Manhunter Revelations

by H. F. Daniels

  When I finished changing I was a completely different man from the one who had arrogantly invaded Lenevos home. I had padded my physical appearance to appear twice as bulky as I was, as well as cosmetic face makeup to change my facial appearance to insure I got into the compound in case Lenevos men had ID recognition equipment, which they did. I had spotted the camera previously while conducting my surveillance. If I had been ID'ed before I got in, my whole plan would have fallen apart, and I would have been exposed in the open. I had a backup plan in case that happened, but I was really glad I didn't have to fall back on that. Especially since there were children on the estate. After I finished donning my rigs I then checked all the equipment to make sure everything was set, and then hunkered down to wait. I was situated about twenty feet up on an arch hidden from view. I had waited for barely an hour before my detectors went off notifying me on my handheld comm that someone had broken the perimeter around the warehouse. Lenevos must be pissed off at me big time to get here so fast. Five minutes later I heard the front door slowly opening and the detectors on my handheld comm for the roof and back door also went off. A few seconds later Lenevos and three of his goons slowly walked into view. I could barely hear them, but Kilgore and some others were entering through the roof and back door. Lenevos started shouting my name.

  "Conrad. It is time for our second meeting and discussion. Please do not pretend you are not here. I know you are. My tag would have told me if you had gotten three hundred yards from it. It also informed me that you are here alone”

  Hum, I didn't know that. That bug was more high tech than I thought.

  "Please Conrad. My men have all possible exits covered. Come out and we will dispatch this matter forthwith. After all you did ask for me to come and surrender. So here I am”

  I had left a work bench in the middle of the floor under some lights where it

  looked as if I had been working on some equipment. On it was a broken datapad, which I was sure Lenevos would recognize since it belonged to Skobla-Han. Sure enough, one of Lenevos' goons spotted it and shouted out "Boss, look" as he pointed to the datapad. Lenevos face lit up as he no doubt thought that the datapad still had the info in it that he wanted, or it might lead him back to Skobla-Han. Approaching the workbench at a fast walk, he stopped about a dozen feet away as his survival instincts kicked in.

  "Wait" he shouted. "It may be booby trapped"

  It wasn't, but he had walked into the trap. I hit the release on the overhead trap and dropped the Capture Net down on Lenevos and his men. The net was composed of Fabroid Covered Crystal-Nano fibers and as such was practically unbreakable. It is a two stage net, where as the net hits the floor it drives anchor bolts two feet into the ground which then extended eight three inch spikes out positively locking the net in place. The Fabroid material ensured the individual captured was not injured as the net locked down. Lenevos heard the trap release and tried to run, but the net dropped too fast. The anchors slammed into the warehouse concrete floor with a dull bang followed a split second later by the sound of the spikes extending. The floor under each anchor shattered into pieces but held as the anchors locked into the floor. The net slammed down on Lenevos and two of his goons, driving his men flat and Lenevos to his knees. The goon who had pointed out the datapad was one of the men driven to the floor and may have been knocked senseless as he was caught under the edge of the net which drove his head into the floor while trapping him partially under the net. The last goon not being so near Lenevos at the time was not caught under the net, and had drawn a weapon as he scanned the area for the threat, namely me. Lenevos himself roared with rage and actually managed to stand up before the net pulled him back down again. He was caught and wouldn't get out until I activated the net's release. These nets had been developed to catch the Mut-Gorillas that had been a dangerous threat in years passed. Even if he had a laser torch, it would take him three hours to cut one strand of the net. The other goon who wasn't trapped shifted his position over near Lenevos and maintained that position protecting his boss. This showed me his men were well trained, as he didn't rush over to try and free his boss. Even so I was able to take my attention away from Lenevos and concentrate on Kilgore and the other goons who were rapidly approaching. Four of them came into view from the back advancing slowly. The goon standing guard over Lenevos, shouted

  "Careful, there may be more traps"

  "Search the rafters" shouted Lenevos. That's the only place he can have a good view of the floor. Willet, Tomas come over here and help me out of this net, so I can rip that skunk rat's arms off personally"

  Skunk Rat? I had suspected that Kilgore was ex-military. The training and poise

  his men was showing confirmed it. Yet where is he? I would have thought he would have come in with Lenevos from the front or at least be in command of the back door force.

  Two goons split off and started searching for me with flashlights shining at

  the rafters. The other two henchmen moved over to try and get Lenevos out from under the net. As the two who were looking for me fanned out cautiously looking for more traps and scanned the rafters for me, I waited patiently as they moved. When they were in one of the zones I had set up, I sprung trap number two. Hitting another button on my comm ten small bulbs, which at first glance looked like small pebbles on the floor popped open quietly releasing a knock out gas on the slowly advancing goons and before they knew what happened, they were all out cold. This gas was very fast acting and dissipated very quickly. Lenevos who was also looking around saw his men fall and shouted out a warning.

