Recon Marines II: Marine's Heiress, The (29 page)

Once among the smaller ships it became
easier to move from one cover to the next but there were also more
people getting in their way.

“
I can’t keep going.”
Vannie stopped and put his hands on his knees. “You go
ahead.”

Even with all the witnesses about Emma
didn’t trust their pursuers to not kill Vannie out of sheer
meanness. After a quick look around, she saw a cluster of four
small military ships parked in close formation. She took Vannie’s
hand and pulled him toward the stylish crafts. Two uniformed men
stood guard, looking comfortable but alert. Until she and Vannie
ran toward them.

The two soldiers pulled weapons. They
held their ground and waited for Vannie and Emma to come to
them.

“
Help us,” Emma cried.
“Those men chasing us kidnapped me. Please help us!”

Emma didn’t hear a gun, but Vannie went
down suddenly and took her with him. She landed on top of him, her
hands encountering hot, wet blood.

“
Stop!” one of the
shoulders shouted. “Stay where you are and lower your
weapons.”

Emma looked her shoulder. Ben’s hired
thugs hesitated and then turned and ran. The real soldiers didn’t
fire on them. One stood with his gun up while the other knelt
beside Emma and Vannie.

“
How can I help,
miss?”

Emma slid off Vannie. He cried out. She
did a cursory exam and found one bullet wound low on his left side.
Hopefully, it pierced only skin and muscle. “I need medical care
for my friend and protection from those men. Also, I need to send a
message to the Philmore Galaxy. I have another friend confronting
more of those criminals near the largest ship in the docking area.
He needs help.”

“
I’ll for a med unit,
miss, but for the rest of that I’ll have to ask my
captain.”

She nodded. Vin could outrun Nemon if
he hadn’t been hurt but the huge man. “Go, sir, and get some help
for me and my friends. As fast as you can.”

* * * *

Vin dodged another punch that would
have crushed his head if it had connected. Despite Nemon’s
impressive speed, he wasn’t as agile as Vin nor as well trained in
the fighting arts. As long as the other guards held back and didn’t
engage him, Vin could stay out of the stronger man’s reach. He’d
managed to land a few glancing blows of his own. But the big man
didn’t flinch from the strikes, not even when Vin caught him in the
face.

Only one man had ever defeated Vin in
hand to hand combat, Joe the Recon Marine leader. But Vin saw no
way he could defeat this foe. He could keep him busy so he couldn’t
chase down Emma and Vannie.

Nemon charged again, a tactic that
probably worked for him against slower opponents, but Vin slipped
out of his path at the last second. He directed a kick at Nemon’s
knee that didn’t even knock the bastard off balance. As he ducked
and spun out of Nemon’s reach he noticed the return of the guards
who had chased after Vannie and Emma. They returned empty
handed.

Elation surged though Vin. He leaped in
the air and hit Nemon in the chest with both feet and all his
weight. He used the mercenary’s body as a springboard to do a back
flip. He landed on his feet and sprinted toward the crowd of people
hovering at a safe distance watching the fight. Bullets thudded
into the floor, and he heard one pass by his head. Somewhere to his
right the admiral shouted orders to cease fire as the civilians
scattered with shrieks.

Vin joined the panicked crowds. He
ducked into the cover of the first ship he came to and then slowed
to a jog and then a walk. When he saw a tall stack of cargo boxes
he lingered near them. He watched until no one was looking his way
and then climbed the stack. The tower of crates stretched thirty
feet in the air and no less than fifty feet long and wide. He lay
flat on his stomach on the top, his perch a great lookout spot over
the entire bay.

The admiral’s cruiser shared the large
ship section of the bay with only one other vessel. The rest of the
sprawling facility held a scattering of small personal vessels and
cargo ships. Four military crafts were grouped together near the
space entrance.

Vin couldn’t distinguish the faces of
individual people at such a distance but Vannie and Emma had headed
in the direction of the military ships. Numerous persons scurried
about near the army ships and soldiers manned a perimeter. Would
Emma have trusted the military considering who her stepfather was?
Even though the admiral had been charged with serious misconduct,
he would still have friends and connections within the command
structure.

