The Hunter

by Kurt Robinson

  “Gotcha you motherfucker!” Levinson yelled, pumped his shotgun, and brought it up.

  John jolted a few more feet down the hallway and then jumped to the right, where the stairs were, just as Levinson sent a buckshot his way. John got behind the wall just in time as the small pieces of lead tore apart the corner of the drywall, sending dust into the air.

  “Fuck!” Levinson yelled and turned to yell out the door, “He’s in here!”

  John got up and ran up the stairs, pulling out his Para Ordance 1911 .45 ACP and fired three rounds through the sheet rock and down into the hallway where he knew Levinson was. The bullets narrowly missed Levinson who ducked quickly, then stood back up and fired back through the wall. A large hole appeared and dust filled the hallway. Levinson then took off down the hallway and made the turn at the stairs. Once he saw there were stairs, he looked up to find his target, but John was already up the stairs and out of view.

  Levinson ran up the stairs as fast as he could, his broken ribs feeling the pain, until he got to the top. He slowed down and saw that they led to a hallway on the left. He held up his shotgun and went down the hallway, clearing both ways; there was no sign of John now. He saw that there were four rooms on the second floor and two of the doors were closed. He decided to go to his right first. He made his way to the door that was open first. He moved over to it, the door across from that door was closed. Once there, he moved in front of the open door, saw it was a bathroom, and swept the room from right to left. It was clear. He turned his attention to the door on the other side of the hall.

  Just as he reached for the knob, he heard Adam, Cavanah, Travers, and Lewis inside downstairs as Adam yelled out for him. Levinson knew he had to be quiet, so he wouldn’t give away his position to John, who Levinson knew was up there somewhere. He ignored Adam and turned the door knob and pushed the door open. He swept that room too, which looked like a spare bedroom, and then stepped inside. He looked around the small room quickly, which had a small closet and not much furniture, but it was full of junk. John wasn’t in there. Levinson left the room and went to the opposite end of the hallway.

  He heard Adam and the others downstairs looking around, they would find the stairs in a second and make their way upstairs. Levinson got to the first door on the right, which was opened. He swept that room as well from the outside, this room had toys in various locations in the room and then Levinson saw something that caught his eye. It was what appeared to be a flip phone laying open on the floor. He slowly stepped inside, noticing a dresser sat to the right as he walked in. He kept his eyes sharp and his head on a swivel. Just as Levinson passed the dresser, his attention still on the cell phone, John struck his hands and shotgun with a small kid’s chair. John was hiding in the dark on the other side of the dresser.

  Levinson grunted, and the shotgun fired into the floor, destroying the flip phone. John brought the chair back up violently and caught Levinson on the chin. Levinson fell back toward the door, but John threw down the chair, grabbed Levinson by the shoulders, and slung him into the room. John then slammed the door shut and tipped the dresser over in front of the door.

  Levinson jumped up and tackled John on top of the dresser, which caused John to hit his head on the door. That did faze him, but he was able to catch himself just enough so he didn’t hit it at full force. Levinson then stood up and connected a punch to the right side of John’s face, causing the skin to split open just below his right eye. John was able to recover quick enough to block the next punch heading his way and then brought his left fist down on the knife wound he caused earlier on Levinson’s right shoulder. Levinson let out a painful scream and John was able bring his legs up and pushed Levinson back, where he tripped over a toy on the ground and fell on his back. The sharp pain in his ribs was felt again.

  John regained himself and saw Levinson reach for his ribs, clearly in pain. He ran over to him and landed a kick to his ribs, causing Levinson to yell out loudly once again. Just as John was about to lay a punch on Levinson when he heard the door behind him shake and rattle, followed by the voice of his best friend.

  “Levinson!? You in there!?” Adam yelled.

  “He’s in here! Get the-“ but Levinson’s voice was silenced as John laid that punch to his face, which resulted in blood flowing from his mouth.

