Recon Marines III: The Marine's Doctor (41 page)

Emma considered herself an
even tempered woman. But she was
very
tired. She pressed her lips
together and gathered her patience before answering. “We’re so far
from regular shipping lanes that we’re not even considered an
outpost. We’re so far out they have no term for where we are. It
makes supplying difficult and unpredictable.”

Vin spoke slowly. “You’re in the
planetary system Merris on the fifth world. This region of space is
called The Metal Belts.”

Emma snatched the bottle from his
hand, unsure if he mocked her or tried to be funny. She was beyond
amusement with worry and fatigue. Then her mind comprehended what
her eyes saw on the bottle label. “Fusomycle! Is this
real?”

Vin frowned and spoke slowly again.
“This is a powerful antibiotic that has been in use in the military
for almost two years.”

Heat climbed in Emma’s face. The
lunkhead wasn’t mocking her. He thought she was a complete idiot.
Lucky for him Jenny’s presence necessitated she control her temper.
“I know what Fusomycle is but it’s impossible to get in any but the
richest hospital wards. This little bottle is worth five measures
of silver.”

“
Closer to
ten.”

“
How did you get
it?”

Vin stepped back from the table. “It
will fight any infection. You’ll probably only need two
doses.”

Emma followed his retreat, aware of
Jenny stirring on the other side of the room. “How did you come by
this?”

“
I had it with me.” Vin
turned his back on her. “Treat your patient, Dr. Emma
Jones.”

Emma bristled anew at his brusque
order and avoidance of her question. Even though his odd accent
drew her name out in a way that played across her nerves. Between
his deep voice and pretty face, she could almost forgive his
insulting treatment. But not quite. “You had it with you? Because
you expected to encounter a man with his legs nearly cut off? Does
that happen to you often?”

He turned back to her, something
flickering in his eyes. He glanced at Russ and then back to her.
“Yes.”

“
Yes? Yes
what?”

“
Yes, I often see injuries
like this and am always prepared.”

Emma saw no mockery in his clear, gray
eyes. And she began to suspect the slight crease between his eyes
might be confusion. Sympathy and shame filled her. Vin’s rudeness
and brisk manner likely were a product of emotional trauma or
perhaps one of the horrid head injuries that afflicted so many
former soldiers. Though he looked too young to have served for
long, Emma saw the bleakness of great loss behind his cold gaze.
She’d seen the look many times before. “I’m sorry.”

“
For what?”

“
I’m sorry you had to see
injuries like this one.” She reached out and touched his
arm.

He jerked out of her reach this time.
“It wasn’t your fault, and you have no reason to be sorry.” He
stalked out, letting in another gust of cool air.

Emma looked at the small bottle in her
hand. It could provide a miracle for Russ. Her friend would owe his
life to Vin. She smiled at the closed door. The least she would do
was save Vin in return.

* * * *

Vin entered the café next door to the
surgery. Men occupied nearly all the tables. A rough lot of all
ages, sitting in groups of three or four around the tiny tables and
all staring at him. Conversation ceased as he closed the door
behind him.

The last few months hadn’t eased Vin’s
discomfort with civilians though he hid it well. Then again, Emma
had deduced his military background easily enough. Being around her
rubbed against the temper he’d discovered within himself since
losing Yalo. Trying to fit in with these illogically minded people
frustrated him further.

The large man Vin had met in the
surgery two days previous rose from the table nearest the kitchen.
He held his hand out in the common civilian greeting. “Sorry I
didn’t take the time to welcome you as I should have with the
emergency and all. Most name me the mayor around here though I hold
no official office. Call me Vannie as the rest of them
do.”

Vin took the mayor’s hand and shook it
with a firm grip. It served to measure the man’s massive strength
and gave proof of a hard life in his rough calluses and crooked
fingers. “Vin Smith.”

“
Smith?” Vannie smiled and
raised an eyebrow.

Vin wondered if he’d chosen some
notorious moniker. So many people acted amused upon hearing it.
Perhaps it wasn’t the innocuous name he’d intended.

“
What brings you to Merris
Five?” Vannie gestured for Vin to join him as his table.

Vin had prepared a story. “I caught a
ride on a transport ship after my last job ended. I didn’t care
where it took me.”

Vannie’s smile stayed but it looked
less friendly. “You’re a vagabond then?”

Vin’s mind raced to put meaning to the
word. It sounded unsavory and he suspected he needed Vannie’s leave
to stay in Hovel Port. “I do odd jobs while seeing new
places.”

“
There’s more chance of
work at Hadrason Mining upriver.” Vannie leaned forward across the
table, his scarred fists resting beside the empty mug in front of
him.

“
I don’t care for the
large crowds at the big mines or the demands they make for past
work histories.” Vin had scouted out the ugly town surrounding the
deep mine. He hadn’t found Emma there but had heard about Hovel
Port.

“
What type of work do you
usually do besides stitching up a man’s hide?” Vannie leaned back
in his chair.

The big man Emma called Moe swept
aside the curtain separating the kitchen from the dining area and
walked through carrying a metal pot. He swept his gaze around the
room and then lumbered toward Vin’s table. He snatched a cup off a
shelf and slammed it down in front of Vin. Without asking, he
poured steaming liquid into the cup. “Heard you helped our girl out
and saved poor Russ’ life.”

