by Susan Kelley
“No one knew about Dr. Shear. There could be more in the medical and scientific field who contributed to this travesty.”
More than a mile ahead, Edow’s men had encircled the fleeing enemy. A dozen transports like the one Mak rode on and holding armed men contained the smaller hovercraft. Mak counted three of the giants, one without a hand, seven mercenary guards and Shear.
Edow took a speaker as one of his officers flew their transport in between two others. The captain’s voice carried well over the plains, easily heard over the low hums of all the hover vehicles. “Step off your hovers and put your weapons on the ground. Then drop to your knees and put both hands on your heads. I will not ask again.”
The men inside the cordon all looked toward Shear. She spoke to them and then turned off her vehicle. It settled into the short grass. One by one, the others followed her lead. The big men flanked her as she walked toward Edow. The mercenaries obeyed Edow’s order and sank to their knees.
Shear didn’t look like a vanquished enemy. Her killers surrounded her like a protection detail, forming a triangle with her in the middle.
“Be alert.” Mak unslung his rifle from his left shoulder. He’d rearmed as soon as he’d handed Molly over to Dr. Loren’s care.
“I will surrender if you promise not to hurt my soldiers,” Shear shouted as her little group halted a hundred feet from Edow’s hover.
“Stay where you. There will be no promises,” Edow answered. “This is an unconditional surrender. I will order your men shot if they take one more step.”
Mak put his rifle to his shoulder. “Front man on the right.”
One of the other officers in the transport spoke into a radio and ordered soldiers to target on the other two giants.
Shear glared at Edow and then swung her cold stare toward Mak. Mak doubted the other soldiers with him could discern the doctor’s facial expression. Not even Mak could hear the orders she gave her men but he guessed what it was. The big men charged.
Mak shot his target in the temple, knowing how Shear designed them to have thick skulls. The big man stumbled forward three steps before his knees folded and he slammed to the ground. Mak swung his sights to the next man on the right but wounds already sprouted from the giant’s torso and legs. He too fell. So many shots hit the last man that they threw his big body backward.
Dr. Shear continued walking, stepping high to get over the twitching body of one of her men. Edow gave the order to hold fire and for men to take the mercenaries into custody.
She stopped only steps from the officers’ transport. “I couldn’t let you take my boys alive so you could put them through all kinds of terrifying tests.”
Two men jogged out to Shear and tied her hands behind her back with merciful nylon strips. She didn’t resist. Her cold glare shifted from Mak to Edow and back again.
“You sacrificed them for nothing, Dr. Shear,” Edow said. “We have two of your men in custody already. You left them behind, something real military people would never do.”
Shear swore, words that shocked Mak. How did a woman know those barrack’s curses?
One of the officers sharing the transport with Mak laughed though not as if anything amused him. “True colors.”
As the soldiers half-carried Shear toward another transport, Mak realized the mission was over. They’d hunted down the traitors and Molly was safe if not quite unscathed. Fatigue rolled over him as well as heightened awareness of all his injuries. So many bruises covered his body that he felt worse than the time he’d been in a cruiser crash.
The officers talked about prisoner transport as they flew back toward the battle carrier. Mak let their words wash by him, noting for the first time how beautiful the clear skies and waving grasses were. Too bad the peace of the place had been destroyed by evil people. A wave of dizziness surprised Mak. How long since he’d ate or slept for more than an hour at a time?
“Are you okay, lieutenant?” Edow asked.
Mak meant to answer but the transport slipped out from beneath his feet. Then the cool metal deck slapped into his cheek. His rifle rattled against the floor near his face.
Edow gave orders somewhere over Mak’s head and someone placed a folded jacket beneath his cheek. His ribs hurt in his present position. Mak fought the weakness keeping him on the deck but his willpower wasn’t behind it. Molly was safe, and the enemy neutralized. He closed his eyes despite the discomfort. Darkness greater than resting moved behind his eyelids and then across his mind. Sleep or unconsciousness? He didn’t care as long as he could rest.
