Hunters: A Trilogy (39 page)

Then he had a fuzzy recollection appear, a memory.

‘George mentioned something about them, he said they were…’

The memory blinked out. Ken knew it was there but he couldn’t seem to remember exactly what the old man had said. Now, that should have blown his mind, but it didn’t – it seemed to make sense, somehow it just made sense. And that was in itself completely crazy, but it didn’t surprise him.

No, the one thing this whole escapade had done was to remove any such feelings, everything was open now, anything might happen, and just as he’d realised when he first discovered the truth about what lay beyond his own world, Ken was aware of one fact – what he thought he knew, was really only his perception of the truth. Everything was up for grabs in this game and reality depended on who you were, and in the way you looked at things.

Whilst tightening his grip on Jane’s hand, Ken looked back into Mike’s face to give an understanding, if somewhat hesitant, nod.

Seeing that Ken was ready, Mike continued. ‘That’s the bottom dollar anyway,’ he said. ‘They used us to prevent something that was happening in a possible future, but what they didn’t know was how they would become embroiled in the past, our present, so to speak!’ He laughed, saying: ‘Just slap me if I confuse you, Jane…’ Accepting her smile as confirmation, he continued with the tale. ‘They used Red and they used us, too, that’s the reality, but they used us in a positive way. They knew he would initiate the device, but they were unsure how it would react as they hadn’t done any real-time tests. So, they allowed him to carry out his little charade, safe within the knowledge that whatever it was that I possessed, the magic, would be able to stop the device.’

‘They’re just a bit hard-core, aren’t they?’ Ken said. Although he knew it, had seen the lengths they would go to, he was still amazed by how ruthless George and his friends were capable of being.

‘Yeah, for sure they are, hard- core and then some, I guess!’ Mike agreed, with a laugh. Then, rising to his feet, he asked them to accompany him into the dining room. Once there, he leaned across and touched some buttons on his strange laptop device. As they watched, a small row of tiny lights flickered across the front of its slender form. Mike leaned forward, touched the case and ordered: ‘Screen display on, please…’

Jane nearly jumped out of her skin as she saw the tall screen rise above her dining room table without a sound. It hung there, shimmering form illuminating the room. She whispered: ‘Oh my God! How on Earth does it do that?’ Reaching forward, she touched the screen, lurching with shock as her hand passed straight through it. ‘Bloody hell!’ she said, and then hurriedly sat back down, looking at her husband with amazement in her eyes.

Ken grinned, saying: ‘Yeah, it does take a bit of getting used to…’

Jane, her voice somewhat unsteady, said, ‘Now, that’s the understatement of the year!’ She made a twirling motion with her finger, pointing it at her own head to indicate the madness, which had decided to expose itself.

All three of them laughed and then waited whilst Mike tapped some instructions into the device. ‘In the parallel that you are about to witness,’ he said, ‘Red did not miss when he fired at you, Ken. He killed you and left me to battle the Light Maker. The same events occurred, but the outcome was different, altogether different. Look!’

In frozen disbelief, they turned to stare into the screen.

The rising Afghan dawn bathed the scene in an eerie, rose-coloured light; dark shadows spiked their way across the ground, whilst a small haze of dust still hung in the air in witness to the recent departure of their nemesis, Red. Ken was on his back in the dust with a pool of dark liquid spreading beneath his head. Jane shuddered and clenched his real hand as she watched the image in horrified fascination. The silence of the room clung to her and she couldn’t stop the feeling of sickness that flooded into her stomach. She wanted to jump up and dive into the screen. ‘Reach in there and drag him away, oh, Kenny!’ Jane held onto the sob as it tried to burst its way out of her soul.

The scene switched and they watched as Red roared across the shattered tarmac, his headlong rush towards the airbase saw no restraint, the huge Spear hurtled across the land at such a pace it seemed almost impossible that he wouldn’t have a mishap.

Ken murmured, ‘Go on then, crash again, you bastard!’ He gritted his teeth and looked in anger from Jane to the screen and back again.

She saw him wishing for the accident to become a reality.

Inside the cab of the vehicle, Red reached up, tapped the monitor twice and then shouted angrily at George’s image, which had appeared upon the blue screen. He screamed at the old man. ‘You stoopid old muthafuka, I gon’ and done for your boys, done them up real good too! The big wun…well, he ain’t so big now, huh?’ he snarled. ‘Nosiree, not so big at all, he’s lying there with a goddamn hole in the back of his head. He ain’t so big at all now, is he, Georgie boy?’ Red laughed feverishly as he banged the steering wheel with his huge hands.

