Recon Marines II: Marine's Heiress, The (9 page)

“
A few months ago, a few
things happened like the supply ships being late or some of our
orders not coming,” Moe said. “We haven’t received any supplies for
two months. Usually one of the traders will fly a transport
downstream with what we’ve asked for. That’s why Emma doesn’t have
the medicines she needs. Though she said she couldn’t buy some of
the meds you have as they’re reserved for the military.”

“
I know where to get some
things.” Vin had purchased most of his things months ago with Yalo
to defend Crevan Four though none of them had saved her. He’d
stolen more military equipment when he had captured the criminals
he hunted down.

“
Did you come in on a
freight ship?” Moe asked.

“
I did,” Vin lied,
avoiding their gazes. He’d actually flown his own interstellar ship
to the planet and parked it ten miles away. His small hover craft
rested beneath a camouflage net only half a mile away.

“
Maybe it’s just a nasty
prankster,” Moe suggested.

“
We have to catch him
before someone else gets killed.” Vannie ran his hand over the
machine Vin had made. “This time we were lucky and got a big pile
of moose meat, but it could have been a lot worse. A bear could
have wandered in or those damned jecks could have attacked a child.
Vin, you’ve proven yourself a pretty good handyman and hunter. How
do you feel about being a guard?”

Vin felt like he was doing something
wrong as they asked him to do a chore that fit perfectly into his
plans and needs. “I’m quite comfortable with it.”

* * * *

Emma carried more dishes into the
kitchen. Only a few of the regular evening customers remained.
They’d enjoyed their first moose steaks except for the man who’d
provided the meat. Vin hadn’t come into eat, and Emma feared it was
her fault.

Moe and Vannie had reported their talk
with him. They’d called it a talk instead of a confrontation though
she knew better. Her friends claimed they hadn’t hurt Vin in
drawing the truth from him, but Emma wanted to see him to be
sure.

The interview had solidified Vannie’s
belief that Vin had suffered some brain damage in the military. But
her friends felt confident Vin had no nefarious purpose in being
here. Their conclusion only made her feel guiltier for suspecting
him of working for her stepfather. She would make it up to him.
Perhaps she could help him deal with his brain injury or whatever
was going on with him psychologically.

Moe took the dishes from her and
plunged them into the soapy water he hovered over. “I saved him
some.”

Emma smiled, knowing Moe had noticed
her watching the door. She put the dough for the next day’s bread
in the refrigerated cupboard. She would get it out to rise in the
morning. She flipped the steak over Moe had saved and hoped it
didn’t dry out.

“
Almost time to close up
for the night,” Moe said.

“
I’ll hurry the last of
them along.” Emma pushed aside the curtain and he was
there.

Vin sat at the table nearest the
kitchen. His sharp cool gaze caught hers. “Am I too
late?”

The rest of the café had emptied while
she was in the kitchen. Being alone with Vin reawakened her earlier
guilt at suspecting him. “Yes. I mean no, you’re not too late. I
saved some for you.”

Vin pressed his lips together, an
expression she now believed meant her words confused him. She felt
confused herself and ducked back through the curtain. As a doctor
she should do better, keeping things simple for Vin. She dished up
the steak, adding a spoonful of steamed vegetables and two thick
slices of bread.

Moe handed her a glistening mug of cold
water and winked before returning to his dishwashing.

Vin hadn’t moved, even his folded hands
rested on the same spot on the table. He pulled them back as Emma
set down the plate, his gaze dropping to the heaped serving. He
looked at it for a long moment before slowly picking up his
fork.

Unlike most soldiers Emma had been
around, Vin didn’t dive into his meal with the vigorous abandon of
one who had learned to eat rapidly and largely when the opportunity
presented itself. Instead he cut small pieces of the steak and
savored each bite.

Emma busied herself cleaning the last
few tables, carrying plates and glasses back to Moe, but she
watched Vin the entire time. He studied each forkful, sometimes
lifting it close to his nose and inhaling. The obvious appreciation
of the meal filled her with warm pleasure.

She lingered as she wiped
down tables and straightened chairs, wondering how to apologize for
her suspicions. She saw no injuries from his
conversation
with Moe and Vannie but
it couldn’t have been pleasant. Before she found the right words,
Vin finished his dinner.

He stood up, gathering up his plate and
utensils, and carried them into the kitchen.

She hurried after him and found him
already helping Moe finish the dishes. Beside Moe’s towering frame,
Vin should have looked small. But something about the way he moved
suggested leashed power.

“
You don’t have to help
with that.” Emma took a drying cloth

Vin kept rinsing the dishes Moe handed
to him and then passed them onto Emma, doing that frown thing with
his mouth. Four dishes later he answered. “You waited for me.
Kitchen duty is everyone’s responsibility.”

Emma wondered if Vin understood that
the miners paid for their meals though he certainly had earned his
with the meat he provided. The three of them worked without talking
until the chore was done.

Moe grumbled a good night and trudged
up the steps to the quarters he shared with Vannie.

Emma turned the kitchen lights off and
led Vin out into the dining area. Usually Vannie saw her to her
surgery before going upstairs, but tonight he’d left the lockup to
her and her safety to Vin.

Vin waited while she put out the café
lights and pulled the door tight. Only a few houses had lights in
their windows but it was only a few steps on the dark boardwalk to
Emma’s front door. She and Jenny had moved Russ home earlier in the
day using the wheeled chair Vin had made him. “Thank you again for
the chair for Russ. It will make all the difference in his
recovery.”

The starlight created shadows around
Vin’s eyes but she could still see his gaze searching her face.
After his usual hesitation he spoke. “I did it for him so your
thanks are not needed.”

“
I know, but it was very
kind since you don’t even know him.”