Chapter Twenty
Molly fussed over Mak while Hector went for a hot meal. Not that they needed to encourage Mak to eat. Since he’d staggered into the infirmary escorted by Captain Edow himself, Mak had eaten nearly nonstop. He took the time to shower and let Hector rewrap his ribs. A quick scan had confirmed three broken ribs and a bone bruise on his right scapula. She’d held back an unprofessional gasp when she’d seen Mak naked but Hector hadn’t.
Bright red, dark blue, pure black, shades of purple, and a few other bright colors marred more than half of the skin on Mak’s torso. Between the bruises and the broken ribs, Molly didn’t see how he could have kept moving. Not just moving but fighting with a skill and grace belying even a minor injury or discomfort. The shot she’d taken to her shoulder told her how much pain Mak must be dealing with, but he didn’t so much as wince.
“Please take the meds Hector offered you,” Molly said again. She held up the syringe, already filled with pain relievers and anti-inflammation drugs. “You’ll feel better.”
He put his hand over hers and gently pushed the needle away. “I’m fine. A few more meals and I’ll be in top form.” He lifted his eyebrow in that sexy way that had melted her heart from the beginning.
“We’ll test that claim out later. Captain Edow has given me private quarters.” It would be enough just to hold him though she wasn’t sure how she could with all the bruises covering his body. “For now, let me give you this. It will help you get better sooner.”
“I want to be clearheaded when the captain questions Shear.”
Molly set the syringe aside. She dreaded hearing what Helen had to say at the same time she wanted to hear the reasoning behind the horrid experiments. “I guess we both should be there.”
“Edow called her a psychopath.”
“I question my own judgment to have worked side by side with her for so long and have never seen this evil in her.”
Hector returned with a tray for the two of them to share. The infirmary was quiet since Edow had ordered the injured giants to be held and treated in the hangar facilities.
Molly found she had no appetite for the meal but Mak ate as heartily as he had with the last two trays Hector had provided. The three of them then took a hover for the short ride to the hangar. They went down into the level below the lab where Helen waited under guard in a conference room. Edow waited outside for them.
“I know I asked for your help in questioning her, Dr. Drant, but are you sure you’re up to this?” Dane Edow asked.
“I am. Should I ask the questions?”
“I wouldn’t know where to start,” Dane said. “Be my guest but I have to record everything for future court hearings.”
“Doesn’t she need an advocate?” Hector asked.
“No,” said Dane. “She was working for the military when she branched off into this insane project. I think you should stay outside, Mak. I’ll go in with Dr. Drant.”
Mak frowned and looked over his shoulder and down the hallway. “Are all the rooms cleared on this level?”
“It’s all offices and sleeping quarters for the scientists and officers. More training areas, barracks and the infirmary are all on the level above. The storage area for their hovers and other equipment was under the hangar.”
“Every area has been searched? Has the armory been cleared?”
“What’s wrong, Mak?” Molly trusted his instincts and his uneasiness seeped
into her.
He shook his head but a tense readiness emanated from him. “Is Dr. Shear restrained?”
“We’ve scoured this place top to bottom but tried to leave everything intact,” the captain answered. “We’re all experiencing that creepy feeling along our spines from being in this house of horrors. Shear is wearing cuffs, and she’s not the soldier type. Dr. Drant will be fine.”
Molly touched Mak’s hand and then followed Dane in through the door. Mak and Hector would be able to watch and listen through the window and open intercom. Helen watched them approach, her expression calm. But the glint in her eyes Molly had once thought an intellectual curiosity now looked like arrogance.
The captain and Molly sat facing Helen across the table. Edow placed a small device on the table between them and spoke the time, the date and the names of the people present. “Dr. Drant headed the investigation into the illegal surgical and hormonal procedures being conducted by Dr. Helen Shear and her colleagues. This is a brief questioning session before we transport the subject for judgment.” He nodded at Molly when he finished.
