Recon Marines II: Marine's Heiress, The (26 page)

The attorney didn’t attempt to speak
quietly. “We have to do this right. Papers are challenged unless
the court is a witness. They’ll use electro-scopic examination to
test the validity of her writing against samples. With a fortune
this large, they’ll test and retest.”

“
She will be signing it,”
Ben said, giving Emma a dark look.

The attorney made a sound of
impatience. “And what I’m saying is they’ll be able to tell if she
signed it under duress or when drugged.”

“
We won’t let them look at
it that close,” Ben said.

“
They can hold this up in
the courts and demand her presence. Certainly you have enough
enemies to put pressure on the judicial services,
Admiral.”

“
Gentlemen.” Dr. First
held up one of his evil vials. “This is why you’re paying me.
Spoiled rich girls often use chemical means to find their next
thrill. And a physician like poor Emma has such easy access to the
temptation. Perhaps the death of her mother a year ago sent her
into an abyss of despair where she could only find peace through
her chemical use.”

“
If she’s dead and the
signature is questioned, they’ll never let it leave the courts,”
the attorney snapped.

First’s lip curled into a smile as
cruel as the big guard’s eyes. “She won’t be dead, merely brain
damaged and unable to make decisions for herself.”

The attorney’s mouth turned down in a
sour expression. “It might work if you can prove she’s a drug
addict who went too far. But you’ll need witnesses other than
yourself, Admiral, to testify that she was abusing
heavily.”

Emma’s heart rate sped up despite her
determination to remain calm if only in outward appearance. The
three men walked over to her and she sensed the big guy edging
closer to her from behind. So the plan wasn’t to kill her, only
permanently damage her cognitive abilities. Even with all the
advances in modern medicine, nothing could repair brain
damage.

Though her intellect warned her there
was no escape, her survival instinct demanded she try. She jerked
against the cuffs and tried to get her feet under her. Her butt
barely left the seat before a heavy hand fell on her shoulders. The
monster pressed her into the seat and clamped her wrist tight to
the chair arm with his other massive paw. Her fingers tingled as
his tight hold cut off the blood to her hand. She whimpered as her
bones felt like they were being crushed.

Too frightened to even beg she watched
the doctor jerk her sleeve higher on her arm. Tears fogged her
vision but she refused to look away from the thing that would
destroy her mind. Better if it killed her.

* * * *

Vin pushed the door a bit wider as all
the attention in the room focused on the admiral’s conversation in
the corner beyond Vin’s limited slice of sight into the room. What
he could see was Emma.

They had chained her to a metal chair.
A huge guard stood behind Emma. Something about his massive muscles
and think neck looked wrong to Vin. Unnatural, even more so than
Vin himself.

Against the wall that Vin could see,
four men stood. They stared at the big guard, alert to the point of
edgy. Was it fear or merely men in awe of their leader? Vin had
seen regular military men look at the Recon Marines in a similar
manner and hadn’t been able to decipher it then either.

Vannie leaned forward, nearly pressing
against Vin’s back. Vin wished he had taught Vannie hand signals.
He held one finger to indicate wait. Then he swept his finger in an
arc toward the right and pointed to Vannie, hoping the man
understood to take on any enemy behind the door. Vin would take the
big guy standing so close to Emma. Dangerously close.

The two men conversing with Admiral
Lester argued about the best way to force Emma’s agreement to
something, a signing of documents. Something to do with money or
power as nothing else drove men like the admiral. They planned to
drug her into compliance without regard to her
well-being.

The doctor and the other man finally
agreed on a plan with the admiral’s approval. Vin heard their steps
and then the three men stepped into view, partially blocking his
sight of Emma. But not the terrified look on Emma’s face as she
struggled against her chains.

The big bastard moved in behind her and
restrained her, her delicate wrist disappearing inside the wide
expanse of his hand. He clamped her arm hard to the chair, and the
doctor pushed up his sleeve. Time.

Vin slung his rifle over his shoulder
and pulled his stunner. He thrust the door open. It slammed against
a body behind it, and someone shouted out a curse. His stunner took
two men alongside the wall to his left down before Vannie followed
him in the room. Next he targeted the men around Emma, hitting the
big man and the guy holding the drug vial. The admiral proved his
training by diving behind the chair holding Emma.

A round slapped into Vin’s armored
chest, taking his breath for a second even as the suit flattened
the metal round and dissipated the blow across his torso. Luckily
the guards carried only pistols and not more powerful
rifles.

Vin shot at the guards across from him
but his peripheral vision caught the big man rising. No one stood
back up after taking a full hit from the nerve overloading weapon!
Vin ducked and dodged as another man fired at him.

“
Don’t hit the girl!” the
admiral shouted from his hiding place.

Vin targeted the guard shooting at him
and then swung his weapon back toward the big guy. The giant
charged him. A round hit Vin in the back, warning him that things
weren’t going well for Vannie. The big man tackled Vin before he
could stun him again.

They smashed to the floor. Only Vin’s
armor prevented his ribs from cracking from the collision. But
nothing protected his head from hitting the metal floor. He fought
to remain conscious, his body acting on training more than his
commands. The large hands that had held Emma so still now locked
around Vin’s neck. Vin had retained his hold on the stun gun and
lifted it toward his attacker’s head. A contact stun to the side of
the head would kill a man, even one of this size.

But the shock of hitting the floor had
slowed Vin’s reactions, and his arm moved too slow as he lifted the
stunner. His attacker let go of Vin’s throat long enough to slap
the gun away. As Vin’s head cleared he realized the man on top of
him was as unnaturally strong as he was big. Vin didn’t try to tug
away the thick fingers that had returned to squeeze the life out of
him. Instead he dug his thumbs into the mass of nerves, ligaments
and blood vessels on the soft interior of the man’s lower
arms.

