to Earth.” Her bandaged hand pulled him close. She whispered, “If you still want me.” “I’ll always want you.” “Burns…so many burns.” She sniffed. “They are almost completely gone. You’re just bandaged up to make sure your wounds are fully healed. Thanks to the nurses constantly bugging you all the time. And I love the new haircut.” He ran his fingers through her short cropped hair. “But I’m not going to Earth to stay, I put in my request to stay on Mars…with you after our training.” “You…did,” she kissed him. “No more doubts, I know you risked your life, and broke up with me because you do love me.” Shamira exhaled the breath she’d been holding. “Renu, is he dead?” Her eyes watered. “Anthony…he is?” She let out a sob of relief. “Renu, we don’t know. I guess he is. I had to get Dion out of there when Kurt warned us of the explosion.” He squeezed her hand. “About Anthony, I know what you think.” Valens pushed the button on the side of her bed. He moved her over gently and squeezed her a bit. She sighed and cuddled up next to him. “I’m glad,” she coughed, “you’re here.” 230

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“Me too.” The door to her room pushed opened. Shock bloomed on her face. “Anthony? You were… Renu killed you!” Anthony smiled from his crutches, tears rolled down his eyes as nurses rushed in the room. “He tried, but he didn’t.” Valens argued with the nurse, refusing to leave Shamira’s side as they checked her vitals. Shamira’s eyes widened when her father rolled in the room in a wheelchair followed by her mother, Hedi, Kurt, and Mitch, who had a cast on his arm and a brace on his back. She pushed the nurse’s hand away. “Dion? Where’s Dion?” Hedi’s tear streaked face spoke volumes. Her head shook a negative answer and Hedi fought to hold back a sob. Anthony pulled her to him and whispered in her ear. Her parents came up to the bed. Her father shook his head. “He didn’t make it. We didn’t want to tell you so soon, but he died from his injuries.” Guilt thudded in her chest. A member of her team died trying to save her. She covered her face with her trembling hand. “No! No. I tried to carry him out. He wouldn’t... He wouldn’t let me.” Her mother put her hands on Shamira’s bandaged face and kissed her softly on the portion of her exposed cheek. “It wasn’t your fault. He knew what he was doing, and sent a message to Hedi saying that saving you was the best thing he’d ever done in his life. That you were more than a leader, you were his friend.” Valens arm tightened around her. He whispered in her ear. “It’ll be okay. I’m here. It’ll be okay.”

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Her eyes closed briefly and she forced calmness to envelop her. She looked up, her stare nailed onto Anthony. “You backstabbed us—your team. Sold us out to Renu!” Anthony stepped closer, said, “No,” and walked to her bed. “Don’t you dare come one step closer!” her voice rumbled. Her father’s hand went up to delay Anthony. “Anthony didn’t betray you. He did what I asked him to do. I remembered something Cal and I talked about the day that he died. He was suspicious about the dead zone at the Mons. He said he’d been monitoring that area and something didn’t seem right. He told me he still felt a connection to his brother—like his brother had never died.” Anthony hesitantly stepped closer. “Dax put something on me when we first got interrogated. It was a tracking device. When your father called, I went straight to his room. He told me to get a folder that had a tracking of beacons or codes that were sent out from Security Elite Officers only. Those codes could also be used to locate a link into the Department of Galactic Security megacomputer because they send an encrypted sequence to connect the Elite 300 to their main system. Your dad told me to change the code numbers in the folder so no one would steal them, and take them with me to check out the Mons.” Recognition triggered within her. “He—Dax tried to take my wrist. Hold them and I wouldn’t let him touch me. And you were always complaining about a rash on your wrist. But when you got to the Mons…” Anthony’s rested a hand on Shamira’s shoulder. “When I got there, Renu knew I was coming. He always knew where I was and 232

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that’s why we always got ambushed by his assassins. Except for the time at the club when Freaksheep called them when he was kidnapping those kids.” “Renu acted like he was expecting something from you though.” She wrinkled her eyebrows. Anthony nodded. “He was. He was expecting you to be with me. Renu wanted you. So I offered him the folder with the fake passcodes. It wasn’t enough. When I delivered you by mistake, he tried to kill me. But I still had some skills from my days as a Monev runner. I remembered how to play dead when chances were I’d lose the fight.” Her mother smoothed her shortened bangs from her face. “Dax was working for Renu. He wanted to lead the force and was willing to kill your father to do it. But one of Renu’s men got to him first and he didn’t survive.” Her father cleared his throat. “After Anthony left my room, Dax sent a message to the guards to leave their posts. He shot me with poison, but Valens’ dad did the impossible again and saved my life. Garcia was working with Dax also, and she was taken to Earth. She had a quickie trial and was put to death in the Waters. Valens found names of others that were affiliated with the crime organization and working on a rebuild, but had to leave the data behind to get Dion and Mitch out alive.” Shamira’s mom pointed to her father. “Your dad is now the Head of the Security Force here on Mars. I’m his deputy until you finish your final year of training on Earth. We have a suspicion that Monev is much bigger than Renu and that there may be some additional double agents on Earth.” 233

