by Susan Kelley
THE MARINE’S DOCTOR
By
Susan Kelley
( c ) Copyright March, 2014, Susan Gourley
( c ) cover art by Jenny Dixon, June 2014
ISBN 978-1-60394-
Smashwords Edition
New Concepts Publishing
Lake Park, GA 31636
newconceptspublishing.com
This is a work of fiction. All characters, events, and places are of the author’s imagination and not to be confused with fact. Any resemblance to living persons or events is merely coincidence.
Dedication
To my five sons, who understand
the meaning of brotherhood.
Chapter One
Her hair swung back and forth across her shoulders with each step. The dark mass had caught Mak’s attention but her confident stride held his gaze. That she headed in the same direction as him meant he could enjoy the view. Until the men following her ruined it.
Recon Marines weren’t officially trained in urban warfare but Mak understood hunting and trailing prey. The tall woman in front of him with the tantalizing hair had drawn some predators. Four men ghosted her steps, not walking together but communicating with hand signals to each other.
The woman strode on, clueless to her danger. When she turned left toward the military section of the sprawling space station the protection of the crowds thinned out, as did the ability of her stalkers to remain hidden. The four men looked young and fit the mold of the few soldiers moving in the same direction. One glanced over his shoulder, his gaze skipping over Mak. A mistake.
As the hunters closed ranks Mak made his move. None of them heard his approach or noticed him until Mak grabbed the nearest man’s arm. Mak swung him around, sweeping his feet out from under him in one smooth move. As the man fell, Mak punched him in the temple, a blow that could be fatal if delivered with too much force. Mak held back and only rendered the man unconscious.
The shock of his attack held the other three men motionless for the space of two breaths. Mak struck another one in the middle of the chest. The man staggered back, his hands going to his throat as all his breath rushed from his lungs. The other two came at Mak together.
Mak noticed the woman spin around to face her attackers. He caught only a quick glimpse of her face before the two men were on him. Neither fared any better than the first two. Bones cracked when Mak’s foot struck one man’s calf. He punched the other in the jaw.
Shouts from uniformed soldiers running toward the melee rolled across the open tarmac. The dark-haired woman stood nearby, her mouth turned down in a frown. She flicked her gaze over the fallen men and then up to Mak. Her eyes appeared to be some odd color between brown and green but the strangest thing was the lack of fear in her steady stare. She looked…fierce.
The man with the shattered jaw sprang toward the woman, a long knife in his hand. Mak leaped the few feet needed to tackle the man. His momentum carried them to the ground on top of the man clutching his broken leg. The knife swept toward Mak’s neck but he caught the wielder’s wrist. Despite the man’s thick arm muscles, Mak forced his wrist down and slammed it hard against the tarmac. The knife fell from his hand.
Pounding boots surrounded them and strong hands tugged on Mak’s shoulders. He allowed the soldiers to pull him away from the injured men. He lifted his hands above his shoulders in the accepted manner of surrender while the soldiers secured the four stalkers. Two of the soldiers took the woman’s arms and hustled her toward the army compound’s gate.
She looked back over her shoulder at Mak with that direct, fearless expression. Then she turned away, her mass of dark hair swinging like a silken scarf across her shoulders. More armed soldiers spilled from the gate, running toward Mak and the mess he’d made. The woman disappeared behind the walls so she had something to do with the military. Was she a soldier herself?
“What happened here, sir?” a sergeant asked Mak.
Mak wasn’t wearing any uniform and certainly not any evidence of his rank. Still, soldiers recognized soldiers. “These men tried to attack that woman.”
“Good thing you were here, sir.” The sergeant directed his men to secure the stalkers, two of whom had to be carried.
Mak followed them toward the gates, hesitating only a moment before entering. Back. Back to the army. The last place a Recon Marine wanted to be.
****
The giant of a man shot out his arm, striking a soldier in the chest. The young man’s ribs collapsed with an audible cracking sound. Another soldier fired a weapon at the behemoth, the bullet passing through his arm. The giant didn’t flinch.
A wiry man, dressed in high tech camouflaged armor, threw himself into the fray. The vicious fight that followed lasted only moments before the large man pinned the smaller man to the grassy surface. The smaller man lifted a gun toward the giant’s head, but the monster struck at the gun hand and broke it to pieces. Blood gushed from the wounds opened by splintered bones pushing through the skin. Heedless of the pain, the pinned man struck at the giant’s head with his other fist. The big man jerked the arm aside, dislocating the poor man’s shoulder. Then a round struck the giant in the forehead. He collapsed on top of his injured opponent, dead before his body settled to rest.
The vid feed stopped there. General Drant cleared his throat and swept his stern gaze around the table. “Any questions? Lieutenant?”
Mak had many questions but he’d rather ask Vin, the Recon Marine taking the beating in the vid. And he’d rather not speak at all in front of the strangers in the room, who were all staring at him now that the general had singled him out. “No, sir.” Besides the general, the only person Mak recognized was the woman he’d saved two hours ago.
“What did you learn from the autopsy?” one of the civilian men demanded.
