The Huntsman

by Rafael

  “How is our other guest?”

  “Ms. Logan is in her room. Other than a half hour in the pool taking laps she’s been quiet and presented no problems.” A staff member opened the door to the main house’s air-conditioned interior.

  “Good. Could you bring her to my office, please?” Koh continued to his ground floor office where he waved away an assistant who needed documents signed. As well, he ignored the paperwork of empire atop his desk. The single-minded focus which had enabled him to create a global transportation network now served to propel a new one toward the stars. With the physicists in place, he only needed to ensure the device’s security. He pressed a button on his mobile. As usual, it rang once.

  “Yes, Mr. Koh.” Jithu Ong—methodical, thorough, emotionless—had indeed proved himself a competent professional. With each passing assignment, Nicholas’ confidence in him had grown.

  “Are preparations complete?”

  “Everything is in readiness, Mr. Koh.”

  “The night security shift understands they’re off tonight?”

  “Yes, Mr. Koh.”

  “The replacement shift is briefed and in position?”

  “I have seen to every detail.”

  “Double check and return here. I want you as my fallback option.”

  “Very well, Mr. Koh. I’ll be there shortly.”

  Nicholas leaned back and closed his eyes, tried to think what he might have forgotten. A few women and some cash ensured the local constabulary would patrol elsewhere tonight. The replacement shift, with no connection to his company, comprised ten professionals who would not be paid their $5 million fee unless they eliminated Janesh McKenzie. With everyone else off for the night, there’d be no eyewitnesses to the carefully laid ambush he’d set for his nemesis. If everything fell apart, his helicopter would be fueled and ready.

  But if everything went well, the wormhole device could not be in a better location. Within the year, the engineers at his research facility, along with the physicists, should have a solid plan for how best to integrate the technology into the existing transportation systems. He tried to imagine the press conference. A live demonstration broadcast across the globe would send tremors throughout the world.

  A knock on the door preceded his Security Chief opening it for Miranda Logan. He’d had several Kluang boutiques along with hair stylists and makeup artists come to the estate. A simple, white, linen ensemble of shorts, sleeveless top and wedges only served to enhance an astonishing beauty that approached ethereal. On an unmade face, her thick, mane-like red hair framed jade-green eyes that sparkled. A gasp almost escaped his lips.

  “Please be seated, Miranda. Make yourself comfortable. May I offer you a drink or something to drink?” A flat tone accompanied a guarded, cautious expression.

  “Green tea. Iced. No sugar.”

  Nicholas nodded toward his Security Chief. One last time he toyed with the idea of not turning her over to Janesh McKenzie. But handing her over to the Mahān Śikārī would forestall whatever counter-actions his rival had in mind. The device’s security and integrity trumped all other considerations. Beauty had nothing to offer power. What a waste, he thought. She’d have to die along with McKenzie.

  “Relax, Miranda. I have good news.” She fixed him with eyes that remained blank. A knock on the door and a staffer entered with a tray bearing a pitcher, a tall, frosted glass, and a bowl of ice. Nicholas rose to take the tray and place it atop his desk. He tonged some cubes, poured the tea, and handed her the refreshment. “Tonight I’m going to hand you over to Janesh McKenzie.”

  For an instant Miranda’s mask dropped, her eyes widened. Excitement shone through before it again snapped shut. She sipped the tea without savoring it then sipped once more. Nicholas walked back to his chair and leaned back. She waited.

  “I assure you it’s quite true. But you have plenty of time to prepare. It won’t happen until after midnight.” Miranda raised the glass then stiffened and inhaled sharply. Her eyes bored into his.

  “It’s the science equipment. He’s threatened it unless you turn me over. What is it? What did Professor Ang discover?” Koh gave her a viper-like smile.

  “You’ll learn soon enough. But let me satisfy you with this. It will render every form of transportation obsolete and alter the future course of human history. You should feel flattered. Only something on that scale would cause me to release you.”

  Miranda sipped the tea, savored it. Simmering, smoldering, emerald eyes met his. Her smile resembled a cobra’s.