George did no more than gaze serenely back at the irate American. After a pause, they heard his metallic voice floating into the deafening silence of the dining room, listening as it crackled over the Spear’s internal speaker.

‘What do you want, Red?’ he asked. ‘Haven’t you caused enough trouble already?’ George sounded tired but somehow guarded.

Red giggled; when he spoke his voice was thick with malice. ‘You know what I want, and you know that if I don’t geddit it then there’s gonna be a whole heap o’ trouble!’ he said, sneering confidently at the monitor.

George, with a confused expression upon his face, said, ‘But you no longer have the Light Maker, Michael has stopped it, he gave his own life to heal the Stone, he and it are no more! Your threat of using it is no longer valid, why should we accommodate you?’

Red laughed up at his windshield and snarled: ‘Well, lemme just see now, my old friend. Just like you, I ain’t been so honest, neither. You never told them good ol’ boys I had been to your world, did ya now?’ he giggled. ‘Yeah well, there ain’t any need to answer that one, now is there? What I didn’t tell you is that I know where the other Light Maker is, the one you all don’t think that anybody knows about. You know, George – the secret one?’

George just about stopped himself from gasping with surprise; his anger and confusion were clearly visible on the monitor. ‘Who has the second device?’ he asked. ‘I didn’t think it was functional, I mean, Jonathon, he…you have it, don’t you?’ He looked visibly shocked.

Red roared with laughter. ‘Yeah, that’s about the sum o’ things, old Georgie boy!’ he said, gleefully. ‘I have it right here with me, I’ve had it for a while, and ifen you all don’ bring me back up the pipe to your world, then I guess ol’ MJDoublya ain’t gonna save your ass this time, now is he?’ Once more he slapped the dashboard with glee.

Jane was surprised at the speed, with which George replied.

‘Yes, yes we can do that, Red,’ he said, hurriedly. ‘Please do not activate the second device, whatever you do, just keep it safe! We can talk once you are with us, all this can be sorted out amicably I believe…’ Whilst he spoke, the image on the screen showed him tilt his head to one side, as if listening to someone out of shot. There was a barely perceptible nod of the grey head, after which he turned back to the screen. ‘There is only one problem, Red,’ he said, ‘you must remain in the Spear and make sure that you have one of the suits on, a second crossing will be fatal should you use Shrink Down unprotected again. The device must of course be protected by the vehicle, do you understand?’ He leant forward, as if trying to peer into the jolting cab of the Spear.

Red grinned insanely. ‘That’s okay with me, partner,’ he said. ‘You all jus’ tell me where to be and I’ll get right to it, I don’t have nothin’ else on my mind right now anyway. I’ll be a good boy jus’ as long as you don’t try fukin’ with me, is all! One tiny sniff o’ anythang funny and I will blow us all to kingdom come, you hear me?’ He grinned again, a malicious twisting of the features, as he fought the steering wheel, which bucked back from the violent jarring of the giant wheels beneath him.

George calmly replied: ‘Yes, that will be fine, I believe that we have an understanding now. If you would be so kind as to make your way to SD House and wait at the entrance, we will then set the coordinates to bring you and the vehicle back to us. But, as I have said, please ensure that you are wearing the suit, you will find it in the back of your Spear…’

Red laughed once more, said that he would ‘See George there!’ and then pushed the throttle even further into the floor of the Spear. It almost appeared to be flying across the dust-ridden road as it carried him to a new-found destiny. The trees, the grass and the weeds, shrank back from its rushing bulk as the vehicle hurtled past them. Red’s maniac laughter filled the ears of the on-looking trio.

Jane felt the hairs on her arms rise as the malevolence of the man transmitted itself through the airwaves. ‘What a pure bastard that man is!’ She couldn’t help herself from whispering the words; her reaction caused Ken to grasp her tightly around the waist. His touch calmed her but she still had a jittery, butterfly feeling in her chest. Red scared her, no two ways about it. Turning back to the screen, she was just in time to see his Spear entering the perimeter of the old airbase. Kandahar airfield was new to her but even she couldn’t help marvelling at the greenery of the place. Everywhere there was new growth – even the giant perimeter fences and concrete barriers were covered with creeping vines and suchlike.

