"Mr. Conrad. I am very glad to meet you" Extending his hand we shook. I am not a small man myself. A few inches shorter than Kilgore and maybe forty pounds or so lighter, but by average standards I was a good size man. Next to Lenevos though I looked small. His hand was half again the size of mine and he could have easily palmed my whole head. It could be seen that the chair he was sitting in had been specially made to accommodate his immense size. I took a few micro seconds and thought about the foolishness of shaking this man's hand, but you don't unnecessarily disrespect a man in his own home, especially since he is making you welcome.
"My associate here, Mr. Kilgore tell me you have some very valuable information for me and that you insist on telling me in person. I must confess I was intrigued on who would have the audacity to make such a request, here on my home court. Hence your presence here at my table. Please have a seat" After I had sat down I spoke.
"Mr. Lenevos I sincerely apologize for interrupting your family gathering here, but I felt the info I had for you was important enough for me to do so. And please just call me Conrad"
"Well Conrad, I am a very good judge of men and your interruption of my family gathering as you call it, I would wager was fully planned. Having information as to Mr. Slobla-Han being your ace in the hole to insure meeting me. The only thing left now is, for your health, that the information you have was worth your gamble. So tell me, what information do you have of Mr. Slobla-Han"
"None"
The statement I made was short and to the point. Yet it carried the message of a veiled threat in the way I stated it. It had the effect of causing both Lenevos and Kilgore along with the four goons who had accompanied us to the back of the house to hesitate.
"Let me understand you fully" stated Lenevos.
"You bluffed your way into my presence, sit at my table in my home, under the pretense of having valuable information for me on Mr. Slobla-Han, and now you state that you have no such information on Slobla-Han. Is that correct?"
"Yes"
"Why"
Kilgore and his goons closed in around me, and they were prepped for imminent violence against my person, and looked barely able to contain their excitement at the prospect.
"I apologize for the deception, but I do have important information for you, and felt it was better if I delivered it in person"
"Please do so"
"Mr. Lenevos, my name is Conrad Hutchins and I am a Manhunter. I tell you this freely because I know once I leave here you will have full information on me soon enough. You are wanted back in Canada by a certain agency for crime or crimes committed against them. I was contracted to bring you to them. Due to such I felt it was necessary to give you the chance to surrender peacefully, thus by not giving me the unpleasant duty of taking you down violently. Looking at your size, I now know that such an action would require me to commit extensive violence upon your person resulting in extensive physical damage to your body"
Lenevos, Kilgore and his men all looked at me as if I had suddenly became a
multi-headed, green and purple skinned alien in front of them. My statement was the absolute last thing they expected me to say, which was exactly the reaction I wanted. I will however give Lenevos credit. He had a great sense of humor. He burst out laughing uproariously.
"Mr. Conrad, you are without a doubt the stupidest man in existence to come here and tell me that. Any other man, either foolish, brave or whatever would have more sense then to come here, especially in my own home and threaten me. Fortunately for you I can end your misery. Kilgore"
Before Kilgore and his goons could grab me,
"Kilgore wait. I wouldn't do whatever it is you are planning"
"Why not?" asked Kilgore.
I slowly turned over my left hand. Barely showing on my palm was a very small push switch attached to an almost invisible wire, which ran to the watch on my wrist.
"The watch on my wrist is a powerful burst transmitter, which can be activated with the least amount of pressure on the switch on my palm. Activation of the transmitter will cause the multiple explosive charges, which I had the presence of mind to plant all around your estate wall prior to coming here, to explode with some very impressive and nasty results. My investigations of you Mr. Lenevos revealed your extensive love for your seven children, whom I am assuming is here. I figured you would not want anything to happen to them so I took this precaution not to convince you to leave with me now, but to insure I can leave safely after giving you my message. Now that I have given it to you, I will be leaving. I only hope you do take me up on my offer of a peaceful surrender"
"Boss, I think he's bluffing" said one of the goons. "Our security and surveillance would have spotted him planting any explosives”
"Your security methods was also designed to keep your boss here location secret. Not only was I able to crack that and locate him, but for one full week I was infiltrating the perimeter of this estate where I was able to plant my explosives. Of course you can feel free to call my bluff on this if you so choose”
"Stop. He may be bluffing, but I will not take the chance"
"He's not bluffing Mr. Lenevos. I have heard of Mr. Hutchins here. He is indeed what they call a Manhunter. His reputation is reported to be quite impressive" stated Kilgore. "Yet he does not appear to match his description"
"Another part of my deception" I said. "I could not take the chance you or one of your men would know me on sight. I was informed that your information net was quite extensive”
"Mr. Hutchins, it has been a pleasure meeting you. I will be looking forward with great anticipation to our next meeting. Kilgore, please escort our guest back to his car and see that he leaves the estate safely"
Looking back at me, "I assume once you have left, my family will no longer be under threat of injury"
"No. Once I am off your estate, your people can go find and remove the explosives safely"