  * * *

  Around them the jungle’s quiet deepened. Nothing skittered, nothing chirped. Both men looked at one another. One glanced toward a luminous wrist dial—12:22am. Too early for the 1:30am swap. Thumbs unlocked safeties.

  Both had marveled a near-impenetrable jungle lay this close to a major Malaysian city. Behind them the leafy undergrowth glowed dimly from the research facility’s lights. The team leader had expected the other side might send an advance scout team and positioned them here to interdict any such attempt. But if not humans, the two imagined a leopard might prowl the stygian gloom. Or worse, a tiger. Eyes and ears strained to identify what had stilled the jungle. Fingers slid onto triggers.

  A rustling sound, like an oncoming breeze arose. Both men tensed. Without warning one rose into the air. The other turned in time to see his teammate’s boots disappear into the leafy overhang. He held his fire afraid to hit his colleague. A few feet away a weapon fell to the ground. A moment later a body thudded hard. Something had wrenched his head to face backward.

  He rose and whirled around searching for a target. Panicked fingers tried to key his radio. “This is Team5. I’m under attack. I’m under attack.” Neck hairs sprang to life. He reeled about and stared. A gigantic, green-feathered bird stood eight feet away. An elongated black beak opened and hissed. Against all training, his finger depressed the machine pistol’s trigger and stayed pressed. A stream of bullets entered the creature with no apparent effect. Something slammed the back of his head. He puzzled how a black beak had burst through his face then died before his body crumpled.

  “Team5 report. Team5 report. Do you read me?” Kreetor reached into her marsupial pouch and retrieved the Seer. The sphere floated toward the squawking broadcast, hovered, glowed orange, and pinpointed the other six radios. She took to the air, twisting and weaving through the branches and trees until she burst from the tops.

  Nicholas’ team leader remained calm but his thoughts raced. Even with the loss of one squad, the remaining four had strong positions. He’d placed two to cover the parking lot where the meet would occur as well as the approach road. Though he occupied a second-story office overlooking the empty parking lot, the position sat four stories above ground level. Beneath him, the cavernous building housed a facility where engineers designed and tested all manner of conveyances. The enormous workspace stored his mission priority, a stack of containers the content and purpose of which he had no idea. Also locked within, the fourth squad guarded the equipment. If necessary he could cover the parking lot teams’ retreat into the building. At that point, nothing less than a full on assault force could dislodge them.

  He opened the windows wider. The jungle’s sounds, the chirps, squawks, and trills continued undisturbed. If he’d lost the forest team, they’d served their purpose—prevent any surprise from the woods. The team leader cycled through radio channels. Everyone reported clear. He retrieved his mobile and pressed a button. It rang once. He found Nicholas Koh’s man scary but respected his thoroughness.

  “Yes.”

  “We’ve had contact.”

  “Casualties?”

  “The forest team may be lost. Nothing else has occurred.”

  “We expected they’d be fearful of coming alone. Now they know we didn’t either. The trade is too important. Nothing further will occur until it happens.”

  “ETA?”

  “The schedule remains unchanged. The principals will depart at 1:10. I’ll be
in a backup role. Contact me immediately if your status changes.” The line went dead. The night remained still. The team leader waited.

  Within the testing facility, one guard returned from double checking the doors remained locked. He and the other decided to increase the distance between them. Anyone breaching the entrance would find themselves in a vicious crossfire. Behind forklifts, they faced the doors, placed full clips within easy reach, and again reported clear. Above and behind them a wormhole opened. Out flew Kreetor. She glided to the ground and disappeared.

  Seconds later one guard’s eyes widened in shock and amazement. He screamed at the other. “Look out. Behind you.” The other turned to freeze in place. Before him stood a monstrous, feathered creature that towered over him. He screamed and unleashed a torrent of bullets. When the hammer clicked empty, he rolled to the ground while desperately trying to load a fresh clip. He bumped up against an identical creature who buried its beak into his chest. The guard stood. Gurgling sounds accompanied a collapsed lung and a gush of blood. Hands pressed to his chest, he stumbled a few steps, then dropped face first. Spasmodic tremors wracked his body. Seconds later they ceased forever. Both demons disappeared.