A short older woman tapped the artificial intelligence tablet in front of her. A diagram of the human body replaced the still vid picture. “DNA test show significant post natal manipulation of the genes responsible for growth and strength development. The work likely was done in adulthood. Areas of the brain had been surgically incised and destroyed, including pain receptors and emotional functions regions, primarily those connected to empathy.”
A soldier wearing a corporal’s badge took up the explanation as the short woman used her AI tablet to call up an image of a tubular electronic device. “Also we found this impulse generator at the base of the man’s brain. We believe it was used to train and then perhaps control this monster.”
Mak’s gut tightened at the way the corporal spat his last word out. The stares of everyone swung back toward him. Nearly a year living among civilians had enlightened Mak to the attitudes some held toward the Recon Marines and their origins of an experimental epigenetics program. Mak avoided meeting any of their gazes until his snagged on the dark-haired woman sitting to the general’s right.
Her greenish-brown eyes were filled with the same authority as any senior officer. She’d acknowledged him with a nod when he’d entered the room but said nothing about the incident outside the gates. Her voice was low for a woman, but still very feminine. “Have you encountered anything like the man in the video, lieutenant?”
Surely they knew Vin was a Recon Marine just like Mak. “You mean the one that was shot?”
“Yes,” General Drant snapped.
Mak looked at Drant. Speaking to the supreme commander of the military was easier than speaking to the striking woman. “I’ve never seen anyone that big or strong, sir. The only person who ever beat Vin in hand-to-hand before was Joe.” Mak blamed Joe for putting him in this uncomfortable room with all these stiff, stern people. Joe had volunteered Mak for
the mission, whatever the hell the mission was.
The two civilians … a man and a woman … stood up. The woman addressed the general in the cold dismissive tone Mak had come to associate with powerful politicians. “You will give us regular updates and keep this off the media waves. This is the last thing the council and your military needs after the scandal with the Recon Marines and then that mess from last month.” She made a vague gesture toward the projected picture of the brain control device.
“Yes, Madame Chairman.” General Drant waited until the door shut behind the departing chairman and her escort before speaking again. “Bring up the star chart, Dr. Shear.”
An image of solar systems with their yellow and red stars brightened the gray wall. Drant walked over and pointed to a speck in a yellow star system. “This is the planet, Julian. It has no human settlements on record though there could be persons living there that we’re unaware of. When Admiral Ben Lester was arrested and questioned, he gave us only this one location. We believe there are others and hope you’ll find leads to them on Julian.”
Dr. Shear switched off the projection though she kept the tablet alive beneath her fingers. Mak saw her skim through a list of supplies. Shear noticed him watching and smiled at him.
Mak looked away though he interpreted her expression as friendly. Unlike his fellow Recon Marines, Mak felt confident in his growing skills at reading civilian body language and facial expressions.
“Mak is the last addition to your expeditionary force. I’m only a light burst away if you discover something and need assistance.” Drant looked at the woman beside him, waiting as if for her to speak. When she did nothing but fold her hands on the table in front of her, Drant sighed. “I’ll do the introductions for Mak.”
Drant walked to the woman with the tablet. “Dr. Helen Shear, the leading expert in glandular and hormonal studies. She did some work in the Recon Marines program in the early stages. She oversaw the levels of hormone influence and when it was introduced during the embryonic phase. Since then, she’s worked in various medical facilities, fighting disease on the cellular level.”
After patting Shear on the shoulder, Drant walked to a young man sitting with his own AI tablet on the table before him. “Dr. Hector Loren is an expert in numerous medical fields and will assist in data interpretation, DNA testing if needed and can also serve as ship medical officer.”
Drant walked around the two seats vacated by the council’s representatives and touched the corporal’s shoulder. “Corporal Andy Box. He’s an experienced science officer, the highest ranking I could steal away from their duty station without raising questions. He’s worked with the civilian doctors on other missions.”
The next soldier smiled and nodded at Mak when Drant spoke. “Ensign Kory Pender, able to pilot any ship in the registry. He’ll help with protection and other security issues as well as serve as copilot to you, Mak.”
“I know all of you have read your brief on Mak,” the general said as he circled back to his seat beside the woman he hadn’t introduced. “Some of you have voiced your skepticism of including a genetically enhanced soldier to hunt other scientifically altered men, but I assure you that Mak will prove his usefulness many times over. Any questions?”
When none came forth, Mak stood up to address the general. “You haven’t introduced the woman beside you, general.” Mak hated to remind him. The general was getting on in years. Wasn’t there a certain age when people started losing their memories?
Instead of being angered or offended at the reminder of his forgetfulness, General Drant smiled. Not a half smile, but a wide grin. “I wasn’t aware you didn’t know her already, Marine, though I heard you came to her rescue earlier today. This is Dr. Molly Drant, the scientific leader of this little genius group. She holds more degrees than I can name.”
Mak didn’t dare the next question. Was Molly related to the general? That’s what sharing of last names usually meant. He saw the same challenging look in their eyes, but such an expression could be learned.
