The Pack by LM. Preston Page A

them to the floor. Shamira followed her mom’s lead, and the lights in training room lit up brightly. The wood floor beneath Shamira’s bare feet felt cold, and she looked into her mother’s eyes and saw a fighter there. With no hesitation, she lunged and punched at her. Her mother dodged the attack with speed. Her mom followed through with a punch to Shamira’s stomach, but Shamira didn’t flinch. She was used to hits and responded with an uppercut. Her mom quickly moved to the side to escape her punch and landed a punch to Shamira’s face. Shamira was getting tired of holding back, and her threadbare hold on her control started to slip. She dipped and punched her mom hardin her stomach, which pushed her mom back about two feet.
    â€œShamira, I do believe you are stronger than you let on. Don’t hold back. Push it, girl! Let it go,” her mom said, not a bit out of breath from Shamira’s punch. Shamira released her hold on her strength, and she and her mom did a fighting dance of punching and kicking across the room. Even with Shamira pushing to maximum strength, her mom kept up. Her mother landed more punches, jabs, and kicks than Shamira did just by attacking Shamira’s weak points. At the end of their sparring session, they were both out of breath and Shamira felt much better, having let off the steam of her frustrations.
    â€œShamira, I’m impressed. You’re a worthy opponent,” she panted, “You even found some of my weak points I had forgotten about. Thank you! It was fun.” She rubbed a sore spot on her shoulder.
    Shamira was stunned. She had rarely gotten compliments from her mom, and she felt joy spill over inside her. Now she knew she was ready to do what she had to do. She also realized that the power that was within her grew the more she challenged it. Her mother had taught her to push harder than she would have with her dad.
    â€œThanks, Mom,” she blushed, “Are you going back to Headquarters? Have you all found some answers?” Shamira asked.
    â€œWell, now you are going to get me all angry again. As we suspected Monev is behind the attacks. Of course, you realize that Monev spells V-E-N-O-M backwards, right? I guess they use thatname to describe the drugs they’re pushing. Anyway, we didn’t plan for this type of attack, and a lot of families of the Elite have been lost in the process of the Mars Planet Police efforts to control the crime. Earth wants nothing to do with this, of course, and won’t allow any travel between Mars and Earth until we get control of the problem here,” her mom said while she folded her legs to a crossed-leg sit.
    â€œHow are they finding the Security Force Elite members,” Shamira asked, folding her legs in similar fashion to her mother’s.
    â€œWell, we don’t know exactly how they’re doing it, but we figure they are using the Security Force Elite’s tracking devices against them. They’ve obviously found a way to find us,” she answered while stretching.
    â€œOkay, well finding you is one thing, but how do you catch an Elite?” Sharmira asked frowning in thought.
    Her mom sighted, “We’re pretty sure they have also probably spent years spying on us and building a device that scrambles the nanos that give our suits their strength. Besides, we’re strong even without our nano boost. So, the truth is, I don’t really know how they’re bringing us down,” her mom said then started to stand.
    â€œHow close are you to finding David?” Shamira asked.
    â€œNot as close as I’d like to be—not nearly as close.” Her mother winced a bit at the question. “Hon, I’ve got to go. Your dad is coming home in the morning to check on you. Please take your earlink if you leave the house,” her mom said before she headed out the training room door.
    After her mother was gone, Shamira’s thoughts moved to her