Hunters: A Trilogy (48 page)

The second device was far simpler to use and was for ‘close quarters’ only. Picking up one of the square boxes, he showed them how to activate it. George pushed the recessed switch forward and then stepped over to the screen. Leaning forward, he touched the screen with the two barbs and squeezed the box with his hand. With a malicious crackle the machine discharged a jolt of power into the screen. The surface went black and then flashed a deep red before returning to a more normal colour. The graph showed a line of orange lights below.

‘This is very similar to the other device but it delivers a much more intense jolt of power,’ he said. ‘The victim will be rendered unconscious instantly and it should only be used in cases of dire emergency!’ George handed the prong-toothed machine to Ken and talked him through the operation of its buttons once more.

Ken looked at it and said, ‘It’s like one of our stun-guns; you just stick it on the target and zap ‘em – end of story!’ He turned towards the screen and operated the machine. Once more the screen changed colour and the little graph did its familiar dance.

After about another five minutes of practice, and when he was satisfied with their aptitude for the weapons, George placed the electronic devices back on the table and chose one of the oblong aerosol cans to explain next. ‘This one is far more interesting, unfortunately I cannot demonstrate the effect on a model for you. It is what can only be described as liquid energy, fluid lightning, perhaps,’ he said. Rotating the lid, he exposed a small square nozzle with a silver lever behind it. He shook the can for a while, then turned away and gave it a little squirt.

A fine mist, just like any other aerosol, was propelled from the nozzle. The big difference was that this mist, as it floated gently downwards, gained a silvery-green appearance to its particles. As they hit the dusty floor, each particle immediately illuminated with an electrical crackle, a fine carpet of microscopic flashes flared viciously when each drop made contact with the ground.

‘What the hell is that?’ Ken exclaimed. ‘Did you see that? It’s electricity in a can, that’s just totally amazing!’ He was barely able to believe his eyes.

Jane couldn’t have agreed more. ‘That is unreal, guys, simply unreal!’ she said, blowing out a long, slow breath from her bottom lip. ‘Can you do it again please, George?’ she asked.

He nodded, and after giving the can a quick shake, obliged Jane’s request by squeezing the lever once more. The trio watched in fascination as the tiny wave of speckled electricity peppered the concrete floor again. After igniting, the drops simply disappeared into thin air, leaving only a strong odour in evidence of their passing touch.

‘Now,
that
is weird, it looks quite horrible!’ Jane said, leaning back in the red couch as a wave of weariness washed over her. The enormity of the situation was draining her emotions and her ear was buzzing as though there was a little bout of tinnitus on the way. She rested and listened as George talked.

‘It is more than just that, my friends, much more.’ Looking at the device in his hands, George twisted the cap and sealed the can of liquid fire. ‘It is to be used as an inhaler and must be squirted into the face of the target.’ Before the terrible nature of that description hit them, he quickly continued, saying: ‘The particles also contain a very powerful substance, one that will force the victim to recognise what they have done. It will fill them with remorse and remove any thoughts of selfishness.’ He bent down to place the can back on the table.

The three onlookers stared at the innocent items and then sat in silence for a while. Jane leaned back in the couch and rested her head. She began to drift away, the light from the table lamp filtering dimly through her eyelids. She heard George saying something, his voice seemed to be coming from very far away but she didn’t have the energy to open her leaden eyelids to see where he had gone. His words reached out to her from a tunnel, one which that seemed to have appeared in her head. A deep redness, like the colour of the case, filled her mind. It bought calmness with it and Jane happily went down into the restful caress it offered. She just wanted to sleep. ‘A lovely, deep sleep without any bloody strange dreams, thank you…’ Her wish was granted – in seconds she was wrapped within the arms of a dreamless slumber.

The three men looked at the place that she had occupied so recently, Ken saw the leather on the couch reassert itself now the pressure of his wife’s body had been removed from its surface. ‘She’s going be okay, isn’t she, George?’ he asked, worriedly. ‘I mean, this is hard enough for us to comprehend, and we’ve been here before.’ The familiar seed of doubt had begun to form within his mind once more.

