Recon Marines III: The Marine's Doctor (34 page)

“
Take care, marine.” Edow
hit the knob and the door slid shut behind Mak.

Silence filled the narrow hallway. Mak
made for the stairs, glancing at each step before he put his foot
down on it. Hopefully Shear and her men had fled too quickly to
leave traps behind. A long straight hallway stretched from the
bottom of the stairs into a dim distance. He heard
nothing.

Jogging now, Mak passed two more sets
of stairs. If he judged correctly, one led to the infirmary and the
other possibly to the training room. Ahead of him the hall ended at
another set of steps. It should take him into the hangar not far
from the visible entrance. He paused at the bottom. Steps made good
places for traps. He found it on the third step from the bottom. A
flat pressure charge, the same color as the metal. A man in a hurry
wouldn’t notice it.

Careful examination revealed only the
one. A small landing at the top of the stairs held a tall ladder
built into the wall. It lead up to a trapdoor. Damn. A difficult
exit if guarded. The weapon belt he’d borrowed held three grenades,
one a sensory shock shell. Taking the grenade in one hand and
tucking his pistol away, Mak climbed the ladder. At the top he
braced his knees against the sides of the ladder and eased the door
open. He flipped the activating switch on the grenade and rolled it
out, closing the door to protect himself from the light and sound
attack. The door rattled, and Mak shot through it before it
settled.

Nobody waited for him. The remnants of
the ships Mak had destroyed still filled the hangar though most of
it had been gathered into towering piles of twisted metal. He found
two of Edow’s soldiers near the normal entrance door, both dead.
Broken necks. They hadn’t stood a chance against the giants and
neither would Mak if they got their hands on him. He unslung the
rifle and jogged toward the front of the hangar.

Transports and hovercraft sat there in
ordered readiness. He glided between them, using them as cover. He
heard voices behind him as more of Edow’s men exited the lab and
came up the main steps. They cursed when they stumbled upon the
bodies of their comrades.

Mak moved into the open so they could
see him. He gave them hand signals for silence and motioned them
forward to fall in behind him. He didn’t want them going off on
their own and stumbling into Shear and her men. Together they moved
out of the hangar and into the grass.

A large area of the plains had been
trampled by Edow’s men and flattened by the captain’s ships. Ships
once again aloft and hovering over the area. It took a lot of fuel
to keep a big ship like the carrier airborne in low
atmosphere.

Shear and her four men stood out in
the plains below the ships. One of the giants aimed an engine
disrupter shoulder cannon at the carrier. Incredibly bold or simply
dumb to try and capture such a large armed vessel. The giant with
the weapon moved a few steps to the right in search of a better
firing position.

Mak motioned for the six men with him
to take cover behind the ship scraps along the hangar opening. He
lifted his borrowed rifle and knelt on one knee to aim. The four
hundred yard distance didn’t challenge him but the first shot had
to count. The whine of the supersonic round pierced the quiet and
hung in the air until the bullet hit the electronic power unit of
the cannon. It exploded, shredding the weapon and the man holding
it. Shrapnel sliced into the other enemies but only the first one
fell.

Shear shouted something to her
remaining three men. The giants lifted their rifles. Mak dove and
rolled. Bullets tore into the turf where he’d knelt moments
before.

Edow’s men returned fire. One of them
called out to Mak. “Are we shooting to kill, sir?”

Mak didn’t know Edow’s orders about
that but he knew what he wanted. “Yes.”

It took a lot of bullets to put the
big men down. A ricochet slightly wounded one of Edow’s men during
the loud exchange. But within three minutes of the first shot all
the giants sprawled on the turf.

“
Circle them, even
spacing.” The men followed Mak’s orders, spreading out and
approaching from all directions. Mak motioned for them to hold at
ten yards distance from the enemy. “Weapons ready.”

Mak approached the slaughter alone.
The giants had used their bodies to protect Shear. She huddled
behind their massive form, clutching her bleeding thigh.