  Nerves shattered, his partner flinched at each creak and groan. He whirled in every direction, babbled it had to be a nightmare. One appeared alongside him. He screamed as his weapon chattered its death song. From above, another crushed the terrified guard to the ground where five-inch talons left a shredded corpse. With a mighty flap, Kreetor took to the air, screeched her triumph, and flew into a waiting wormhole. Beyond the doors, a quiet night masked the horror within the sound-proofed facility.

  Ten minutes later the team leader smacked the radio against his palm. “Team2, can you read me. Team2, come in.” Nothing. Not even static. “Team3, how you read?”

  “Loud and clear, Team1”

  “Team4, can you read me?”

  “Roger, Team1.” Couldn’t be his radio. He rose and handed it to his second who pointed a sniper rifle out the window.

  “Stay alert. I’m going to see what’s going on.”

  Downstairs at the entrance, he inserted a pass key then entered a code. The doors slid away to the sides. It took a moment for him to locate one guard. The sentry lay face down in a pool of congealing blood. He didn’t bother to check for a pulse. He smelled the other before locating him behind a forklift. The unfortunate lay with his guts torn open and their contents strewn about.

  The team leader leveled his weapon and tried to make sense of something that had none. Except for the cargo doors on the other end, the huge hangar-like facility had no other entry point. Nothing appeared disturbed, especially the cargo containers. The manners of death screamed animal or at least a maniac. No answer arose to the question how. An eerie sense pulled him into an altered reality.

  Fighting a rising panic, he retraced his steps toward the entrance then raced for the stairway, oblivious to having left the doors unlocked. He burst into the office and froze, paralyzed in place. His dead partner lay on the floor. Bent over him, a nightmare-spawned creature rose up holding a torn arm. He opened his mouth to scream but no sound emerged. Before his vocal cords loosened, the thing opened its beak and a clear liquid streamed across the four-foot distance. It slapped across his face and congealed. His breathing instinct triggered a violent reflex. Hands flew to his face in an effort to tear off the suffocating mask. They stuck. He fell to the floor writhing for oxygen. His chest heaved in spasms. Slowly they weakened then stopped altogether. Kreetor returned to the first corpse and tore off the other arm.

  Among the parking lot teams, confusion reigned. They’d heard a commotion and shots from the second floor redoubt. Team1 no longer responded to their radio calls. They’d not planned for three teams being down without any obvious threat. Should they reposition? Where? The building had neutralized two teams. The jungle had taken another. Should they stay or abandon the job? They hadn’t been paid but dead men spent no money. They huddled around their respective radios.

  “Any ideas?”

  “I vote we get the hell out of here.”

  “What about Amrah. He may be alive.”

  “If he was alive, he’d be out here or on the radio.”

  “Maybe he’s just hurt.”

  “If he’s hurt he’ll slow us down. I vote we get the hell out of here.”

  “We can’t just run out on him. One of us has to go inside.”

  “I’ll go.”

  “Okay. Don’t waste time. In and out. If he can move bring him. If he’s hurt bad, he’s on his own.”

  Fifteen minutes elapsed. No sound emerged from the building. Nothing moved. No one looked out from the second floor window. Icicles ran up and down their spines. The three looked at one another.

  “We can’t wait any longer.”

  “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

  “Stay in line. Let’s do it by the numbers. Don’t bunch up. You go first, then you. I’ll bring up the rear.”

  “What if the cars aren’t out front?”

  “Then we keep going. We’ll stop and hijack the first one we see.”

  The second took off five seconds after the first. On a five count the third rose up and continued into the night sky, the talon in his throat preventing any sound. The first rounded the facility’s front and raced for the visitor’s parking lot, relieved to see their cars still there. His teammate’s body thudding to the ground stopped him cold. Already strained nerves had him firing in all directions at ghosts and shadows.

  The second, swept up in the hysteria, fired at anything he imagined a threat. He stopped to reload just as something descended from the sky atop his partner. Unholy screams accompanied the sound of tearing flesh and crunching bones. They stopped abruptly and silence dropped like a stone. The second turned and ran with no conscious thought as to direction or destination. A numbing fear drove him. His feet continued running even after they left the ground an instant before his neck snapped.

