by LM. Preston
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 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. 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.”
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.
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.
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 h
er 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.
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 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.”
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.
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 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 comi
ng 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 promoted 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.