George reached across and laid his bony hand on Ken’s shoulder. ‘I believe so, my boy. She is a very tough lady, one who has had this thrust upon her rather quickly, wouldn’t you say?’ He looked into Ken’s eyes. ‘The simple fact that all she did was fall asleep is in itself a very positive sign,’ he said. ‘All she has witnessed here tonight will be digested by her resting mind, and when she awakens, the answers, the understanding, will be in her head, trust me – at this precise moment she is safely at home in your warm bed.’ He patted Ken’s shoulder and then turned to Mike, saying: ‘How are you holding up, Michael? I sometimes tend to forget a lot of this is new to you as well.’ George winked at him.

Mike stood and thought for a while before answering. ‘Yeah, I guess that I am, George,’ he said. ‘I hadn’t realised the practical side of what we are doing, I suppose, but seeing the weapons like this makes everything very real.’ He looked at Ken, asking: ‘What about you Kenny, are you getting all of this?’

Ken nodded, saying: ‘Yeah, pretty much the same as you, Mike. I’m definitely up for this, but the thought of knocking people off turns my gut a bit. Shooting someone who has just been spraying hot lead in your direction is one thing, but…’ He nodded towards the table where George’s ‘toys’ lay. ‘Those things are something else entirely!’ Then he smiled and quipped something about: ‘Getting too old for this bloody lark!’

George said, ‘Right then, gentlemen, let us finish here, for it is getting late.’ Reaching over to the table he lifted one of the miniature vehicles. ‘Do you need me to go over the operation of this?’ he asked.

Mike said he didn’t think it was necessary and turned to Ken for his confirmation. ‘No, just as long as they’re similar to the last ones then we should be okay.’ Ken said. In truth, he’d begun to reach his limit and guessed that one type of Spear was probably as good as the next.

George gave them a quick insight into their new toys. ‘They are very similar in many ways, but are also much more advanced; you may travel whilst in Shrink Down mode in these vehicles. There is a comprehensive navigation system that can put you within inches of your destination. Simply use the buttons and you will be where you need to be, in seconds!’ He slid open a hidden compartment in the lid of the case and removed two more zappers. They looked like the original keys that would have come with the BMWs, should they have been designed on Earth. The only difference lay in the markings on the side of the key fobs. Two arrows, one big and one small, were neatly recessed within the top of each case.

‘Everything else is the same as it was on the vehicles you have used before, but as I have just said – they are in a far more advanced state of design,’ George commented, as he laid the key fobs on the table next to the vehicles. Picking up the packet of blue tablets, he said, ‘Make absolutely sure you consume one of these before you attempt any form of movement in Shrink Down mode. One every time, if you please! If not, well, then you may become quite ill. Oh, and wear the suits, too, of course. We did not have the time or the place to experiment with all of this, I am afraid, so I wouldn’t be getting too adventurous if I were you!’ He turned away and slipped the pills back into their plastic box.

Ken tried to figure out that last comment about the vehicles. The Spears he and Mike used previously had been out of this world. ‘Now he says they’re more advanced and we can use them here on Earth, just pop a ‘bluey’ and off we go.’ It was just another buzz-bomb that went whizzing, unattended, around his mind. Anytime now he was going to have to shoot some of them down. Shoot them down before they crash-landed somewhere in his grey matter and caused some even more serious damage. Ken was actually starting to wonder if he had any of his own brain cells left.

George was talking again. ‘Anyway, please ensure that you have a little play with them first, just to make sure that you get used to the controls,’ he said.

They agreed, and then watched as he touched the white target screen. With a soft crackling noise, it snapped back into a roll. George slid it back into the case, then picked up the items from the table and returned them to their rightful places within the red interior.

Pointing at a previously un-noticed pouch on the inside of the lid, he said, ‘I have placed a comprehensive instruction manual in there for you. It covers all the things that lie within this case and includes some handy hints, too.’ He paused, before saying: ‘I have also placed the information on one of your media discs, and as camouflage I have copied some of your music data on top of it. I must say, I really do enjoy some of those tunes, yes, I quite enjoy them indeed!’

