by LM. Preston
“You…did,” she kissed him.
“No more doubts, I know you risked your life, and broke up with me because you do love me.”
Shamira exhaled the breath she’d been holding. “Renu, is he dead?” Her eyes watered. “Anthony…he is?” She let out a sob of relief.
“Renu, we don’t know. I guess he is. I had to get Dion out of there when Kurt warned us of the explosion.” He squeezed her hand. “About Anthony, I know what you think.” Valens pushed the button on the side of her bed. He moved her over gently and squeezed her a bit.
She sighed and cuddled up next to him. “I’m glad,” she coughed, “you’re here.”
“Me too.”
The door to her room pushed opened. Shock bloomed on her face. “Anthony? You were… Renu killed you!”
Anthony smiled from his crutches, tears rolled down his eyes as nurses rushed in the room. “He tried, but he didn’t.”
Valens argued with the nurse, refusing to leave Shamira’s side as they checked her vitals.
Shamira’s eyes widened when her father rolled in the room in a wheelchair followed by her mother, Hedi, Kurt, and Mitch, who had a cast on his arm and a brace on his back. She pushed the nurse’s hand away. “Dion? Where’s Dion?”
Hedi’s tear streaked face spoke volumes. Her head shook a negative answer and Hedi fought to hold back a sob. Anthony pulled her to him and whispered in her ear.
Her parents came up to the bed. Her father shook his head. “He didn’t make it. We didn’t want to tell you so soon, but he died from his injuries.”
Guilt thudded in her chest. A member of her team died trying to save her. She covered her face with her trembling hand. “No! No. I tried to carry him out. He wouldn’t... He wouldn’t let me.”
Her mother put her hands on Shamira’s bandaged face and kissed her softly on the portion of her exposed cheek. “It wasn’t your fault. He knew what he was doing, and sent a message to Hedi saying that saving you was the best thing he’d ever done in his life. That you were more than a leader, you were his friend.”
Valens arm tightened around her. He whispered in her ear. “It’ll be okay. I’m here. It’ll be okay.”
Her eyes closed briefly and she forced calmness to envelop her. She looked up, her stare nailed onto Anthony. “You backstabbed us—your team. Sold us out to Renu!”
Anthony stepped closer, said, “No,” and walked to her bed.
“Don’t you dare come one step closer!” her voice rumbled.
Her father’s hand went up to delay Anthony. “Anthony didn’t betray you. He did what I asked him to do. I remembered something Cal and I talked about the day that he died. He was suspicious about the dead zone at the Mons. He said he’d been monitoring that area and something didn’t seem right. He told me he still felt a connection to his brother—like his brother had never died.”
Anthony hesitantly stepped closer. “Dax put something on me when we first got interrogated. It was a tracking device. When your father called, I went straight to his room. He told me to get a folder that had a tracking of beacons or codes that were sent out from Security Elite Officers only. Those codes could also be used to locate a link into the Department of Galactic Security mega-computer because they send an encrypted sequence to connect the Elite 300 to their main system. Your dad told me to change the code numbers in the folder so no one would steal them, and take them with me to check out the Mons.”
Recognition triggered within her. “He—Dax tried to take my wrist. Hold them and I wouldn’t let him touch me. And you were always complaining about a rash on your wrist. But when you got to the Mons…”
Anthony’s rested a hand on Shamira’s shoulder. “When I got there, Renu knew I was coming. He always knew where I was and that’s why we always got ambushed by his assassins. Except for the time at the club when Freaksheep called them when he was kidnapping those kids.”
“Renu acted like he was expecting something from you though.” She wrinkled her eyebrows.
Anthony nodded. “He was. He was expecting you to be with me. Renu wanted you. So I offered him the folder with the fake passcodes. It wasn’t enough. When I delivered you by mistake, he tried to kill me. But I still had some skills from my days as a Monev runner. I remembered how to play dead when chances were I’d lose the fight.”
Her mother smoothed her shortened bangs from her face. “Dax was working for Renu. He wanted to lead the force and was willing to kill your father to do it. But one of Renu’s men got to him first and he didn’t survive.”
