The Pack (24 page)

“You figure it out,” he said before spittle trickled from his lips and the drug took him.

Hedi stomped her feet. “Bastard! I hate that scum,” she yelled out from behind Shamira.

“I agree, but we don't need him. I know how to get in,” they heard clearly from the back of the room.

Shamira turned around to see a smiling Kurt walking toward her. His posture was a little hunched, but without a look of grimace, he straightened and walked toward her like he felt no pain at all.

“Kurt! Look at you! You recovered. Welcome back, and thank you for saving my life,” Shamira said. She looked over a healthy-looking Kurt who sauntered in the room as if he hadn't been near death just over an hour ago.

“Saving you was my pleasure, and thanks to Valens, I'm alive and well. I want in. I may have family in those mines, and I want to be a part of bringing it down,” Kurt said and came up to Shamira. He placed a hand on her shoulder. She welcomed it, knowing how much it meant to Kurt that she accepted him.

“Welcome back, man. Glad to have you back,” Valens said while he looked Kurt over with the practiced eye of a scientist.

Anthony slapped hands with Kurt. “I knew a trained Monev assassin wouldn't miss the chance to recover and beat up some more
Monev scum. Welcome back, my man.”

“Well, I can't say I'm 100 percent, but I'm damn close. Definitely could be better, but I'm still in,” Kurt laughed.

“We're attacking shortly. Everyone of age, gear up. We need someone to be our eyes and ears here at the command center,” Shamira suggested.

Hedi grinned at her in return. “Of course! I'm good at multitasking and delegating. Oh, by the way, the younger kids are gone, releasing the beetles. I also took the liberty of contacting Ryan and the other kids at all the Monev holdings. A lot of places already have some explosives attainable by staff members, so the kids at those locations are starting to set up for sabotage. Say the word, Shamira, and it will be done.”

“Well, I've one more call to make. Valens, transmit to my parents on your screen. According to my earlink, they're at the Security Elite Headquarters in my father's office,” she said while looking at the screen waiting for her parents' faces to appear.

Her father was seated at his desk with her mom on the edge facing the video wall. They looked like they'd somehow been expecting her call. “Hello, Shamira. We were starting to get worried. No signal is coming in from your earlink, and things are only getting worse here,” her father said, a look of relief passed over his face upon seeing Shamira.

Shamira took a deep breath and prepared to share her news with her parents. “Dad, Mom, I don't have much time to talk. I want
to send you a video feed of a meeting from Monev, the crime organization bringing Mars to its knees. We need to attack tonight. I'm depending on you to lead the Security Force attack on their holdings in the Outlands. That's the holding that will have the captured or murdered Security Force captives. I'm sending the feed over now.” Shamira gave Valens a nod to send the video feed of the meeting they observed.

Her parents watched intently, and their faces turned from observation to anger as they watched Broc and then Renu come on the screen. Her father stood and walked closer to inspect Renu's face, and Shamira watched while his look turned from anger to dead calm. The feed finished, and Shamira's parents stood, quietly waiting for her to come forward with more information.

“I've been tracking them with friends that were recruited from the inside. They have information and long-term relationships within Monev. Renu, the head of the organization, is the twin brother of Cal, and we believe he has infiltrated the Security Force and recruited support team members and Security Force members. Not just here on Mars, but possibly on Earth as well. I've three of his men in captivity and have questioned them about Monev and Renu's recruiting tactics,” Shamira said, hoping her parents wouldn't interrupt with anger and reprimands for her actions.

Her mom stood and smiled. “Well, I'm impressed. We have trained you well. I was worried initially when your father said we should allow you to continue your independent investigation. He
said you will be a future leader in the Security Force, and I wasn't ready to let my little girl go, but now I see you're no longer a little girl. You're a force to be reckoned with. We never knew the extent of your abilities. You, Shamira, are an anomaly.”