“
As much as I know any of
you. I meant to be helpful more than kind. I didn’t intend anything
different.”

“
Do you always take
everything so literally?”

His eyes narrowed as they paused in
front of her door. “Did your words have another
meaning?”

She didn’t laugh but couldn’t resist a
smile. “No, but Russ and Jenny are my friends, and he’s my patient.
Because you helped him, it helped me and made me happy. You made me
happy.”

He stepped back, his erect military
posture somehow becoming stiffer. “I have no intentions of making
anyone happy, Miss Emma.” He walked away without saying good night,
passing by his shop door and continuing down the street.

Emma watched him until he slipped into
the shadows of one of the narrow alleys. His attempt to push her
away with words only challenged her to help him. Vin Smith might be
damaged but no one was beyond repair.

* * * *

Vin drifted along the wall, using the
shadows to stay invisible. He tuned his handheld remote viewer to
stealth mode so the glow of the screen wouldn’t give him away. He’d
spent the hours between dusk and dark putting the security scanners
in place. He’d brought only eight of the small spy cameras with
him. They activated with movement but even when running remained
almost invisible. He’d placed one on each gate, set to capture a
wide shot of the ends of town and the lane running north and south.
The other six he’d planted along the walls, adjusting angles so
every inch of the perimeter could be monitored.

He could have sat in his shop and kept
an eye on the remote, but Emma’s declaration had struck him like a
physical blow. Vin made her happy? He’d only ever made one other
woman happy, and now that woman was dead. He’d come to this planet
to wait in ambush. Emma was nothing but bait to him.

No words she said could change his
reason for being here. No delicious home-cooked meal would deter
him from his course. No oddly gentle expression would distract him
from his purpose. And for damn sure, no reaction of his body to her
tumbling, golden curls or lithe body would cause him to chance
getting physically involved with her.

The remote vibrated in his hand. The
middle camera on the eastern wall awoke. At night the screen showed
heat signatures. Two orange figures fought through the jungle
growing right up the wall.

Vin ghosted through an alley and
crossed the street to the east side. He found the alley nearest the
intruders and paused to watch their actions on the remote. They now
glowed red hot as they neared the camera, taking on the shape of
men. Though the wall stretched upward for a height of twelve feet,
any determined person could scale the rough boards. With two men,
it because easier with one providing a boost to the
second.

Putting the remote in his pocket, Vin
pulled a knife from his boot. Only two men. Should he question them
or just kill them?

Chapter Six

Emma woke to pounding on her door for
the second night in a row. She glanced at the old style
solar-powered clock beside her bed. She hadn’t been abed more than
half an hour having fallen asleep in the middle of planning a
course of treatment for Vin.

She pulled a pseudo wool robe over her
night shirt, tying it as she hurried down the stairs. She slid
aside the little metal bar that served as her lock and tugged the
door open.

A disheveled Moe stood in the
starlight, dressed in baggy sleeping pants and a too tight shirt.
He rubbed his hand over his face. “We need you, lass. Bring your
doctoring bag over to Vin’s shop.”

She rushed to grab the leather bag she
kept prepared for emergencies. Her heart thumped with more fear
than adrenaline. Vin was hurt, bad enough for Moe to look rattled.
She followed Moe to the shop where he held the door for her. Dim
light spilled out onto the boardwalk, and Moe closed the door
behind them as they entered the work room.

Vannie leaned against a work bench, his
arms folded across his chest. Two men sat in front of him, bound to
metal chairs. Blood dribbled down the side of one’s face, and the
other’s chin rested on his chest. Both men appeared to be young,
strapping roughs and wore dark clothing.

Emma peered around the shadowed room
but couldn’t spot Vin. “Is Vin all right?”

The conscious prisoner glared at Moe
and then swept his hard gaze over her. His lips curled into a leer.
“This is more like it. Does she serve drinks and dance? Because our
welcome to this pitiful slum hasn’t been very friendly.”

“
Sneaking over the fence
isn’t friendly either,” Vannie said.

“
What’s she doing here?”
Vin walked down the steps from his loft, pulling a black shirt over
his head. For a moment, his bare chest, rippling with muscle
distracted Emma from the man bleeding helplessly in the
chair.

“
I brought her to close up
the cut on this guy’s head and see if she can wake the other one
up.” Moe turned on another lamp and exposed a thick gash along the
man’s hairline.

Vin stepped into the circle of light.
“Why fix them up when they’re going to bleed a lot more before
we’re done with them? The doctor shouldn’t waste her supplies on
the enemy.”

“
Enemy?” The bleeding man
laughed but it sounded forced. “We’re just two miners looking for
work.”

“
Your lies are only going
to bring you more pain.” Vin crossed to one of his work benches and
picked up a tool. He flipped a switch, and the tool whined. He
selected a long auger-like piece from his bench and turned the
device off to attach it. When he carried it back toward the
prisoners, the bleeding man lost all semblance of calm.

“
Keep that crazy bastard
away from me!” He struggled against his restraints.

Emma started forward but Moe caught her
arm. “Vin is right. I shouldn’t have woke you.”

“
These men are injured.”
Emma shook off Moe’s hand, but Vin’s steely stare stopped
her.

“
Please leave, Doctor
Emma.” Vin gestured toward the tool he carried. “You shouldn’t see
this interrogation.”

Emma felt light-headed for a moment.
“You’re going to torture them?”

“
We’re going to question
them with proper motivation to tell the truth,” Vannie answered.
“Go back to bed, Emma.”

Emma looked at Moe, but he shrugged and
looked away. Fury burned through her so her entire body overheated.
“The three of you are going to hurt these helpless men? And you
expect me to turn away and go back to sleep?”