Recon Marines II: Marine's Heiress, The by Susan Kelley Page B

thin
pants. “They could have torn into you.”
    She set her hands on her hips. “Well,
you’re welcome. I told you that I could watch your
back.”
    “ We heard the shots,” Moe
panted out as he, Vannie and Dillon skidded to a stop.
    “ Holy hell, an entire pack
of jecks,” Dillon said. “Are they all dead?”
    The sun touched the top of the trees
beyond the fence, changing gray light to golden. Vin checked the
loads in his pistol, noting he had thirteen of the twenty shots
left. He brushed past the men gaping at the dead reptiles and
approached the bushes that he now saw were some type of berry
bushes clinging to a roughly made trellis. Behind the thick
foliage, he spotted the curly, coarse hair of one of the goats kept
in the village for milk. The docile little animal wouldn’t have
stood a chance against the bloodthirsty pack.
    “ Each one killed by one
shot!” Dillon kicked at the jecks.
    More villagers approached with caution
from the alleys between the houses. He waited until they’d gathered
around the carnage. “We need to check the entire settlement for
anything else that might have wandered in. Get your weapons first
and work in groups of at least four.”
    The men hurried off to obey, a few
casting nervous glances at the greenery between the houses and the
wall. Dillon trotted after them, but Vannie and Moe stayed
behind.
    Moe put his hands on his hips much like
Emma had. “That’s some shooting there, Vin Smith. Don’t know if
I’ve ever seen anything like it.”
    Vin had only hit three of them before
they’d reached him. Obviously he needed some practice with his new
pistol. This latest model, designed for the military, would fire
under water and in low atmosphere. With a little practice, he would
be able to kill all seven before they reached him.
    “ None of that right now,
Moe.” Emma wrapped her arm in Vin’s much like she had earlier to
lead him into the café. “One of them scratched Vin’s leg. I need to
clean it out before an infection takes hold.”
    “ You do that, Emma.”
Vannie narrowed his eyes at Vin. “Moe and I will help make sure the
compound is clear, but then we’ll have a bit of discussion with
Mister Smith.”
    * * * *
    “ I have my own
antiseptics,” Vin said as they came to the surgery door. He hefted
his rifle someone had set on the boardwalk.
    Emma thought of the powerful antibiotic
Vin had given her for Russ. Likely he did have something better for
the wound. The surrounding wilderness provided a healthy
environment for all kinds of microbial growth. She’d treated many
rashes and odd infections since arriving in Hovel Port. “We’ll go
to your place then, and I’ll use your medicines to treat
you.”
    “ I don’t need assistance.
Please return to your own home.”
    Emma heard people working behind her
surgery to butcher the moose. The meat would feed the entire
settlement for weeks. Groups of men moved along the street,
slipping into alleys, to check for other intruding wildlife. What
if one of the village children had stumbled into the jecks when
going out to play? But they would be safe now, thanks to Vin. “I’ll
check your wounds properly unless you tell me you’re a
doctor.”
    “ I’ll already told you I
wasn’t.” He stared at her for a long moment, some kind of
calculation going on in his eyes. Then he turned and walked toward
his shop.
    Emma hurried after him, prepared to
give him a lecture on manners. Most of the soldiers she’d worked
with over the years had excellent manners and treated her with an
overabundance of respect. But a few of the most damaged had
interacted with anger or cold disregard.
    Vin’s attitude defied her ability to
diagnose or categorize him. He acted comfortable with the distance
he kept between himself and others, making no attempt to be
friendly. And his cold demeanor didn’t seem like a screen to
protect his sanity from the horrors trapped in his memory. She
almost thought the calculation in his eyes was