Recon Marines II: Marine's Heiress, The (30 page)

Chapter Eighteen

Vin couldn’t watch all the exits from
the castle, and he had to leave to rearm. He could steal some
weapons from the military barracks, but that would take time to
scout. In the two hours since the admiral entered the gates, no one
had come and gone.

To stay out of the way of curious
civilians, Vin scaled the rear of the four story eatery near the
courtyard fronting the castle. He stayed low near a chimney. Aromas
curled up through the metal stack from the café below. It provided
good cover for him as he spied on the fortress.

A flurry of movement on the street
pulled his attention away from the perusal of the castle. Nemon and
seven more mercenaries rode in on a handful of small hovers. The
castle gate opened for them and gave Vin another quick peek at the
numerous men watching over manicured gardens. Just like in a
book.

Vin worried what the admiral might be
planning by pulling all his men together, but it did mean he wasn’t
going off world any time soon. And Vin’s weapons and armor was on
the unprotected ship. He waited until dark though he had no way of
knowing how long the light and dark cycles lasted on this world.
Hopefully the admiral would stay put during the dark
time.

The stolen hover sat where Vin had left
it. With little traffic or people about he made good time to the
port. His perfect sense of direction and ability to recall routes
meant he could run the hover at top speed. The port hummed with
activity even at the late hour. Ships came and went while men
shouted orders and machinery moved merchandise. After leaving the
hover in the parking area, Vin picked up a pry bar from a tool box
sitting beside a ship.

Vin didn’t run through the chaos though
he wanted to. He watched the ship from cover but couldn’t tell if
they’d left someone on board. Did they think he had run away to
hide? One thing Vin had learned in the last six months was that he
couldn’t predict what other people might think, not even other
soldiers. Regular soldiers. But they also didn’t understand his
mind. He gambled they didn’t expect him to return to the place of
his imprisonment.

As casually as his urgency allowed, he
crossed the open area separating the admiral’s ship from the
smaller ships. The boarding ramp still sat against the crew door,
easing his way to the entrance. The crew and owner would have the
remote to open it. Vin had the long thin pry bar instead of a key.
He levered open the panel behind the remote sensor. A few twisted
wires later, the door slid open.

Vin listened for a moment, hearing no
breathing or rustling of cloth. Confident no one waited right
inside for him, he ducked into the opening and then listened some
more. The stuffy interior convinced him further that no one
remained on board. He hurried through the ship and found his armor
and weapons in a storage locker. Everything except his stun pistol
was there for his taking.

The armor had some burnt areas where
bullets had hit it but the surface retained its integrity and its
camouflage properties. He suited up and then searched the ship for
anything he might use. A large store room held a few larger
weapons, grenade launchers and a rapid fire rifle so large it had
to be specially made for Nemon. Vin left all their things behind
except for a set of spy goggles. The device had night vision and
could see distant objects. The heat signature setting would work
through most types of wall material.

Within fifteen minutes of entering the
ship, Vin walked out of the port to his hover. He paused before
mounting up. A general store remained open nearby, catering to the
ship crews who worked all hours. His watch might drag on for a
while. He gathered up bags of water, dried meat and fruit. His
thumb on a bank scanner transferred funds to pay for it.

Ten minutes later he parked his hover
out of sight behind the waste catcher serving one of the buildings
near the castle. Once back on the roof, he found himself with
little appetite but ate anyway.

The city appeared asleep except for the
light marking the space port. Where was Emma sleeping this night?
Did she think of him at all? Everything Emma did seemed so sincere
including the warmth in her eyes when she looked at him. But what
did he know of such things?

Vin settled in to spy on the castle.
The sooner he dealt with the admiral the sooner he could look for
Emma. Too many walls stood between his position and the interior of
the building to see what went on inside. Vin counted the guards on
roving duty inside the exterior wall, four patrolled a circuit
around the fortress.

He spotted cameras and sensors along
the top of the wall. They would have to be taken out before he
tried to ingress to find the admiral. The door resisted the spy
goggles, indicating some metal reinforcement and the windows on the
first two floors bent the light like the high pressure glass used
in space vehicles. He couldn’t break into it with any of the
weapons he had. But the upper floors appeared to have regular
glass.

Vin settled on his side, glad for his
armor as the night brought the cold with it. He dozed off and on,
startling awake each time he reached the state of dreaming. A
golden hint of dawn grew on the horizon when the front gate opened.
Nemon led a dozen guards out, all on foot and lightly armed. He
suspected they intended to scour the city for Emma. Should he
follow them?

The gate closed again. Vin picked up
the goggles but still couldn’t see enough. Frustrated at his
inaction, he planned his infiltration. Though the guards made some
attempt to make their circuits irregular, they still tended toward
patterns and never varied their speed. He decided which cameras he
needed to disable, where to go over the wall and how to enter the
main building. If Nemon and his crew found Emma and brought her
here, he was ready to go in. If the admiral left, Vin would follow
him.

The hours passed as Vin’s nerves
quivered in battle anticipation. The end of his quest for vengeance
neared, tempting him to enter the castle and finish it. But that
would mean killing a lot of men. What would Emma think? So he
waited, hoping for the opportunity to capture the admiral instead
of kill him.

* * * *

Emma dozed beside Vannie’s bed until
the military doctor led her to another room and insisted she lay
down. She thought worry for Vin would keep her awake but her
exhausted body won out over stress. A soft knock on her door woke
her some time later. Faint golden light gleamed through the small
oval window over her head. The knock returned with more
force.

“
Miss?”

