The Pack-Retribution (13 page)

Dion snuggled up behind her. “You heard her right. That bastard is alive. Damn, he’ll hunt us one by one.” He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close.

Kurt shook his head and leaned on the garage door. “No, he’ll catch our asses and torture us within an inch of our sorry lives.”

“Uh, can we think positive here? My ass ain’t going to get caught.” Anthony walked to his car and leaned back with his leg bent casually to the side.

“Think positive?” Mitch ran his hand through his straight ink-black hair, a surly expression frozen on his face. “I’ve been a victim of Monev, but Keeper is a killer, plain and simple. From what I remember of the numerous threats I got while getting beat up nightly, Keeper is the trainer of high-level assassins. I don’t see a positive thought, anyhere in sight.”

Shamira stretched, trying to get rid of some of her anxious energy as she processed what they confirmed. She had to get her friends to back off in order to keep them safe. As their leader, she’d failed them. Bad. Keeper was a trained killer with the skill to train others and to hide well. And…he was after her.

She yanked off her gloves and spun around to face them. “If Keeper was one of Renu’s friends, then he is definitely after revenge. We destroyed Monev and were the reason Renu, his leader, is dead. Tell me about Keeper. Kurt and Dion, weren’t you trained by him?”

Dion stood up straight behind Hedi. His arms dropped from her waist. “Yeah, he trained me.” Dion’s gaze pointed to his feet. “Some.”

Kurt stoic face didn’t show a resemblance of concern. “He trained me also, but early on. Then I was moved to work under his flunky.” Kurt’s eyes took on a glassy quality; his hands fisted at his sides. “But the training Keeper did, it was all about pain—pain in every orifice of your body. How to withstand it, how to give it, how to drag it out, and how to shorten it. He believed that in order to give pain, you had to experience it. Once you survived his ‘training’ then you got to work with his team who actually taught you how to fight.”

Shamira rubbed Kurt’s arm. His hand covered hers and, with a nod, she pulled her hand away to put on her hip. “How does he attack? Did he always have this technology to conceal his killers in training?” She watched Dion closely, sizing up his response. “You should know. Since he trained you. You’ve never talked about your training with him—maybe he was training you to infiltrate the Security Force.” It killed her inside to lace her words with accusation, but she had to anger them—to get them to back away from her for good. Their lives were too important to her—more so than her own.

Dion stepped around Hedi and stood in front of Shamira. “What the hell you looking at me like that for?”

Hedi’s hand jutted out. “Back off. She’s just thinking out loud. No one here is a suspect.”

Shamira turned to Hedi, frowning. “If you didn’t notice. The force sees us as suspects. At least the Internal Affairs team does. I need to know everything if we are going to find Keeper and stop him before we, and many more people, end up dead.” She tilted her head toward Dion. “You have anything you feel guilty about? Were any of you trained to infiltrate the Mars Security Force? I found out that there’s a lot none of you are telling me about yourselves. Or about how entrenched you were with Monev before we met.” Her eyes traveled from Dion, to Kurt and the others, narrowing with each move.

Dion charged at her. Valens slipped in front of him. “Back off. Calm down. Just tell her what she wants to know. You did work with him.”

Dion pushed Valens chest. “Screw you, and her. I don’t need this shit.” He stormed off, climbed on his bike then sped away.

Hedi faced Shamira. Her hands fisted. “What’s wrong with you? Why’d you do that? We aren’t the enemy. Even if Monev did train someone to break into the Security Force—you should know we’d want to be free of th-that, horrible place.”

Shamira held her ground and folded her arms over her chest. She hated doing this, but she needed them to get out of her way in this. Now, before any more of them got hurt. “I just asked a question…one he didn’t want to answer.” She turned to Kurt. Hedi’s mumbled curse sounded as Hedi got on her motorcycle and rode off behind Dion.

Kurt came up to her, anger apparent in his features. “Where are you going with this, Shamira? First you act empathetic, then you start blame.” His jaw clenched. “We wouldn’t know how he attacks. He trained us in sustaining torture. His lackey, Blood, trained us in fighting techniques and stealth assaults. Keeper was trained by the best. Renu.” He turned away and waved a hand up. “I’m done.” Kurt calmly got on his bike and left.