“
I guess you think you’ve
won, marine,” she spat at Mak. “But once people read my research
and understand what I’ve accomplished they’ll demand that the
military allows me to continue.”

Mak looked at the dead men, their
thick bodies riddled by multiple wounds. Their thick slabs of
muscle barely looked human. He could see scarring on their skulls
where this crazy woman had invaded the sanctity of their minds and
redesigned their beings. He checked the giants for life before
waving the soldiers to join them. “Two of you take charge of Dr.
Shear. We’ll take her to a holding cell and then scour the entire
facility. Someone radio the captain and tell him what’s happened. I
advise him to keep his ships in the air until we’re
done.”

It took five hours to clear the entire
area to Mak’s satisfaction. They used hand held heat detectors
inside the underground parts while the star cruisers scanned
outside and the surrounding one hundred miles. The entire time,
half of Mak’s thoughts remained with Molly undergoing emergency
surgery. Maybe more than half his thoughts.

Mak led the exploration of the tunnels
beneath the lab after removing the trap on the steps. They found a
room below holding various armament and food to last for months.
Mak ordered the men not to touch anything until bomb and chemical
sniffers checked for traps.

After they finished Mak had nothing to
occupy his mind except his fear for Molly. He waited in the hall
outside the infirmary with Captain Edow keeping him company. A half
hour of pacing felt like walking forty miles before Dr. Loren
emerged.

Loren smiled. “She’ll be fine. Between
the supplies on the ship and what they had here I had everything
needed. I fixed up the internal injuries and expect no
complications. Recovery will be complete though it might take a few
weeks.”

Mak felt light-headed for a moment.
His words tangled his tongue. “May I see her?”

“
She’s still asleep, but
there’s no reason why you can’t sit with her. I don’t expect her to
wake for a few hours yet.” Loren led Mak to a curtained alcove in
the back of the infirmary and left him there.

Molly’s face looked less pale though
it might have been the dim lighting. Mak pulled a chair close to
her bedside and took her hand, so small and fragile, in his. For a
long time he just watched her breathe. He counted the time between
exhalations. It took five minutes of observation before he
convinced himself she was doing all right. Then he put his forehead
on the blanket beside her arm and finally let his tension
go.

Relaxing the hold on his fears broke
apart a barrier that had never been breached. He didn’t understand
the burning behind his eyes until the wetness overflowed and
dripped into the blankets.

Chapter Twenty-One

Molly moved stiffly around her
quarters, stowing away her work clothing. Even six weeks later any
quick movement tugged at the scar tissue she couldn’t see inside
her body. Her energy levels had returned to normal. She needed
every bit of it as she’d spent every waking moment immersed in all
the data they’d compiled from the mission. It might take years to
organize it into something readable by anyone other than the most
brilliant scientific minds. Some parts would never be clear unless
Helen cooperated and filled in the blanks.

The dreaded face-to-face meeting with
Helen dominated the schedule later in the day. Molly and her father
had arrived on Mossy seven hours earlier along with a select group
of politicians and military leaders. They’d been ushered to
quarters prepared for them by Captain Edow.

Edow remained in charge of securing
the lab facility and overseeing the prisoner, Helen Shear. The last
time Molly had seen the captain, he’d had his wounded arm in a
sling and appeared distraught at Molly’s more serious
injuries.

Molly had awakened from her surgery to
find herself already half a day from Mossy in a star cruiser flown
by Box and Pender on her way back to civilization. Hector had
accompanied her and fussed over her night and day. She appreciated
his care but it didn’t make up for what was missing. Who was
missing. Mak had stayed behind to help Edow on Mossy, and he hadn’t
been present to greet her return.

Some women might have doubted him but
Molly didn’t. She knew he’d been ordered to assist Edow, and she
also trusted he wouldn’t have if he’d thought her still in danger.
She just missed him. It’d been too long since he’d held her in his
arms. She didn’t want to see him for the first time in front of the
investigative committee and her father.

