Recon Marines II: Marine's Heiress, The (23 page)

Vannie shook himself, rain scattering
over Moe’s body. “Dillon, take care of Moe for me and sit tight
here until I get back. No going to the river or anywhere. Lock down
the town. I’m going with Vin.”

“
I don’t need any
help.”

Vannie eyes blazed. “Maybe you don’t
but I’m going along. The men who did this to my friend and stole my
lass will answer to me.”

Vin didn’t waste time arguing with him.
He gestured for Vannie to follow him. Vannie gave his friend one
last glance and then jogged the few steps to the hover. He climbed
aboard behind Vin and found a rail to hold onto. The little craft
strained under the extra weight but it managed to clear the north
gate.

“
We’re in a hurry,” Vin
said over his shoulder. “Don’t say anything and stay with the
hover.”

Vin set down a quarter of a mile
outside the gate. He unstrapped his short rifle and hopped off the
hover. He jogged along the edge of the road for another quarter of
a mile before he heard the incoming force.

Their line had lengthened as more men
fell behind. They made no attempt to be quiet, probably unaware of
how close they were to their mission target. Vin flying over their
heads earlier should have alerted them that their opponents were
aware of their approach. The two leaders walked side by side with
the same weary gait as their crew.

Vin found a good spot in the soaked
greenery east of the road. He waited until about half of the enemy
had passed by him. He set his rifle to rapid fire and started his
sweep at the front. The thought of poor Russ and his injured leg
and perhaps his wish not to be known as a killer, inspired Vin to
aim low. His laser powered weapon made little noise as he took out
the leaders and moved down the line. The rounds followed one
another so fast he didn’t have to aim. He held the weapon steady as
he swung the sights from man to man. Four men screamed and dropped
to the ground before the rest of them reacted.

They milled in a confused tangle and
retreated back north. It meant the rest of those in front ran in
front of Vin. He shot them all. Only a few managed to raise their
weapons. It was a slaughter. An eerie song of moans and cries
joined the mournful rain.

Vin didn’t know or care how many
suffered serious injuries or death. They no longer posed a viable
threat to Hovel Port. He moved back through the jungle until he was
sure they couldn’t see him when he jogged back onto the
road.

Vannie waited beside the hover craft,
his weapon in hand. “Are they coming?”

“
No. Get on board.” As
they flew over the treetops, Vin radioed Dillon and told him the
enemy was wounded and not likely to arrive. “Stay on alert and keep
the gates locked. I don’t know if they’ll send more or
not.”

After giving Dillon his orders, Vin put
Hovel Port out of his mind. Nearly half an hour had passed since
Emma had been taken.

Vannie cursed as they arrived at Vin’s
cruiser. The cargo bay opened at Vin’s remote command so he could
fly the hover inside. As soon as it settled on the deck Vin ran to
the pilot’s chair. He had them airborne before Vannie settled into
the copilot’s spot. It took only seconds to circle around Hovel
Port’s southern gate. The scanners picked up the scent of burnt
iron immediately, left behind by a modern star ship using
crystallized iron as fuel. He set his ship’s course to follow the
dissipating trail.

The enemy ship had taken off as a sharp
angle and left Merris Fiver’s atmosphere in half a minute. Once
they cleared the planet’s pull, the solar system spread out before
them. They flew past the outer four planets sharing the medium star
and entered deep space.

The trail didn’t spread out much in the
emptiness of space and the only concern was intersecting with trace
left by other ships. Vin set his speed to the maximum his ship
could maintain without frying his own crystallized iron
fuel.

Vannie broke the quiet on the bridge.
“Did you actually came to Merris Five in your own
cruiser?”

Vin didn’t bother with the obvious
answer. He redirected the sensors from the way he’d used them to
protect Hovel Port and focused them all forward.

“
Moe and I met thirty
years ago right after I left a planetary guard unit. We’ve been
adventuring through the stars ever since.”

Vin stilled, listening to Vannie
sharing the eulogy for his friend. Moe had been a kind man in Vin’s
limited experience. Vin had envied the friendship between Vannie
and Moe. It made him miss his brothers.

“
We intended to be done
packing up and searching new places when we met up with Emma. Took
us only a day or two to figure out the lass needed our help. She
was smarter than both of us put together and sweeter than real bee
tree honey. Like the daughter neither of us would ever have.”
Vannie rubbed his hand over his eyes. “My best friend, my partner,
is dead and my little girl kidnapped by those she gave up so much
to escape. How could I let this happen?”

“
You didn’t let it happen.
It was done to them.” Vin checked the engine readings and then
pulled up a star chart. He couldn’t run his ship this hard for
long. The heads up display showed four more star systems nearby in
this galaxy that had habitable planets along with three moons that
were possible destinations. But if Emma’s kidnappers rendezvoused
with a larger ship Vin might not be able to keep up with them if
they left the galaxy.

“
Nothing will ever be
right again.” Vannie’s voice broke.

“
We’ll take care of those
that did this.”

“
And will I feel better
then?” Vannie stared out the front viewing panel.

“
No.” Something blinked on
the very edge of the sensors. It lined up with the perfectly
straight flight of the kidnappers. “It will give you a momentary
peace but after the hunt is over and your prey is in your grasp,
the same place inside you will be empty.” Vin thought of Emma’s
slim body pressed against his and the trust in her eyes when she
looked at him. Even though she knew what he was, she saw him as a
person. “Unless you can find something else to fill that
emptiness.”

“
I can’t think that far
ahead.” Vannie dropped his head back against the cushioned head
rest. “All I want is to get our Emma back.”

Vin liked it when Vannie
referred to Emma as
our.
And they would get Emma back. He pointed to the
steady blinking on the heads up display. “Emma is right there.
Let’s go get her.”