Eyes tearing up with guilt, her mother continued, “When you died, the Security Force scientists were forced to inject you with the nanos only intended for Security Force Elite members when they were inducted during their final ceremony at eighteen, a time at which the body has matured in order to counteract the toxins used in the enhancements. The side effects of your death and the unexpected large amount of the enhancements needed in order to jolt you back to life caused you to become blind. Security Force Elite members' children are the only people who have the genetic markers to bind to the enhancements. All of you who are children of Security Force Elite members were genetically selected to be the continuing Force to govern Mars.”

Her mom's eyes glanced at all of them, and she cleared her throat, and then added, “The preliminary enhancements you received when you were nine years old were only the beginning of your journey. The Security Force Elite, in desperation to win this war against Monev, were forced to allow you into action much earlier than we ever would have anticipated. Monev also realized your worth to us and sought to kill, manipulate, and enslave you until the dormant nanos in your systems made you too physically strong for a normal adult to control. It would allow them control of the future.
Prior to that turning point in your development, they would terminate the selected few of you that were enhanced specifically for the purpose of becoming members of the Security Force Elite.”

She looked directly at Sharmira then said, “But you, Shamira, were hand selected by the Earth board of officials as the Security Force Elite Head. You were being groomed for Cal's position, which was why your trip to Earth was so important and security was heightened. After you were secured with eyesight, Earth was free to close off its airspace to Mars and allow the Mars Force to handle the Monev problem before it further infected Earth. We always knew that the Security Force had been infiltrated, but I have to tell you we never expected to find that Renu was behind it. Neither would we've thought Broc would be disloyal. After viewing this, we believe Renu has been posing as Cal for quite some time now.” A look of appreciation reflected in her mother's face. Shamira found it addictive.

With her mother's words, Shamira reflected on her brief encounter with Cal and how different it seemed from her past interactions with him. She had expected him to recognize her initially, and she had thought his actions odd.

“Are you saying they purposely chose which kids to enslave and which kids to kidnap? They killed many kids before the age of seventeen simply because they didn't know who was to be a Security Force Elite and who wasn't? I don't know what to say. You trusted
me
to do this? I'm honored, and I won't let you down,” Shamira said
as her eyes watered softly.

Valens cleared his throat. “You mean all of us are special? Born to be Security Force Elite?” Valens questioned.

Shamira's father looked fondly on Valens. “Yes, Valens. We went to school with your father, one of the creators of the enhancements we received. He was a brilliant inventor since he was a kid. He was just an understudy who helped out with the experiments during training when he discovered a way to keep the powerful enhancements from being misused by others not genetically groomed to be Elite.”

“Hedi, Kurt, and Anthony, I knew your parents also. I'm so glad you have come back to us,” her mother said.

Her father's expression turned serious. “Now, back to the problem at hand.” He spoke as if they were his Security Force Elite colleagues.

“What about the tattoo on Renu's neck that would have been a noticeable difference between him and Cal?” Shamira asked, remembering how Ryan had pointed that defect out to her when she first had the idea that Renu was Cal.

“That's something that can be easily covered, and since he has the same genetic markings as Cal, he could have easily come inside the Security Force undetected,” her father stated.

“Is Cal or Renu at the Force Headquarters today?” Shamira asked.

Her dad lifted an eyebrow. “No. He's been on an extended
mission to seek out and terminate the leader of Monev. Funny how we fell for that one, and Broc being a part of his infiltration team just sickens me. Send us the coordinates to the Outlands, and we'll go there with our team to bring it down.”

“Valens is sending them over. It's important we attack tonight. Renu is on to me, and I believe he recognized me. I'm hoping he doesn't put two and two together and figure out that David is already in his possession,” she said, nervously raking her hand through her hair at the thought of the consequences.

“Don't worry about it. We've got the Outlands covered. I trust you have the destruction of the other areas of Monev under control. Did you find out where David is?” her father asked with a hidden look of concern in his eyes.