With a grin, the old man unexpectedly broke into the words from one of Ken’s favourite songs.
‘She’s got a smile that it seems to me, reminds me of childhood memories, where everything…’
George trotted out the remaining lyrics, ably accompanied by an invisible air-guitar.

For one second, Ken would have sworn that the lead singer of Guns and Roses stood before them, baggy brown trousers swinging to the sudden rhythm of his gyrating hips. His imitation of the classic rock song was quite remarkable and both Ken and Mike stared at each other in surprise.

George stopped signing and looked at them. ‘That particular song is one of my favourites. I have all of their music…’ he said, with an insane laugh.

Ken felt the hairs rise on his neck and just managed to suppress a small, insane laugh of his own. ‘Shit… George! Are you for real, or what?’ he said, loudly. The old man had stunned him.

George looked at them innocently. ‘You would be surprised by what we can see and hear from up there,’ he said, nodding his grey head upwards in a gentle reference to the heavens above.

Mike whispered: ‘Yeah, I just bet we would!’ He glanced at Ken out of the corner of his eye, the expression on his face saying all that was needed.

The old man continued as though nothing had happened. ‘Anyway, should the disc fall into the wrong hands then it will only ever appear as the aforementioned music,’ he said. ‘You must use Michael’s Communicator to read it properly. Without that machine the information will remain hidden.’

George’s casual reference to the weird laptop back at the lodge reminded them all of where they were and what they were doing.

In a world of madness, Ken felt his mind sliding again.

‘Right,’ George said, ‘I think we are just about done for the time being, my friends. A lot to deal with, I know, but I trust you will sleep on it and then see how you feel in the morning.’

Turning towards the door, he peered at the light outside, it looked as though some sort of dawn was breaking as there was a faint glimmer of light beginning to filter through the dirt-stained glass.

‘You should go, my boys,’ he murmured. ‘Don’t worry about the equipment; it will be transferred to your abode this very night. Examine it when you have the time, please.’ He walked across the room towards them and all three engaged in the by-now-customary embrace.

‘Travel safely, my friends,’ George said, breaking from the embrace to move across to the door. Turning back to them, he whispered: ‘I will be in touch shortly, sleep well.’ Then, with the door grating shut behind him, he was gone.

Mike turned to Ken, asking: ‘What did you make of all that?’

Ken thought about it for a second or two. Glancing down at his large hands, as if seeking an answer within their shape, he said, ‘To be honest, I don’t really know what to think at the moment, one half of me…well, it just wants to get on with it, whilst the other half simply wants to run like hell! We’re damned if we do and everybody else is damned if we don’t!’

As he spoke, Ken felt the familiar sensation of the Dream Maker’s arrival – the sliding began in earnest. Ken looked up into the eyes of his friend and knew this particular meeting was over. He saw that Mike felt it, too.

In the spiralling blackness, he heard Mike’s voice.

The Australian was saying: ‘I guess that we’re between a rock and hard place, it’s always the same damn thing with us, ain’t it, Ken?’

The last thing Ken heard was the sound of Mike laughing.

It was to be four days later when they received their first assignment. Four long days, during which the trio discussed every detail of their situation, over-and-over again. They also tried to come to terms with what they were going to undertake, and spent time learning to use the equipment properly. The suitcase, just as George had said it would be, was waiting for them in the lodge on the morning after their crazy meeting with the old man. There, when they awoke, nestled on top of the kitchen table, lay the little container. It was much smaller in size than the remote control device, which sat next to it.

Jane, who was first up, moved both the items to the far end of the kitchen work surface, and then put the kettle on. She had a splitting headache and needed tea and aspirins – she was in no mood for weird expanding suitcases and other equally bizarre things. Not just yet anyway.

‘Tea first, please, if you don’t mind, George!’ she said, out loud. Hearing the stairs creak, Jane turned and watched her husband as he padded barefoot through the hallway to join her in the kitchen.

‘Good morning, gorgeous, still busy talking to yourself, I see…’ Ken said, with a roll of the eyes. He gave Jane a quick kiss and then took three mugs down from the cupboard. Looking at her, he asked: ‘All okay after last night, hun? Can you remember everything, how’s the ear?’