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Her father sighed. “When Kurt made the call telling us about the explosion. We prayed you would recover, that you would come out of the coma. It was the worst month of our lives.” Mitch limped up to her. “The worst. Why the hell did you do something so stupid? Kurt had a back-up plan. You know he always does.” He smirked down at her, his damp eyes belying his scold. She grinned back at him. “I know, but I’m the leader and I make the biggest sacrifice because all of you mean so much to me.” She squeezed Valens’ hand. “I was out for an entire month?” A stitch of melancholy tickled her chest at the time she lost with Valens. Valens kissed her hand. “I never left you. Not for a minute. And you cried for me, whispering how sorry you were.” Tears welled up in her eyes. “I am.” Shamira kissed him, smelled him and huddled closer. “I’m so happy you still love me.” Pounding feet and banter filled the hall as the door burst opened. David, Taren and Manny bounded toward her with several nurses running behind them. “Meera!” They giggled excitedly. They pushed past her parents to smother her in hugs and sloppy kisses. At that moment, that very moment warmth and love filled her as she squeezed her family close, feeling as though she was the luckiest girl alive to have another chance at life and get it right.

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Bandits by LM Preston (Sample) Daniel rolled over and punched his pillow. “Ugh! I give up,” he muttered. Sleep always eluded him and tonight was no different. Groomed as a thief and mercenary, his mind was ready to act. Most nights it was hard to shut off. He definitely wouldn’t get any sleep tonight with the distant murmur of voices that filled his head and grew louder each second. “Gambling night,” he spat out. Daniel snatched the pillow from under his head and covered his face. It didn’t help, the angry voices filtered through anyway. He just didn’t get it. Every week it was the same thing. Fights over cheating, his father’s outright refusal to take on any snatch jobs, and then the old man getting chewed out. He was sick of his father’s screw-ups. Daniel shook his head at the thought of another late night caused by his dad’s weekly game with his friends. He let out a deep breath, threw the pillow aside, and sat up on his bed. “Serves him right,” he sneered. “Been picking up his jobs for three years now, and I’m ready for my own territory anyway. I’m finished picking up his slack—I’m done doing it…TONIGHT.” He wiped his hand down his face then punched down on the rumpled bed. Remorse crept up his back. He squeezed his eyes shut and then opened them. Maybe, he should’ve picked up the load his father refused to get from Haden. His father’s best friend, and leader of the EBRA, was sick of his dad’s refusal to do his job.

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Daniel looked down at the snoring body of his cousin on the floor, and acknowledged that Faulk didn’t have the same dirty blond hair, dimples, or gray eyes as he. No, Faulk was different. His mother’s Asian features dominated Faulk’s face instead. He shoved Faulk’s leg out of his way so he could stand. With a crack of his neck, he stretched, and then scratched his bare chest. “Faulk,” he smirked, “your parents would kill you if they knew you were hiding out here. Hell, my father may kill me when I tell him I let you in.” Daniel figured Faulk had the Pierce family’s adventurous spirit. Proven fact, since Faulk dropped out of flight school two days before his graduation, only to land on Daniel’s doorstep. Faulk had showed up earlier that day with a sack of wrinkled clothes, his flight school uniform and a stupid grin. Daniel let him in, even though he hadn’t seen Faulk in years. The first and last time he’d laid eyes on Faulk was four years ago, when Uncle Kiev came to demand that his father change his criminal ways and come home to Earth. No way Uncle Kiev would get my old man to change. He’d never give up being a Zukar. His father had been with the Zukar, a faction of thieves on Merwin, ever since he was a kid. Celebrated for his undisputable snatch jobs, his father had become a legend. The voices in the front room grew louder with angry shouts and the muted sounds of laser fire pierced the air. Daniel’s head jerked toward the door, his brow wrinkling. The tingling down his back confirmed this wasn’t the typical weekly banter. He pulled his gun from beneath his pillow. Gripping the handle of the gun, he crept to the door, and pushed it open. He leaned against the 236