“Yes. He's in Olympus Mons, where I plan to lead the attack. He'll be my first priority. He's the reason I must go there. It was my responsibility to train him, and I failed. I will not fail in getting him back. I can tell by the look in your eyes that you really want to go after him, but I need to do this, Dad. I really need to do this, so please don't interfere,” Shamira pleaded as a lone tear slipped from her eyes.

Her mom put a staying hand on her father. “I can't say this is easy, Shamira. I trust you can do it, but we really want to be there to get David,” her mom said with a softening voice.

“We trust you, Shamira. Bring him back. Bring him home. Send us a signal—two beeps through the earlink when it's time. We'll be ready to move to action tonight. I already know who'll help us,
and I've a pretty accurate summation of whose loyalties are in question. After we storm the Outlands and recover the prisoners, your mother and I are going to reorganize and restabilize the Security Force and Mars. As much as it hurts to admit, I knew Broc was playing two sides. I was just in denial. We went through training together, and I thought he was still the boy I remembered. That is a mistake I won't make in the future. We love you,” he said before Shamira's mother placed a hand to her lips and blew her a kiss as their image faded.

“Alright, we have no time to waste. Valens, we need everyone outfitted with bullet- and laser-proof enhancements. We also need a lot of firepower if we are going to clean out Olympus Mons. Kurt and Anthony, tell us what you know,” Shamira directed.

Anthony answered, “Kurt was a frequent visitor to the Mons. He would be the greatest source of information. Whenever I ran supplies for the dream factory, I was only allowed on the first level, but let me tell you, it's heavily guarded with surveillance of the
surrounding outer perimeter. It's definitely a place we have to prepare to attack. Just give me the word, and I'm ready to use my big freakin' car to blow the joint down.”

Kurt sat on the table near Sharmira. “The place is a fortress but also a living hell for the kids held there. They never see daylight, and they pray the volcano never erupts because they would be the first to go. It's heavily guarded on the entrance level. The lower level where the kids are held in carved out cells is extremely hot. Since Mars is typically a cold place, the kids can bear it, but not without discomfort. They wake them up early in the morning and work them for fourteen hours straight before slop time, and then they are sent to their cells.”

“How can we move through the place?” Shamira asked.

“There's an elevator used only for moving the dream, which is in the form of molten rocks, down to the dream collection level. The pre-teen kids sift through the dream at the collection site until their fingers grow raw and bloody. There's a tunnel that winds around the elevator that has tiny steps leading up to the dream collection area near the mouth of the volcano. The youngest kids are well prized because only the smaller ones can get through the tunnels and gather the dream. Now, the grownups (or ‘dream freaks,' as we kids call them) work in the lab under the collection floor. They manufacture the dream and get it ready and packaged for sale. There are two possible entrances we can sneak into. There is a sunken hole used for the core heating system just short of a quarter mile from the Mons.
Maybe we can find a way to tunnel in that way,” Kurt said, then scratched his hand on his head in thought.

Valens snapped his finger. “I got that covered. Those core heating systems have small tunnels that run completely underground. I can pull up a map of the service tunnels, and I have a device we can use to tunnel in. It would bring us up into the underground cells. We can set the kids free there,” Valens said while pulling up the map of the service tunnels. He mapped out the closest tunnel to the volcano and highlighted the portion of rock they would have to cut through to penetrate the underground prison.

Shamira pointed to the map of the tunnels. “When we send the signal that we've recovered the prisoners, we need another group to attack through the front entrance while we plant the incinerators to burn through the openings in the volcano. Devices for stabilizing the guards until the Security Force arrive are needed. After the Security Force arrives to take the guards into custody, we'll incinerate the place to close it down forever,” Shamira said, crossing her arms while studying the map of the service tunnels.

“Question. How do you plan on moving all these people out of there? Anthony's big bad car can't do it. All his car can do is blow crap up,” Mitch asked with his usual pessimistic face showing the beginning of hope.