Important questions related to the ethical and moral issues needed answers, but Molly had thought a lot about the answer she most wanted. “How could you do those terrible things to all those soldiers? You’re a doctor who pledged to heal and do no harm to your fellow humans.”
Helen folded her hands together and set them on the table, leaning toward Molly. The ties binding her wrists together ruined the casual affectation. “If you had spent the years as an army surgeon that I have, you would understand my desire to create a better soldier. Sewing and patching young men and women torn apart by explosions and bullets. All those modern advancements and humans still kill each other for sport or pieces of gold or real estate. I’m not the first one who thought the answer was to create a soldier that could serve at the front and end the terrible loss of young soldiers.”
“Don’t compare what you did to the Recon Marines,” Molly said.
“It’s very much the same thing. Your Mak and the other marines were designed to put their bodies in front of real people. Their only purpose is to die so humans don’t. If we could have devised a thinking, agile robotic soldier by now then we would have. The Recon Marines are organic machines. The only difference between them and my soldiers are the methods of their creation. Without the resources and time allowed for the Recon Marines to be designed from conception I had to be cleverer. Admit it. My work has been brilliant.”
“Brilliant? Helen, you carved up the brains of those men, robbed them of their personalities, their emotions and their compassion. You dosed them with chemical and hormones that reconfigured their bodies in grotesque ways and probably took years off their lives.”
Helen snorted. “One of the reasons the Recon Marines weren’t permitted to interact with civilians was so they wouldn’t know how real people lived. The theory was that they couldn’t resent or desire what they’d never known. Since I had to work with adults who’d grown up among society, I simply took away their memories and desire for such things. It took me a few tries to get it right. I’ve discovered more about personality and behavior than any other doctor in the history of medicine.”
“Do you intend to publish your results?” Molly couldn’t believe how deluded Helen had become as she spoke of her work with such passion.
“But the time the Recon Marines had entered their teens we knew the politicians would never approve another round of experimentation. And most of the research and methods that went into them had been buried so deeply that I doubt even your father could find it all if the military had any desire to share it. Which they didn’t and still don’t. I intended to share everything I’ve learned once I presented my super soldiers to the army. So much of it can be used to fight mental illnesses or brain injuries. Huge strides in medicine will be the result. And my men will take orders without hesitation or question. The military will clamor for more of them.”
“All the public will know is that you conducted viciously, cruel experiments on young men and either killed them or turned them into monsters.”
Helen stiffened at Molly’s harsh words. “A few of the earlier results might have been termed monstrous. But the men receiving care in the infirmary are prefect soldiers. Despite their performance against your Recon Marine, they lack only experience and further training.” Helen sat back in her seat with a sigh, rolling her shoulders as best as she could with her hands tied in front of her. “Would you mind if I walked around a bit, captain? I’ve been forced to sit for hours now with only short walks. My old bones are getting stiff.”
Without waiting for permission, Helen stood up and paced along her side of the conference table. “If you think you can hide my accomplishments with the power of the military, captain, you’ve underestimated me. I’ve already uploaded my notes and video of my soldiers to a dozen places. The information capsule will flash to the attention of other learned scientists, open-minded politicians and media nets who will ensure mankind knows what I’ve accomplished here.”
“Well, Dr. Shear, if you think to mount an insanity defense you’ve done a fine job of paving the way here today.” Captain Edow stood up and picked up his recording device. “I think we’re done here unless there’s something else you want to ask her, Dr. Drant.”
Molly stood up also. “A few more. Is this your last facility, Helen? Where is the base you had prepared to flee to when your ship arrived?”
Helen paced to the far end of the room from the door. The wall before her held nothing except for a few power receptors and a light knob. “I always have a next move, Molly.” Helen pushed the light knob. Alarms blared and filled the room with ringing that seemed to come from every direction.