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door and tilted the gun up, prepared to shoot. Ready to attack, he was stopped by a call from his ten-year-old brother. “Psst,” Nickel whispered from his bedroom doorway across the hall. Daniel turned his angry gaze on his younger brother, whose short, light brown hair stood on end. Nickel’s gray eyes filled with concern on his rounded face as he shook his head at his brother’s stupidity. He gestured in their coded sign language. “No, too many.” Daniel’s mouth thinned. He raised his free hand to motion for his brother to stay put, and crept slowly along the wall leading to the front room. Whispered arguments had elevated into shouting. More laser fire went off, and a smoke bomb followed, filling the long hallway with thick smoke before Daniel could make his way down. Daniel held his breath and fought his way through. His eyes burned, and his lungs fought to breathe. He narrowed his eyes and felt around in front of him. With his gun at the ready, he frantically searched for his father in the dull, smoke-filled room. “Humph! The bastards ran.” Coughs sounded behind him. Daniel knew his brother and cousin were not far behind. The roar of an engine lit the night. He ran toward the front door to pursue the men who fled, but he tripped forward, stumbling over a firm body. He used his free hand to brace himself before falling face first on the floor. The smoke started to dissipate out of the opened door and Daniel didn’t have to look at the body to see whose it was. The punch of dread hit him dead in his chest when he pushed himself back off the slightly rounded stomach of his father’s large form. 237

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Daniel held back a sob and swallowed. “Keep Nickel back! Keep ‘em back,” he yelled. He sat back on his knees and forced his angry eyes to land on his father. “No! Damn! Who-did-this?” His lips formed a scowl. Tears from the smoke and his grief fell slowly. Balling his fist, he punched down on his bent knees as grief and desolation caved in on him. Anger at his father—even dislike—didn’t take away the fact that he loved the old man and wanted him there with them. “Arghhhhhh!” His fist tightened, “I never wanted this. I’ll kill them. Why didn’t you just yell for help? I would’ve saved you,” his voice cracked. He raised his fists and pushed them against his eyes to stop his tears. Daniel heard his brother cry behind him. “No, no...Dad! Please don’t be dead. NO!” Nickel tried furiously to fight his way out of Faulk’s firm grip. Daniel’s muscles tightened, and years of training as a thief reminded him to shove those sappy feelings of regret down. “Don’t let him go Faulk. Not yet.” He quickly pulled himself together. His expression grave while he examined his father to see if he was breathing. Nothing, he’s gone. The old man’s…gone. With a grunt, he tilted his father’s body for a better look, just to be sure. His eyes traveled over his dead father, up and down his back. The finality of his father’s fate sat heavy in his gut. The laser left a hole clean through his father’s leg, but it was the knife to his heart that ultimately caused his death. His father’s body landed with an eerie, lifeless thump when Daniel released him. Daniel looked at his father’s grayish-blond hair and the shocked expres-

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sion of his death in his eyes, and sceamed out. Anger at his father’s killers—even at his father’s carelessness choked up within him. Nickel broke free of Faulk and ran into Daniel’s back. He collapsed to his knees, laid his head on his father’s stomach, and cried in loud, choking sobs. Putting his sorrow aside, Daniel reached back to console his little brother. “Daddy, no...no.” Nickel cried and kneed the floor in anger. “Why, Daniel? WHY him? Our Dad?” Faulk came and put his hand on Daniel’s shoulder. “Daniel, I’m sorry man. I’m so sorry. Maybe…maybe I should call my parents.” Daniel stood up with a glare. “Don’t,” he forced out the words through gritted teeth. “Your parents don’t know this place. They’d make things worse. Trust me-much worse.” His mouth thinned as he watched his brother cry. “You gotta be kidding me! Your father was murdered, right here,” Faulk pointed to the floor. “Here, while we were in our beds, dude. Cold blooded with us in the house. Who’s to say our asses aren’t next?” Faulk yelled, and then pushed Daniel’s chest. Daniel grabbed Faulk’s shirt, balled it up in his hand and slammed him against the wall. “You came here uninvited. You wanted to live here, but you don’t…Look, you-don’t-know-theZukar. Outsiders stay the hell out of our business. Don’t try your Earth logic on this planet. I’ll handle it.” He jammed his index finger into Faulk’s chest. “And by the way, the next time you push me, you best be ready for a beat down. Now go to my room and pack up my weapons—all of ‘em. I’ll take care of Nickel,” Daniel 239