  “John, you motherfucker!” Adam yelled as he tried to push the door open, but the heavy dresser prevented it from moving.

  “I’m the motherfucker!?” John yelled toward the door as Levinson was dazed. “Says the man who is supposed to protect and serve!”

  “Fuck you!” Adam yelled and kicked on the door.

  As John was turned toward the door, Levinson had pulled out his Glock 22 Gen4 .40 caliber pistol from its holster. Luckily, John heard the pistol come out of the holster and turned around in time to grab the pistol in the strong grip of Levinson’s hand. John fell to his knees as they wrestled over the pistol. They each had two hands on it now. John was able to push it away from his head, but realized Levinson’s training was going to get the best of him. John stuck his finger on top of Levinson’s, whose finger was through the trigger guard, and pressed down on it and the gun fired into the ceiling. He did it again, and then again, and then again, and didn’t stop until he fired all the rounds left in the magazine.

  Once Levinson realized the gun was empty by the clicking and slide locking back, he loosened his grip on the pistol, which caused John to lose his grip. He reached for John’s neck with his hands. He grabbed John’s neck and began to squeeze with outstretched arms; all the while Adam had begun to use his shoulder to slam against the door on the other side, trying to force it open. Levinson had slightly longer arms than John did, so John couldn’t reach his neck or face. But there was something John could reach, Levinson’s ribs. He reared back his right knee and brought it forward with great force, connecting it to Levinson’s ribs. Not only did John hear the loud crack - he was sure Adam and the rest of the men outside the door did too.

  That hit completely incapacitated Levinson, as he grabbed his ribs and rolled on his side. John looked at him for a second and saw he was coughing up blood; a broken rib had punctured a lung. The banging on the door stopped and John knew what was going to happen next. As quickly as he could, he grabbed Levinson by his jacket, hoisted him up, as Levinson gave out a groan, spun him around, and set him up on the side of the tipped over dresser. John then made his way to the already broken and weak window. Just as he got to the window, Cavanah fired three shells from his shotgun through the door, destroying it and hitting Levinson twice in the back. The shots created two giant exit wounds out his chest as blood and shattered bodily organs sprayed the floor and a section of the wall. Levinson then fell off the dresser, dead before he hit the floor.

  As the shots rang out, John broke what was left of the window and stepped out onto the snow-covered roof and, very carefully, made his way to the left. As he scooted along the roof, Adam and Cavanah broke the top of the bedroom door in half with the butt end of their rifle and shotgun. John looked down from the roof and saw the back porch, which was just a concrete pad with a covered grill and patio furniture. He also saw what looked like a three or four-foot tall snowdrift just below him.

  Adam was the first to step on the dresser and into the room, where he saw Levinson lying in a puddle of blood. He saw the broken window and realized that John had gone outside. “He’s outside, out back! Go now!” He commanded and ran over to the window. He stuck his head outside, saw the footprints leading to the left and that they ended at the edge of the roof. His eyes widened when he realized John jumped and then looked forward and saw John appear out from under the roof in front of him, with snow all over his back.

  “JOHN!” Adam scream out, probably the loudest he had ever yelled in his life.

  Continuing to run through the snow, John looked back and saw Adam in the window. He also saw that Adam was about to aim his M4 Carbine at him, but he had had enough and without thinking, pulled out his
1911 .45 caliber pistol and fired several shots toward the window. Adam fell back into the room as bullets hit the side of the house and the wall inside the room, Adam had gotten on the ground for cover. John was then able to make it into the trees. At about that time, Cavanah, Travers, and Lewis had made it to the back door and spotted John just as he went into the woods.

  “He’s back in the trees, Adam!” Cavanah yelled through the house.

  “I know! Fuckin’ follow him! I’ll be right behind you!” Adam roared back. His men followed his orders and went out the back door.

