The Pack (15 page)

“Let me put some makeup on you so Thor will think you are more mature,” Hedi said to Shamira, then dug in her blouse.

“I won't need it. I have my own way of luring him, and it's not for what you're thinking,” she said, refusing to put on the makeup. “Valens, I need you to be my dance partner. The rest of you wait by the exit. Redirect anyone from entering and speak out loud to each other if there is danger,” Shamira said. Walking to the door, she opened it.

Anthony took the lead. Shamira unbraided her hair on their way down the hall and ran her hands through its silky, wavy brown
and gold spun curls that fell to her curved hips. Sucking at her lips to darken their hue, she unzipped her black form-fitting leather jacket and straightened her spine, pushing out her chest. Valens glanced back at her with a shocked but appreciative look on his face. She winked at him and smiled as he opened the door to the club entrance for her to walk through. Valens followed. The music pumped, and they stood for a moment near the doorway.

“Look, you go straight to the meeting place. Open the windows in case we need a quick exit and call the cycles to come out of the parking garage and park on the street. Shamira, can you tell your cycle to follow ours?” Valens asked.

She put her hand in her pocket and pushed a button on her remote. It vibrated in acknowledgement of her request. “Done,” she said and spied Thor with the three gyrating women she had seen earlier. She started to dance toward him, and Valens followed. Finding a spot where Thor could easily see her, she started dancing seductively with Valens in front of Thor. Rubbing her hands down her chest and then to her hips, she looked at Thor and commanded him to return her gaze. Noticing Thor was becoming interested, she pouted out her lips, and coyly lowered her eyelids framed in dark, curved eyelashes. Then, she slowly raised her gaze to his and smiled.

Dancing her way gradually in front of Thor, she glanced at his hand, noticing a deep red ruby ring. Deciding how she would lure him away, she shimmied closer to stand in front of him. His hands were on his hips, and she gently placed hers on top of his and tapped
softly to the beat of the music. He smiled, and she tested his ring to see how loose it was. She smiled back, stepped closer to his moving hips, and danced in rhythm with him. She lightly tightened her grip on Thor's lax hand, and then slid it easily off his ring finger without his knowledge.

Her hand dropped from the top of his, and she turned away from Thor seductively. Throwing a smile back at him, she danced quickly past Valens, who was watchful of her while he danced with a curvy brunette. She danced to the meeting place and knew Thor would follow. When she reached the hallway, she stopped dancing. Her heart raced, knowing she would be able to get the information she came for. Adrenaline started to pour into her blood, and she turned to look for Thor, who was slowly, helplessly making his way toward her. She held up his ring for him to see and kissed it. He thought she was playing a seductive game with him, wanting him, but the look of hunger in his eyes sickened her. Valens followed slowly behind him, and the others were hidden in dark corners of the hallway. She didn't need them there. He was manageable; she knew she could handle him on her own.
I have been waiting for this moment since I laid eyes on you, scum,
she smiled.

She walked deeper into the hallway and stood midway in its dark depths. Thor approached. He was a large, muscled beast and a great opponent.
Definitely worthy of my full power.

He came closer, not saying a word. She heard his heart beating slowly. He was convinced she was the prey, and he wasn't
even slightly agitated, but he was mistaken. His pale blond hair and gray eyes sickened her further, but she wanted to laugh out loud because she could tell he thought he was in control. He stopped the pretense of smiling as he stood in front of her. She waited. He placed his hands on her shoulders and jerked her toward him for a kiss. She sped up the pull and yanked back her head to land a head-butt to his nose.

Blood splattered as his nose cracked. Power built in her, and she landed an elbow to the side of his head that brought him to his knees. She yanked the truth tick out of her belt, and Thor roared. He jumped up with such force that he threw her against the wall. She shook her head, dazed for a moment. He charged her and went for her neck, then dragged her up the wall. Lifting his hand to punch her, he frowned as he saw her smile. She licked the drop of blood off her lip.