Emma rose, thinking she must look like
a street gypsy. Wrinkles covered her clothing and her hair needed
at least an hour’s attention from a comb. But what did it matter
when someone knocked at such an hour? It could only mean
trouble.

She hobbled over to the door, feeling
achy and sore in every part of her body. Too much sleeping on
floors, chairs and then the too hard hospital bed. She pulled the
door open to find a young soldier preparing to knock
again.

He shifted from foot to foot and his
gaze flinched away from her. She smiled to put him at ease. She’d
met many young soldiers who behaved awkwardly around
women.

“
Sorry to wake you, miss,
but your friend has taken a bad turn.”

Emma turned away for a quick moment to
slide her feet into the flimsy shoes. “I forget the way to his
room.” She’d been too tired to notice.

“
Follow me,
miss.”

She trotted to keep up with the
soldier’s long strides but she didn’t care as long as they got
there quicker. “What happened? Did he start to bleed again or start
a fever?”

“
Not sure, miss, only
following orders to fetch you.”

They kept going, turning this way and
that. Perhaps the young man had taken her by a different route
because she didn’t recall going so far. “Did they change his room?”
The words caught in her throat. Had they had to move him to an
intensive care room or back to the operating room?

“
Just through here, miss.”
The young man opened a door and the cool dawn air rushed into the
hall. And with it came Nemon, pushing her guide aside.

Emma screamed and stepped back but the
big man grabbed her. He wrapped one arm around her waist and picked
her up. His other hand covered her mouth and nose, suffocating her.
She kicked at his shins and dug at his fingers to no avail. Her
chest grew tight and her vision narrowed as Nemon ran with her out
into the night. He threw her over his shoulder, freeing her mouth
and nose to inhale a deep breath.

She gathered herself to scream but
Nemon slapped her thigh hard enough to bruise. “Anyone who comes to
your aid will be killed. So be quiet.”

Even carrying her, the big man set a
brisk pace. He used a long, smooth stride but her stomach still
bounced harshly about on her shoulder. They kept to narrow, dark
lanes that echoed their footsteps until it sounded like a thousand
boots traveled in the shadows of the buildings. She made out at
least ten men behind them and thought a few more ran in front of
Nemon. When they finally turned onto a wider street, Emma gasped in
recognition. She knew where they were. Her home planet of Brand,
and they ran toward her home.

Her mind raced as her stomach rumbled
with discomfort. The Brand estate was built like a fortress with
all the latest security technology. Add Ben’s guards and Nemon, and
the site would be impregnable. But Emma knew her childhood home
better than he did. His military duties had kept him off world for
months at a time when she was growing up. Perhaps she could find a
way to escape.

The young soldier had lied about Vannie
so at least her friend must be all right. If her message brought
the help she expected, she might only need to hold on for another
day or two.

From her upside down position, Emma
couldn’t spot anyone on the street. She doubted anyone would stop
the brutal men kidnapping her anyway. One of the men spoke into a
comm unit.

Emma lifted her aching head and
recognized the neighborhood. The pace picked up and she fought back
bile climbing her throat.

Nemon panted as they raced through the
gate. More men met them and slammed the gate shut behind them. They
didn’t stop running until they entered the manor. Nemon put her
down in the three story foyer in front of her
stepfather.

Emma tried not to sway but her head
spun and she struggled not to gag. She straightened and took a few
deep breaths. “A bold move to come back here, Ben.”

“
I should have done this
in the first place. We can both be comfortable while we finish
this.”

“
Finish?” Emma forced a
laugh. “Why would I cooperate now that you don’t have my friends as
hostages?”

“
And you don’t have them
to protect you. I should have killed that Recon Marine as soon as I
recognized him. I’m sure you would have given in to protect the fat
man.”

“
I guess from the
frightened way your men scurried here that Vin is still out there.”
Emma laughed for real. “So you came here because you think these
walls will keep him out?”

Nemon growled, but Ben smiled. “Not
even your killer can get in here. I’m surprised you aligned
yourself with such a man, a professional healer like you. I know
your medical training would have included studies of his kind. I
seem to have underestimated you, dear daughter. I always think of
you as a pampered rich bitch but there you were, living in squalor
with those dirty miners and making friends with one of the most
blood thirsty beings ever to walk a world.”

The longer Ben talked, the more time
for help to come. “Those people you call dirty miners live like
kings compared to you. How is the life of a wanted fugitive? What
prison will they send someone like you to? Who wants you more, the
civilian courts or the military judicial court?”

Ben swept his gaze over her. “Did you
let that Recon Marine touch you, Miss Rich Bitch? All those men you
turned away while you lived here and then you take that freak to
your bed? Is that why he came so quickly to your rescue and took on
odds so far out of his favor?”

“
You call Vin a freak?”
Emma gestured to Nemon standing at Ben’s side. The monster’s
emotionless glare fixed on her. “What is this creature traveling
with you?”

“
Nemon is an example of
the improvements we made after the difficulties we had with those
first defective first models.”

“
Defective? You mean they
discovered they were human and wouldn’t blindly follow your orders?
I saw the news feeds. I know how you and Geoff Hadrason used the
Recon Marines and then convicted them for refusing to kill innocent
people.”

Ben didn’t deny her accusation. “The
Recon Marines disobeyed direct orders, a death sentence offense.
They thought themselves capable of making decisions of right and
wrong by themselves.” He walked around Nemon, looking the big
mercenary up and down. “We didn’t make the same mistake with this
next generation. We didn’t stop at genetic improvements. The finest
neurologists and behavior scientists in the known worlds rearranged
the parts of Nemon’s brain that would drive him to ambition beyond
what he’s told to do.”