The Pack (11 page)

“Shamira, we figure we can hit the hideout in the Outlands if you're up to it. Mitch knows the way there. We'll have to walk about a mile to get to the place, but I brought something to help us with that too. These shoe tags will help us glide at a faster speed to get there and escape if we have to. They also have guns there, so Mitch and I are wearing bullet- and laser-proof jackets. I brought one for you, too, if you want it,” he said with a sly smile, holding the jacket out to her.

“Sure, I'll take it. You lead. I'll follow right behind,” she said and hoped he wouldn't ask to ride with her.

“Um, Mitch is driving my cycle.” Valens cleared his throat and said, “How about I ride with you and direct you where to go.” He looked back at Mitch who appeared temporarily shocked at the statement before putting back on his angry guy face.

“Oh, yeah, that's definitely best. Let's go,” Mitch said flatly as his expression recovered. He got on the motorcycle quickly, as if he didn't want to catch Shamira's eye.

Just my luck. This is not going to be easy.
Valens climbed on her motorcycle behind her. She took off her jacket and replaced it with the much safer one he had brought for her. He helped her put it on, and Shamira wasn't sure whether to be annoyed or flattered. He leaned in toward her neck to adjust the collar. The skin of her neck tingled as his breath touched it.

His hand left her collar to rest on her shoulder, and she stayed
perfectly still, not wanting him to know that he was affecting her. He leaned close to her ear and spoke softly, “That should do it. Mitch is leaving us.” She felt his breath on her ear, and then shivered.

Snapping out of her embarrassment, she grabbed her helmet from the handlebar and put it on her head. Then, she leaned forward and took off at top speed behind Mitch. She drove thinking of how they would get into the facility unnoticed. She had brought some devices that would help. Her heart started to pound when she thought about the fight ahead of her. She was thirsty for it—the hunting, the fighting, and the joy of finally seeing David again.
David, David, David.
Seeing his face in her mind was the best way to keep thoughts of Valens away.

The Outlands were rarely traveled. They were extremely cold and windy. Sand kicked up at high levels, causing gritty mountains of red dirt to form out of the ground. The visor on Shamira's helmet protected her eyes, but she replaced them with her shades for their journey to the criminal compound. Getting off their bikes, they took a look around and tightened their jackets.

“Here. Take these and put them on the heels of your shoes. They will allow us to hover a couple of feet above ground to get to their hideout faster,” Valens said while he handed them flat metal plates that hooked into the soles of their shoes.

“Mitch, what do you know about this place? About the security? Where are the innocent people held?” Shamira questioned as she attached the hoverplates to her boots.

Mitch turned toward her with an angry look on his face and said, “Well, from hanging around Fisher, Slasher, and Kimble, I know more than I'd like. The compound is very hard to find. I know the general location, but it's completely out of sight. We may have to observe the location before we attempt to enter. The security there is very tight. I've no idea how we're going to get in, much less how to get out. You got any ideas, Valens?”

Shamira lifted an eyebrow and said, “I'll find the hideout. Trust me. I have my ways to get in. I have scrambling devices for all of us that will make us invisible to any surveillance.” She scanned the area briefly. “As far as sneaking up on them, I don't have anything that will keep us out of the view of any armed guards, but I don't think they have any in plain sight. If they did, they wouldn't try so hard to conceal their hideout. I'm willing to bet they don't have guards posted outside. I bet they're relying solely on electronic surveillance that keeps them hidden and picks up on any movement outside. Now, let's go,” Shamira said, then walked past Mitch without sparing a glance at Valens.

Valens looked at Mitch and winked. Mitch didn't budge, and Valens said, “You heard Warrior Girl. Let's go, Mitch.”

She stopped when they didn't immediately follow. Shamira eyed Mitch, who looked her, then to Valens and shook his head. Ignoring his reluctance, she turned away from them to continue.

Shamira knew that Mitch didn't want to follow her. He seemed to trust Valens more than he trusted her. Valens was good,
but he wasn't her. She knew
she
was going to save David. Valens was just along for the ride as far as she was concerned. She hoped he had improved his hand-to-hand combat, because they were probably going to have a fair share of it trying to get out of this place.