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forced out, trying to hold onto his anger at Faulk’s misplaced judgment. He pushed Faulk into the wall in disgust, and then let him go with a jerk, releasing his wrinkled shirt. Daniel turned away from Faulk, and then bent down to touch his brother’s trembling shoulder. “He’s gone, Nick, but don’t worry. I’ll take care of you. You know I will.” Nickel turned to Daniel and hugged him. He sniffled and wiped the tears from his eyes. “I know you will. I’ll take care of you too. Dad wanted me to.” Nickel gathered his composure and forced a determined expression on his face. “Are we going to the trove? We gotta get to Dad’s stuff before they do. Someone wanted to know where his trove was, but he wouldn’t tell them.” Nickel pulled on Daniel’s arm and whispered. “He told me a secret. Said if anything happened to him, I had to get his journal.” Daniel’s eyebrow arched up. “His journal? Dad kept a diary, like a girl?” He groaned. “I knew the old man was turning soft.” Nickel frowned, working up a fierce appearance on his face. “No he wasn’t! Dad wasn’t soft. He was fierce and strong. He could still kick your butt, and you know it.” He glared at Daniel angrily, still upset by the loss of his father, but he didn’t hold the glare long. “Anyways, Dad never got a chance to tell me where he put the journal. Some bastard killed him tonight, before he could.” “We gotta get out of here. You search for the journal if it’s so important, and I’ll get my gear.” Daniel grabbed Nickel by the arm to force him down the hallway so he couldn’t go back over to where their father had fallen.

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Nickel pulled away. “Okay. I’ll look in the lower rooms. That’s where he was when I last saw him. He might have had it there,” Nickel said before running off. “Faulk!” Daniel called while he ran down the hall to his room. His cousin was fervently packing various weapons into their packs. “Yeah? This stuff is ready to go. Anything else?” Faulk took a quick glance around the room. Daniel pointed to his closet. “Go into the safe in the floor of my closet. Put in 56-23-82-34 and take out all the money there. Hell if I know where we’re going, but if things don’t turn out well we may have to leave Merwin.” He grabbed a green shirt off the floor and pulled it over his head. Faulk angrily threw down the sack he’d filled. “Leave the planet? What the hell for? We didn’t kill your dad. Why do we have to be the ones on the lam?” “Look, let me make this quick for you goody do-right types. Merwin is populated by Zukar from all different galaxies. Any cut-throat or snatcher that wants a safe haven from the law settles here if they can pass the Zukar’s members test. It’s a planet full of—well, criminals, hit men, and murderers—people who’ll do anything for the right price, get my drift?” Faulk rolled his eyes. “Uh, well I still don’t get the danger here.” Daniel shrugged as he looked under strewn clothes for his vest. “Our new King wants us out, off his planet, and many of the Zukar here won’t go without a fight. If we don’t find my father’s killers before they find us, we’ll all be dead or sent to a penal

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colony on the Planet Uukin. Damned if I know who killed ‘im. I just know I don’t want us to be next.” “So, we’re running from the King and maybe a Zukar?” Faulk asked, raising an eyebrow as he stuffed a knife in his belt. Daniel put on his vest over his shirt. “My father had a lot of people who hated him—first for his skills and later for his failures. It could’ve been a Zukar or the King’s men. There are different people here every week to gamble. Far as I know, it wasn’t even the usual crew, since most of them are out on snatch jobs this time of year. I just thought he was doing his usual weekly gamble bit.” “My parents could help us. They’re ambassadors of the Galactic Peace Council.” Daniel pointed at Faulk. “Your parents’ power as diplomats for Earth won’t help when we get sent to Uukin. Cuz, you came here for an adventure, right? Well it’s about time you man up and stop running to your daddy at the first sign of trouble.” He grabbed his gun belt and quickly left the room. He headed to the lower rooms, and climbed down the steep ladder leading downward from the secret door in the floor. “Nickel? Nickel? You find it?” Nickel was looking under the couch. “No. Freak! I looked everywhere. We can’t leave without it. We gotta find it. Dad made me promise.” Daniel started looking around the room and hastily turned over anything that stood in his way. “I remember walking in on Dad when he was down here. He jumped when I came down, like he was hiding something. He was over there by the mirror.”

