The Pack (13 page)

She looked forward to seeing the place she had visited with her parents many times while she was blind. It was much larger than she had assumed. The deep silver metals that covered the structure made it look imposing and aesthetic. It rose out of the ground like an iron giant with a sleek, curved base that was scattered with reflective windows that looked like mirrors. Various vehicles of all sizes drove into the landing pads that opened with sliding doors throughout the structure.
Amazing,
she thought, her eyes glued on the imposing building before her. She spared an excited glance to her father, who still sat stoned face and silent as he drove forward. This was a side of her father she had rarely seen.
It's to be expected,
she guessed.
His son is lost, and I'm is pushing my luck, worrying him to death.

They pulled into the car pad on the second level of the Headquarters building. She looked at him and waited. Her father stopped the car, and squeezed his hands on the steering wheel. He turned and looked at her.

“Shamira, I don't know exactly what you have been up to, but I know something is not right with you. It's got to stop. Your mother and I have so much to deal with right now, and we don't have the energy to deal with you acting out. When we leave you at home, home is where you will stay, or else I'll have no choice but to drag you with me to work every day,” he said steadily. Seeing the hurt and disappointment in his eyes, she looked away. She was unfamiliar
with seeing emotions so vividly, and seeing it with her own eyes caused her sadness to rise much faster than it ever had before. A tear dropped from her eye at disappointing the one person who had been her champion all of her life. Angrily, she wiped the tear away. Mostly, she was angry at the way her family was being torn apart because of Monev. She would hunt and find her brother, then find the mastermind behind it all and bring him to justice. In this, she had no choice.

“I'm sorry. I'll do better, Dad. I don't mean to upset you,” she said blankly. Her emotions were so jumbled that she felt numb, and the tears stopped as quickly as they had started. Feeling her father's strong hand on her shoulder, she relaxed, and he pulled her into a hug.

“Oh, Shamira, it's not you. I'm not upset at you. I'm just angry at the lack of manpower we have to bring this crime organization down without them killing our kids with it,” he said. They pulled apart, and he glanced at her with sorrow in his eyes and gently pushed her away to open the car.

Walking inside Headquarters, she closed her eyes to sniff in the familiar metallic scent she was used to from her numerous visits with her parents. She'd come to know many of the Elite in the upper levels of the organization. Often, she looked forward to visiting Headquarters, since many of the Elite had become like family to her.

They walked by her dad's friend on the way in. “Nobel. Shamira, it's good to see you, squirt,” Broc said with a nod. She
recalled that he wasn't an Elite Security Force officer, but was a second in command that supported the Elite on one of the other Sectors. He didn't hold the enhanced strength of the Elite, but all support staff were trained to be just as dangerous.

“Hey, Broc, it's good to see you too,” her dad replied. He stopped to shake his hand and gave Broc a slap on the opposite arm.

“Shamira, congratulations on your eye surgery. I heard it was a success. I see you still have those stunning, unique eyes. Nobel, I'm sorry to hear about your son being taken. Those bastards! Man, they're getting worse, and worse. Anyway, I get to skip out of the emergency meeting with Cal today. Lucky me. I've got to go check out a lead we have. Hang in there, man. Just one step closer and we're going to bring these bastards down and get your son back,” Broc said. Then, he slapped her dad on the shoulder and went to his car.

She followed her dad to the elevator and up to his office. Her mom's office was directly above her father's, and she would often go to visit her when she got bored waiting on her father to return from meetings. Looking around, she noticed the hallways were bright and the floor was still squishy soft like she remembered. Only now, she noticed it was gray. Entering her father's office, she saw the videoconference wall to the left. The sound was low while it displayed an ongoing meeting, and her father ignored it as he went to his desk to get some paperwork.

“I'm going to a meeting. You stay here, and Valerie will take
care of you. After my meeting, you can join your mom and me for lunch. Do not leave this office, do you hear me? I repeat - do not even think about stepping out that door unless you're going to the restroom. I don't have time to hunt you down today,” he said, then grabbed his briefcase and walked out the door.