Lenevos just looked at me coldly and nodded. If looks could kill, Kilgore's look would have had me dead and doing hard time in hell already. I was escorted back to my car, and allowed to drive off the estate unhindered. Once off the estate, I accelerated away to make sure I was not immediately followed, although I was sure there would be goons on my trail very soon, most likely led by Kilgore. I was sure Kilgore had ordered that my car be tagged, in the event they had to find me later. And I wouldn't have had it any other way. I removed the bogus switch from my palm. When Lenevos goons searched the perimeter of the estate wall they will find ten sites with bogus explosives and the buried message, Explosives Here. They will be pissed that I bluffed them on the explosives, but I couldn't take a chance on real explosives. One or more of Lenevos goons might have tried to take me down, and in the process of preventing that, real explosives could have been exploded. I drove a few miles away, and then got out and searched the car for the bug. Sure enough it was hidden inside the rear bumper. It was a real high tech piece of equipment. If I had tried removing the bug, it would have notified Kilgore immediately. My plan depended on them thinking I was unaware of the bug. Leaving the bug alone, I got back into the rental car and continued driving to the abandoned warehouse where I planned for the upcoming battle to take place. It had taken me four full days to prep the place, but it would be worth it in the end. It would have been easier to have waited until Lenevos was off his estate, followed them to their destination, and then gassed them and took Lenevos into custody. Yet the surveillance of him and his estate over the past six days showed me that Lenevos rarely left his estate, and when he did it was with a heavy set of bodyguards. Plus the one time he did leave caught me by surprise since it happened in the middle of the night and it was by jetcopter. After that I could no longer wait for him to leave the estate by ground transportation or risk him leaving by jetcopter again, and not returning. So hence my present insane plan.
It had been strongly requested that Lenevos be taken down in a manner where no innocent bystanders were hurt, and at the same time to get the word out that
no one breaks Canadian laws and gets away with it. Hence my plan to take him in a secluded spot. Apparently Lenevos had really pissed off my client. I guess by now Kilgore would have researched who the hell I am and what I am about. He would confirm my name is actually Conrad Hutchins and I am a bounty hunter. My uncle who was also a bounty hunter had given me that name. What about my father? Hey, your guess is as good as mine. You see my mother and uncle for some mysterious reason flat out refused to talk about him. In fact on the few occasions when he was referenced, they would speak of him as if he was dead. Yet try as I might, they would not discuss him. I was however able to deduce that whatever had happened between my mother and him was not pleasant. So as an entity on the day of my birth, my father was a non-entity. My uncle too was something of a mystery man back then, and on some subjects it was not wise to disagree with him on them. When I was fourteen, my uncle started teaching me the rigors of bounty hunting, and then later wilderness survival, but did not let me get in on the hunts until I was sixteen. To say that the training my uncle subjected me to was intense is an understatement. He trained me in all aspects of survival, and combat. There were many times I wondered what certain types of training had to do with catching felons, but I trusted my uncle’s judgment and hung in there and trained. The fact that I seemed to learn everything he taught me quickly surprised him. It also galvanized him to increase my training. He did tell me one day after a very intense training session, that all he is teaching me will not be enough. Later when he determined I was ready, he would be taking me somewhere else where I would learn some very unique combat and survival skills. Upon questioning him on what type of training, he would only state sternly, “Wait!” So for the next four years I managed to attend college and work with him part time apprehending felons. After I obtained my degree in Investigative Science I then joined my uncle full time. Two years after joining with my uncle, he mysteriously vanished while working on a case, which led him to Antarctica. For some reason, he hid this case from me, and it wasn't until later, while going through his datapad that I was able to piece together part of the case.
Whoever he was tracking had my uncle very nervous and very afraid. That fact alone scared me, for throughout the years I had known him, my uncle feared no man, or for that matter no beast that lived. My uncle was a bull of a man. Just short of six feet and around three hundred and ten pounds of solid muscle, there was nothing that frightened him. In hand to hand combat, the only man I had seen that bested him was the combat instructor who had originally trained him, and that was a very rare occasion. While a child on a camping trip with him, I witnessed my uncle, with nothing but twelve inch hunting knives in each hand, fight a bear to a standstill. True he needed a few stitches afterwards, but he had made the bear decide that there must be easier prey elsewhere. I had seen him go into a bar after a perp who had quite a few buddies with him, and he came out dragging the perp by his foot. The perp buddies? Well I was instructed to call Med 911 for them. After his disappearance I spent the next nine months relentlessly trying to track my uncle down to no avail. The trail led to Antarctica, and even after almost fifty years that continent is still off limits today to everyone. Did my uncle make it to Antarctica? I don't know. All official inquiries made on whether my uncle made it to Antarctica, came back to me stating no. I was also, in a not very friendly manner reminded of the permanent quarantine around Antarctica and the threat of immediate death if caught trying to get there. It was as if my uncle and all clues leading to him simply vanished off the face of the earth. I decided right then that I was going to master this trade and that I would not stop until I had found my uncle or what had happened to him. That was seven years ago. So as you can see, I am a Manhunter. Is that the same as Bounty Hunter? Yes. I just prefer the term Manhunter. You see this is the year 2089, and law enforcement has become more specialized in their duties. Crime and terrorism has become very high tech, and due to the vast uninhabited areas of