Recon Marines III: The Marine's Doctor Read Online Free PDF

legs and
up to join the pelt of chest hair. She saw no visible
wounds.
    “ I wonder how it died.”
She spoke softly, thinking of the place as a crypt for these poor
creatures. The man looked like he’d been tall though death had
shrunk him with its merciless touch. The thick bones suggested
massive musculature.
    “ They might have starved
to death.” Mak peered into the adjoining cage. “But you should test
for pathogens before we open the doors.”
    The next hour flew by. Molly and the
other doctors put on protective gloves and masks as they tested for
disease. They found no presence of microorganisms or
toxins.
    Mak allowed Andy to help them lift one
of the bodies onto one of the operating tables. Helen and Hector
did a quick autopsy while Molly examined the other bodies. All men
of large size. Had they volunteered for the experiments or been
selected? Had they been promised physical improvements and then
been given drugs and hormones that turned them into something so
dangerous that they’d been caged?
    Kory helped Mak search the lab for
other clues and evidence of what had happened in the grim place.
Mak crawled under a workstation fixed into the wall. It looked as
if it might have once held computers.
    Molly appreciated that at least in
this part of their mission Mak seemed more helpful and less
obstructive. Hector spoke softly into the recording device as he
took a vid of the autopsy. Andy looked pale beneath the bright
light shining on the body while Helen worked with her face set in
fierce concentration.
    “ Come look at this,” Helen
said a minute later.
    Mak stood up and joined Molly across
the table from Helen. She had cut the scalp back and opened the
brain case. Though shrunken by drying the brain retained its loopy
appearance. Molly had never performed any kind of brain surgery but
she understood what Helen pointed at.
    A dark line scored the grayish matter.
Molly shook her head. “They did brain surgery?” She looked around
the room. “They did surgery in this room while the others watched,
knowing their turn would come.”
    “ What kind of people would
do something like this?” Kory asked.
    “ Crazy people who think
they can improve humans. People who think they’re smarter than
nature,” Andy answered with a sneer in his voice.
    Molly looked at Mak, wondering if he
understood Andy directed some of his disdain at him. But Mak looked
toward the door they’d entered through. He made a sharp gesture
with his hand that even the doctors understood meant to be silent.
After a long breath-holding moment, Molly relaxed. But Mak
didn’t.
    “ Guns,” he hissed at the
other two soldiers. He glided toward the opening to the hallway,
his pistol in one hand and a knife suddenly in the
other.
    Andy dropped the sample tube he’d held
when he clumsily unslung his gun. It crashed to the floor. Dark
silence followed, more menacing than before. From up the hallway
came an odd shuffling and heavy breathing.
    Mak waved his hand at Molly, signaling
for her and the other doctors to move out of the middle of the
room. She trotted over to stand behind him as he took up a position
to the right of the door leading to the hall. Kory took up the left
position. Andy stood back, putting himself in front of the other
two doctors.
    A feral wild animal-like odor wafted
from the hallway. Something grunted, a question in the
sound.
    Mak looked over his shoulder at Molly,
mouthing words to her. “Stay back.” He took a big quick step into
the entrance, lifting his pistol to firing position in the same
smooth movement. His usually cool expression lit with surprise.
“What the hell is this?”

Chapter Three
    Mak kept his weapon steady on
the…creature. He swept Dr. Drant behind him when she stepped from
cover to his side. Her gasp matched his shock.
    “ What is it?” The doctor
peeked around Mak’s shoulder, setting her hand lightly on his
back.
    Her touch distracted Mak though he
could barely feel it through his gear.