Yeah, He's still mad at me. Well, it can't be helped.
She wouldn't stop until she had saved David. She tapped on his video pen, which displayed a 3D computer that projected a keyboard.
Wow! Impressive! My keyboard at home just has old-fashioned keys.
The screen was a solid model that afforded the user privacy that a 3D monitor did not. Stretching her neck to the side, she started to type in her password to check the supercomputer database. She wondered if they were yet able to find out how the Elite were being tracked like animals and captured. So engrossed in her search, she didn't hear someone enter the office.

“Is Nobel here?” a brown haired man asked. His tall muscular frame filled the doorway. She jumped at his surprise entry. Her eyes studied him and noticed he was rather attractive with dark brown hair and hazel gray eyes and extremely fit. He stood about two inches taller than her father, who was over six feet. He had an edgy look to him, which indicated to her he was a rather strong and deadly opponent to any who would try to cross him.

After her observation, she decided to respond to his question. “No. He went to a meeting. Can I leave him a message for you?” she offered. She tried to play off the fact that she had been snooping.
Hopefully, he wouldn't notice her guilt.

“Tell him Cal came to see him,” he said, then studied her closely for a moment.

She squirmed, a bit uncomfortable with his inspection and the look of contempt on his face that passed in an instant, immediately covered up with a fake smile.

Lifting an eyebrow she said, “Cal? You act like you don't know me. You know I don't like jokes.” She hesitantly returned his faux smile with one of her own. She took a deep sniff to seek out the scent she usually noticed when Cal, Commander in Chief of the Security Elite, came around to tease her in the past. She didn't recognize his scent. Grimacing,
this eyesight is making me lazy again.

“Well, you know me. I'm full of jokes. I'll go meet your father,” he said, then teased her once more with a guarded stare before he turned to leave.

Relaxing, she watched him leave. Reading the screen, she searched for information about the missing Elite, and her breath caught. She realized how they had been tracked. The Elite were the Security Force members that headed up the Sectors, and they had a specialized tag or tracking device located in their heads. The device was only accessible by Headquarters computers on Earth, and Earth sent direct encrypted responses for inquiry of the Elite only by members of the Elite that had special code keys to access the information. Unfortunately, when they were captured, their tagging devices were deactivated, which made the remaining Security Force
believe the captured comrades to be deceased. Chewing on her fingernail while in thought, she guessed this turn of events would mean all the Elite were now under suspension.

Something is definitely fishy here.
She pondered on these thoughts further.
This still doesn't justify how they're able to subdue and manhandle them. The Elite are the only people on Mars with superhuman strength enhanced by the skin suits they wear that can never be taken off. This is a secret only the Elite know—or so we think. They don't even tell their wives or kids this. The only reason I know is because I was blind and depended so heavily on my other senses that I immediately noticed a difference.
She frowned in thought
Hum, how did Monev know of the Security Force's secret weapon, and how did they know that weapon's weakness?
She logged off the computer and looked at the video wall at an empty conference room.

She looked up, hearing someone enter the office. “C'mon, Shamira, let's go. Time for lunch,” her dad said while he walked into the office.

They walked to the lunchroom, the one place she really enjoyed when coming to Headquarters. It had distinct smells of coffee and nice, comfortable overstuffed chairs. For the first time, she actually got to see if the room was as pleasant as she remembered. The room had soft colors of green and brown and video streaming walls of oceans and beaches on Earth. A fountain built into the wall went from floor to ceiling, which made the soothing sound of a
waterfall.

She saw her mom waiting for them, and she wasn't smiling. Her mom sat in one of the large brown overstuffed chairs with their lunch on the cushioned ottoman that also served as a table. Shamira was determined to act unaffected. Her mom could be more difficult to face than her dad sometimes. Sitting down next to her mom, she said a quiet, “Hey, Mom,” and stuffed a sandwich in her mouth before she said something that would give away her eagerness to go home.