  Adam looked down at Levinson and sighed. His plan to cover everything up was going south now. He searched through Levinson’s pockets until he found his phone. Adam pulled it out and put it in one of his pockets, closed Levinson’s eyes with his hands, and then jumped over the dresser and into the hallway. He made his way back down the stairs and into the hall. There was a master bedroom at the end of that hall. He went into the room and pulled out his lighter. Knowing nobody would make it out here for a long time, he lit the curtains on fire and then the mattress. Next, he went into the bathroom in the hall and lit the shower curtain on fire, then the curtains in another bedroom in the hallway. Then he made his way downstairs and into the living room, stepping over the body of the old man, where he set the curtains, which covered the large sliding door that led to the patio, aflame.

  Adam saw the footprints of his men in the snow leading to the trees. He stepped over the threshold and followed them.

  Sixteen

  Saturday - 10:07 A.M.

  As if he had done it before, John Watkins ran as fast as he could through the woods, dodging random obstacles in his way. He knew that they weren’t far behind him; he could hear them. He had taken out one, but he still had four after him. The last thing he could do was stop. He had to keep moving. As he ran, he couldn’t help but think of Ida and Henry and how their deaths were his fault. He felt so bad and blamed himself, but he couldn’t let that cloud his judgement right now. He needed to concentrate. He needed to take care of his current situation, so he could get back home to his wife and unborn child.

  Adam Hart ran for a little while, but could now see his men in front of him - probably about forty yards ahead - so he slowed down to a fast walk. Glaring ahead of him, he stopped, pulled his glove off his right hand with his teeth, and pulled out his cell phone. He scrolled to the contact of someone he knew who worked for the Lexington Police Department. The phone rang and on the second ring, a woman answered the phone.

  “Hello? Adam?” The female voice said.

  “Emily, we’ve got a problem. This one didn’t go as planned. I need the chopper up here ASAP. Can you get it here?”

  “Yeah, what’s going on?” Emily asked.

  “I’ll tell you when you pick me up. Can you bring Harper and Gayhart with you? We need a couple more men.”

  “I don’t like the sound of this. What’s happened?”

  “Just come and get me!” Adam said, frustrated. “I’ll explain when you get here. Can you get Harper and Gayhart?”

  “Okay, yes, I can get them. Where are you?”

  “Somewhere around Corinth. I don’t fuckin’ know.”

  “Okay, that should take about forty-five minutes once I get Harper and Gayhart.”

  “Alright, I’ll text you the exact coordinates, but we are on the move, so I’ll update you. You’ll see smoke too.”

  “Smoke?”

  “Yes, smoke. And Emily… bring some weapons. I have a feeling we’re going to need them.”

  “Jesus. Alright, be there as fast as I can.”

  “Okay,” Adam said and hung up his phone. He then took a screenshot of the coordinates and sent it to Emily.

  Emily had been on the Lexington Police force for as long as Adam had been with the Frankfort Police, and had met through his mentor in the dirty business. They hit it off, met for lunch at least once a week, and had them a little fuck session in his car after they ate. He liked her so much that at times he thought of leaving Sarah for her, but decided against it. He eventually decided he loved both of them and wanted to fuck both of them, so he did. She was the police helicopter pilot for the Lexington Police and this was the perfect time to use that skill of hers.

  Adam continued to follow his men.

  Beginning to tire, John ran as fast as he could, lifting his legs high to move faster through the snow. He could still see the men behind him. He could see the tree line in front of him, right before a field, but not before what looked like a ditch. He had to slow down because he did not want to slip and fall in the ditch with the ice and snow. He neared the ditch and stepped down into it, but as he predicted, he stepped on ice under the snow and slid down into the ditch. But, it was not a ditch, but a sinkhole with a hidden entrance to a cave.