Vin could crush bones with his grip
also. Even as he struggled for his life, he heard Vannie fighting
for his. Bodies hits the floor but he couldn’t see who it was. The
hold on his neck loosened as the guard’s hands grew
numb.

The big bastard howled like an animal
and let go of Vin’s neck, but he still sat on top of him. Vin
locked his hands together and slammed them into his attacker’s
side. Even through layers of muscle he felt ribs give way. The
force of the blow threw the massive guard against the wall near the
door Vin had entered through only seconds ago.

Vin rolled and sprang to his feet,
sucking air in through his aching throat. Vannie sprawled against
the right hand wall, blood darkening his shirt. A double tap of
slugs hit Vin in the chest as he drew his pistol. No more stunning
now that he had a clear line of fire without endangering Emma. His
stunner lay out of reach anyway. He shot two men in the head,
taking no chances that they wore armor similar to his.

The big man got up again, and Vin heard
more men coming in through a rear door. He had needed more time to
properly scout the area and get an accurate count of the enemy
numbers. Emma screamed something over the curses and cries of men.
Vin knew he was going to lose. Losing meant Vannie would die, and
Emma would be destroyed.

He kept shooting, but then the admiral
rose from hiding and set a gun to Emma’s temple. He crouched in the
cover of her body.

“
Stop or I’ll shoot her!”
Lester shouted.

Vin didn’t think Lester would shoot
Emma. He still needed her for something. But even a greedy man like
the admiral might throw away his wealth to save his life. More
shots hit Vin, this time in his back, bruising ribs or breaking
them. Rounds hit him up and down his body.

“
Don’t kill him!” Emma
screamed. “I’ll sign it! I’ll sign it! Please don’t kill
him.”

The big man leaped toward Vin again,
moving faster than possible with the injuries he should have. Vin
dodged but it gave the other men time to move in on him.

“
Take him alive,” Lester
ordered at the same time a mass of bodies slammed into
Vin.

They twisted Vin’s gun from his hand.
Fists struck him along his body. They could do him little harm
through his armor but the strikes against his head could. The sheer
weight of the men wrestling him soon immobilized him. His
peripheral vision saw the boot coming toward his head but he could
neither avoid it nor fight off the darkness that followed the pain
of impact.

* * * *

They secured Vin with chains and thick
straps. Another of the guards wrapped a bandage around Vannie’s
bleeding shoulder. Vannie cursed Ben and the guards until her
stepfather threatened to slap Emma if he didn’t cease.

The monster man lifted Vin and threw
him against the wall like he was a sack of flour.

Ben used his foot to shove Dr. First
out of the way. Blood pooled around First’s body and still seeped
from a hole his chest. Dead, with his evil vial smashed on the
floor. Her stepfather moved on to his attorney. The man lived
though he’d been stunned. Blood spatter had ruined his precious,
lying papers where they’d scattered beyond his out flung
hands.

“
These will have to be
completely redone.” Ben glared at the unconscious Vin. “I don’t
know how he followed us here, but it doesn’t matter
now.”

Emma exchanged a look with Vannie, her
friend nodding his head as if to assure her of his health. She
didn’t think Vin had fared as well. Though he wore some kind of
body armor that stopped bullets, it had been horrifying to watch
him get shot. One could have found his head at any moment. The hand
to hand battle between him and the giant had miraculously gone in
Vin’s favor though his lean form had appeared like a lad fighting a
grown man. Though the kick the monster had delivered to Vin’s head
hadn’t killed him outright, it might have injured him enough that
he never woke up.

Ben issued orders to his mercenaries,
directing them to clear out the dead and drag the stunned men out
of the room. The giant grabbed a downed man in each arm and carried
them out the rear door.

Despite the desperate situation, Emma’s
professional curiosity demanded she study the man. Was he just an
accident of nature or had someone once again experimented on human
physiology? The man’s prodigious strength, uncanny ability to take
punishment and lack of human compassion bespoke something sinister
and frightening. When the room had been cleared, the monster came
to stand in front of Emma. He folded his arms across his chest and
fixed his cold stare on her.

Ben leaned down close to Emma’s face.
“You’ll go with me and sign over control of your share of the
mining empire as soon as I have new papers ready. I’ll leave your
knights here.”

“
No.” Emma’s only plan was
to keep Vannie and Vin alive. “I don’t trust you. They come with
us. As long as you don’t injure them further, I’ll
cooperate.”

Ben straightened up. “How did you gain
a Recon Marine as a protector? I thought they were all dead except
the four serving Giroux.”

“
Vin is not my protector.
He came to me in his search for you.” Emma looked at the giant. “I
guess you continued your work in the epigenetics program after the
military discontinued it.”

“
This is Vin, the
second-in-command?” Ben laughed. “They’re amazing creatures, are
they not? He killed five and disabled six more. And somehow he
survived Nemon’s kind attentions. Despite our many attempts, we
never quite matched the original Recon Marines for complete
superiority. Too bad they had that one malfunction and refused to
obey orders.”

“
You bred them to be too
intelligent.” Emma gestured with her chin toward Nemon. “I see you
corrected that.”

Nemon growled and unfolded his
arms.

Ben laughed. “I’ve missed you, Emma
darling. You’re somewhat correct. We made major changes in their
design. Actually, I would enjoy a test of our newest weapon against
the outdated one.”

“
I think the outdated one
already proved more than a match for your supersized
model.”

Ben’s smile soured. “Nemon, get them
loaded onto the ship. Fortunately, it’s designed for prisoner
transport. Emma, you’ll have a few days with your friends before we
end this.”

They helped Vannie to his feet, and
then Nemon slung Vin over his shoulder. A few days to figure out
how to get them out of this alive.