Turning his attention back toward the
admiral’s ship, he saw the guards gathering near the open cargo
doors. He could distinguish Nemon from the rest of them even at
this distance. Vin hoped he never had to fight the mercenary again.
Not even Joe could beat Nemon.

After a few minutes the gathering of
guards split apart. Nemon and some others entered the ship but a
group of about half a dozen walked straight toward Vin’s hiding
place. They carried only side arms and blended in with the other
security personnel moving about the busy bay. In the center of the
little circle strode Admiral Ben Lester. That he walked so boldly
despite being a wanted man confirmed he had friends on this
planet.

Vin waited until they passed out of his
sight before clamoring down from his post and following them. He
had no idea where to look for Vannie and Emma, but the only danger
to her was Ben Lester. But what should he do about the
admiral?

Before meeting Emma, Vin had decided
the admiral wouldn’t make it to prison. He had dropped some of the
lesser criminals connected to Hadrason outside law keeper’s station
or where the military police would find them. But next to Hadrason,
the admiral was the man most responsible for the betrayal of the
Recon Marines. Ben Lester didn’t deserve to live. But he was Emma’s
stepfather. Emma was a doctor, dedicated to preserving life. What
would she think of Vin killing the man involved in raising her?
Would she see it as murder or a warranted execution? And though
Lester was her stepfather, it was still a type of father. Weren’t
fathers important?

Vin maintained his distance from the
entourage, blending into the crowds as they left the port and
entered a trading and warehouse area. Judging by crowds and the
amount of commerce the planet was a large one.

The admiral continued into the streets
of the city growing around the port. A large hover craft waited for
him. The guards settled on benches around the edges of the hover so
they had a view of the entire perimeter. Lester piloted it himself,
setting off at a sedate pace into the busy streets.

Vin saw a row of smaller hover crafts
parked in an area designated for them. He walked over, not very
confident in his ability to blend since Emma had figured out his
identity so easily. The newer hovers had identification security on
them so Vin selected an older model. The admiral pulled further
away while Vin ran through dozen of startup codes on the machine he
selected. It came to life as his prey turned a corner three blocks
away.

The wide streets were laid out in even
grids and flanked by buildings made of fabricated wood and metal
roofs. Duel suns warmed the air and lit the streets to sharp
brightness. The admiral’s hover stood out for its size and the
manner he bullied his way through traffic. Vin lagged behind,
betting on the ineptitude of Lester’s hired men.

They traveled for a bit more than a
mile before the admiral took a left onto another wide street. Less
traffic forced Vin to lag further behind. They passed through a
part of the city composed of shops and places of entertainment, an
alien place to Vin. Laughing citizens moved in small groups or as
couples, going about their safe lives. Vin never expected to
understand or experience such an existence. Hovel Port was big
enough. But seeing the happy couples inspired images of him and
Emma strolling in such a carefree manner.

The street opened up to a circle area
with a fountain spraying in its center. No traffic moved into the
wide open courtyard except the admiral’s hover. Vin settled his
vehicle alongside an eatery where others had parked and hurried
forward on foot. His prey rode around the fountain to the large
building across the way. A wall surrounded the structure but its
majesty towered over it.

Vin had only seen pictures of them, but
he recognized the building as a real castle. He’d thought they were
things of children’s tales. The gate swung open and admitted the
admiral and giving Vin a quick look at the interior. Armed guards
watched the entrance and the wall looked solid. It made sense that
the admiral would have rich, powerful friends.

Though he never stormed a castle before
Vin figured it differed little from other assault objectives. He
would scout the exterior, note all the exits and the quality of the
security. Lester’s connections insured military grade equipment.
And he needed to rearm.

