Recon Marines III: The Marine's Doctor (28 page)

Chapter Seventeen

A pincher maneuver, even as poorly
executed as this one, drew the giants closer together. Mak couldn’t
isolate one target without the others realizing he’d moved outside
their perimeter. For Molly’s idea to work the enemy must close
ranks.

Mak shadowed the man on the far left
of the curved line for a short distance, listening to Shear’s
orders on the stolen radio. Once reassured they would continue on
course he drifted wide of the line. Then he sprinted to get ahead
of them. It took all his stealth skills to slip back into the
center of their tightening trap. Escaping would be more
difficult.

He checked the light breeze and placed
himself upwind of Molly’s trap. The prepared stack of leaves wasn’t
precisely in the middle of the pincher but only luck would have
placed it perfectly where he needed it.

The oily leaves gleamed in the false
twilight under the trees. Molly claimed the oil would ensure they
burned easily. That same toxic oil would carry on the smoke.
According to Molly, as little as one inhalation would bring about
respiratory distress. Prolonged exposure could cause death. Mak
only needed to bring them closer. A thin line of twisted dry leaves
and twigs led away from the pile of poison. He dared not be too
close when he lit it.

The trickiest part would be drawing
them close enough without exposing himself to fire. The rifle he’d
taken from One held the same nonlethal bullets as the pistol. Mak
took up a position with the narrowing opening of the pincher at his
back. He caught a few glimpses of the enemy as they neared his
position. He heard them coming from all directions, still too far
away. He waited.

They had filled in the gaps left by
the loss of the two Mak had already taken out. Though their spacing
was far from perfect, it was close enough that Mak could figure out
their locations and positioning. Poor strategy. Even a halfway
competent opponent could pick them off with a real
rifle.

But Mak had a gun that couldn’t pierce
their armor. Even if it did, from what he’d seen on the vid the
giants would charge on without regard to their lives to reach their
target.

The fake ammunition gave the weapon an
odd feel but Mak’s training had included stranger weapons. He
sighted in on a man near the center of the pincher, number Two he
believed. This particular giant moved to his right each time he
navigated around a tree. Mak took the shot and hit the man in the
throat. The man dropped with only the sound of his body hitting the
ground to mark it.

The others continued to move in,
unaware of their fallen comrade. Mak lined up on the one he’d seen
beneath the tree. Three, he believed. He shot that one in the
throat also but the man turned his head just as the bullet hit him.
The target dropped, thrashing about and grabbing at his neck. A
smashed larynx could be fatal.

The radio buzzed with calls for
instructions but Shear didn’t answer. The men rushed forward with
less caution and order. For big men they moved fast, closing in on
Mak’s position. He used the striker pin he’d taken from one of the
pistols to light the long fuse. And wished he’d made the fuse
shorter. If he ran too soon they would chase him and be too far
from the smoke. The small flame snaked along the ground and gobbled
up the natural materials in its path.

Mak froze in place. Even the smallest
movement when they hunted so close to him would give him away
despite his dark clothing.

“
What’s that smoke?” one
of the giants asked.

One of the others shushed him but they
made so much noise walking that speaking didn’t really matter.
Someone spoke quietly on the radio. “Why did he make a campfire
here? He had to know we were coming.”

The smoke hung heavily near the ground
and drifted in a wide lazy cloud outward. It would overcome him if
he didn’t move now.

Mak sighted in on a giant approaching
from the right. He wasn’t in position for a clear shot so aimed for
the man’s knee where the armor might not protect the joint as well
as it did softer parts of the body. The bark of the gun echoed
round and back off the trees, confusing the hunters as to its
source. And gave Mak time to shoot another one in the leg. The
injuries might not even slow them but he had to make his
exit.

A few of the giants nearest the fire
gagged and coughed. Mak sprang up and ran to a tree only ten feet
away. A soft bullet splattered against the tree near his shoulder.
A good shot for someone who’d aimed quickly. Coughing and
struggling sounds from near the fire hid the movements of the still
standing giants. Damn.

Mak leaped toward the next tree and a
round nicked his upper right arm. Another whistled by and struck a
tree only feet from his face. It they took shots at his head then
they didn’t care if they took him dead or alive despite Shear’s
orders. Someone not far from Mak’s cover coughed. The smoke worked
but now he had to move.

He took out a pistol and fired blindly
toward his left in a sweeping arc. The sound still echoed through
the trees when he ran into the open. The enemy had taken cover but
at least two fired back in a similar random arc to keep him from
fleeing.

Mak ran as fast as he could and used
what trees he could for cover. A round struck him below his right
shoulder blade. It knocked him forward but he kept his balance and
ran. Breathing hurt as if the shot had broken a rib. Crunching
footsteps pounded after him and another round hit him in the thigh.
He fell, rolling to cover behind a tree.

Numbness claimed his leg for a few
seconds. Then his muscles twitched and his foot jerked as feeling
returned with a terrible burning in the spot where he’d been hit.
But he’d operated with worse injuries. He slung his rifle over his
back and switched his pistol to his left hand. More of the men
coughed behind him. Mak held his breath as a whiff of smoke touched
his senses. Now or never.

He leaped up and stumbled as the
injured muscles went into a spasm. The giants were good shots but
not excellent. Another rib cracked as a shot hit his abused right
side.

Mak ran, varying his dodges left and
right around trees. Bullets splatted into trunks, some very near
his head. But after another twenty yards the rounds no longer made
it through the warren of trees. He didn’t slow until the sounds of
coughing and thrashing men fell far behind. Then he slowed and took
more care to cover his trail.

