Porthos grumbled, but didn’t argue.
“I’m in agreement with Aramis, for once,” Athos said. He glanced at the information on the screen as well. “Stark is listed as owning a property called De Gray Estates. Computer, show De Gray Estates, holographic image.”
The image appeared, and Porthos let out a slow whistle.
“The guy has style, I’ll give him that,” Porthos said. “Maybe he can plan stuff like this for us when he’s in solitary for the next few centuries.”
The others laughed.
The image showed a massive piece of property surrounded by huge concrete walls that looked to be at least twenty feet high and just as wide. The exterior portions of the walls were wider at the top than at the base, apparently to discourage anyone from trying to climb them. A moat roughly thirty feet wide surrounded the walls, completing the look of an old-fashioned castle.
The land inside the walls was heavily covered by trees, and five homes were found inside the community. Stark’s house was relatively small compared to his neighbors, but the home was still quite large and luxurious. The community had only one entrance, a large concrete gate that would sink into the ground when residents or approved guests confirmed their identities with the pair of guards who stood watch over everything around the clock.
Porthos chuckled. “It says there are rumors that the moat is filled with some kind of acid to discourage anyone from trying to swim across and climb the walls. There are other rumors that Stark started those rumors. Most are pretty sure that it’s really just water in the moat, but nobody has actually tested it out, though.”
“OK, so our guy works in an enclosed city where most everyone is employed by him, and his house is inside a fortress.” Athos frowned. “We’re trying to get to him without drawing attention to ourselves, without alerting Stark, and ideally without being seen by anyone who might later remember seeing someone different in the area right around the time Will Stark went missing. I think we need to pick the location of the attack before we begin formulating our plans, to make sure that we’re successful in capturing Stark. This time.”
“I think we need to try to get him inside that dome,” Porthos said. “True, many of the people working there work for him and are probably loyal to him. But we’ve always preferred to work where there are large crowds of humans, especially for the more powerful targets. Stark can’t teleport away if we corner him in an enclosed city where everyone knows who he is, and that’s the key with him. If he can get somewhere he can teleport, he can get far enough away that… even I might not be able to find him.”
“That’s true,” Aramis said. “I don’t know what happened at our last encounter, but you’ve said you’ve not been able to catch even a whiff of him since. This is our only break in finding him since then, so we need to take advantage of it. And we need to be better prepared than… last time.”
“Let’s not mention the last meeting, please,” Athos said, his hand touching the scar under his eye, a permanent reminder of that event. “The teleportation issue is a key reason we need to focus on surprise. I just fear that with so many people in that city, somebody is going to notice us, no matter how hard we try to conceal our intent, and word will get to him. I think we have to look at getting him at home. Once we get inside those walls, we’ve got him in an isolated house, so if we can take him by surprise and do something to stop him from teleporting, we can avoid the risk of exposure.”
Porthos shook his head. “Exposure isn’t the biggest risk here. The biggest risk is Stark. We have to get him where he can’t — or won’t — teleport away. What stops him from doing that if he’s sitting all alone in his house and we pop in uninvited? Nothing.”
“And if we’re in that city, we’re not going to get him alone, Porthos. He won’t allow it. If we get near him he’s going to make a ruckus and then our anonymity is gone. Who’s to say there aren’t cameras recording our every move while we’re there? There’s too much risk there.”
Porthos stared him down, and finally he looked at Aramis. “What say you, snowman? Dome or estate?”
Aramis sighed. “I think we have more options if we go after him in the house. Maybe we can get the lab to develop a fast-acting sleep potion we can inject into the house before we arrive, or we put it in his drinking water, or something like that. Nothing like that is an option if we’re in a city with thousands of people around.”
Athos smiled in triumph as Porthos threw up his hands in disgust.
“With that decided, we need to figure out our plan of attack,” Athos said. “We need to get to him at the house, where he’s going to be isolated. Thankfully, he’s built his house in a perfect fashion for our pursuit.”
“My first question is this: how do we get inside those walls without drawing attention?” Aramis asked.
“That’s the biggest hurdle,” Athos said.
“Uh, no,” Porthos said. “The biggest hurdle is always Stark. Take that away, and nothing else is an issue. No Stark, we teleport inside the walls without concern and take down the target.”
Athos sighed. “Yes, Stark is, was, and always will be the biggest issue and hurdle we have until he is captured. With that understanding, I’m open to ideas on how to get into the fortress community and get to his house without alerting the man. The trick is that we need to avoid the use of Energy, or at least keep it to an absolute minimum. Stark’s not Porthos, but he’s powerful enough that he can detect at least traces of Energy. So teleporting is absolutely out of the question. Not only does it alert him to the fact that we’re there, it drains us of Energy, even if we only move a few hundred yards. No, we need to be fully Energized when we face him, especially if we can’t find a way to neutralize his advantages.”
“Can we climb the walls?” Aramis asked. “I don’t see how, given how they’re shaped.”