“Shamira, take this. You will need it the next couple of days,” her mom said. She gave Shamira an earlink and a temporary tracking tag.

“Your mother and I unfortunately have to go on separate missions to start to track down some leads on the crime organization that's doing this. Problem is - no one at all is talking. People here are scared. These goons believe in manipulating people by stealing their families and using that to control them. This is turning out to be much harder than we thought,” her dad said, stuffing a bite of his sub in his mouth.

She glanced at him, noticing he rarely ate in this hurried way and that he had lost some weight.

“Finish up, Shamira. We have less than two hours to be at our locations. Unfortunately, we have to leave you home alone for a few days,” her dad said.

“Um, Dad, Cal came by your office today,” she mentioned and watched him closely to see if his expression would reveal that he felt
the same disconnect as she did about Cal.

“He did? Well, he didn't mention he saw you when he came to the meeting,” her dad replied and paused a minute in thought.

“He acted like he didn't know me. I told him I don't like jokes,” she said and watched again to see how he would respond.

“He's different these days. I think the effects of losing control of the Security Force's hold on Mars is starting to get to him, and he's angry about it—like we all are. He just isn't his easygoing self anymore. Now, it's strictly business, and his smile's a put-on,” her dad said and shook his head in understanding.

“Shamira, we better go. I'll take you home,” her mom said. Shamira hoped for once her mom would not speak to her on the ride home, and her wish was answered. The silent ride home gave her time to think.

She had to ask some questions about the leader of the crime organization and a possible connection to the leader of the Security Force.
Maybe the crime organization leader has a vendetta against the Security Force.
Tonight, she would get some answers. Tonight, she was upping the pressure. The time for waiting was over. Her mom didn't bother to go in the house, and for that, Shamira was glad. Shamira walked through the door and straight to her room to get ready for her meeting with the guys.

Valens brought his own cycle, and Shamira let out a sigh of relief.
Thank God.
She didn't have to fight the uncomfortable tingling she got with Valens riding behind her. She looked at him and couldn't help curling her lips into a small smile.

“If all I had to do was ride my own bike to make you smile, I would have done it yesterday. You look different when you smile,” Valens said, his voice dropping deeper. He returned her smile, and then winked at her. She looked away and turned to Mitch, who was impatiently looking ready to go.

Mitch nodded at the road ahead, “Follow me. I know were we can park and be concealed.”

Valens and Shamira followed on the busy street leading to the outskirts of the city in Sector Four. Shamira had never been in Shadow Hell, and she wondered if it was as bad a place as the rumors she'd heard. Kids at school talked about sneaking into the underground club often, but it was one of those places a member had to invite you to before you could get in. She hoped Mitch's friends could get them in safely, because she had a feeling some of the prominent people of Monev would be there. She only needed to get one alone to get the information she sought. Her gut was telling her there was some connection between Cal and Monev. She just didn't know what it was, but she would find out.

They drove until they got to the business district of Sector Four. She noticed the Sector was more upscale than where she lived, and she was shocked to realize that a skuzzy place like Shadow Hell was located there. Sector Four was the professional Mecca of Mars. The street cleaning androids were doing their jobs. Night had come, and the chill of its fingers stretched before them. The Sector lit up with lights and signs promoting shops, stores, and merchandise. She wondered why Monev chose such an upscale area for one of their members-only clubs when they sold junk that turned the other areas in Mars to ghettos and slums.

Following Mitch and looking around, she realized this part of the city wasn't too busy. It had a few cars coming and going on the
ground with none in the airspace above the buildings. She wondered if the Mars Planet Police shut down the airspace in this Sector in order to keep it safe. The Mars Planet Police worked under the directive of the Security Force and acted as beat cops who secured each Sector on a personal level.