Chapter Fourteen

Emma didn’t struggle as the hired thugs
led her out of the ship. She had no idea where they were and no
skills to fly a ship out of there if she did break free. They
hustled her through a high-ceiled space that could only be a ship
bay before entering into a military style hallway. After enough
turns to confuse her, they stopped in front of a door guarded by
another of their kind.

“
You’ll find clean
clothing and whatever else you need inside. The admiral expects you
in one hour.” The mercenary pushed the door open and gave her a
firm shove. “Let your guard know when you’re ready. If you don’t
come out on your own, we’ll come in and get you.”

“
What’s your name?” Emma
wasn’t intimidated by soldiers, especially one like this one. He’d
probably deserted to avoid being convicted alongside the admiral.
These ex-soldiers types must have followed her stepfather into
exile.

“
You can call me captain.”
He smiled but not in a friendly way.

She returned the expression in kind. “I
can think of something better to call you.” It wasn’t much of a
parting shot but she went into the room and shut the door behind
her. A spacious suite of rooms welcomed her in typical military
fashion, meaning no decorations or personal items of any sort. A
sitting area with two dull green chairs flanked a composite table
and a metal lamp. A door on the far wall probably led to sleeping
and bathing areas.

Emma had spent many days in such
accommodations in her years serving military clients and before
that as a young girl traveling with her mother and stepfather to
different military outposts. The familiarity didn’t spawn many
happy memories. She and her mother had designed their best, most
elaborate plot in a room much like this one. They’d been successful
beyond their hopes. But now Emma must face the admiral alone
without her mother’s quiet courage or Vin’s steely strength at her
side.

While she indulged in a hot bath, she
worried about Vin and Vannie. Moe’s death would devastate Vannie.
Vin would blame himself, his overinflated sense of duty filling him
with guilt that someone under his protection had been injured. If
only she could send him a message and tell him not to
worry.

Clothing in her size hung in the
wardrobe but none to her liking. Her stepfather had always liked
her and her mother dressed up like display dolls in a toy store.
The three dresses of choice included one long one meant for a
formal dinner and two calf length dresses suitable for the idle
rich spending a day socializing. She wished she could put on the
simple shirt and pants she’d arrived in but they were mud-covered
and damp. She put on the light blue dress and used a towel to brush
the dirt off her boots. The heeled shoes sitting beneath the
dresses looked like torture devices.

After running a brush through her hair
and giving some order to the wet curls, she went to the door and
ordered the guard to take her to the admiral. His gaze swept her in
a disrespectful manner, but she only stared at him down her nose.
Despite her petite size, she knew how to deal with men of this
type. “You go first.” She made it an order. Despite the smirk on
his face he obeyed.

They snaked through the windowless
halls. Numbers and letters marked doors and wings but nothing to
give away the location of what she suspected was an outpost. They
passed no one on their way to what became wider halls and a few
open spaces. Emma’s heart pounded as they came to a set of wide
closed doors. Time to face the serpent.

Her guard opened the door but stayed
back as she strode down the carpet runner to the table on the far
side of an office-like room. Admiral Ben Lester stood to greet her,
using the old fashioned manners he thought covered his monstrous
personality with a glossy camouflage. He used the disguise to move
undetected in the social circles he needed to advance his
agenda.

Ben was still a handsome man, his
posture straight and his eyes as sharp as ever. Only the dark
circles beneath his eyes and the tightness around his mouth hinted
at his outlaw status.

Emma knew the signs of stress, and
happy though she was to see them in her stepfather, she didn’t
think he was likely to drop over any minute. She and her mother had
planned this meeting though not for Emma to face Ben alone. How far
would her stepfather go to get what he wanted?

He came around the desk and opened his
arms as if this was a greatly anticipated reunion instead of a
kidnapping. “I’ve missed you, Emmy.”

She stopped and folded her arms in
front of her. A quick glance told her an armed man watched from
each corner of the room. Probably more outside the door behind the
desk and the one she’d left outside when she entered. No less than
six men plus the admiral. “You’ve been looking for me, Ben, but not
because you missed me.”

His smile hardened but didn’t fail. He
gestured toward a chair, waiting until she settled before taking
one near it. “I see you don’t want to bother with civilized
pleasantries.”

She snorted and crossed her legs,
enjoying his disapproving glance at her boots. “Since when is
murder and kidnapping civilized?” Grief tightened her voice though
she sought calm and confident. “If I had any wish to speak with you
I could have contacted any of the hundreds of investigators you
sent to find me.”

Ben gave up his pretend smile. “Did you
think I would never find you on that useless scrap of a world you
were hiding on?”

Emma smiled for real. He didn’t know
about the iridium deposit. That find would nearly equal Emma’s
share of the Hadrason Mining Empire though it wouldn’t be more than
hers and her mother’s combined. “I liked it there. I’m content to
spend the rest of my life on Merris Five.”

“
You’re welcome to go
back.” Ben picked an AI unit off his desk. “Your mother was very
clever in signing her shares over to you in such language that I
couldn’t challenge it in court.”

“
Especially now that those
same courts want to speak with you. How is your friend, Geoff
Hadrason, doing?”

A muscle twitched near Ben’s left eye,
a sign of his anger she’d seen before. She pushed a little harder.
“Where are we? Some deserted army outpost? Are those fellow
criminals soldiers you brought with you?”

Ben’s eyes narrowed, but his voice
remained even. “None of them are wanted by the law. They’re men who
served their time and learned they could earn more money as private
contractors.”

“
I think they are
considered criminals since they’re helping one of the most wanted
lawbreakers in the universe. Maybe they should turn you in for the
reward.” She tried to capture the gaze of one of the guards but he
ignored her. “I would gladly double that reward to see you face
justice.”