“Don’t think so,” Porthos said. “Although… that entry gate is lower and it isn’t shaped the same. You could probably get two of us over without Energy if we boost each other over by hand; if we had some rope we could all get over. However…”
“The two human guards are there watching the whole time.” Athos furrowed his brow. “We need to figure out how to eliminate the two guards so that they can’t see us, identify us, or contact others about us.”
“Can we use the sleeping injection somehow?” Aramis asked. “I’m not sure how we can get inside those guard buildings without being seen,” He pointed at the two separate buildings where the guards worked. One of the guards would be situated some forty feet off the ground in a tower; the other, on the side of the driveway opposite the tower, would be at ground level.
“Somebody knew what they were doing when they built this,” Athos said. “That tower is going to be impossible to get into without being seen. We could get up there with Energy…”
“But we’ve forbidden ourselves from using it,” Porthos reminded him. “Too easy for Stark to detect. Can we get the sleeping potion made into a gas, and then pump it into both rooms at the same time? If they both get drowsy and then fall asleep, we can get in without being seen.”
Aramis nodded his agreement, and Athos stroked his chin before nodding. “That’s a very good idea, Porthos. I’ll ask you to contact the lab about that. Aramis, I’ll need you to find any plans on the security systems guarding that community. We need to make sure this will work before we get started. I’ll make reservations at a hotel nearby. We’re probably going to have to go there to do research before we can figure out how to run this.”
The others nodded, and all three Hunters got to work on their assignments.
●●●●●
“That place is a fortress,” Aramis said when the Hunters reconvened. “It’s a shame we have to go full human in trying to get inside those walls, because no human is going to get into that place.”
“Explain,” Athos said.
“Computer, display De Gray Estates as a hologram,” Aramis said by way of reply. The walled community wafte
d off the table surface and reformed in the air as a three dimensional image that could be viewed from any angle. Athos and Porthos walked over to Aramis to get the same view.
“The walls, as previously noted, are twenty feet high and circle the entire community, which is roughly twenty-five hundred acres in size.” Two humans appeared on the screen to give perspective; the walls were nearly four times the height of the man and woman standing next to them. “The walls are solid concrete, so blasting your way in isn’t something you can do quietly. The walls slope out from the base on the ground up to the the top, and supposedly Stark’s engineers figured out how to seal the concrete on the outside with a material that makes the walls slick. Try climbing at a forty-five degree angle with your back facing the ground, on a surface that’s basically ice. It’s not happening. If we gave our lab guys a few months they might be able to come up with something that would work, but…”
“But we don’t have months,” Athos said, sighing. “We have days. Maybe.”
Aramis directed their attention to the top of the walls. “If by some miracle you manage to scale the walls, you’ll find yourself face-to-face with a ten-foot high barbed wire fence.” At the looks of confusion, Aramis explained. “It’s basically a cross between a metal wire fence and a thorny rose bush.”
“So, sort of like Athos,” Porthos said. “Do go on, Aramis. You’re giving me such a profound sense of confidence and optimism.”
“Oh, it gets better, Porthos,” Aramis said, rolling his eyes. “There are actually video cameras mounted within the wall, monitoring the perimeter, and they’re difficult to see and thus difficult to disable. Everything captured by the cameras goes back to the two guards. Why two guards? Because if one of them is incapacitated, the other can watch everything until the human police or a replacement guard arrives.”
“That means we’ll need to incapacitate the guards at the same time,” Athos noted. “We can’t have either calling for backup. Ideally we get the sleep potion in with an extra-powerful mixture and they both sleep immediately. Anything else?”
Aramis nodded. “The humans have only two ways to enter the community. If they’re in their vehicles, there’s a concrete gate that’s ten feet high and two feet thick they need to go through. If they prove to the guards that they’re permitted in, the guards can activate the gate and it lowers into the ground. Once they’ve entered or exited, the gate goes back up. Cars have tried to ram the gate; those cars have all been completely destroyed in the effort.
“If they’re on foot, there’s a double-door system called a man-trap. Basically, you open a door and enter a small room. A system there reads your fingerprint and scans your eye and verifies your identity. The guards receive information on whether your identity is confirmed as someone approved to enter. They then open the locked inner door, and the person walks into the community. If you’re not allowed, they can actually lock the outer door so that you’re trapped inside that small room. So you can’t just break down a door… and even if you could…”
“The guards are there watching you.” Athos drummed the table with his fingers. Then he pounded his fist on the table. “This is insane. It’s difficult enough to capture Stark. Now? We may not even be able to get close enough to him to restrain him, not without being seen.”
Athos composed himself, and then continued. “That means we have two issues. The guards and the cameras. The guards need to go out of commission first, and then the cameras.”
“Why?” Porthos asked.
“If the cameras go first, the guards will notice, and they may alert someone,” Athos replied. “We need them incapacitated before they realize what’s happening. There are no obvious vents or pipes we could use to deliver the sleeping gas into the rooms they’re stationed in, however.” He drummed his fingers on the table again, then turned to his colleague in the cloak. “Porthos, weren’t the lab scientists working on a means of controlling the brain, and even knocking people unconscious, using light waves?”
