Recon Marines III: The Marine's Doctor (27 page)

Mak knew how to use shadows. He
ghosted from tree to tree until he intersected the projected path
of the man who had acted like the leader. Basic warfare, take out
the officers first. They’d made the simplest of mistakes, allowing
their leader to be identified. Their overall plan lacked any hint
of cleverness or strategy. All the brains in this little exercise
were on Mak’s side of the battle.

Only a few yards inside the dim forest
the straight line lost its integrity. The wide trunks forced men to
zigzag around them and blocked their view of each other. Within a
quarter of a mile the leader had moved ahead of the men on either
side of him. Mak kept drifting farther back to stay in front of the
ragged line. He’d explored the boundaries of the forest before
Shear brought her pretend soldiers to hunt him. Twenty yards later
and no one outside the forest could see them.

Mak only had seven shots left in the
stolen gun. He needed to use them where they would do the most
good. And as Shear had mentioned, they were nonlethal. Mak didn’t
intend to act in nonlethal ways against these people. He carefully
pulled one of the stakes Molly had coated with poison from his
pocket.

Only an experience biologist would
have noticed the plants growing along the edges of the small
clearing in the middle of the forest were a species similar to
black hellebore. Molly had worked the moist roots into a thick
paste. After applying it to the sharp sticks Mak had snapped off a
tree, she’d wrapped leathery leaves around them so Mak wouldn’t
come into contact with the poison. They didn’t know how potent it
was or how quickly it would work. But if it weakened one of the big
men enough, Mak could kill him. Then he would have more
weapons.

Mak found an unusually thick tree
twenty yards from the meandering path the leader traveled. Though
the hunters scanned left and right as they trudge forward, the
forest made hiding from them rather easy. The black clothing they’d
given him worked nearly as well as their specialized camouflage.
Mak slid around the wide bore of the tree, keeping it between him
and his prey as the leader passed by him.

The man probably had excellent hearing
but moving through woodlands without sound took practice and
experience. The giant made enough noise stomping on twigs and old
leaves to cover Mak’s silent stalking. The prey possessed some
instincts, pausing to listen. It only made him an easier target.
Mak wrapped one arm around the giant’s thick neck and stabbed the
wooden blade into the soft spot behind the man’s lower jawbone. It
sank in a satisfying length.

The man reacted with strength and
power beyond what a wounded person should be capable. He grasped
Mak’s wrist and unwrapped his arm from his neck. The giant jerked
on Mak’s arm and threw him off to the side.

Only a desperate, agile twist
prevented Mak from crashing headlong into a tree. He rolled to his
feet, cursing the noise they’d made. He needed to finish the big
bastard quickly. The giant brought his snub-nosed pistol up with
one hand and reached for the wooden stake protruding from his neck
with the other.

Mak lunged, hitting his enemy hard
enough to make him stagger back. The giant kept his feet and
plucked the wood from his neck. Blood dribbled out of the wound,
not spurting as it would if Mak had lucked out and hit a major
vessel. He tossed the stake aside and lifted his gun again. But the
barrel wavered and then drooped toward the ground. Mak tackled him
and this time the giant went down beneath him. After a few
half-hearted swings at Mak’s head the giant’s eyes clouded over.
His big body went slack.

Without checking for life, Mak
stripped the body of weapons, radio and water bag. He wanted the
body armor but dared not linger. He’d hoped to find a sound
suppressor for the pistol but wasn’t so lucky. They didn’t care how
much noise they made when they shot him.

He ghosted back into the trees and set
the radio into his ear. Inquiries directed at the fallen leader
filled the airways. The men on both sides of the downed man had
heard the scuffle. Mak moved to the right and then settled behind
the wide trunk of a tree.

The giant coming toward him crunched
through the leaf debris, making enough noise for ten men. Mak let
him pass by him and then stepped from behind the tree. He shot the
man in the back of the head. The giant dropped without a
whimper.

Mak stashed the pistol behind his
waistband and scrambled up the tree he’d hidden behind. Already he
heard the man from the left running toward him. He climbed nearly
thirty feet before finding enough foliage to hide
himself.

The approaching enemy used more
caution then his comrades had. Mak peered through the wide leaves
to the body straight beneath him. The soft ammunition might have
killed him when shot at point blank. But he could be merely
unconscious. Slow footsteps approached.

The man spoke into his radio, using
numbers instead of names. “I found One down. He’s dead and weapon
missing. Do you see the marine, Four? Four?”

“
Two, change to alternate
frequency. He probably stole the radio.”

At least one of the giants had some
sense though Mak couldn’t tell which one spoke. If he had known, he
would have hunted that one down next. Couldn’t have one of them
stepping up and taking the leadership role. Two stepped into view
below Mak. He squatted and checked the downed man for a
pulse.

After a few seconds he spoke into his
radio. “Four is also down. Unconscious and bleeding from his ears.
Apparent severe head injury.”

Mak took the tiny radio out of his ear
and adjusted the frequency. As he’d expected, they’d switched to
the second default military channel. Didn’t they understand they
hunted military prey?

Dr. Shear spoke and overrode the men
checking in. “Stop talking. He’s probably nearby listening to you
even if he can’t hear your radios anymore. Two, move away from the
body and search for his trail. You were close by when he fired the
shot. He can’t have gotten far. He obviously ambushed One and Four.
Everyone curl in toward Two’s position. Two, take the weapons from
Four. We’ll enclose him in a pincher maneuver.”

Thirteen voices checked in. Below Mak,
Two moved forward. He slid around the wide trunk, searching the
ground as he went. He would find nothing. Recon Marines knew how to
move through the woodlands with minimal disturbance.