Drant swept his once again stern stare around the table. “You’ll be leaving at midnight, offering no information to anyone on this station. No call flashes home to family or friends. No telling someone in the café or the barracks. No one except for me, and a few trusted aides will know where you are and why you’re there. Go get your gear ready and fill up at the mess on the last fresh food you’ll have for a while. Lieutenant Mak, stay for a moment so I can finish giving you the facts.”
Relief spread through Mak. He wasn’t accustomed to wandering at will to all parts of the world even if there was a major military base in this port. When he served with the Recon Marines, they never saw the outside of their isolated barracks the two times they’d been on this giant spinning station. He studied his teammates as they filed from the room. They seemed acquainted and friendly with each other. Dr. Drant looked across the table at Mak, sweeping her sharp gaze over him. Something in her eyes gave him the impression of being measured.
“Sit down, soldier,” the general said as the door closed behind them. “Now that we’re alone, let’s speak clearly.”
“Yes, sir.” Mak wondered if one of the people who’d been in the room had lied since the general had waited until they were alone to clear things up. He’d learned in the last few months as had his Recon Marine brothers that civilians and many members of the military spoke less than the full truth quite often. Yes, speaking clearly suited him just fine.
“This fellow you saw in the vid is a big embarrassment for the military. It will bring up things best left in history. We’ve kept these images from the media waves, but if they get out or more of these giant-like men come to light, it could cause problems for you and the other Recon Marines.”
Mak understood the biological and genetic sciences behind the Recon Marines’ creation more than any of his brothers. Science had always been his specialty, and he’d delved far into the DNA studies of him and his fellows. “Someone will think we’re like that man?”
“I know you’re not, but the media can make people believe anything to get a good story. We’re sending this small team of doctors and scientists to make sure there aren’t more of these dangerous experiments out there. Your orders aren’t to confront them. Report immediately to me if you find anything like what we saw in the vid. I’ll send help to do what needs to be done.”
A year ago Mak wouldn’t have understood that the general meant to kill anyone they found. “Why do you need me, general?” Mak had thought the killing would be asked of him.
Drant frowned and leaned toward Mak. “Because I can’t trust the rest of that bunch to follow my orders.”
“Sir?”
“Corporal Box might gladly kill anyone you find, probably even you if he could. But he’s just a brainy scientist playing at being a soldier. Kory Pender just wants to fly and is a damned good pilot, but I doubt he’s ever killed anything. The three doctors will want to study what they find before killing it no matter how dangerous it is.”
“You’re letting them go but you don’t trust them? Not even Dr. Drant?”
“Her the least of all. She thinks she can take on anything.” Drant pulled a tablet to him from across the table. “Now that brings me to this. I want to swear you back to active duty on a temporary basis. Just until this mission is done and you track down every research facility these traitors used for their genetic experiments.”
Mak’s heart slammed against his ribs. Back in the army? Back to following orders he didn’t understand or agree with?
Drant tapped the tablet and pulled up a screen. “Now, son, I know you’re feeling leery about this, but you have my personal promise that this is only for the duration of this particular endeavor. I want you in charge of the military personnel so that Box and Pender must obey your commands.”
Mak did trust the general. Somewhat. He took the tablet in hand and read the contract. It left open the end date of his re-enlistment but said it must be renewed after six
months if his service was to continue. He wished he had Joe or Vin by his side to advise him.
“And one more thing, Mak, the most important part of your mission.” The general handed him the stylus to sign the contract. He waited until Mak did before speaking again. “I want to clean up this mess, but the reason I brought you in is to protect my daughter. If Dr. Drant gets injured in the slightest, Lieutenant, you can consider your assignment a failure. You saved her once today from those robbers. She means more than the entire Galactic Empire to me. You understand me, son?”
****
“Did you know your father was bringing this man aboard?” Helen asked Molly as they joined Hector at a table in the officers’ mess hall.
Molly looked at her longtime friend and colleague, wondering if Helen disapproved of Mak’s presence, perhaps even his existence. “You’ve been at every briefing that I have. I haven’t had dinner with my father since I arrived. We knew another pilot would be assigned.” But it didn’t have to be a Recon Marine. The marines were so deeply classified that she’d never even seen a picture of one. Lieutenant Mak didn’t look as she’d expected but the fight earlier in the day confirmed his physical abilities.
“Think of the opportunity,” Helen went on, ignoring the food on her tray. “We can study a genuine Recon Marine and not just look at the guesses written by others.”
Hector dug into his plate of seasoned rice and vegetables. He’d been Molly’s assistant for almost three years and she still didn’t understand how he could eat so much food and never gain a pound. He paused long enough to offer his opinion. “I’ve heard some bad things about the marines. Can we trust him? How can any of those guys be normal?”
Molly picked at her fruit salad. Unlike Hector, she watched her caloric intake and fought weight gain whenever she was in port. It was one reason among many of more importance that she liked being out in the field, exploring newly discovered planets for medicines and finding means to battle new pathogens. And losing weight with the vigor of searching jungles and alien climes. “My father trusts him. I’m sure the numerous psychiatry courses you’ve studied will help you figure this guy out. Soldiers are soldiers, no matter how they were born.”