Mitch shook his head. “You always did think you were better than everyone—even your friends who saved your sorry ass over and over again.” He spit on the ground at her feet before heading out behind Kurt.

Anthony opened his car door. “You’re not going to keep friends acting like that.” He threw a glance at Valens. “Check your girl, Valens, before she screws up what we have going.” He got in his car and left.

Shamira swallowed. She had to do it. Get tough and make them back off. The rest of this journey she would do alone. It was getting a bit discerning that every time they were together lately, something happened. Something deadly.

Valens released a long breath of air, his back to her as he walked to his bike. “I’ll see you at headquarters tomorrow. Tell Mina I’ll pick her up there in the morning.” He got on his bike and without a backward glance, he sped off.

Shamira closed her eyes, her heart ached. He hadn’t even tried to kiss her goodbye. Guess she’d pushed them hard enough. She shrugged the guilt away and walked to the door. This sucked. She really wanted a kiss right now, and she screwed it up. Training room tonight was a definite. The only way she could calm down enough to get sleep.

She opened the door. Her eyes landed on her mother who was dozing on the couch. Relief flooded her. She plopped in a nearby chair, the weight of the death toll following her heavy on her mind. Thank God her mom was asleep. One less person to deal with today, she closed her eyes briefly as she moved forward to get out the chair and go to the training room.

“You missed curfew.” Her mother tossed the blanket draped over her legs to the side.

Shamira slowly opened her eyes, hoping the tears she fought hard to keep in check wouldn’t show up. “Just by a few minutes,” she said hoarsely before she cleared her throat to cover up her mishap.

Her mother stood up. Admittedly, Shamira watched her a lot lately, since after the Monev takedown things had changed. Before, their relationship was strained, but now…it was just plain awkward. She knew her parents loved her. Heck, now her mom even said so more often than before. But as far as affection and acknowledgment, her mother was just the same. Oh, she gave them to David, Manny and Taren, but with her she just didn’t know what to say.

“You’re pushing my patience too far. You have work in the morning. Responsible would-be adults go to sleep so they can get to work on time.” Her mother eyed her suspiciously, “Where have you been?”

Forcing a relaxed smile on her face, she answered, “A double date. Oasis Hawaii Club.”

An eyebrow lifted. “That doesn’t sound like your kind of place. Sure you didn’t stop off anywhere else?”

“No, we just went there and raced a bit. You know…” Shamira swallowed, “to let off some steam before going to work.” Switching the subject, Shamira plopped in one of the chairs across from her mother. “Hey, did you find out anything about our promotion?”

A suspicious eye studied her, but after a moment, her mother relaxed some and leaned back. “You have a meeting with the Security Elite Mars board and the Internal Affairs officers to determine whether your team will get promoted…or terminated.”

Shamira shot up out of her chair. Heated power laced with anger hummed in her blood. “What? No, they can’t do that.”

Rubbing her temples with her fingers, her mother answered, “I’m afraid they can, and will, if they prove your team may have been negligent in Cal’s death. Your father and I aren’t allowed to vote, of course.” Cautiously, she stood and touched Shamira’s hand, then dropped it to pivot away. “I’m sorry, but it’s way past my bedtime. Mina and Taren are sleeping on the floor in your room. Don’t wake them, I just got them to sleep.”

Shamira looked at the place where her mom would have touched, then put her hand gently there and closed her eyes.

Chapter 20

Shamira exhaled the breath she’d been holding. So many thoughts were running rampant in her mind. Her control was slipping away. She had to get to the training room—now. Her shoulder lowered to crack the crook in her neck. Then she jogged to the basement, and jumped down the steps to the training room and the weapons cabinet at the bottom of the stairs. She leaned against it while she took off her weapons belt to change into her training outfit.

The formfitting suit had flexible pads that replicated the pain of a punch, gunshot, or knife attack to teach the bearer’s body to get accustomed with fighting through pain. The numbing effect of physical pain was what she needed to get her head straight; to distract her from her saddened heart.