Mak had predicted the pincher maneuver
and settled Molly in a place well outside the central part of the
forest. He’d actually hoped they would take a more aggressive
approach to hunting him when he attacked their middle. Time to move
onto the second part of the plan that he and Molly had designed. He
slipped down the far side of the tree from the enemy line. He took
an extra few seconds to steal the unconscious man’s radio. Time to
sow some confusion.

****

Molly clung to the far barrel of the
tree trunk. Not because she feared falling but because she feared
the massive man walking below her might hear her knees knocking
together in terror. He could tear her apart with his bare hands.
Seeing one of the specimens in the vid hadn’t prepared her for the
sheer physical presence the giants exuded in the flesh.

Despite his size he made little noise
in the forest. Although compared to Mak’s ability to glide over the
ground the man sounded like a dozen men. That thought calmed her.
They wouldn’t catch Mak. He moved through the trees like an
invisible breeze. And he was smarter, much smarter than these
brain-damaged hunters.

Mak had helped her climb the tree
before he’d taken off to confront Shear’s creations. He’d left her
with a firm order to stay in her hiding place until he returned.
Somewhere toward the middle of the forest a gun fired. The sound
echoed among the trees as if an entire volley had gone off. To
Molly’s dismay the giant below her perch stopped.

He spoke quietly into a radio though
Molly couldn’t quite make out his words. His voice sounded like the
growl of a vicious animal. Then he raised his voice. “We should
kill him on sight.”

Sweat beaded on Molly’s back, creating
a nearly irresistible desire to itch it. She held tighter to the
tree and wished the man would move on.

After what seemed a long time he spoke
again. “Fourteen switching to frequency beta and moving inward on
western pincher.”

Molly hoped that meant they intended
to trap Mak in the center as he’d hoped. Her grip on the tree
eased. Time passed, each minute without more shots added to her
hope for their plan.

“
Molly?”

She startled and nearly lost her grip.
“Mak? I’m here.”

“
Can you make it
down?”

The tree’s thick branches made easy
climbing up or down except for the twelve feet between the ground
and the lowest limb. Mak talked her through the last drop. She
slipped over the edge of the thick branch until she dangled by her
hands alone. She couldn’t hold it long but Mak grasped her calves
and told her to let go. He caught her weight when she did and then
encouraged her to keep her hands on the trunk for balance as he
lowered her. She didn’t take a full breath until her feet touched
the ground. Then she stretched back up on her toes and kissed
him.

Mak jerked in surprise but then leaned
back in and took control of the kiss. But he pulled away after a
fierce moment. “Your poison sap worked. Let’s get you out of
here.”

They jogged through the trees. Molly
would have lost her direction but Mak moved confidently to the spot
he’d scouted out before.

The forest lightened as they neared
the edge. Mak slowed and moved from cover of tree to tree. He
squatted down behind a wide trunk and pulled Molly down beside him.
He handed her a tiny ear radio. “Now we can hear them. If they
change frequencies again, try zeta next.”

“
Is Helen out there?”
Molly saw silvery flashes of metal out on the plains beyond the
trees.

“
She is. I’m surprised she
came out in the field herself.”

“
I heard her gloating on
the mike. She wants to watch her creations perform.”

Mak took both her hands. “Promise me
that you won’t try to rescue me if they catch me again.”

“
Only if you promise not
to get captured on purpose.”

“
I promise. Help should be
here within a day or three at most. So even if they get me, I
should be all right for that long.”

“
If our ship made it
through the minefield.”

“
Box and Pender knew what
to do. I’ll use half-delta frequency to talk to you. Let’s get you
up this tree. Find a spot on this side of the trunk in case the
hovercrafts are outfitted with heat sensors. I don’t know if the
wood is thick enough to mask your body heat but it
might.”

Their plan would fall apart if the
enemy used heat imagining. Helen’s men already had the advantage of
superior numbers and weapons, it seemed like cheating to use the
thermal sensors.

Mak gave her a boost up so she could
reach the first branch. He waited below until she had both feet
firmly on the wide bough. After a short nod to her he turned and
disappeared into the trees with less sound than a breath of
wind.

She climbed higher in the tree and
listened in on the radio, as Helen demanded reports from her men.
Molly settled on a branch wide enough to sit on about thirty-five
feet off the ground. She set her back against the smooth bark, idly
wondering what type of tree this was. In her travels she found so
many different plant and animal species spread among planets that
had such similar DNA that they had to have shared
origins.

“
Close the pincher,” Helen
ordered on the radio.

Mak had predicted the tactics in
response to his attacks. His military experience ranked far
superior to the giants, but he’d had no training in dealing with
someone like Helen. Molly did. Perhaps she could help him by taking
Helen out of the network. She’d promised not to rescue him but had
made no such vow about helping him further.

She took the radio out of her ear.
When traveling on a ship to the far reaches of space one learned to
take care of all sorts of equipment that couldn’t be easily
replaced. She’d used this style radio many times in her
explorations. Though most of her studies had been in the biological
sciences, one didn’t grow up the daughter of a military leader
without learning something about physics and
engineering.

The dim light beneath the forest
canopy challenged her as she carefully disassembled the device.
Compared to the inners of an AI device the workings of the radio
were simple. It took her only a few minutes to configure a patch to
get the results she wanted. The biggest difficulty was working with
no tools other than her fingernails. She put it back together and
hoped it had enough power to do what she’d programmed it
for.

“
Make sure you’re watching
up in the trees also,” Helen said. “Two, report.”

After a few seconds Helen repeated her
order. Then again. And again with a hint of anger.

Molly wanted to laugh but settled for
a grin. Would Helen know her radio had been cut from the network or
would she assume her men ignored her? Or worry that they’d all
died? Now if her other idea worked the numbers facing Mak would be
cut down even more. They might have a chance to remain free until
help arrived.