She stomped down on the sand-packed ground, which activated the hovering mechanisms Valens gave them for their shoes. Her legs bent as she balanced about three feet from the ground. Mitch glided in front of her, and they followed him across the windy terrain. The wind tore at her, causing some hair to escape her braid. The sand hit her face painfully, and she smiled.

She was so angry.
I should have taught David to fight better,
she scolded herself.
If I did, maybe he would've been able to escape. I should've trained him instead of letting him whine his way out of it. I screwed up. If I had just taken more time with him, he would have been able to fight back, to run and get to safety.
She was angry with herself for having failed him.
This is my fault,
her anger boiled all the more,
but I'll fix it, and I'll bring them all down to their knees in the process.

Mitch came to a stop, and Shamira and Valens stopped behind him. “How much farther?” Valens asked. He was looking around for a sign or something to give away the hideout location.

Shamira looked slowly and pushed her sight beyond the wind dunes and what appeared to be the road ahead of them. Then she saw it—a huge building standing right in front of them about half a mile ahead. “The hideout is a half a mile ahead of us. There seems to
be a level on the entrance that has guards patrolling it,” she said. She turned to look at Valens and Mitch to see their mouths open in surprise.

“How in the heck can you see that building? We can't even see it,” Valens said with a surprised look on his face, and he reached out to touch her shoulder.

She sidestepped him and replied, “I just can. Let's go. Put on the scramblers. We don't want to alert them. I see a weak point in their facility that we can sneak in through. It will be tricky, and we'll have two guards to take out, but we can get in. I'll take care of the guards. You both head inside, and I think we'll find what we're looking for on the lower level,” she said and then started to walk toward the complex. They followed and looked around for a sign of what she told them she saw.

“Mitch, what made you stop here?” Valens asked.

“They talked about a small beacon and two sand hills in front of the complex. I saw the sand hills but missed the beacon. Fisher mentioned you're at death's door if you pass through the sand hills unaware, so when I saw them, I stopped,” Mitch said while they followed closely behind Shamira. Mitch's voice was almost drowned out by the sound of the wind kicking up.

“The scramblers seem to be working. They don't see us. The opening is over there. When we go through the door, there will be a guard on the left and one on the right. I'll take the guy on the right. You both take the one on the left and follow me down the hall
between them,” Shamira said above the wind.

“Shamira, why don't you go down the hallway, ahead of us? We'll handle the guards?” Valens suggested.

She turned to him and smirked. “Valens, I can take both the guards, but I want you boys to have some fun too. Let's go,” she said and stalked forward. Valens and Mitch walked on either side of Shamira as she led the way.

“Hey, follow me. They're not paying attention, and the opening is right in front of me,” she said softly, and they crouched down to follow her as they flew at top speed toward the camouflaged door. They came up to the door and hovered before landing. Valens and Mitch followed her, ready to attack. She kicked in the door and attacked the guard nearest her. Her eyesight adjusted easily from the dark to the dimly lit hallway. She punched up with such force she heard his teeth crack, and blood spattered out of the side of his mouth.
Yes!
she thought.
One step closer.
She knew that Valens and Mitch were engaged when she heard their scuffle while they worked on the other guard.

She jammed her fingers in the eyes of the guard that fought to grab her. Then, she punched him in his neck and stuck him with a truth tick, using her forearm to hold him to the wall. “Where are the prisoners? Where are they!” she screamed at him.

“I ain't telling,” he spat out. The tick started to work and his tongue got heavy.

“Don't fight it, scum. Tell me, or I'll slice you now,” she said,
putting even more pressure on his neck. He coughed, and his eyes started to tear up. The tick was working, but they were running out of time. She could hear heavy footsteps in the distance, not far away.