“
Are you ready?” Hector
asked from the open door. “They’re gathered in the conference
room.”

She shivered. “The same conference
room. I take it there will be adequate guards about?”

Hector led the way down the hallway.
“Mak will be there. It would take a brigade to get by him and at
you.”

Molly’s reluctance to enter the room
vanished at the thought of finally seeing Mak again. Hector opened
the door and allowed her to enter first. And there he
stood.

Mak had his back to the secret panel,
his stare focused on her. Everything she’d hoped and dreamed of
seeing in his eyes shone at her. He’d said he loved her and his
gaze proved it. His stare swept her from head to toe, warming her
further with the lingering concern.

“
Sit here, Dr. Drant.”
Captain Edow gestured at a chair on her father’s right
hand.

Molly tore her gaze from Mak though
she sensed his still on her. Not even the attention of all the
important people gathered in the room could dilute the warmth of
Mak’s presence on her.

Her father cleared his throat. “I’ve
explained the reasons behind our secrecy on your mission. Before
you entered, we’d just agreed that your team will continue their
work here while we handle the information on our end. Dr. Shear
will remain here until you finish interviewing her. Then she’ll
return to face trial as a traitor and likely multiple other felony
counts.” Her father looked troubled as he glanced at others around
the table. “I’m not even sure we have laws to cover some of the
heinous experiments she’s supervised.”

Relieved her father had taken care of
all the negotiating duties before she arrived, Molly spent the next
hours answering questions by the investigative team members after
Edow’s men escorted a sullen Helen out of the room. Before leaving,
many of the investigators came up to her one by one, asking about
her health, thanking her for her service and wishing her luck in
the vast endeavor of making order of the mess.

After all the members left, Molly’s
father nodded at Dane Edow. “Could you leave me alone with my
daughter, captain? You stay, marine.”

“
Yes, sir.” Edow closed
the door after he left, giving Molly a small smile.

“
Mak, join us at the
table. I’m sure my daughter would like to sit down and
rest.”

“
I’m fine, Father.” Molly
saw the wariness in Mak’s eyes though he probably appeared
unemotional to her father.

“
This mission started in a
room very much like this one with the three of us sitting around a
table.” Her father, looking very much the general in his field
uniform, glared at Mak. “At that time, lieutenant, I gave you some
specific orders. One of them I’m sure you failed to follow and I
suspect you blatantly disobeyed another one.”

“
Father,” Molly started,
but her father raised his hand to stop her.

“
This is between me and my
subordinate officer. Now answer me, lieutenant, before I decide
what charges I should press against you.”

“
Yes, sir.” Mak met the
general’s stare with a calm one of his own. Few men could manage
such a feat. “I failed to keep your daughter safe as you ordered
me. I have no excuse, sir.”

“
Agreed,” her father
growled back.

“
As to your other order,
sir, to keep my hands off your daughter, I did disobey that.” Mak
leaned a bit toward the general, a daring move. “As you are well
aware, sir, such an order is not lawful. Your daughter is an
independent adult citizen. You have no authority to order me away
from her person.”

“
I have the authority of
being her father.” The glare became darker still.

Mak sat back. “I don’t understand the
full rights and responsibilities of fatherhood, sir, but the best
thing you can do for your daughter is to not stand between
us.”

Molly’s surprise didn’t quite match
her father’s shock.

“
What the hell do you
mean?” her father blurted.

“
Molly is the most
intelligent woman I’ve ever met. She might be the smartest person
in the universe. Only an intelligent man can keep her happy. I’m
not the equal of her intelligence quotient, but I’m close enough
that I won’t have trouble conversing with her or understanding her
work. She’s also one of the bravest people I’ve ever worked with
combined with a determined nature to explore and discover every
scientific secret still out there. She needs a companion who can
protect her and enjoys the travel and adventure as much as she
does.”