As Vin ghosted deeper into the shadows
of the nearby buildings, his thoughts turned back to Emma. He knew
he was doing the right thing staying near the admiral, but every
fiber of his being urged him to seek her out and assure himself of
her well-being. And damn, he wanted to hold her in his arms and
press his face into her thick golden curls.

The admiral would have the contacts to
find Emma. Vin would watch and Lester would lead him to Emma. Vin
vowed he would save her though memories of another woman’s death
shook his belief in the sanctity of his pledge.

* * * *

Emma paced the length of the room.
Again. Vannie had been in surgery for over two hours. The grumpy
surgeon had refused to allow her assistance or presence in the
operating room. Instead he’d ordered the soldiers who’d brought her
and Vannie into the small army base to see that she ate and was
given quarters. The meal sat untouched on the table in this tiny
waiting room adjacent to the surgery. What was taking so long? And
where was Vin?

She stopped her pacing and stared out
the window where the entrance gate remained closed and locked. Had
Vin escaped, or had the guards shot him? He no longer had his body
armor. Or had Ben captured him again? Would her stepfather offer
Vin in trade if she would follow through on their
agreement?

The doctor returned and startled her
from her bleak thoughts. He still wore his bloody surgery apron and
appeared ready to bite someone rather than speak. “He made it
through surgery. He’s a strong man and the bullet missed anything
vital, but he might have bled out if I hadn’t been on
duty.”

Emma understood the egos of physicians
so she didn’t tell this one that she could have operated on her
friend herself. “Thank you. May I see him?”

He pointed to a door near the surgery
room. “He’s probably in a room by now, but he’ll be
groggy.”

Emma pushed through the door into a
hallway lined with patient rooms. All the doors hung open. She
found Vannie in the second room on the right. Two male attendants
wheeled a transport bed out of the room before she could enter.
They said nothing, only nodded.

Vannie’s eyes were slits as if he
hadn’t the energy to open them completely. “Any news from
Vin?”

Emma pulled a chair from the corner and
settled in it near Vannie’s head. She lifted his hand and held on.
“No. But I don’t think he would come here. I’m not sure what his
legal status is with the military.”

“
I hope the lad got away.
I hate to think of him in the hands of that Nemon
monster.”

Emma couldn’t let her mind go to that
image. “He’s smart and better able to escape without us to worry
about.”

Vannie opened his eyes a little wider.
“Did you get to send your message?”

“
I did, and the officer in
charge sent one also. Seems they’re pretty anxious to get their
hands on Ben.” Emma had liked the professional soldier, a Captain
Dane Edow. He’d told her that General Drant wanted to personally
handle any reports of Admiral Ben Lester’s whereabouts. “Two days
and this thing with my stepfather will be over. I should have come
out of hiding earlier.”

“
Glad you didn’t. Don’t
know how we could have kept you away from Lester if not for
Vin.”

Guilt tightened Emma’s empty stomach.
“I’ll never forgive myself for Moe.”

Vannie closed his eyes, and a tear
leaked from the corner of his eye. “Emma darling, those bastards
hired by your stepfather killed him, not you.”

Emma’s eyes overflowed. “I wish he
hadn’t tried to stop them. It wasn’t worth his life.”

This time Vannie squeezed her hand. “It
was to him. Giving his life to protect you would be the way he
wished to go. He didn’t want to die an old man kneading bread
dough.”

Instead of comforting her, Vannie’s
words raised the memories of all the hours she’d spent in the
kitchen with Moe. They’d talked of everything and laughed so often.
It had been Moe she first trusted with her true identity. She hoped
he’d known how much she loved him. He and Vannie were her fathers,
not Ben Lester.

What kind of vengeance would she get
for Moe? She sat at Vannie’s side long after he fell asleep. Did
she have the strength to kill Ben Lester and get him out of her
life once and for all? A guilty voice told her that Vin might do
the killing for her and take the blood onto his hands instead of
hers. She could use him as the living weapon he’d been created to
be. But she could never forgive herself even if Vin wanted to deal
out the deserved death. She wouldn’t let Vin be a killer
anymore.