the world, law enforcement agencies here and all over the world have their hands full fighting this new high tech crime and terrorism. As a result law enforcement just didn't have the manpower to hunt for certain fugitives and bring them in. So bounty hunting as an occupation has expanded worldwide as a big business, albeit a very dangerous business. Bounty hunting is contracted out to private individuals or private organizations, and the pay was very good. You see extradition treaties no longer existed worldwide. Warrants issued for someone's arrest was good worldwide, but it was the responsibility of the contracted bounty hunter to get the perp or perps back to the contracting law enforcement or government agency. So as an occupation the life expectancy of bounty hunters is measured at around half a dozen years. I however have been in the business full time for nine years now. My uncle before his disappearance had been in the business almost twenty-one years. Combine that longevity with the fact I have developed a reputation for being able to find and bring in the worse of the worse and one's rep tends to build up. That is the case with my present contract. Mr. Lenevos while being rich and powerful, has pissed off a very powerful governmental agency in Canada and broke some Canadian laws in the process. They want him back in a very bad way for justice. With him being rich and powerful my job wasn't easy. He had the means to stay hidden wherever he wanted to, where law enforcement couldn't find him. Unfortunately for him I was contracted to track him down and even though it took me a few weeks to do so, I had. Now I figured I would have roughly three hours or so before Lenevos, Kilgore and a squad of their goons showed up to play. I was sure Lenevos would show and not just send Kilgore. I had come into his home, threatened him and his family and basically made him look weak and impotent in his own home. His personality from what I was able to dig up showed he would want retribution for my actions in person.
I switched out of the suit I wore and into my combat outfit and rig. This consisted of black Nano Jeans, and a black long sleeve Nano Pullover form fitting shirt. I pulled on my black combat boots with the special half-inch thick Flo-Tech one piece soles. These sole allowed me to walk virtually soundless. These boots could take me for a walk thru hell in comfort. I then strapped on my hip my Dynotyne 44C Auto Pistol chambered in .44C caliber caseless ammo, capacity twelve rounds. In today's world of laser guns, blasters and such, my guns were considered antiques. Yet I love the feel of the big gun which was slim, but overall was 12.4" long and deadly accurate out to one hundred yards. I then strapped on my shoulder rig which contained my Dynotyne 40C Auto Pistol, which was of the same general design, but smaller, at only 8.2" inches long, chambered in .40C caliber caseless ammo, capacity nineteen rounds. Around 2045, Dynotyne Products designed the .44C caliber caseless ammo for law enforcement and the military. They later designed the 44C Auto Pistol, capacity twelve rounds to fire the new rounds. A year later the 40C Auto Pistol and ammo was produced. The mags for these guns are completely disposable, after firing, so switching mags was as simple as hitting the mag release with my thumb, which kicked the mag positively out even if the gun was upside down, or under water, and slamming in the new mag. The greatest claim for the guns was that they were jam proof, and in my years of using them, they have never jammed. I didn't take any chances though by maintaining my guns diligently. Due to the caseless propellant, they would fire under water, and reportedly in the vacuum of space, although I haven't had occasion to test the guns in space. Over the years I have found the guns to be relentlessly reliable and accurate. The newer guns of today was big bulky things, hard to conceal, except for some lasers and outlawed needle guns. They were however very efficient killing instruments, and in some cases highly destructive. Gun laws in the country had loosen a lot where the average citizen could be armed, but only after extensive training and only outside of the new Mega Cities. This was due in part to the vast uninhabited regions of the country people had to travel through to get to another Mega City, smaller town or village and the fact that crime was a major problem in the wild, not to mention the resurgent wildlife. The newly established police forces patroll
ed the wilderness, but it could still take them some time to get to you if you called for help. That's why it was highly recommended that people use the high-speed train lines or passenger jets for travel between cities, which were heavily protected. Travel between the cities any other way was not recommended, but there were people who choose to travel their own way. Only small Class Two and Three lasers or projectile guns were allowed to be carried, unless you were in Law Enforcement, or Felon Apprehension, which bounty hunting fell under. The technology of bulletproof vests had fallen behind firearms development since lasers could cut right through them in seconds. To date no material except Nano Core Body Armor which was strictly for law enforcement use and was extremely light weight and flexible could stand up to a Class Four or Five laser which was the weapons of choice for practically all law enforcement and bounty hunters. Bounty hunters could carry projectile weapons if they so choose. Needle Guns and Class Six and Seven lasers was for the military's use. A Class Seven Laser was capable of cutting through Nano Core Body Armor, although you had to keep the beam on the target for a quite some time to do so. Nano Core Reflexed Armor was used by the military in the production of the military's Battle Suits, battle tanks and other vehicles. This made both the soldier and vehicles light weight, fast and powerful. These armored military vehicles were equipped with Class Nine lasers. Military battle tanks were equipped with Class Eleven and Class Twelve lasers and navy vessels were equipped with the newer Class Fourteen (and reportedly Class Fifteen) lasers, which was incredibly destructive. As a result Nano Core Reflex Armor technology was one of the most highly guarded secrets of the military.
Manhunter Revelations Page 3