Only after another quarter of a mile
did Mak turn left and work his way toward Molly’s hiding place. His
body hurt in too many places to count but it didn’t matter. Molly’s
plan had worked! They’d taken down many if not all of the men
hunting him. And the bastards didn’t even know Molly was here. All
he and Molly had to do was hide for a few more hours.

****

Molly didn’t like hiding. She’d
discovered a vengeful side of herself that wanted to do damage to
Helen and her evil cadre. Helen had used Molly as a way to keep
track of the army’s interest in her criminal enterprise.

With nothing to do but wait for Mak,
Molly wondered how she’d missed the symptoms of madness in Helen.
The terrible things done to the men involved in these experiments
couldn’t be the work of a sane mind. And what of the past missions
they’d shared with varied successes? Had Helen interfered with
their results or had she acted as a real scientist? Molly realized
that she and Hector would have to go over all the discoveries and
research they’d accomplished with Helen’s help. Damn the
woman.

Molly didn’t think any punishment
could be harsh enough to make Helen pay for what she’d done but
she’d vowed to search for it. Even as a small child she’d
appreciated her father’s position and his power, but she’d never
used it to promote her own desires. But in this she and her father
would unite in their goal to see justice. Just as her father
occupied the top of the army command structure, Molly had risen to
the top of the scientific community. Her word carried more weight
than any other scientist. This would finish Helen and tarnish all
her previous work though the public would never know the entire
details of her crimes.

Gunfire from deep in the forest sent
Molly’s heart racing. The same heart urged her to run to Mak’s aid,
but this time her head won the argument. Her presence could only
hinder him in this part of the plan. She’d helped as much as she
could, finding biological weapons in the woods. And now by
intercepting Helen’s radio signals. More shots rang out amidst
deep-voiced cries and shouts. The leaves blocked any possible
chance of spotting smoke. Had Mak started the fire? Though she
didn’t know the exact strain of plants she’d helped him gather, she
was confident in her identification of them as
poisonous.

Time dragged while she listened to
Helen curse into the radio. Her communications to the regular
guards surrounding the borders of the forest remained intact. Molly
didn’t interfere with that or Helen might stop using the radio all
together.

More shots echoed through the trees.
Molly refused to let her mind wander to images of Mak’s flesh torn
to shreds. She assured herself the giants used nonlethal weapons.
Twenty minutes passed with no more shots. Either the plan had
worked or Mak had been captured. Unless it only half-worked in
which case Mak would continue to lead the giants away.

“
Molly?”

Her throat tightened and tears stung
her eyes. It took her a moment before she answered. “I’m here.” She
worked her way down to a lower branch where she would push the
leaves aside and see him.

To most people Mak would appear
untouched and healthy. But as a doctor and his lover, she saw the
way he favored his right side. Arm injury and damaged ribs.
Hopefully no internal organ injuries. Even soft bullets could cause
serious damage if they hit the right spot. But none of his
discomfort showed on his face. “It all worked. I don’t know if the
smoke killed them or not but they’re down.”

“
What’s our next step?”
Molly had never wanted the life of a soldier but this secretive
battle alongside Mak energized her. Unless it was her body’s
reaction to sheer terror.

Mak looked toward the edge of the
forest where Helen and her men watched the perimeter. “If I knew
what equipment they have access to I could make a better decision
whether to just hide or to continue our attacks. I think Shear
suspected I was listening in. She stopped communicating with her
men shortly after they entered the woods.”

“
Well, I might have cut
her off.”

His eyebrow went up as did the corner
of his mouth. “You’re something else, Dr. Drant.”

“
What would that
be?”

“
Whatever is cleverer than
a genius.”

Molly received many compliments on her
brains before but it meant something special coming from
Mak.

Helen shouted orders on the radio, but
she’d given up trying to contact her lab giants. “Bring the pulse
generators. Start from the north and the south ends. Meet in the
middle.”

“
Hell’s teeth!” Mak set
his rifle against the tree and reached up. “Get down.
Now.”

Molly obeyed. She found a hold on the
branch and lowered herself. Mak grasped her ankles and pulled her
down into his arms. Her set her on the ground and unslung his
rifle. She could hear hovercrafts approaching from the
south.

“
Sit down with your back
against the tree. If we get lucky they won’t even notice you.” He
took off running toward the sound of the hover.

Again Molly obeyed though she wanted
to call him back. She sat and leaned against the smooth trunk in a
spot where she could watch Mak.

Mak stopped about thirty yards away
from her with the rifle at his shoulder. He fired at something up
in the trees, sending a steady volley through the leaves. The
humming sound moved closer and stirred the foliage above his head.
The rifle fell from his hands and his knees gave way. He tumbled to
the ground, not gracefully but fighting every bit of distance until
he lay prone.

Then Molly understood. A stun pulse,
designed for law enforcement. It rendered people unconscious by
interfering with their nerve impulses and could resonate over a
large area. Flying directly over the trees only a hundred or so
feet off the ground, the pulse worked efficiently and completely.
She stood up and ran. Perhaps they would stop now that they’d taken
Mak down. If she remained free she could help him. Or stay free and
assist those who came to rescue them.

She zigzagged around trees, wishing
for a little bit of Mak’s agility and speed. But the hover flew
faster than she ran. Then a tree root tripped her and sent her
crashing to the ground. Her breath whooshed out of her lungs and
then a frizzle of sensation swept from her feet up through her
back. At first it felt like pins and needles in the soles of her
feet, then her calves, her thighs and across her back. As it crept
up her body she sucked in a large breath of air, afraid her
diaphragm might seize and end her respiration.

The paralyzing sensation took all the
strength from her neck so her head slammed into the ground. Her
mind stayed clear for a few moments longer and heard the flying
vessel continuing its sweep of the forest. They would knock out
their own men also. Hell. They’d probably use heat sensors to find
everyone. Including her.