  "Gas, the place is still booby trapped. Watch yourselves”

  The men trying to free Lenevos and the one guarding them immediately whipped out small portable gas masks and put them on. Unfortunately this gas worked through skin contact. The two other conscious men trapped with Lenevos under the net stopped struggling and also passed out from the gas. The men around the net all hit the floor at practical the same time. Amazingly though it didn't seem to affect Lenevos at all. He shouted repeated warnings to his other approaching men. I was impressed that he could talk at all after contact with the gas, which had knocked out his men. Another indication on just how powerful he was. That gas would keep them out for hours. I could just make out the six more men approaching carefully from the back, having come down the back stairs from the roof, but Kilgore wasn't one of them. One of them got the bright idea to shoot up at the rafters, and in no time at all the rafters and roof was being shredded like so much paper from the goons on the floor. They all had multi-barreled needle guns, which is highly illegal, nasty weapons, and highly destructive. The roof and rafters was coming apart around me and it would only be seconds before I would join them. I had on Nano shirt and jeans, but under the barrage they were laying down, my unprotected parts would become hamburger. I had not expected them to have access to needle guns as they were military only weapons and the military was very protective of their toys. Having no further choice, I pulled my 40C, sighted, and opened fire. I took out two of the advancing six goons, but the rest spotted my position and opened fire, a few needles hit me in the legs as I dove back into the crawl space I had made to withdraw. My Nano jeans deflected the needles and I had the crawl space covered in Crystal-Steel, so I was protected while I got away from there, although the racket of the needles shredding everything around me was horrendous. The goons, not seeing me, literally shredded away everything down to the Crystal-Steel. They then realized I had retreated.

  "He's gone” He had a retreat tunnel up there. Everybody fan out in two's, and be careful"

  The crawl tube lead to a pipe in the back hidden from view, which I used to descend to floor level. It was time to take the fight to them. I was however still worried about Kilgore. Where was he? How many more men did he have with him? Is it possible, Lenevos was so enraged on my little house visit that he had killed his head of security, for the lack of security. I seriously doubted it. I used the mounting brackets on the pipe to climb do
wn to the floor. Once there I pulled my 40C and went hunting. Advancing slowly, I soon came upon two of the henchmen. Actually we all bumped into each other as the two goons was moving quietly against an office wall on the other side. As I approached the corner of the office wall, a large piece of debris blasted loose from the barrage of needles fell and caused me to rapidly move out of the way. At the same time the first of the two goons rounded the corner and was within arm reach of my weapon. While I was still dodging the fallen debris, the first goon slapped my weapon away and immediately tried to shoot me. Reacting quickly I chopped his wrist causing him to drop his gun. He then threw a snap kick at my chest with his right foot. I shifted my weight and twisted to the right, letting his foot slide by my chest. As it did so, I could hear the grating of his foot along my chest. Saw-Soles. I hate those things. A man kicked with them is chewed apart where they hit. Grabbing his ankle as his foot slid past with my left hand, I grabbed a Spike Dagger from the sheath on my right thigh and drove it down into and thru his knee. The goon screamed, but tried to backhand me with his left hand. Blocking his hand, and still with my hold on his ankle, I shoved him into his partner who had just brought up his needle gun and fired as his partner hit him. Goon number one was shredded apart from the needles, and a few hit my Nano shirt as I dodged to the right. I flick my dagger directly into goon number two's left eye into his brain. Both men were down. The screaming and shooting however drew the other two who were approaching and firing as they came. Needles were hitting everywhere as I hit the floor, and hit the last button on my comm, which completely shutoff all the lights. The warehouse was plunged into darkness. Both men immediately stopped firing. They had however come prepared. Shouting to each other to don their night vision glasses, and to maintain quiet. Night vision glasses had evolved nicely to where they were only twice the size of sunglasses, and lit up your surroundings to how things looked at dusk with a reddish tint. They did however to someone with natural night vision, look like two large oval red lights. Don't get me wrong. Night vision to a degree was something a lot of people had, but true night vision, the ability to see in the dark was something humans did not have. Which was a matter that concerned me greatly as I had true natural night vision, and that made me wonder as to my own humanity. I spotted the two goons right away who had shifted apart trying to flank me. My night vision allowed me see everything as clearly as I would in daylight, but only in shades of black and gray, sometimes tinged with flashes of white. Drawing my 44C, I sighted on them and put one round each between the two ovals of their glasses. Both goons went down, knocked off their feet by my slugs. One of the advantages of the Dynotyne guns is their caseless ammo is designed to be completely flashless. So although you can hear them, there were no flashes of flame when I fired. Not knowing if there were any more goons around and who had heard my shots I slowly shifted position and then froze. Kilgore was still unaccounted for, plus any men he had with him. For a full three minutes I didn't move. Neither did Lenevos who had gone silent either because the gas had finally gotten to him or he had shut up to let his men do their work. Either Kilgore has the patience of a rock, or he is not here. In either event, I had to end this. Looking around slowly I finally spotted two more goons on the far side of the warehouse hidden and unmoving, but vigilant. They had obviously figured their buddies was down and was lying in wait for me to reveal myself. Unfortunately for them they had sequestered themselves right near my last gas trap. Pressing another button on my comm popped ten more gas pebbles right under their feet. They both passed out right where they were hidden. Waiting a few more minutes in silence I neither heard nor saw anyone else moving. Hitting the button on my comm, the lights came back on. My natural night vision also allowed me to immediately adjust to the sudden light. Where did I get this natural night vision? Most likely my father, as my mother did not have it. In fact I had been told that only a few people in the world had that ability, but no one to the degree I had it. Another mystery I had wanted answered from my mother and uncle, who both said they had no idea. I don't think they knew either. As the light came back on I slowly rose but remained still for few more minutes. Still no sign of anyone else in the warehouse. Moving slowly, I retrieved my 40C, and holstered my 44C. I then slowly approached Lenevos. All my senses were screaming, because something was not quite right. Getting within four feet of the edge of the net I stopped and looked at Lenevos.