So many suspects to consider. Her team, she trusted them, but something was off. Badly off. Why was it that whenever they went out together they were attacked when no one outside of their team knew where they’d be? Was one of them working against the team? The Force? She admitted that she trusted Anthony, Mitch and Hedi more than Kurt or Dion. She’d met them first and if she was honest, there was much she still didn’t know about any of them. Heck, there were things she didn’t know about Valens.

Were they playing with her? She honestly didn’t know.

Shamira exhaled and inhaled in a rhythmic fashion to calm her racing heart. Then she grabbed a blindfold and tied it around her head to cover her eyes. Complete darkness. That safe place she’d been able to hide in when she was blind. The place of no intrusions by friends, boyfriends or anyone. That place was where she needed to go to rejuvenate her edge. To think about who was behind this, because it just didn’t seem like one person could do this by themselves. Her thoughts flew to the Internal Affairs officers that interrogated her team.

Shamira straightened her back, then cracked it to the side before crouching. “Outside attack sequence. Big men with knives and guns.” Her command for the computer would throw her into a virtual battle with men she projected into the system. This time, the men were similar to the assassins who attacked her. With a sneer, she prepared to fight.

After a few hours of blindfolded battle, the burning energy within her was at rest. “Stop simulation.” She yanked off the blindfold and sauntered to the computer. “Time for some quick research.”

She sucked on her bottom lip as she sat at the computer center to hack into the Security Force Internal Affairs database. She researched all the Security Force Officers who served as investigative committee officers for both the Security Force Elite and the Mars police. She tried to find any leads or connections that would suggest that someone was suspected of working for Monev. Only one came up.

Her fist hit the desk. Officer Garcia. She had been investigated due to her ‘friendship’ with a runner in Monev. A much younger man. Shamira figured from the sketchy details of the boy, that he was around twenty years old now—if he was still alive.

Shamira frowned. “Hmm, you’re not such a big shot after all. I wonder why they let you keep your job.”
Looks like I’m on your trail tomorrow
. She tapped her fingers on the desk. “Hopefully, I ticked off my team enough for them not to follow. Maybe, just maybe, I’ll find out if you are working both sides.”

Shamira shut down the computer and ran up the steps two at a time. Her door sat opened. She entered slowly. A foot away, she spied Mina, Valens’ sister, asleep on the floor near the door. Her sister Taren was sleep in her bed. Shamira couldn’t help but smile. Taren was trying to steal David’s spot in her heart. Taren also suffered from nightmares and often came into her room at night to sleep at the foot of her bed.

Shamira went to the bed and touched Taren’s shoulder. “Taren, Taren…move over,” she whispered.

Taren looked up, a smile on her face as if she’d been awake. “I was waiting up for you, Meera.”

Shamira smiled at the nickname Taren used. David had always called her that and now Manny and Taren did also. “Don’t do that. You need to sleep.” She climbed into the spot Taren had vacated.

Taren grabbed the other pillow and scooted to the far side of Shamira’s queen-sized bed. “I never can. ‘Til I sleep here, because I know you will protect me. Just like you saved me from the mines. David said you would save us, and he was right.” Taren snuggled down and within seconds started snoring lightly.

Shamira lay back on the bed and felt the weakening warmth fill her chest as her eyes watered. David, Taren and Manny meant so much to her. Unlike her friends, their love was overflowing, safe, and bonded to her. She didn’t think she could love another kid as much as she loved her brother David, but she’d been wrong. Manny and Taren gave their love and trust so freely that she couldn’t keep herself hidden from them. They’d weaseled their way into her heart; even Taren suckered her into something she’d hardly done with David. Taren she’d let into her haven, her room and shared her girly self.

At least in the morning, Taren could play in Mina’s hair instead of insisting on styling Shamira’s and helping with makeup. Makeup sessions that had turned into disasters because Shamira never wore makeup when she was blind, but thanks to Hedi, she had a full collection of cosmetics. Finally her racing heart settled into quiet rhythm. With a final sigh, she was sleep.