The wall slid open behind Helen. Two of her giant men entered, each armed with short ugly guns. Behind Molly the door burst open.
“Get down!” Mak shouted.
Captain Edow grabbed Molly and threw her to the ground as the roar of gunfire filled the low ceiling room. Bullets thudded into the hard floor near her and then a hot fist punched into her side. Her breath left her and darkness crept in around the edges of her vision.
Mak’s voice came as if he yelled from the end of a long corridor though she felt his presence nearby. Then his shadow fell over her. Gunfire erupted so close she scented hot metal and burning. The sound pierced the rushing of blood filling her ears. Her heart pounded loudly and matched the deep throbbing in her side. Then the pain hit her. She gasped, but each breath added another layer to the agony. Shot! She’d been shot. Then she was looking at the ceiling, unaware of how she’d changed positions.
Hector leaned over her, asking questions as his hands went to her side. Her head rolled to the side and she saw Mak’s back. He knelt beside her, firing his pistol at something beyond her sight. Did he have armor on?
The shooting quieted but her ears didn’t work correctly. Neither did her eyes. Mak’s face floated above her, his mouth moving. But she couldn’t hear his words. Some part of her rapidly fogging brain recognized the expression on his beloved face though she’d never seen it on her Recon Marine before. Panic. She must by dying.
****
Mak wanted to shake Molly and demand she open her eyes. But he’d seen enough wounds to know better. Hector used his bare hands to cover the ragged tear in Molly’s side as he shouted orders to the three soldiers spilling into the room.
Captain Edow clutched his arm, blood welling between his fingers. He too called orders to his men, sending two of them into the opening in the wall.
“Don’t, captain. They’ll only get killed.” Mak had no doubt the secret tunnel would be booby-trapped. He turned back to Molly, her blood creeping across the floor and pooling around his boots where he squatted beside her. “How serious, Dr. Loren?”
Loren panted as if he’d run a long distance instead of four steps into the room behind Mak. The fear widened his eyes so he looked very young and close to panic. “Bad enough that I’m not going
to move her until I have something to stop the bleeding and an IV in her arm.”
Mak reached across Molly and wrapped his fist in Loren’s shirt. “Is she going to make it?” It was hard to speak when all the air seemed sucked out of the room. His orders didn’t matter, the mission didn’t count, only Molly’s survival. He finally understood what Vin had felt when he’d lost Yalo. All meaning for living would end for him if Molly died.
“Let go of him, Mak,” Edow ordered. “Let him care for her.”
Mak obeyed. Molly looked as pale as the white floor beneath her. Even her lips drained of color. His stomach roiled, all the food he’d recently consumed threatening to come back up.
“If their facilities are good, we can save her, Mak,” Loren said. A soldier burst into the room, handing Loren an armful of things.
Edow tugged Mak away so the soldier could take his place at Molly’s side. The man acted like a medic, following Loren’s orders quickly and efficiently. “Mak, come on. We have to stop them.”
“I’m staying here.” Mak brushed the captain’s bloodstained hand from his arm.
“Lieutenant,” Edow hissed. “You will obey my orders and go after them. How many of my men do you think will die because you want to play guard here?”
Mak’s early training urged him to obey the command, but it was the thought of the young soldiers dying that sent him to action. Two more of Edow’s men had come into the room. “I’ll go, captain, you stay by Molly’s side and all these men with you.” Mak pointed to one of the newly arrived soldiers. “I’ll need your weapons belt and your rifle.”
At a sharp command from Edow, the man stripped off his belt. Mak knelt near Molly’s head where he wouldn’t interfere with Loren and the medic. Uncaring of all the men watching, he kissed her lips. Instead of being soft and welcoming, they felt stiff and dry. A thick lump closed his throat as he made himself stand up.
Edow’s radio chirped. Mak heard the tense words shouted into the mike from one of the captain’s men. “Sir, the two injured men escaped from the infirmary. Two of our men are down, one of them dead.”