Her hate poured out, and her desire to hurt him rose.
Awake,
she reminded herself. He had to be awake in order for her to get the information she came for. She lifted her legs, grabbed his pale, spiky hair, and pulled his head down to connect with her knee. He staggered back and quickly recovered to stand. Dropping, she landed on both feet to the floor. She heard scuffling in the distance and knew the others were fighting off guards. She had no more time to play. Running to him, she pushed him against the wall. He fell back against the wall with a bounce. In perfect time, she threw her metal ball at him. His head slammed against the wall as the net held him in place.
She put the truth tick in his neck, forced his mouth open, and pushed in a pill that would help him to forget this when it was over.

“Where are they holding the Security Force's kids. Tell me!” she said and punched him to force the pill down his throat.

“I ain't telling you nothin!” Thor grunted in a choke as the net tightened.

“Yes, you will. I don't have time for this!” Shamira took out a syringe of the poison that was in the truth tick. It would speed up the effects since Thor was so large. It was taking longer than she had to work. She jabbed it in his neck. He roared and quickly recovered. Then a sick smile formed on his face and he licked his lips suggestively at her.

“I had some plans for you, pretty girl. Big plans,” he coughed. The drug finally took effect, and his tongue thickened.

“Where are they holding the kids?” she demanded again.

“Olympus Mons, deep within,” he coughed out while he fought the poison.

“Who is the head of this? Monev? What is his name?” she said, then jerked his face toward her.

“Re-nu,” he said, as if he were in pain from fighting to hold back the words.

“Where is he?” she yelled at him.

“No one knows. I… I don't - know,” he slurred. The poison was thickening his tongue to the point it was difficult for him to speak, even to breath.

“Hurry. They're coming fast. Valens, we gotta get out of here now! Now, damn it!” Anthony yelled. She heard glass breaking and saw Anthony push against the door by the window.

“What does he look like?” she said loudly over the noise of music and fighting.

“Brown hair. Shit,” Thor coughed and choked on his tongue as the net pulled tighter. She pulled the net off of his face and punched him before he fell to the ground with a
thump,
knocked out cold on the floor. She heard running and looked up to see Valens coming straight at her. He grabbed her around her waist as he ran straight to the window. He held her tightly against his waist while his device clamped onto the wall. It pulled slightly on the loop of his waist and they went flying out of the window on a metal rope. Anthony held Hedi, and they followed. Mitch brought up the rear; firing shots back at the guards that looked down at them from the window several feet up.

They landed on the ground with a
thud,
rolled, got up swiftly, and ran fast to their motorcycles. Shamira hopped on Pearl, and Valens eased in behind her. Snuggling closer, Valens pressed his firm chest to her back. He embraced her tightly and put his head on her shoulder as if he had no intention of getting on his own bike.

“What are you doing?” Shamira asked, turning toward Valens.

“Anthony had to take my ride with Hedi,” he said as Shamira sped off to their hiding place.

“Wrong way,” he called out in her ear, “we need to go to my
hideout first.” She hesitated only a moment before she headed in the direction he told her to go. He gave her the directions and the others followed them.

The street weaved in front of them, and Shamira took flight on her motorcycle, not wanting to waste one second in their getaway from would-be pursuers. Looking in her rearview mirror, she confirmed the others were close behind. Pearl landed in outside of Sector Five in the barren land heading to the Outlands. Shamira looked behind her and saw the others land. Looking out before her, she saw nothing except barren land of sand. Valens slid off her cycle, and she watched as he walked a few yards in front of them. He stood there while the ground parted wide enough for a truck to enter into
it. A ramp extended from the hole, and he returned to the back of her cycle.
Impressive.

“Drive down the ramp,” Valens said. She drove forward without hesitation. She heard the last cycle behind her on the ramp, and the sliding door closed shut behind them. Their path lit up and she saw the smooth cement ramp that led to a large metal garage. There were several other vehicles parked and covered, so she looked around and found a place for Pearl near the corner. Shamira slid off her cycle and stretched.

“Wow, Valens, this is the best hideout I've ever seen. How did you find it?” Hedi asked and slid off the bike behind Mitch. She walked up to Valens and placed her hand on his arm to balance while she looked around.

