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

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?”
    “ I think I’m the only one
who is going to hurt them.” Vin wore his confused look again, but
it didn’t touch Emma’s sympathy this time.
    “ You will do no such
thing.” She tried to walk past Vin, but he grasped her arm above
the elbow. Unlike the way Moe held her, she sensed no give in Vin’s
grip.
    “ Stay back from them.
They’re only helpless because I made them so.” Vin gestured with a
tilt of his head to the bench Vannie leaned on. A number of guns
and knives sat on the spotless surface. “They’re dangerous,
cowardly men and perhaps the ones who set the trap for
Russ.”
    “ And opened the gates last
night. These bastards have disturbed my sleep two nights in a row.”
Vannie sounded as hard as Vin.
    “ They’re probably right,”
Moe said. “Come