The two men watched Vin as if waiting
for his reply to a question. Such things confounded him about
civilian conversation, but he tried. “I did what I
could.”

Moe set the teapot on the table and
pulled up a chair. He stuck out his hand toward Vin. “Moe Hallis.
You intending to stay on here?”

Vin took the offered hand, finding it
without the calluses of Vannie but just as big and strong. “I’d
like to find some work.” He gestured around the café. “But I see no
one is working today.”

Vannie cursed with a gift to equal a
soldier. “We’re being cautious after what happened to Russ. He’s
the second victim of those cursed man traps. We’ll lose three days
of work waiting for the water level to go down so we’ll have a
better chance to spot those damn things. We found two after the
first man stepped in one and felt safe. Until it caught Russ and
that was on a shallow water day.”

“
Who puts them out there?”
Vin had seen traps used to capture wild beasts but hadn’t imagined
any coward would use them on men.

Moe slapped his hand on the table,
quieting the conversations near them. “No proof, but it can only be
those greedy bastards running Hadrason’s mine up on the mountain.
They tried to tell us the silver we take should be theirs when we
first started this settlement but even in this lawless corner of
the universe, they can’t enforce such an idea.”

“
Why they care is beyond
our figuring.” Vannie refilled his mug from the teapot. “We manage
enough silver to keep us in food and clothing. None of us are
getting rich.”

“
It’s pure maliciousness,”
Moe spat. “They have their tons of silver and resent our
ounces.”

Vin lifted the tea to his lips,
knowing the expected behavior. He’d rather have pure water but
wanted to continue his act of fitting in. The hot drink surprised
him with a rich taste of honey and cinnamon. Not as good as water
but not horrible. “Can’t you set guards on the stretches of water
you pan?”

“
We cover about three
miles of stream, too much for us to watch. And it’s not safe out
there at night,” Vannie said. “Moe and I traveled to see the big
boss up the mountain. He told us they knew nothing about the traps
and if the work was too dangerous for us we should pack up and
leave.”

“
If they want to get rid
of you why don’t they kill everybody? Twenty armed men could take
this town.” Vin wanted to call the words back when he saw their
expressions. “I meant from a military viewpoint, it seems expedient
for them to just attack.”

Moe looked at Vannie and received a
nod before answering. “We feared that very thing after they ordered
us to leave and we told them to go to hell. We fortified our walls
and purchased some weapons when we could gather enough silver. They
haven’t come at us yet so maybe we’re only a minor stinging insect
to their great hulking beast. Killing or injuring one of us here
and there is just them taking a swipe at us.”

Vannie shrugged. “I’d like to think
they have some hint of humanity and don’t want to outright kill us.
There are many women and children here. And lot of our people keep
in contact with relatives in the civilized systems. An outcry for
an investigation would occur if all these families were
killed.”

“
I think Hadrason Mining
could make us disappear completely and the hell with any protest.
They’d throw out bodies in some deep branch of their mine or dump
them in the middle of the jungle to be eaten. If anyone came to
investigate, they’d find us gone and no hint to what happened,” Moe
said.

Vin sensed the two burly men had
argued this before. “Hadrason Mining doesn’t wield the power it
once did.”

“
We heard those rumors a
few months back.” Vannie leaned toward Vin with an intense gleam in
his eyes. “Is Hadrason in prison?”

“
Yes.” Satisfaction shot
through Vin as it always did imagining the rich bastard suffering
in some dank cell. Joe and the other Recon Marines had taken care
of Geoff Hadrason. The mine owner deserved death but Vin would
accept the prison sentence for now. All of the soulless men who had
manipulated and used the Recon Marines were either dead or in
prison. Except for one. Did that man protect this little town
because his daughter lived here? “I don’t understand how the mines
keep working when the owner is incarcerated.”

Vin caught the look exchanged by the
two men. Damn, he must have said something stupid again.

“
Big business like that
runs itself, lad,” Vannie said. “Hadrason is probably still raking
in millions every month. I bet his prison cell is a plush resort.
Money buys almost anything.”

“
This is true?” Was it
possible that the pieces of human trash he’d delivered to the doors
of various military outposts weren’t suffering for their crimes in
dark, lonely prisons?

Again the men exchanged a glance. Moe
answered. “You’re rather innocent of the world, aren’t
you?”

“
I’ve never been around
rich people,” Vin muttered, lifting his cup to hide his discomfort.
He was sure he’d said all the right things.

“
You’ve proven yourself
handy with emergency care, what other skills do you have? I have to
tell you, lad, I wanted to send you on your way. But I’m thinking
of giving you a chance,” Vannie said.

Vin wondered how anything he’d said
had changed Vannie’s mind. At least he’d prepared clever answers
for this question. “I’ve done hunting before and guarding for other
settlements.”

“
We could use another
hunter,” Vannie said. “With Russ out and Larry gone, we’re down two
panners. We’ll be short on coin for supplies until we replace them.
Especially if we’re afraid to go back in the water. Don’t suppose
you have any experience panning for precious metals?”

“
No. But I’ll help clear
the water of traps.”

“
How?”

Vin thought of all the things he had
back in his camp and even more on his ship. It would raise too many
questions if they knew he had the latest weapons technology
available. “I have some ideas, but I’ll need to see what you have
available.”

Vannie held out his hand again.
“Welcome to Merris Five. When can you start?”