Her father cleared his throat. “After Anthony left my room, Dax sent a message to the guards to leave their posts. He shot me with poison, but Valens’ dad did the impossible again and saved my life. Garcia was working with Dax also, and she was taken to Earth. She had a quickie trial and was put to death in the Waters. Valens found names of others that were affiliated with the crime organization and working on a rebuild, but had to leave the data behind to get Dion and Mitch out alive.”
Shamira’s mom pointed to her father. “Your dad is now the Head of the Security Force here on Mars. I’m his deputy until you finish your final year of training on Earth. We have a suspicion that Monev is much bigger than Renu and that there may be some additional double agents on Earth.”
Her father sighed. “When Kurt made the call telling us about the explosion. We prayed you would recover, that you would come out of the coma. It was the worst month of our lives.”
Mitch limped up to her. “The worst. Why the hell did you do something so stupid? Kurt had a back-up plan. You know he always does.” He smirked down at her, his damp eyes belying his scold.
She grinned back at him. “I know, but I’m the leader and I make the biggest sacrifice because all of you mean so much to me.” She squeezed Valens’ hand. “I was out for an entire month?” A stitch of melancholy tickled her chest at the time she lost with Valens.
Valens kissed her hand. “I never left you. Not for a minute. And you cried for me, whispering how sorry you were.”
Tears welled up in her eyes. “I am.” Shamira kissed him, smelled him and huddled closer. “I’m so happy you still love me.”
Pounding feet and banter filled the hall as the door burst opened. David, Taren and Manny bounded toward her with several nurses running behind them.
“Meera!” They giggled excitedly. They pushed past her parents to smother her in hugs and sloppy kisses.
At that moment, that very moment warmth and love filled her as she squeezed her family close, feeling as though she was the luckiest girl alive to have another chance at life and get it right.
Bandits by LM Preston (Sample)
Daniel rolled over and punched his pillow. “Ugh! I give up,” he muttered.
Sleep always eluded him and tonight was no different. Groomed as a thief and mercenary, his mind was ready to act. Most nights it was hard to shut off. He definitely wouldn’t get any sleep tonight with the distant murmur of voices that filled his head and grew louder each second.
“Gambling night,” he spat out. Daniel snatched the pillow from under his head and covered his face. It didn’t help, the angry voices filtered through anyway. He just didn’t get it. Every week it was the same thing. Fights over cheating, his father’s outright refusal to take on any snatch jobs, and then the old man getting chewed out. He was sick of his father’s screw-ups.
Daniel shook his head at the thought of another late night caused by his dad’s weekly game with his friends. He let out a deep breath, threw the pillow aside, and sat up on his bed. “Serves him right,” he sneered. “Been picking up his jobs for three years now, and I’m ready for my own territory anyway. I’m finished picking up his slack—I’m done doing it…TONIGHT.” He wiped his hand down his face then punched down on the rumpled bed.
Remorse crept up his back. He squeezed his eyes shut and then opened them. Maybe, he should’ve picked up the load his father refused to get from Haden. His father’s best friend, and leader of the EBRA, was s
ick of his dad’s refusal to do his job.
Daniel looked down at the snoring body of his cousin on the floor, and acknowledged that Faulk didn’t have the same dirty blond hair, dimples, or gray eyes as he. No, Faulk was different. His mother’s Asian features dominated Faulk’s face instead. He shoved Faulk’s leg out of his way so he could stand. With a crack of his neck, he stretched, and then scratched his bare chest.
“Faulk,” he smirked, “your parents would kill you if they knew you were hiding out here. Hell, my father may kill me when I tell him I let you in.” Daniel figured Faulk had the Pierce family’s adventurous spirit. Proven fact, since Faulk dropped out of flight school two days before his graduation, only to land on Daniel’s doorstep.
Faulk had showed up earlier that day with a sack of wrinkled clothes, his flight school uniform and a stupid grin. Daniel let him in, even though he hadn’t seen Faulk in years. The first and last time he’d laid eyes on Faulk was four years ago, when Uncle Kiev came to demand that his father change his criminal ways and come home to Earth. No way Uncle Kiev would get my old man to change. He’d never give up being a Zukar. His father had been with the Zukar, a faction of thieves on Merwin, ever since he was a kid. Celebrated for his undisputable snatch jobs, his father had become a legend.
