Recon Marines III: The Marine's Doctor (31 page)

The seven hovers approached in a
spread pattern. As he’d feared Shear and her mercenary guards
accompanied them on their own crafts. The doctor stayed a few
hundred yards behind with her half a dozen guards on individual
hovers. Mak didn’t doubt the regular guards had something more
powerful in their guns than the soft ammunition of his
gun.

“
Stay low. I don’t think
they’ll shoot at you first but putting you down to impede my
movement could be their strategy.”

“
I hope they didn’t think
of that,” Molly muttered as she sank below the lip of their
hole.

“
It’s what I would do in
their position if we were a deadly enemy.”

“
Do you think they’re
angry about what we did to their comrades?”

“
I didn’t notice any
brotherhood or closeness between them, but I might not be the best
judge of such feelings.” Mak hadn’t noticed much emotions in the
giants. Had it been cut out of their brains?

The faint vibrations of the low flying
hovers carried through the soil beneath Mak’s boots. The giants
increased their altitude as they crossed the stream only two
hundred yards away, exposing themselves as clear targets against
the blue sky. They spread out to create a half circle similar to
what they’d tried to do in the forest. If they’d been smarter or
more experienced they would have taken the time to create a full
circle around him so they could attack from all sides.
Amateurs.

The pistol had limited range and the
small amount of explosives he’d tipped each bullet with might throw
off the balance enough to ruin his aim. He dared not waste even one
shot so he waited until the ones on his right flew within fifty
yards. Even for him making such a shot with a pistol presented a
challenge. They had even less chance of hitting him when firing
from their moving vehicles.

Mak’s first shot exploded against the
chest of the man third from the end of the left arc. He flipped
back off his hover, but his dead hand brushed across his controls.
The driver-less machine took a sharp left and crashed into the
rider flanking it. Both machines tumbled to the ground, the giant
on the second one leaping free before impact. But his agile escape
from the wreck didn’t help him evade the bullet Mak sent to his
head.

Two down and five to go, all closing
in on them. Mak swung back to his right, Molly moving her arm as
needed so the chain didn’t interfere. He shot twice, one kill but
the other only knocked off his hover. The vehicles flew forward
after losing their riders for only a few feet. The craft settled on
the ground, safety features keeping them from operating without a
driver.

Bullets thudded into the soft exposed
dirt surrounding their foxhole. Mak crouched, forcing Molly down
farther beneath the lip. Eleven shots left. He aimed at the center
of the line but the bulk of their machines now provided a wall of
protection. The small bit of explosives he’d fixed to his
ammunition would only bounce off the metal. He managed to shoot one
more man approaching from the left before slipping the pistol
behind his waistband. Three to go.

Mak took up the first lasso, the stiff
vine settling into a wide loop after only two swings. It flipped
eagerly over the controls of the hover directly in front of them.
He ignored the screaming of the muscles as he jerked the noose
tight and to the right. Just enough to throw the machine off
course. By now the circle had closed enough that even a light
course deviation caused a collusion. He didn’t wait to witness it
as he picked up the next lasso and captured a machine on the right
side. All down and on foot.

He took Molly’s hand in his and leaped
out of the foxhole. When surrounded by an overwhelming enemy the
only strategy was to attack. He pulled the gun out of his waistband
and shot at the nearest giant to his right and then his left. They
went down but he couldn’t tell if their injuries would keep them
there.

Molly stepped onto one of the downed
hovers first and squatted behind the controls to make room for Mak.
She faced him so neither would have to cross their arms. Mak shot
at the last giant standing and slapped at the control panel with
his other hand. The machine kicked to life, seemingly undamaged by
its low altitude crash.

A heavy weight knocked into Mak’s side
and then he quickly realized he’d been shot by one of the soft
slugs. His lungs couldn’t draw breath but his body kept operating.
The hover lifted but a large, thick hand wrapped around Mak’s
ankle. He shot the wrist. Blood and bits of bone splattered the
floor and Mak’s boots. He kicked the severed hand over the edge as
the craft gained height.

Another man leaped toward them. The
power of his big legs carried him upward but Mak’s shot to his
forehead insured that the message to pull down the hover didn’t
reach the giant’s hands from his brain.

Then they were high enough to be out
of reach of men on the ground. Mak sped along their side of the
stream, bobbing up and down as the guards with Shear took up the
pursuit. He had to beat the guards to the forest. Once in there he
would use the cover to cut down their numbers again. Hopefully
before they brought out the pulse weapon. If the regular guards
foolishly challenged him beneath the trees he might capture a gun
with real bullets.

A round whacked the ground a few feet
in front of them. As Mak had feared and hoped, Shear’s guards used
real ammunition. Unless they were terrible marksmen, they attempted
to bring down the hovercraft and not kill Mak and Molly. If one of
their shots disabled the hovercraft at their current speed the
crash might kill them anyway. Something struck the control panel
near Mak’s hand. He glanced over his shoulder and saw three of the
giant men following them. How were they alive? Their massive size
slowed their vehicles but Mak’s carried the weight of two
people.

Though it wasted time, Mak zigzagged
to ruin the giants’ aim and slanted gradually away from the guards
running nearly parallel to them. They scooted across the stream as
soon as they noticed, not impeded by the additional weight. The
forest grew like a dark wall in front of them but still too far
away. Molly held onto his leg with her free hand and braced herself
as he drove their vehicle in an irregular series of dips and climbs
to throw off the aim of their pursuers. It wasn’t going to be
enough.

He wasn’t as skilled a shooter as Vin
but Mak’s marksmanship exceeded that of his enemy. And he’d fought
running battles from the back of a moving vessel before. The big
men gained on them from behind because of his evasive maneuvers,
but the most immediate danger came from the guards using real
bullets. They didn’t try to dodge as they angled toward Mak and
Molly. Mak calculated their flight paths without conscious thought.
He shot the one in the middle of the racing line and then another
in the back. As he hoped their falls from their crafts disrupted
some of their comrades.