Porthos looked thoughtful. “That does ring a bell. I think they’d learned that certain light frequencies will trigger a sleep reaction.”
“They did something similar with different audible frequencies as well,” Aramis added.
Athos nodded. “The light is probably better from a distance. We may be able to use some of our drones to deliver them to the appropriate position, and then activate them remotely until the guards lose consciousness. We can then disable the cameras fairly easily, scale the walls, and head toward Stark’s house. Concerns?”
“Timing,” Porthos said. “Do we want to get there when he’s not home and be waiting when he returns, or wait until he’s home before we arrive?”
“I think we all agree we want Stark as surprised as possible,” Aramis said. “I’d argue that it’s best to get him when he’s home, asleep in his bed, and dreaming his traitorous dreams. If he has to wake up before he can react, that gives us the greatest advantage.”
Athos nodded. “Well said. That has the added advantage of making the delivery of the visual or audio impairment devices that we’ll use to subdue him easier; the guards can’t react if they can’t see them. Porthos, I’ll ask you to get those and instructions on their operation for the mission.” Porthos nodded.
Athos took a deep breath. “And now for the more difficult challenge. Once we’re in the range of Stark, how do we incapacitate him?”
Porthos glanced at the other two Hunters. “Are we perhaps overstating the problem?”
“With Stark?” Athos asked. “You’re joking, right?”
Porthos shook his head. “Think about it. Right before he teleports out, you slam him in the head and I stab him. He vanishes, and we have no additional Energy readings from him since. He loses his memory, but not all of his skills. He survives because he’d gotten so rich in the human world already.”
Aramis looked at Porthos, confused. “You’re saying Stark has amnesia? That’s why we’ve not had any news about him for all this time? He’s forgotten us and worried about all of the human world businesses he’s operating in the foreground rather than as hobbies? You’re saying that Will Stark now thinks… that he’s human?”
Athos sat back and stroked his chin. “It’s an intriguing theory, Porthos, I’ll grant you that. If he loses much of his memory, but retains a notion of his self and name, and access to his bank accounts, he realizes he has a lot of money, he continues to become wealthier in the human world, he’s got that amazing city he built to deal with, and so on. However…” Athos glanced at the other Hunters. “I don’t think it wise that we go in with that assumption. We need to assume that this is the Stark that has denied us our successful Hunt for so long, not an amnesiac who thinks he’s human.”
Porthos raised his hand in graceful acknowledgment. “No argument with that point from me. It’s something to keep in mind, as it would explain why it’s been such a long time since we’ve heard of or from our favorite traitor. He’s not generated any Energy waves until now because he’s forgotten how to do it.” He stroked his chin thoughtfully. “If that were true, though… what would trigger it now?” He shrugged.
“If Stark is still… Stark,” Aramis said, “then we need to think about what worked well the last time and build on that. We were close to victory when we were able to inject the sleeping potion, and when Porthos suggested we were going to harm humans. Can we use those two points?”
Athos raised an eyebrow. “Excellent points. I tend to think that an alert Stark is well aware that we’re going to try to render him unconscious in some fashion, and he’ll prepare for that. I think it’s advisable to have that material with us to aid us, but we can’t rely on that.”
“However, when Porthos pretended that we were going to harm some humans, Stark was quite distressed,” Aramis said. “He seems to have a weakness about the humans. I’m wondering if we can use that to our advantage. If we were to bring a human with us, and threaten her…”
“Her?” Porthos sat up,
suddenly more alert.
“I think Stark’s sense of chivalry would come into play if we were to bring a woman,” Aramis reasoned. “If we were to threaten her, Stark would be distressed and discouraged. Say, Porthos has the woman, knife to her throat, and tells Stark that if he does anything she will die. Stark is distressed, and Porthos teleports away with the woman. With Stark distressed, Athos clubs him in the head, we both inject him with the sleeping potion, and I Damper him.”
Athos stared at him. “Aramis, I do believe you’ve come up with a plausible plan on your own. What’s next? Porthos swearing off women?”
“That’ll never happen,” Porthos said.
Aramis shrugged.
“OK,” Athos said. “Quick change of plans. Aramis, you reach out to the labs to check on the audio and video sleep inducing technologies and get them shipped to us. Porthos, once we get to Pleasanton this afternoon, you find somebody we can lure to the community and take in with us as a hostage. See if you can find somebody related to that fortress community in some way; they’ll know enough about the area that they may have some additional insights on Stark we can use if our plans break down.”
Athos glanced at the Hunters. “We leave for Pleasanton in one hour. We will reconvene to compare our findings tomorrow, gentlemen.”
●●●●●
“I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but… reports of our having all of those advanced sleep-inducing technologies are mere rumors.” Aramis looked angry. “Apparently the lab guys were talking a bit too loudly about proposed technologies, not actual technologies.” He scowled, and Athos joined him.
Hunting Will Page 8