Recon Marines II: Marine's Heiress, The (27 page)

Chapter Sixteen

Vin might have had a worse headache at
some time in his life, but he couldn’t remember when. He did recall
exactly how this one came about. Outnumbered and poor planning on
his part. Later he would berate himself but for now he had to
figure out how badly he’d failed his mission.

Taking stock of his physical
capabilities, Vin lay completely still and kept his breathing even.
Each inhalation hurt, cracked ribs but none of the stabbing pain of
broken bones. In addition to his pounding head, every muscle in his
body hurt from the rounds fired into his body armor.

Someone had removed the armor, but he
wasn’t restrained. Two people breathed nearby. One shifted and his
breath hitched as if in pain. Vin opened his eyes to a white
ceiling.

“
Vin?” Emma touched his
arm.

He started to sit up, but she pressed
his shoulders back to the floor. She lived and seemed alert and
undamaged by drugs.

“
Just lie still.” She
moved closer, folding her legs and sitting beside him. Her hip
touched his side exactly on one of his deeper bruises. It hurt, but
it didn’t matter. Not after hearing her voice and seeing her
unharmed except for the sadness in her eyes. His heart soared, and
his head didn’t hurt as much. “The rescue didn’t go as planned.”
His words sounded idiotic.

Emma smiled but the shadow remained in
her eyes. “I didn’t expect help at all. If not for your timely
arrival, they would have given me that mind destroying drug
already.”

“
We’ve only put off their
plans.” Vin sat up, ignoring Emma’s admonishments.

Vannie leaned against the bars of their
prison cell, his face not quite as gray as the metal poles behind
him. Bandages covered his left shoulder and straps held his arm
across his chest.

Relief sang through Vin again. “I
thought I might have gotten you killed.”

“
Thought I might be dead,
too, though it wasn’t you that done it to me.” Vannie shifted his
bulk and groaned. “I think we’ll all be dead soon if these bastards
have their wont.”

“
I made a poor plan,” Vin
admitted.

“
No.” Tears filled Emma’s
eyes and spilled down her pale cheeks. “This is all my fault. Moe’s
dead because of me, and they’ll kill you two soon. I did
this.”

“
What are you talking
about, lass,” Vannie said, his eyes also growing moist. “Moe would
have stepped in front of an army for you.”

“
No.” Emma took a deep,
trembling breath. “I made contact with people, and I knew my
stepfather could use it to find me. I expected him to
come.”

“
You told him where you
were?” Vin’s headache grew in power again.

“
I wanted to be done
hiding. The attacks on Hovel Port were getting so bad, and I knew I
had the resources to stop it, to protect us.” Emma tears came
faster. “I’m so ashamed, Vin, but I took advantage of your
presence. I felt safe with you there. I’m so sorry. And now I’ve
gotten Moe killed.”

Vin sorted through her words, searching
for the reason for her apology.

Vannie sighed. “Don’t be fretting now,
Emma dear. Moe and I knew the bastard would find you one day. Who
knows if you even hurried it along? Moe and I knew that if Vin
could find you, your stepfather would too. It was the luck of a
demon that brought them to Hovel Port on the same night as the
Underboss mounted his assault.”

“
I feel like I used you.”
Emma stared at Vin, her eyes like melted chocolate.

“
Emma, I knew he would
come for you. That’s why I was there in the first place. I don’t
understand what you’re apologizing for. If my presence allowed you
to feel safe enough for this confrontation, I feel honored.” Vin
gestured at the bars. “I’m sorry your confidence was
misplaced.”

Emma laughed, the sound watery and
unhappy. “You saved my life.”

“
Not yet.” Vin pushed
himself off the floor.

“
We have a few days until
we arrive someplace where they can replace the papers.” Emma helped
Vin gain his feet.

Vin needed her help. Agony shot through
his head and for a moment the floor rolled beneath his feet. It
settled down, but his stomach churned with threat. “Where are we
and why are Vannie and me still alive.”

“
We’re on my stepfather’s
ship, but I have no idea where we’re headed,” Emma answered. “I
told Ben I would sign their cursed papers if they didn’t kill you.
They wanted to leave you behind on the moon where you were injured,
but I told them I wouldn’t cooperate unless you two were at my
side.”

“
Why didn’t they have you
sign the papers there?” Vin walked to the bars, his legs still
uncertain the floor was flat.

Vannie answered. “From what I heard,
blood ruined the forms. Paper is rare and they didn’t have any
more. We’re traveling to where they can purchase more. You killed
their damned doctor so the drugs are off the table for
now.”

Vin didn’t see a table, but he was glad
the demented doctor was dead. Might the admiral abandon the drug
plan now? “I don’t understand the value of the papers.”

Vannie leaned his head against the bars
and closed his eyes. “Except for blood drop signature, a hand
written name on a paper is the truest test of authentication for
legal documents. Some courts believe the paper is more accurate
since you have to be alive to sign, unlike giving a drop of
blood.”

Emma wrapped her arms around her waist
though the prison seemed a comfortable temperature to Vin. “Any
attempt to copy a signature can be caught by scanning. The proofing
tests can tell if a signer suffered undue distress when writing
such as being drugged or coerced.”

“
They are doing this to
steal your part of his mining empire?” Vin wondered why Lester
needed more money. Why risk so much? But how much had he been
risking if Vin hadn’t been there to help Emma?

“
My share in nearly have
of the company’s ruling stock.” Emma paced the room, needing only
ten steps from one wall to the next. “Hadrason’s shares of his own
companies have been added to my shares because he’s permanently
incarcerated. My real father was Hadrason’s full partner. Upon my
father’s passing, his shares were divided between me and my mother.
When my mother died, her shares were passed to me.”