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Daniel bumped into Nickel and then tripped over Nickel’s foot. He broke his fall by landing in the middle of the mirror. While he righted himself, he saw the mirror under his fingers glow with a strange blue light. Nickel pointed. “Look! There, on the opposite wall...the picture moved.” Daniel watched with quiet interest when the picture split in half to reveal a built in shelf. It held a small black book, which pushed forward. He took the book out. It felt heavy and thick as the worn pages pushed the black cover up slightly. He flipped it back and forth in his hand for a second and then opened up the first page. For Daniel and Nick. Daniel shut the book and put it in his back pocket. He turned to see Nickel staring at him. “Let’s go. We’ve got to get out of here before it’s too late.” Nickel didn’t argue but ran past him to climb up the ladder. Faulk was waiting at the top of the stairs, and gave Nickel a hand to get up. Daniel followed Nickel up but purposely ignored his cousin’s outstretched arm. “Let’s go. Now! Get everything to the door,” he ordered, leaping up out of the hole. Nickel stomped his foot. “We can’t leave Dad like that. We gotta do the Zukar ceremony of death. We have to do it or he won’t rest.” “We don’t have time, Nick. They’ll be here soon. We stayed to long already,” Daniel said sternly as he pushed Nickel toward the door. 243

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Nickel resisted. He stumbled against Daniel’s hard pushes on his back and head to force him forward down the hallway. “No! No, I’m not leaving unless we do it. It’s our Dad!” Faulk looked solemnly at Daniel. “Look, man. I’ll pack the car. Give the kid something to remember—a chance for him to say goodbye.” With that, he grabbed the bag and left the house. Daniel gave in and walked with his brother to stand in front of his father’s fallen body. “Okay Nickel, let’s do it.” They chanted and prayed the Zukar death ritual over their father. Daniel snatched his knife out of his belt and cut off a lock of his hair. He turned to Nickel and did the same. Nickel gathered the pieces and plaited it into his father’s long braids. There was a moment of silence, and finally Nickel dropped down and hugged his father goodbye. He took a deep breath and swallowed hard, trying to be brave. “I’m ready.” Daniel put his hand on his brother’s shoulder. He lifted him up and threw him over his shoulder. He tickled Nickel, hoping their old game of capture would take their minds off the grave road ahead of them. “Put me down! Stop! I’ll get you!” Nickel yelled and squirmed. Daniel slapped him on the leg, a smile tickling his lips. “Keep fighting. You squirt. You’ll never be big enough to beat me.” “When I turn eleven, you’re going down—you just watch,” Nickel replied with a firm smack to Daniel’s head. He laughed out as Daniel seized him with another tickle attack. “Is that so? Then maybe I need to get all my licks in now,” Daniel chuckled and slapped Nickel’s backside. He forced it out and pushed down the conflicting emotions raging in his chest. 244

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More Releases From LM Preston www.lmpreston.com and blog: http://lmpreston.blogspot.com

THE PACK, 2010 Shamira is considered an outcast by most, but little do they know that Shamira is on a mission. Kids on Mars are disappearing, but Shamira decides to use the criminals’ most unlikely weapons against them, the very kids of which they have captured. In order to succeed, she is forced to trust another, something she is afraid to do. However, Valens her connection to the underworld of her enemy, proves to be a useful ally. Time is slipping, and so is her control on the power that resides within her. Yet, in order to save her brother's life she is willing to risk it all. Look for book two of the series, THE PACK – RETRIBUTION

in 2012

EXPLORER X - BETA, 2012

Barely escaping their captors, Aadi and Eirena are determined to save their dying friend. After their final confrontation with the species that tortured them, they've changed-unfortunately, not for the better. The changes caused by a terrible experiment force Aadi to accept the possibility that he may never be fit to go home, and that holding onto his sanity, or leading his friends to safety will end in failure and may rip his friendship with Eirena apart, forever. Time is slipping away and the possibility of losing his friend is not an option, but the foe that awaits them may be worse than the one they left.

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About the Author LM. Preston was born and raised in Washington, DC. An avid reader, she loved to create poetry and short-stories as a young girl. With a thirst for knowledge she attended college at Bowie State University, and worked in the IT field as a Techie and Educator for over sixteen years. She started writing science fiction under the encouragement of her husband who was a Sci-Fi buff and her four kids. Her first published novel, Explorer X - Alpha was the beginning of her obsessive desire to write and create stories of young people who overcome unbelievable odds. She loves to write while on the porch watching her kids play or when she is traveling, which is another passion that encouraged her writing. You can find out what LM Preston’s up to on her blog: http://lmpreston.blogspot.com

and

http://bookpartylmpreston.blogspot.com

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