Another soft slug struck Mak in the
back of his thigh. His entire leg went numb, but he shifted his
weight to his other. The short bushes that grew on the outskirts of
the forest scraped the bottom of the hover. Slugs pelted the
foliage and hit the hover. Molly cried out but Mak dared not check
on her. He twisted and fired at the nearest enemy following
them.

The hover bucked and dipped before Mak
turned back to the front. Sparks snapped from a jagged metal wound
on the top of the control panel. A lucky shot had hit the main
drive controls. He stuffed the pistol into his waistband and used
both hands to guide the hover into a survivable crash.

The machine bounced once and then slid
and crunched for another fifteen feet. Mak grabbed Molly’s hand and
jerked her to her feet before the craft settled and wheezed its
last. The first trees rose only steps away. Mak stumbled to the
ground, his leg still tingling and weak.

Hovers hummed and then quieted behind
them as the giants dismounted, but Mak and Molly had scampered into
the trees by then. Mak made Molly run in front of him, putting his
body between her and the guns.

Footsteps pounded behind them. Shear’s
behemoths, not giving up on their prey. Mak couldn’t stand against
them in hand-to-hand combat, not even if he’d been entirely healthy
and not chained to Molly.

Molly ran with her free hand pressing
against her right shoulder. Mak remembered her crying out but saw
no blood between her fingers. Her steps didn’t falter as she led
him toward a stand of tall stalks. Then the ground went soft
beneath his feet.

“
Step where I do,” Molly
said breathlessly over her shoulder. She took a short stride and
placed her foot right beside one of the stalks. A short step landed
her other foot near another plant.

Mak followed her steps exactly. He
could now hear one of the giants breathing from only a few steps
behind him. A slug hit his already bruised shoulder, the pain
raising floating black dots in front of his eyes. Shouts and curses
almost drowned out the slurping, sucking sounds of the boggy ground
as it captured the heavy men following them.

Molly moved at a quick steady walk,
her steps uneven as needed to keep them on firm ground. She panted
heavily and sweat darkened the back of her shirt. Then they were on
more solid ground, running and dodging through the trees. The
sounds of the struggling giants fell behind them.

Mak moved up beside Molly and took her
hand again. He led her on a course to angle them back toward the
hangar. Shear’s men didn’t have the cleverness to expect it.
Picking a route covered with a thick carpet of leaf litter, new and
old, Mak hoped to slow the tracking. Shear’s men had trained using
heat detectors and never learned to follow trace through a forest.
All the enhancements in the universe couldn’t make such a skill
natural. It had to be taught and then perfected through
practice.

The trees thinned as they neared the
boundary with the grasslands. Mak caught glimpses of the tall
hangar between the thick trunks. He took his time and used the
cover of the trees as he worked his way toward the open area. At
first he thought he imagined the low frequency sound but then he
was sure. A large ship approached. More than one.

“
I hear a ship,” Molly
whispered when they hunkered down behind a tree near the edge of
the forest.

Mak heard nothing moving in the forest
behind them except a light rustling of leaves in the breeze. “One
big carrier and at least four star cruisers. Shear must have
expected trouble if she called for that much help.”

“
I don’t see them.” Molly
sagged against Mak’s side. “How will we get away from
them?”

“
We can’t. They use the
heat signature scanners to hunt for us. Hopefully our latest
victory will make us useful for a while longer.”

“
What will she have us do
next?”

Mak wanted to do something about the
hopelessness in her voice but no great escape plan came to mind.
“She’ll use you as a hostage to force me to train her men or at
least act as their opponent. Now let me see your
shoulder.”

“
It’s only a
bruise.”

Mak brushed her hand aside when she
put it over her injury. She tried to resist by tugging on the
shackles linking their wrists as he lifted both hands to her
collar. He opened the top two buttons on her shirt and then pushed
aside the wide band of her bra-lined undershirt. A large red bruise
darkened her shoulder. The discoloration of her skin marked her all
the way to the top of her breast. “Damn Shear and her
goons.”

Molly pushed his hands away and he let
her. There was nothing he could do for her anyway. He couldn’t
protect her or help her escape. Not even when the courts had
declared the Recon Marines guilty of disobeying a direct order and
other treasonous activities had Mak known such
helplessness.

The ships approached in a military
formation meant to intimidate and forestall any resistance. They
executed the maneuver as well as any active military unit might,
the massive carrier taking up station directly above the hangar.
Their scanners would sweep the facility for life, toxins and
weapons. A ship of that size could see Mak and Molly lurking in the
woodlands.

The four star cruisers veered off and
began search patterns in each quadrant. They looked like the newest
models, and their pilots flew with the ease of many flight hours in
the cockpit.

One of the cruisers passed over Mak
and Molly. She flinched and closed her eyes. “I don’t know if I can
run any further, Mak. I’m sorry.”

Mak took her hand. “We’ll wait here
for them to come and get us.” The words tasted bitter in his mouth.
He’d failed the mission, failed the general and failed the men
who’d been tortured by this vile project and died for it. And
mostly he’d failed Molly.

The cruiser that had flown over them
returned. It came in lower and slower. Mak read the numbers and
letter code on the side of the ship. He stood up and pulled Molly
up by her hand. He led her out of the forest into the open. The
ship flew by, going as slow as such a ship could in heavy
atmosphere. It dipped its near wing at them as it
passed.

“
What was that?” Molly
asked.

“
That was a real soldier.”
Mak wrapped her in his arms as best as he could with their wrists
chained. “Pender and Box made it through. They brought help. You’ll
be safe now.”