Shamira slanted her eyes at Hedi and held a growl at bay. She reminded herself yet again that she did not want Valens. Saving her brother was her only priority. She walked over to stand next to Anthony, who stood near the metal door she assumed led to the rest of the refuge. Folding her arms, she put a bored look on her face and looked toward Valens.

“Thanks. My father built this place. It was here when I first got here. We didn't join him until he had been here the first year to settle the planet before everyone else arrived. He had this place and another where we lived in the other Sector. This place was his favorite, though, and we spent most of our time here. Anyway, let's go in,” Valens said, then detangled himself from Hedi. As he got to the
metal door, he glanced back and motioned for everyone to come closer. He pressed his thumb to the wall, and the large metal door opened. “Hurry up! It's timed,” he said. They followed him through the door, and it started to close on Anthony, who barely squeezed into the open room.

Glancing around, Shamira noticed the red, gold, and blue stripes. It looked like a kid's game room. It was large and had two huge couches with large, multi-colored pillows thrown around the room. A large video wall was to the left, and a virtual game room enclosed in glass was in the corner.

She watched Valens walk to the far wall, and when he placed his finger in the middle, it opened to a hallway. The others quickly followed, remembering what happened to Anthony when he was the last person through the entrance. She came up behind Anthony, who she bumped into. He stumbled forward a bit, looked around, and winked at her, revealing dimples. He smirked at her with a look of respect. She winked back, starting to feel a small kinship with them all.
This is dangerous. Kids have never accepted me before. Why should now be any different?
She pushed away that false feeling of hope, of true friendship, something she had always looked for when she was younger.

The friendship she had tried to give many times as a younger child was only thrown back in her face and used to make her the butt of their jokes. Her younger years of hope had been torn to shreds when her friendship was used for trickery. It caused her power to be
revealed and become harder for her to control. She had almost crippled a kid with her strength, a kid that almost killed her as a joke. That was behind her now, and it was a lesson she would always remember. It was this lesson that would keep Valens and this group of misfit kids away from her. She would never give her trust to another; they always used it against her.

A tug at her jacket came, and Mitch's frown came through her thoughts.
Yep, just like I thought,
she contemplated to herself. Mitch didn't trust her anymore than she trusted him.
Maybe,
she thought,
he's a kindred spirit.
It seemed to her that Valens trusted too easily, and she knew it would burn him in the end.

Glancing at the open doors along the way, she saw a bedroom with two sets of bunk beds. Then, she turned and looked ahead to see Valens at the end of the hall. He scanned his eye and placed his finger in a DNA scan. The wall opened up into a doorway at the end of the hall. Following the others, she took a look at the lab and training rooms beyond and swallowed.
Wow! This is way better than our secret room.

“C'mon. We can sit at this table over here and come up with a plan. We can't go into the next hideout without being ready,” Valens said and pulled out a chair to sit down. He looked at Shamira and motioned for her to sit next to him. Averting her eyes, she pulled out a chair opposite him at the foot of the table. Slowly she sat down, looking directly at him with a smirk and a nod. Hedi gladly took the chair next to him and placed her hand on his shoulder. The twinge
Shamira felt in her belly was squashed down by the image she placed in her mind of her brother.
No distractions,
she reminded herself.

Shamira moved her eyes from Mitch to Anthony, “We need to capture some of the heads of Monev. I want to bring down their leader. I got a feeling their organization has a mole in the Security Force. As a matter of fact, maybe more than one, I'd bet. If we save the kids and don't bring them down, they will retaliate, and it'll get ugly. They know how to bring the Security Force down, and that's dangerous for everyone here on Mars—everyone.” Her eyes finally ended on Valens.

“Shamira, we need to get others to help. We need to go out and recruit more kids. I've ways to give us the edge and the ability to bring down these guys physically, but there are just not enough of us to do it,” Valens said and stared back at Shamira. The desire in his eyes faded and was replaced with a steel look of unmoving resolve.