The voices in the front room grew louder with angry shouts and the muted sounds of laser fire pierced the air. Daniel’s head jerked toward the door, his brow wrinkling. The tingling down his back confirmed this wasn’t the typical weekly banter. He pulled his gun from beneath his pillow. Gripping the handle of the gun, he crept to the door, and pushed it open. He leaned against the door and tilted the gun up, prepared to shoot. Ready to attack, he was stopped by a call from his ten-year-old brother.
“Psst,” Nickel whispered from his bedroom doorway across the hall.
Daniel turned his angry gaze on his younger brother, whose short, light brown hair stood on end. Nickel’s gray eyes filled with concern on his rounded face as he shook his head at his brother’s stupidity. He gestured in their coded sign language. “No, too many.”
Daniel’s mouth thinned. He raised his free hand to motion for his brother to stay put, and crept slowly along the wall leading to the front room. Whispered arguments had elevated into shouting. More laser fire went off, and a smoke bomb followed, filling the long hallway with thick smoke before Daniel could make his way down. Daniel held his breath and fought his way through. His eyes burned, and his lungs fought to breathe. He narrowed his eyes and felt around in front of him. With his gun at the ready, he frantically searched for his father in the dull, smoke-filled room.
“Humph! The bastards ran.”
Coughs sounded behind him. Daniel knew his brother and cousin were not far behind. The roar of an engine lit the night. He ran toward the front door to pursue the men who fled, but he tripped forward, stumbling over a firm body. He used his free hand to brace himself before falling face first on the floor. The smoke started to dissipate out of the opened door and Daniel didn’t have to look at the body to see whose it was. The punch of dread hit him dead in his chest when he pushed himself back off the slightly rounded stomach of his father’s large form.
Daniel held back a sob and swallowed. “Keep Nickel back! Keep ‘em back,” he yelled. He sat back on his knees and forced his angry eyes to land on his father.
“No! Damn! Who-did-this?” His lips formed a scowl. Tears from the smoke and his grief fell slowly. Balling his fist, he punched down on his bent knees as grief and desolation caved in on him. Anger at his father—even dislike—didn’t take away the fact that he loved the old man and wanted him there with them. “Arghhhhhh!” His fist tightened, “I never wanted this. I’ll kill them. Why didn’t you just yell for help? I would’ve saved you,” his voice cracked. He raised his fists and pushed them against his eyes to stop his tears.
Daniel heard his brother cry behind him. “No, no...Dad! Please don’t be dead. NO!” Nickel tried furiously to fight his way out of Faulk’s firm grip.
Daniel’s muscles tightened, and years of training as a thief reminded him to shove those sappy feelings of regret down. “Don’t let him go Faulk. Not yet.” He quickly pulled himself together. His expression grave while he examined his father to see if he was breathing. Nothing, he’s gone. The old man’s…gone.
With a grunt, he tilted his father’s body for a better look, just to be sure. His eyes traveled over his dead father, up and down his back. The finality of his father’s fate sat heavy in his gut. The laser left a hole clean through his father’s leg, but it was the knife to his heart that ultimately caused his death. His father’s body landed with an eerie, lifeless thump when Daniel released him. Daniel looked at his father’s grayish-blond hair and the shocked expression of his death in his eyes, and sceamed out. Anger at his father’s killers—even at his father’s carelessness choked up within him.
Nickel broke free of Faulk and ran into Daniel’s back. He collapsed to his knees, laid his head on his father’s stomach, and cried in loud, choking sobs.
Putting his sorrow aside, Daniel reached back to console his little brother.
“Daddy, no...no.” Nickel cried and kneed the floor in anger. “Why, Daniel? WHY him? Our Dad?”
Faulk came and put his hand on Daniel’s shoulder. “Daniel, I’m sorry man. I’m so sorry. Maybe…maybe I should call my parents.”
Daniel stood up with a glare. “Don’t,” he forced out the words through gritted teeth. “Your parents don’t know this place. They’d make things worse. Trust me-much worse.” His mouth thinned as he watched his brother cry.