  * * *

  Janesh’s chest rose and fell timed to long, deep breaths. For two hours he’d remained semi-conscious, tuned to the surrounding jungle’s rhythms. Better than patience, a state well-suited to waiting. Behind him Duncan and Ronan sat quiet, still, alert.

  They sat in an open jeep, part of an eight-vehicle caravan that had driven the sixty miles north from Singapore into Malaysia. Parked on the shoulder of an ill-paved back road that wormed through a tangled forest, only two other vehicles had occupants. Everyone else had hiked four miles inland to surveil Nicholas Koh’s research facility.

  If Janesh succeeded in his latest clash, it would be in no small part to Chatur’s powerful background role. He’d made all the arrangements for twelve hard-eyed mercenaries to arrive in Singapore along with the proper paperwork identifying them as security consultants. Former members of India’s most decorated unit, the famed Kumaon Regiment, they were veterans of the vicious fighting along the India/Pakistan border and justly feared even by the most fanatical Muslim insurgents.

  Janesh emerged from his meditative state to turn and stare into the thick darkness. Eyes glanced at the clock—1:06am. Like ghostly wraiths two figures appeared out of the gloom. Both nodded in admiration he’d detected their approach.

  “Your skills are not just legendary, Mahān Śikārī.” Janesh gave a slight bow of his head.

  “Observing you and your men has only enhanced them, Lieutenant. What can you tell me?”

  “We are not sure. The facility’s lights are on and there are cars in the visitor’s lot. We sent in a drone through an open window overlooking the parking lot. Except for some overturned furnishings and a lot of blood we saw nothing. The place is abandoned. No one is there.”

  Janesh rose from his seat to pace by the jeep, head bowed, thoughts racing. “That doesn’t make sense. I know this man. He would not deliberately leave himself exposed and vulnerable.” He stopped and eyed the Lieutenant. “With all due respect, is there any chance you missed detecting th
em?” The Lieutenant returned a steady gaze gave his head a slow shake.

  “No. The facility is abandoned.” Again Janesh bowed his head. His breath gave a sharp intake.

  “The blood in the office. Was it pooled? Fairly circular?”

  “Yes. Two of them. Almost undisturbed.”

  “Did you send the drone into the laboratory area proper?”

  “No. Its range is not unlimited.”

  “Listen to me carefully, Lieutenant. Unless I’m mistaken, Koh’s men are there. They’re all dead. Under no circumstances are you or your men to enter the facility or come anywhere near the equipment within.” Janesh paused. The infantryman waited. “There’s no time to explain, Lieutenant. Alert your men. The danger may come from a creature.” Puzzlement narrowed the mercenary’s eyes. His head made a slow nod.

  “Are you going ahead with the exchange?”

  “I have no choice. The woman is the priority. She should be the only female among us. Her red hair is distinctive. Your men should paint everyone else. Use good judgment, Lieutenant. Once I have the woman, take out any targets you wish. All of them would be fine. How will you position your team?”

  “Seven will form a firing line just inside the forest. Anyone in the parking lot will be targeted. I and the other four will remain on this road a quarter-mile from the lot. We’re the backup. If it falls apart, run back along the road. I’ll pick you up.”

  Janesh nodded and extended a hand to the two soldiers. “It’s been an honor. Good luck, gentlemen.”

  “The honor is ours, Mahān Śikārī. Parakramo Vijayate.” Janesh bowed his head, humbled by the Kumaon Regiment’s motto, “Valor Triumphs”.

  “Parakramo Vijayate.”

  Janesh leaned into the jeep to bend down and rub heads with Duncan and Ronan. “Protect me, Lord Vishnu”, he muttered, “that I may protect my friends. But if not take me not them.”

  He leaned past the dogs, unsheathed his spear from its covering, and laid his hunting knife alongside. Buckling in, Janesh retrieved a .45 automatic from under the seat. Safety off, round chambered, he laid it on the passenger seat. The dashboard clock read 1:24am.