Manhunter Revelations (6 page)

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, twice. 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.

"The control pack for your stunner had to
have been located on your chest for it to have worked on me with a
narrow beam. I think my kick has damaged it beyond use”

Ripping his jacket open Kilgore looked and
saw that the control pack was indeed badly dented.

"It's impossible for you to have recovered
from a stunner that fast. And there is no known protection against
a stunner”

"None that you know” The look on his and
Lenevos face as I said that was priceless. Neither could figure how
I had partially protected myself from the stunner. It was the only
explanation for my fast recovery. In point of fact they were both
wrong. Another item of contention on my existence was my ability to
recover from injury or stress fast. No I didn't have some mutant
healing ability or anything of that nature. What I did have was the
physical strength and stamina equal to possibly two to three
world-class athletes. In fact my reaction time, reflexes, all my
physical attributes were two to three times human normal. Again I
figured this was another inherited byproduct from my father. So the
stunner charge, which should have had me incapacitated for at least
twenty minutes or more had mostly wore off me in this short amount
of time. I however was not fully recovered, hence my shaky rising
from the floor. A shakiness Lenevos noticed.

"Take him. He is not fully recovered"

With that Kilgore moved in swiftly. Enhanced
abilities not withstanding, Kilgore still had the skills and
physical strength to kill me. Easily. As he closed in, he throw a
right jab at me with blinding speed, followed by a left power
punch. Still partially recovered, I avoided the jab, but caught the
right punch on my right shoulder. The power of his punch was
extraordinarily. My right arm went practically useless. He
immediately followed up with a series of lefts and rights I
partially blocked, followed by a snap kick to my mid section that
sent me to the floor. I felt like I had been punched and kicked by
a twelve-foot gorilla, so intense was Kilgore's power. If I didn't
do something life saving soon, I was dead. Moving out of sheer
desperation, I kicked him on his right leg, not doing much damage,
but slowing him enough for me to scramble to my feet. Kilgore moved
in fast backing me up to one of the floor columns. Kilgore again
threw one of his punches, which I let slide by me knowing he would
hit the column, possibly injuring his hand. Instead Kilgore knocked
a good size piece of the concrete column loose and it flew a few
feet away. The astonishment must have shown on my face, because he
laughed as he threw another punch, which I also managed to avoid,
moving swiftly now as I was gaining back my stamina. Kilgore second
punch as it missed me also knocked another piece of concrete loose
from the column. Reacting now in combat mode, I moved in close to
Kilgore, and with devastating speed hit him with two blows to the
face with my left forearm, followed up with a snap kick to his left
knee. Stepping back quickly, I ducked an ineffective blow to my
head and as his punch slid over my right shoulder, I came up, and
slammed my right elbow into the back of his head. Kilgore went down
to the floor, but swept around quickly enough to block my follow-up
kick to his back. Getting up we both then warily circled each other
looking for an opening.

"You are fast Conrad. Very fast and strong,
but you can't win. I have the strength of many men flowing through
my veins thanks to Mr. Lenevos blood. I will eventually wear you
down and break you”

Saying that he again attacked. Even though we
both had expended a lot of energy, the few second rest let me
realize three things. First Kilgore and his boss had performed some
type of bio experiment using Lenevos' blood, where Kilgore's
physical strength was now greatly enhanced. Second, my right arm
was again somewhat usable and my enhanced speed was mostly back to
its full peak. Third, I had to stop this fight now, as I had no
doubt Lenevos or Kilgore might have reinforcements coming. So much
for my vaulted plan to capture Lenevos and end this quickly. As
Kilgore moved in, I charged him, moving with all my speed, which
completely startled Kilgore. One second I was at least eight feet
away, the next I was right in front of him, and he wasn't ready for
my attack. Striking with all my power I hit him right under the
chin with my left, twice, snapping his head back viciously. As his
head snapped back the second time, my third punch with my right
caught him in his windpipe. I didn't want to kill Kilgore, but I
had to stop this fight now. Fortunately for him my blow wasn't that
powerful as it only choked him. Moving in again I then threw
multiple blows to his mid section and rib area, as his chest still
had the damaged stunner control pack on it. Stunned, Kilgore moved
back. Before he could get his bearings I delivered two blows to his
right temple, which to my surprise took him to his knees. As I
moved in Kilgore surprised me and swept my legs from under me. As I
went down, Kilgore kicked me in the side so powerfully, I knew
something had broken. The kick sent me half a dozen feet across the
floor. As Kilgore rose to resume his attack, I felt what could only
be described as an industrial strength vise grab my left ankle.
Looking down I saw that Kilgore's kick had driven me within Lenevos
reach. He now had my left ankle in his grip, and the pain was truly
unbearable, and he was pulling me towards him. Knowing Kilgore
would soon be on me I reached into a side sheath, and withdrew
another Spike Dagger. Twisting around in pain as I'm being dragged,
I slammed the Spike Dagger into Lenevos wrist three times. He
screams as he releases my ankle, but I knew from the pain that I
would not be able to stand on it. Rolling away, I twisted to find
Kilgore was almost upon me. Knowing I now had no choice, I threw
the Spike Dagger with all my strength and skill at him. So fast had
I thrown it that Kilgore was not aware of it even after it hit him
right below his right eye next to his nose and drove up into his
brain. He stumbled a few more steps, before his eyes glazed over
and he fell face first into the floor. Gasping with the intense
pain of my ankle and side, my senses was still heightened enough to
tell me that there was danger behind me. Looking back quickly, I
was startled to see that Lenevos was so enraged that he had
literally lurched forward the few feet between us dragging the net
with him partially pulling one of the anchors out of the floor, and
was already in the process of delivering a killing blow to my back.
As I was still on the floor and knowing I couldn't fully avoid the
blow, I threw myself away from him, hopefully in the direction his
blow would send me. Even moving as fast as I did his punch hit me
in the back with the force of a pile driver. I flew over the floor
and slammed into the same floor column that Kilgore had removed
pieces from with his fists.

