Manhunter Revelations (5 page)

"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 down 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”