  John fell a lot further than he anticipated. He slid down the side of the sinkhole and was surprised when the bottom of it, hidden by snow, gave way and he fell down into a cave. He landed hard on his back, on top of his backpack and rifle, on the cave floor, which was about twelve feet below the hole that he just busted through. When he hit the ground, he gave out a groan of pain and looked up at the light through the hole, lighting up that section of the cave. His head hurt too and he reached for the back of it, fearing he was bleeding and had a mild concussion. He felt something wet and brought his hand back around, seeing blood on his fingers. He lie there, trying to gather himself, and then heard voices from above him.

  John knew he had to sit up because they were close, but he was a little dizzy; he had to blink his eyes a few times to see clearly. Once he felt good enough, he began to stand up slowly - he heard Adam and his men coming down the sinkhole, so he had to hurry no matter what. As he came to his feet, he became dizzy once again. But he closed his eyes, put his hand on the cave wall, and gathered himself. His eyes opened and took a deep breath, just in time to see snow fall down the hole and Lewis’ head come into view.

  “There he is!” Lewis yelled and then brought his M4 Carbine up. He opened fire in the cave as John took off running out of view. Bullets sparked against the rock, causing some rock to break off.

  Cavanah and Travers slid down next to Lewis and looked down into the cave. “Shit,” Cavanah said looking into the dark hole. He sighed.

  “This just keeps getting better and better,” Travers commented.

  Right at that moment, Adam appeared at the top of the sinkhole. “Where’d he go!?” He yelled down at his men.

  “He fell down into some cave right here!” Lewis answered.

  Adam rolled his eyes and made his way down the sinkhole until he reached them and the opening to the cave. As he neared them he asked, “Do you see him?”

  “No, he got up and took off that way,” Lewis said, pointing to the left.

  “Well jump down and go after him. I called in a chopper, should be here in about an hour. If he’s in there it won’t do much good, or if you finally kill him. Either way, get down there and get him. There might be another way out of the cave too. So go, but keep in contact. If your phone won’t work, then use the radio,” Adam explained.

  “That’s probably a fifteen-foot drop,” Lewis said.

  “And? John made it.”

  “He didn’t know he was gonna be falling in a cave!”

  Adam moved over to the cave opening and pulled out the flashlight he kept on his belt, shining it down into the cave. “That’s not fifteen feet,” Adam told him and then looked at Lewis who gave Adam a look of concern. “Jesus, fine, we’ll lower y’all down some of the way.”

  “We?” Lewis asked.

  “Yeah, you and Cavanah are both going down, Travers is staying up here with me. Let’s go,” Adam said and then Lewis and Cavanah moved toward the hole. One at a time, starting with Lewis, Adam gripped his hand. With Travers hanging onto Adam’s belt, Adam got on his stomach and extended his arms all the way out down into the cave with Lewis hanging on for dear life. Lewis looked down hesitantly, and Adam said, struggli
ng, “Drop, let go!” Lewis released his hands and fell the rest of the way, about six feet, and landed on his feet. As soon as he landed, he raised his M4, which had a mounted flashlight on it and turned it on to scan the cave. There was no sign of John. Adam and Cavanah repeated the same process, which was more painful for Cavanah because of his wounds, but he landed on his feet as well. He brought up the mounted flashlight on his tactical shotgun and turned it on.

  “See anything?” Adam asked them.

  “Fuck no,” Lewis said as his voice echoed.

  “You saw where he went, go that way. There’s bound to be another opening somewhere, all caves have multiple ones. Turn on your radios to channel three. I’ll check in every ten minutes. We’ll look around up here for another entrance.”

  “Alright,” Cavanah said and they both took out their small walkie-talkies, turned them on, turned to channel three, and walked into the darkness.

  Back up top Adam stood up and pulled his walkie-talkie out of the inside pocket of his coat, turning it to channel three. Travers did the same. Adam then tested it by pressing the button and said, “Lewis, you read me?”

  “I read you,” Lewis’ voice came through.

  “Cavanah?” Adam asked again.

  “I copy,” Cavanah’s voice also came through.

  “Good,” Adam began talking into the walkie-talkie, “ten minutes from now, I’ll check in. Copy?”