Seeming to hear her thoughts, Ken said, ‘Look at the place, imagine what it must be like now, looks like some kind of Eden or something!’

Mike’s reply was far from simple. ‘Don’t forget that this was in our past, although, it may well be from a future we haven’t been through yet,’ he said. Both his companions nodded, his words still leaving them slightly baffled. Then he said, ‘It is still pretty amazing, though, in a while it will be as though mankind had never been there!’ His short laugh was curtailed by the sight of the driver’s door on the Spear rising and permitting exit to the large American.

Red climbed out, then stood and stamped some circulation back into his baseball-boot clad feet, the size of which looked as though they belonged in some freakish clown show. Standing upright, he rotated his massive head and Jane swore she heard his vertebrae crackle. Then, as calm as you like, he unzipped his Levis to stand with hands on hips, urinating onto the ground.

‘This guy just doesn’t have a care in the world, does he?’ Ken said, angrily.

Jane felt the icy-cold anger stir within her husband as he spoke. She squeezed his left hand tightly and he held onto her until the moment had passed.

They watched as Red walked to the rear of the vehicle. Reaching inside, he pulled out the flight suit and proceeded to wriggle his large frame into the silver-coloured garment. After a short struggle, he managed to yank the zipper closed and then pulled the material tight around his thick neck. Shrugging himself into the suit, he made his way back to the driver’s door and swung his bulk back into the seat. Both the door and tailgate closed, sealing him inside the impenetrable hulk of the Spear. Reaching under the seat, Red withdrew a small pebble. He grinned to himself and placed it upon the contoured surface of the passenger seat next to him. Leaning forward, he tapped the screen twice and then said to George, who had appeared in a blue shimmer, ‘Ready when you are, George, ready when you are!’

The old man smiled, saying: ‘Good, let us begin then, shall we?’ Leaning to one side he made a small movement with his right hand, whatever he touched caused a green light to course throughout the Spear; it looked almost as though it had been passed under a giant, supermarket checkout scanner. The light passed straight through the vehicle and also straight through Red.

Jumping in surprise, he shouted out: ‘What in the fuk was that? That ain’t ever happened before!’ He tried to turn, but the python-like seatbelts did their thing and he was clamped tightly into the bucket seat. Simultaneously, his flight suit began to glow a brilliant green, showering the inside of the vehicle with its iridescent rays. Red screamed and raised his hands to cover his eyes. ‘Goddamn you, you lying muthafuka! What in the hell are you doing? I told you not to mess with me!’ He reached over and grabbed for the stone, pulling it towards himself. The huge man fumbled, desperately trying to find the hidden switch that had initiated the previous Light Maker.

To his furious disbelief, the object did nothing. Sitting in sullen blankness and doing nothing more than a stone would do, for in truth that is all it was, and all it ever had been. Reality dawned upon Red – he howled with fury, hurling the stone at the windshield. It bounced off the glass and landed in his lap, to lie there cold and stonily bereft of any magic or hidden power.

Red stared at the inert object and then started a violent struggle to get out of the seatbelts, it was to be of no use, even his immense strength was of no avail and the belts simply tightened their grip, sucking him further into the seat’s unfeeling caress. Eventually he gave up, hardly being able breathe through their iron embrace. His breath rattled as he struggled to recoup the oxygen the tantrum had devoured.

George looked down at him from the screen. ‘Have you quite finished now, young man?’ he asked, calmly. The old man’s rendition of a patronising Headmaster was so real that it made all three of the onlookers laugh loudly.

‘He’s a rum bugger is our George, isn’t he?’ Jane said. Unable to contain herself, she laughed once more. ‘Look at Red’s face now that he realises what’s going on, George has him just where he wants him!’ she whispered, obviously in awe of the old man’s sleight of hand.

George continued in a similar vein. ‘Now…you listen to me, Dwayne Tolder,’ he said. ‘And make sure you that you listen really carefully as these are the last words you will ever hear…I speak to you on behalf of the entire population of this tiny Universe, the one you would so casually dispense with. I speak to you on behalf of all the over-watching worlds and on behalf of the ancient ones, whose skill and dedication made this possible!’ He paused, breathed deeply, and then continued. ‘I also speak to you on behalf of Mister Wilson and the others you have left in your wake. But, most of all, I speak to you on behalf of my friend, Jonathon!’ The old man’s voice quivered with anger as he spoke of his dear, dead friend.