“They're on the lower level, in hell,” he forced out. She pulled the tick out and sprayed his face with a drug that knocked him out. She turned to see Valens with his knee in the back of the other guard as Mitch punched him in the face. She pushed Mitch out of the way and sprayed the guard's face. The guard's body instantly fell limp as his head hit the floor. Then, she motioned for them to follow her down the hall and the stairs to the lower level the guard had called “hell.”

The halls were dim and dingy, like they were hardly ever cleaned. Sand from the outside went unchecked along the corners of the walls and kicked up as they ran down the hallway. They ran to the stairway on the side of the elevator straight ahead. Shamira concentrated on the sounds around her. She heard steps coming from above and figured they had enough time to run down the stairs undetected.

She ran at top speed down the empty hallway with Valens and Mitch at her heels. She glanced behind her to see Mitch sticking small bombs that stuck on the wall. She kept running, and Valens ran past her to the door. She slid as she got to the steps. Valens kept his balance and grabbed the door to the stairway. He yanked at her jacket to pull her into the stairwell. Valens took the lead when they ran down two levels of stairs with the pounding of feet coming down
several flights above them. Mitch was close behind her. Shamira pulled out the mapping device she had on her hip and stuck it to the corner of the wall. It would send images of the building and the inhabitants to her home computer long after she and the others were gone.

Pushing her sight past the walls, she sped up and ran down the narrow hallway that led to the holding cells. Shamira didn't see anyone walking around in the cells. She saw guards patrolling ahead and heard them making up ground behind them. She saw a hidden vent on the floor just before the doorway leading to the cells and pointed to it as she ran to it in top speed. Valens passed her in a running slide and stopped in front of the vent. He bent down and snatched a knife from his pocket, then pried the vent open. Valens grabbed her leg, and Mitch pushed her down into the vent before he followed. Valens followed while he held the vent in place with his gloved hand.

Shamira closed her eyes to block out the distraction of sight and listened. She heard the many guards moving rapidly in their direction. There were maybe twenty of them pounding down the stairs and through the hallway. Listening deeper, she heard the boys' labored breathing, and she forced her lungs to breath at a normal pace. She heard heaviness in the footsteps beyond the vent and knew they were carrying guns. They were ready to kill, and she smelled their heightened state of anticipation.
I won't die today,
she thought,
but I can't say the same for you.

She heard the deep commanding voice of their leader. “Where'd they go? Find them now, or you'll all die. If I don't kill you, Slasher will. Go!”

She wanted to get them all, but her father taught her to fight when the odds were with her. She knew she could handle ten of them, but she didn't know about Valens' or Mitch's skills. Trusting someone else to do the job was not her style, and leaving them behind was not an option.

Valens turned to Mitch and gave him a pair of form-fitting leather gloves. He then looked at Shamira and cautiously took her hand. She jerked her gloved hand out of his, and he leaned toward her and whispered, “Trust me. I have something that will help us get out of here in one piece.” Shamira hesitantly let him take off her gloves. He took some webbed gloves out of the inside of his coat, and she squinted at him with a look of distrust. He whispered to her, “I made these especially for you,” and placed the webbed gloves on each of her hands.

Most of her hands were exposed, but the webbing had some weight to it. The stretchy fiber crossed around her fingers and hands, as tightly as a second skin. At the tip of each finger was a form-fitting elastic plastic that was heavy like it had some sort of moveable metal inside. He took her finger and touched it to her nose very lightly, and she felt an electrical shock. “It has a slight shock that intensifies when your adrenaline rises in a fight,” he whispered. She pondered on the tickling his breath made at her ear and then flexed her hand to get
used to the gloves.

“Well, they seem to have moved on. We can get out now and investigate the holding chambers. I suspect there are hidden chambers, but my device will reveal that to me when I return home. The scrambling devices are still working. Their cameras can't see us, but if we come across a guard, the scrambling devices won't work.” She crawled closer to the vent, “Mitch, do you know of a way out of here besides the way we came?” Shamira asked.

She didn't hear the heavy footsteps of the guards near, but she knew from looking through the wall that four patrolled the area they planned to enter. Lifting a lip in thought, she knew she would have to knock them out because she didn't come here to leave without the information she sought.