“You gotta be kidding me! Your father was murdered, right here,” Faulk pointed to the floor. “Here, while we were in our beds, dude. Cold blooded with us in the house. Who’s to say our asses aren’t next?” Faulk yelled, and then pushed Daniel’s chest.
Daniel grabbed Faulk’s shirt, balled it up in his hand and slammed him against the wall. “You came here uninvited. You wanted to live here, but you don’t…Look, you-don’t-know-the- Zukar. Outsiders stay the hell out of our business. Don’t try your Earth logic on this planet. I’ll handle it.” He jammed his index finger into Faulk’s chest. “And by the way, the next time you push me, you best be ready for a beat down. Now go to my room and pack up my weapons—all of ‘em. I’ll take care of Nickel,” Daniel forced out, trying to hold onto his anger at Faulk’s misplaced judgment. He pushed Faulk into the wall in disgust, and then let him go with a jerk, releasing his wrinkled shirt.
Daniel turned away from Faulk, and then bent down to touch his brother’s trembling shoulder. “He’s gone, Nick, but don’t worry. I’ll take care of you. You know I will.”
Nickel turned to Daniel and hugged him. He sniffled and wiped the tears from his eyes. “I know you will. I’ll take care of you too. Dad wanted me to.”
Nickel gathered his composure and forced a determined expression on his face. “Are we going to the trove? We gotta get to Dad’s stuff before they do. Someone wanted to know where his trove was, but he wouldn’t tell them.” Nickel pulled on Daniel’s arm and whispered. “He told me a secret. Said if anything hap-pened to him, I had to get his journal.”
Daniel’s eyebrow arched up. “His journal? Dad kept a diary, like a girl?” He groaned. “I knew the old man was turning soft.”
Nickel frowned, working up a fierce appearance on his face. “No he wasn’t! Dad wasn’t soft. He was fierce and strong. He could still kick your butt, and you know it.” He glared at Daniel angrily, still upset by the loss of his father, but he didn’t hold the glare long. “Anyways, Dad never got a chance to tell me where he put the journal. Some bastard killed him tonight, before he could.”
“We gotta get out of here. You search for the journal if it’s so important, and I’ll get my gear.” Daniel grabbed Nickel by the arm to force him down the hallway so he couldn’t go back over to where their father had fallen.
Nickel pulled away. “Okay. I’ll look in the lower rooms. That’s where he was
when I last saw him. He might have had it there,” Nickel said before running off.
“Faulk!” Daniel called while he ran down the hall to his room.
His cousin was fervently packing various weapons into their packs. “Yeah? This stuff is ready to go. Anything else?” Faulk took a quick glance around the room.
Daniel pointed to his closet. “Go into the safe in the floor of my closet. Put in 56-23-82-34 and take out all the money there. Hell if I know where we’re going, but if things don’t turn out well we may have to leave Merwin.” He grabbed a green shirt off the floor and pulled it over his head.
Faulk angrily threw down the sack he’d filled. “Leave the planet? What the hell for? We didn’t kill your dad. Why do we have to be the ones on the lam?”
“Look, let me make this quick for you goody do-right types. Merwin is populated by Zukar from all different galaxies. Any cut-throat or snatcher that wants a safe haven from the law settles here if they can pass the Zukar’s members test. It’s a planet full of—well, criminals, hit men, and murderers—people who’ll do anything for the right price, get my drift?”
Faulk rolled his eyes. “Uh, well I still don’t get the danger here.”
Daniel shrugged as he looked under strewn clothes for his vest. “Our new King wants us out, off his planet, and many of the Zukar here won’t go without a fight. If we don’t find my father’s killers before they find us, we’ll all be dead or sent to a penal colony on the Planet Uukin. Damned if I know who killed ‘im. I just know I don’t want us to be next.”
“So, we’re running from the King and maybe a Zukar?” Faulk asked, raising an eyebrow as he stuffed a knife in his belt.
Daniel put on his vest over his shirt. “My father had a lot of people who hated him—first for his skills and later for his failures. It could’ve been a Zukar or the King’s men. There are different people here every week to gamble. Far as I know, it wasn’t even the usual crew, since most of them are out on snatch jobs this time of year. I just thought he was doing his usual weekly gamble bit.”