“
I didn’t know you mother
was dead.” Vin had read somewhere that losing parents caused great
distress though he had no experience with it. Emma looked away and
didn’t reply. Why did he say such thoughtless things, damn
it?

“
So your stepfather would
own the entire mining fortune once you sign it over to him?” Vannie
asked, sitting up straighter.

“
He thinks he would.” Emma
looked up at the camera lurking in the corner.

Vin wondered what would happen if he
disabled the device. Would it bring punishment or a new prison
cell? He turned from it, not willing to chance being separated from
Emma and Vannie. Hardened aluminum comprised the bars. Ships had to
take care with the weight of interior structures. Despite the bars’
light weight, he would need a laser saw to get through them. But
the lock appeared simple enough for when the time came.

Vin vowed not to make the same mistake
he’d made on the moon base. He would find out the enemy’s number
before making a move. They traveled on a ship, but he needed to
find out their destination.

“
Vin.” Emma touched his
arm. “You should rest.” She led him the few steps to the back wall
and then urged him to sit down with her.

His ribs protested, but he could do
nothing about it.

“
I wish I had some
bandages to wrap your ribs,” Emma said.

“
Did they hurt you in any
way?” Vin dreaded the answer.

“
No. They pushed me around
a little.”

Vin thought he heard a fabrication in
her tone, but he didn’t trust his interpretations of her
conversation. He took her hand in his and earned a smile. Finally
he’d done something right. She leaned her head against his shoulder
and everything seemed a little better. After a short time, her body
relaxed in sleep against him.

Vannie caught his gaze and smiled with
that strange sadness Emma had shown earlier. Then he closed his
eyes and settled against the bars as if snuggling into a
bed.

They needed to escape but for a little
while, Vin savored the company of a friend and this kind, generous
woman who seemed to care about him. She even feared she had used
him for her own ends when he thought he might be the one committing
such a sin.

After Yalo, any deep feeling had
terrified Vin. He’d feared even thinking of the word, love. But
having almost lost Emma, he knew he loved her. And instead of
causing a renewal of his terror, acknowledging the love calmed and
focused him. This time he would save the woman he loved, and if he
must, he would be the one who died.

* * * *

Emma woke nestled against Vin’s side.
She jerked upright, sure she was hurting him.

He gave her a questioning look. “Bad
dream?”

She suspected a Recon Marine understood
more about bad dreams that most people. Wishing it could banish all
the horrid things lurking in his subconscious, she kissed him.
“Actually I was dreaming we were in your narrow cot back on Merris
Five. It was a wonderful dream.”

Vin leaned toward her but stopped
before his lips found hers. He sprang to his feet as if completely
healthy and then gave her a hand up.

Emma’s body ached from sleeping on the
hard floor and the rough handling of the last two days. Before she
would wonder what oddity of personality had caused Vin to jump away
from her, she heard the approaching footsteps that had alerted
Vin.

Ben and his monstrous guard marched
into view. Her stepfather appeared confident, even more so than
usual. “Well rested, are we?”

Emma put her hand on Vin’s arm, feeling
the tension beneath her fingers. “You know, Ben, speaking in the
third person is a sign of a neurosis. I know some good doctors who
could help you with your problem.”

His proud distain crumbled into anger.
“You’re the crazy one, bitch. You followed in your nutty mother’s
footsteps.”

“
There’s no cure for
what’s wrong with this bastard,” Vannie mumbled as he pushed away
from the bars. Vin walked forward and helped Vannie to his feet.
Vannie swayed a bit before finding his precarious balance. “Well,
there is that one cure but it will wait until I can get out of
here.”

Ben laughed, an ugly sound that bounced
off the low ceilings. “I’m being threatened by an old, broken down
scrub miner.”

Vannie smiled at the insulting name
used to characterize the people who panned rivers downstream from
large mining operations. “At least I own my company. I didn’t even
have to marry an heiress to get it. Don’t have to threaten or drug
any one to get it either. Guess Emma’s mother didn’t find you very
trustworthy that she cut you out of the business. Did she know you
were doing underhanded deals?”

Ben curled his lip at Vannie and then
swung his gaze back to Emma. “Now that we have a little time to
speak, daughter dearest, tell me why you chose to live with such
human trash. I’ve learned that slum town had only bare amenities.
With your fortune you could have selected any number of
comfortable, civilized planets to hide away from your
responsibilities.”

He didn’t deserve any answer, but Emma
wanted Vin to hear her answer. “Because I’m not a princess willing
to sit in her palace and have servants wait on me. Yes, I was
avoiding you, but I selected a settlement that needed me. You
wouldn’t understand that since no one has ever needed
you.”

Ben looked amused rather than angry.
“Princess? That’s exactly what you are and always have been. Need
you? What for? To patch up their little cuts and bruises? I’ve
spent my life bringing the light of civilization to the dark places
in the universe. If not for the military little patches of peace
like Merris Five would be overrun with pirates and other unsavory
types. The Galactic Union has been preserved because the military
puts down any world with ideas of secession or that attempts to
conquer their neighbors.” Ben gestured toward Vin. “Ask your
trained dog. His unit killed more people to keep clueless civilians
like you safe than any other branch of the military.”

Vin only stared at Ben. Emma tried for
the same coolness as her stepfather. “I know the Recon Marines
protected people like me. But for you to include yourself in the
same category as them is insane. Are you delusional or are those
the lies you tell the people around you? I guess you couldn’t brag
how you’ve spent your years in the service doing little except
collecting wealth and power? And you couldn’t tell your colleagues
about how my mother stopped your greedy plans when she discovered
what you really were?”

Ben’s cool façade cracked. “Your mother
always thought she’d married down. She never appreciated my genius.
You are very much like her.” He gestured toward Nemon. “Look at
what I’ve created with the improvements I supervised in our
genetics program. Our newest soldiers understand
obedience.”