Damn it, these people are killing me. I was
finished. My body was in so much pain then, I could barely move. I
could hear Lenevos screaming like a deranged maniac. Slowing
turning my head towards him I could see he was struggling to reach
me and had actually pulled two anchors halfway out of the floor,
with the cables of the net cutting nastily into his flesh through
his clothes, and he was now bleeding from multiple cuts. Lenevos
was practically foaming at the mouth trying to reach me and
displaying an amazing amount of strength that no human should have.
Groggy with pain, I realized that stabbing Lenevos in his wrist
with the Spike Dagger probably pissed him off, but not to the
degree of insanity he was now showing. Nothing in his profile
indicated this level of outrage in him. He was always noted to be
cold and methodical in his killings, both personal and business.
Yet here he was trying to reach me tearing his body apart doing so,
not even aware he had practically dislodged two of the net anchors.
One of his henchmen that had gotten trapped partially under the net
I could tell from his posture was dead, probably from Lenevos
dragging the net causing it to crush and cut deeply into his neck.
Then I noticed that Lenevos eyes would shift back to Kilgore's body
in his attempts to reach me. Even though I felt near death myself,
I knew I had to stop Lenevos. My contract called for me to deliver
him alive, not dead. The cables of the net was already a inch or so
into his flesh. He would tear himself up and bleed to death if he
wasn't stopped. Slowly and very painfully I rose to my knees.
Reaching behind me into another secure pocket I withdrew three hypo
darts. These darts were filled with a chemical specially formulated
to subdue Lenevos before my client picked him up. One of the darts
was damaged from the recent battles. The other two were okay.
Composing myself as best I could I sighted on Lenevos, and when he
raised up to move again screaming like an animal, I threw the first
dart directly into his throat. He kept on screaming and trying to
move as if he didn't feel the dart. Waiting a few seconds and
seeing the tranq dart not working, I threw the second dart into his
throat. This one he noticed and reached up to rip it out, but the
tranq had already been released into his bloodstream. Still
screaming and struggling, he kept struggling towards me. I began to
get concerned. Lenevos now had enough tranq in him to put out two
elephants. I began to fear I would need the third dart to put him
out, which was damaged and unusable. Then his struggles began to
get weaker and weaker. Right when it look as if he would pass out,
he stopped struggling, looked at me and with the coldest voice I
have ever heard told me,

"You have killed my son. I will find you, and
when I do I will kill you with my bare hands"'

If ever there was a voice from hell, that was
it. I could not imagine the Devil making that statement in a more
chilling and frightening manner. With that Lenevos passed out on
the floor, his blood flowing slowing away from him. Not knowing my
tactical situation, I forced myself to my feet, cussing to myself
as the pain in my ankle seemed to intensify. Hopping a little at a
time I made my way to the back of the warehouse where Kilgore had
thrown my 44C and after a few moments found and recovered it.
Working my way back around the warehouse now armed I searched as
best I could to see if there were any more of Kilgore henchmen.
Either I had took them all out, or Kilgore had entered alone from
the roof, wanting to finish me off himself. I was inclined to
believe the latter. Working my way back to Lenevos, I found my 40C.
In preparation for the battle, I had secured multiple emergency
packs around the warehouse in case I was injured or lost my
weapons. Back near the pipe I had climbed down I reached the
emergency pack I had secured there. Inside I had emergency first
aid meds, which I immediately took to lessen the pain. This was an
old medical recipe from my uncle, a combat vet, which lessened the
pain of your injuries, but was not narcotic so your senses wasn't
deadened in anyway leaving you still combat ready. Checking my
ankle I found that it was severely swollen, but wasn't broken. It
could however be fractured. I took a Splint pack from my pack and
secured it around my ankle and lower leg to secure it and then
activated it. Waiting a few minutes for the splint to harden, I
then did a complete check of the warehouse. It took me about ten
minutes to completely check out the rest of the warehouse and
outside area, using the sensors I had in place. Doing a visual
check of Lenevos I could see that he was out cold, but still
bleeding from his cuts. Moving as fast as I could I went to a side
corner of the warehouse where I had stowed the control unit for the
Capture Net. It was a mobile unit with its own power source. Not
taking any chances, I let the net unwind a couple of feet off
Lenevos, to minimize the damage done to his body, but close enough
if I needed, to rewind it again if necessary.