  "Why didn't you fight me as a man would? Instead you resorted to this trap, the trap of a coward”

  "First off I was contracted to capture you, period. No games. You obviously pissed my clients off something fierce. Second, have you seen yourself in the mirror lately. You are trapped under an anchored Capture Net, gassed, and you can still rise to your knees. I am a manhunter Lenevos, not a fool”

  "Well do not think this is over yet. You still have to deliver me”

  It wasn't what he said or how he said it. He gave no outward visible sign except one. Most people, even combat trained personnel probably wouldn't have noticed. I did. When he spoke that last sentence, the intensity of his eyes peaked. From twelve feet away, with his head bowed under the weight of the net, it would not have been visible. Yet my night enhanced vision caught the momentary peak of intensity in his eyes, and all the alarm bells in my head whooped. Throwing myself violently to the right, and twisting around as I did so I saw the laser beam just miss where I was standing. I hit the ground hard but saw Kilgore re-aquiring his aim for me. How the hell had he gotten so close to me so quietly? I did not have time to draw a bead on him so I snap shot my 40C with my gun raised about half a foot above my prone position. Kilgore also shot at the same time. As I was still moving in a slide, his second shot grazed my abdomen slicing a three-inch grove. My shot knocked the gun out of his hand. Reaching for his other piece, I aimed and shot the holster under his right arm, tearing the holster and knocking the gun away from him. Looking at me in surprise, he saw I had a clean bead on him.

  "Not bad shooting from that position. Probably luck, although I don't believe in the concept. So what now? You shoot me in cold blood? No I don't think so. I read your file. I on the other hand would”

  I got up slowly as the burn his laser had given me across my abdomen was painful. He had shot at me with a military grade laser.

  "Put your hands up Kilgore, and slowly walk towards me. File or no file, you make a funny move and I will put you down”

  "I don't think so. Boss forgive me”

  He didn't move anything but his right thumb. As he did though, a loud buzzing immediately filled the room and Lenevos screamed. So did I. The gun in my hand flew away as my body contracted in horrible pain, which lasted just a few seconds. It was enough time though for Kilgore to race across the room and slam into me. We went tumbling across the floor ending up with Kilgore on top of me, holding me by the throat.

  "In case you are wondering what happened, that was a stunner charge. Military issue, specially modified to narrow the beam. I find that it comes in handy in situations such as this. You have caused both my employer and myself a great deal of trouble. You have also caused my boss to catch the edge of the stunner beam causing him more pain and discomfort. For that I am going to kill you slowly and painfully, but rest assured you will eventually die”

  Needle Guns. Military laser and now a Stunner! Damn how did he get a stunner? It is another one of the military's most prized and protected weapons. It emits a beam on a frequency that disrupts neural pathways in the brain, causing intense pain right off, but then the pain goes away because the nerves in your brain has temporarily shut down. It leaves your autonomic functions unaffected and working, but nerve impulses that control body movement are temporarily paralyzed for about fifteen to thirty minutes. With a stunner, a solder can take a fortified enemy position from thirty yards away with no danger to himself. While incapacitated, enemy combatants can be taken into custody with no fuss. Just like I have been taken. Just as I finished that thought, Kilgore slammed his right fist into my jaw, t
wice. I damn near blacked out from the blows. This man knew how to kill with his fists. I can't move, but I can still feel pain. Getting up he took my 44C and flung it across the floor. He then grabbed me by a strap of my harness and started dragging me back towards his boss.

  "Hold on boss. I will have you out of that net in a minute”

  "No, you will not be able to cut this net quickly. I recognize the material. Go to the truck and get the piezo-thermal charges. You can use them to melt the anchors in about five minutes”

  "Understood” Slamming me to the floor, Kilgore went to examine the anchors of the net. After checking the two on either side of Lenevos, he indicated to his boss the one to be melted. "This one is the best choice. I will be right back"

  "Hurry", panted Lenevos. It was a testament to his stamina that he could even talk after taken a hit from a stunner, with traces of the gas still in his system.

  "I don't know what backup plan he may have in place. Plus Mr. Hutchins here has injured my dignity. I will have a piece of him first before you dispose of him”

  Walking back over to me, Kilgore reached behind him for restraints to put on my hands and legs. As he reached down to flip me over, I kicked him in his chest as hard as I could. Kilgore flew back half a dozen feet in the air before landing on his back. As surprising as my kick was Kilgore recovered quickly and was on his feet facing me. Moving with obvious slowness I got to my feet. Kilgore again moved his right thumb, but nothing happened.