Manhunter Revelations (4 page)

"Mr. Hutchins, it has been a pleasure meeting
you. I will be looking forward with great anticipation to our next
meeting. Kilgore, please escort our guest back to his car and see
that he leaves the estate safely"

Looking back at me, "I assume once you have
left, my family will no longer be under threat of injury"

"No. Once I am off your estate, your people
can go find and remove the explosives safely"

Lenevos just looked at me coldly and nodded.
If looks could kill, Kilgore's look would have had me dead and
doing hard time in hell already. I was escorted back to my car, and
allowed to drive off the estate unhindered. Once off the estate, I
accelerated away to make sure I was not immediately followed,
although I was sure there would be goons on my trail very soon,
most likely led by Kilgore. I was sure Kilgore had ordered that my
car be tagged, in the event they had to find me later. And I
wouldn't have had it any other way. I removed the bogus switch from
my palm. When Lenevos goons searched the perimeter of the estate
wall they will find ten sites with bogus explosives and the buried
message, Explosives Here. They will be pissed that I bluffed them
on the explosives, but I couldn't take a chance on real explosives.
One or more of Lenevos goons might have tried to take me down, and
in the process of preventing that, real explosives could have been
exploded. I drove a few miles away, and then got out and searched
the car for the bug. Sure enough it was hidden inside the rear
bumper. It was a real high tech piece of equipment. If I had tried
removing the bug, it would have notified Kilgore immediately. My
plan depended on them thinking I was unaware of the bug. Leaving
the bug alone, I got back into the rental car and continued driving
to the abandoned warehouse where I planned for the upcoming battle
to take place. It had taken me four full days to prep the place,
but it would be worth it in the end. It would have been easier to
have waited until Lenevos was off his estate, followed them to
their destination, and then gassed them and took Lenevos into
custody. Yet the surveillance of him and his estate over the past
six days showed me that Lenevos rarely left his estate, and when he
did it was with a heavy set of bodyguards. Plus the one time he did
leave caught me by surprise since it happened in the middle of the
night and it was by jetcopter. After that I could no longer wait
for him to leave the estate by ground transportation or risk him
leaving by jetcopter again, and not returning. So hence my present
insane plan.

It had been strongly requested that Lenevos
be taken down in a manner where no innocent bystanders were hurt,
and at the same time to get the word out that no one breaks
Canadian laws and gets away with it. Hence my plan to take him in a
secluded spot. Apparently Lenevos had really pissed off my client.
I guess by now Kilgore would have researched who the hell I am and
what I am about. He would confirm my name is actually Conrad
Hutchins and I am a bounty hunter. My uncle who was also a bounty
hunter had given me that name. What about my father? Hey, your
guess is as good as mine. You see my mother and uncle for some
mysterious reason flat out refused to talk about him. In fact on
the few occasions when he was referenced, they would speak of him
as if he was dead. Yet try as I might, they would not discuss him.
I was however able to deduce that whatever had happened between my
mother and him was not pleasant. So as an entity on the day of my
birth, my father was a non-entity. My uncle too was something of a
mystery man back then, and on some subjects it was not wise to
disagree with him on them. When I was fourteen, my uncle started
teaching me the rigors of bounty hunting, and then later wilderness
survival, but did not let me get in on the hunts until I was
sixteen. To say that the training my uncle subjected me to was
intense is an understatement. He trained me in all aspects of
survival, and combat. There were many times I wondered what certain
types of training had to do with catching felons, but I trusted my
uncle’s judgment and hung in there and trained. The fact that I
seemed to learn everything he taught me quickly surprised him. It
also galvanized him to increase my training. He did tell me one day
after a very intense training session, that all he is teaching me
will not be enough. Later when he determined I was ready, he would
be taking me somewhere else where I would learn some very unique
combat and survival skills. Upon questioning him on what type of
training, he would only state sternly, “Wait!” So for the next four
years I managed to attend college and work with him part time
apprehending felons. After I obtained my degree in Investigative
Science I then joined my uncle full time. Two years after joining
with my uncle, he mysteriously vanished while working on a case,
which led him to Antarctica. For some reason, he hid this case from
me, and it wasn't until later, while going through his datapad that
I was able to piece together part of the case.

Whoever he was tracking had my uncle very
nervous and very afraid. That fact alone scared me, for throughout
the years I had known him, my uncle feared no man, or for that
matter no beast that lived. My uncle was a bull of a man. Just
short of six feet and around three hundred and ten pounds of solid
muscle, there was nothing that frightened him. In hand to hand
combat, the only man I had seen that bested him was the combat
instructor who had originally trained him, and that was a very rare
occasion. While a child on a camping trip with him, I witnessed my
uncle, with nothing but twelve inch hunting knives in each hand,
fight a bear to a standstill. True he needed a few stitches
afterwards, but he had made the bear decide that there must be
easier prey elsewhere. I had seen him go into a bar after a perp
who had quite a few buddies with him, and he came out dragging the
perp by his foot. The perp buddies? Well I was instructed to call
Med 911 for them. After his disappearance I spent the next nine
months relentlessly trying to track my uncle down to no avail. The
trail led to Antarctica, and even after almost fifty years that
continent is still off limits today to everyone. Did my uncle make
it to Antarctica? I don't know. All official inquiries made on
whether my uncle made it to Antarctica, came back to me stating no.
I was also, in a not very friendly manner reminded of the permanent
quarantine around Antarctica and the threat of immediate death if
caught trying to get there. It was as if my uncle and all clues
leading to him simply vanished off the face of the earth. I decided
right then that I was going to master this trade and that I would
not stop until I had found my uncle or what had happened to him.
That was seven years ago. So as you can see, I am a Manhunter. Is
that the same as Bounty Hunter? Yes. I just prefer the term
Manhunter. You see this is the year 2089, and law enforcement has
become more specialized in their duties. Crime and terrorism has
become very high tech, and due to the vast uninhabited areas of the
world, law enforcement agencies here and all over the world have
their hands full fighting this new high tech crime and terrorism.
As a result law enforcement just didn't have the manpower to hunt
for certain fugitives and bring them in. So bounty hunting as an
occupation has expanded worldwide as a big business, albeit a very
dangerous business. Bounty hunting is contracted out to private
individuals or private organizations, and the pay was very good.
You see extradition treaties no longer existed worldwide. Warrants
issued for someone's arrest was good worldwide, but it was the
responsibility of the contracted bounty hunter to get the perp or
perps back to the contracting law enforcement or government agency.
So as an occupation the life expectancy of bounty hunters is
measured at around half a dozen years. I however have been in the
business full time for nine years now. My uncle before his
disappearance had been in the business almost twenty-one years.
Combine that longevity with the fact I have developed a reputation
for being able to find and bring in the worse of the worse and
one's rep tends to build up. That is the case with my present
contract. Mr. Lenevos while being rich and powerful, has pissed off
a very powerful governmental agency in Canada and broke some
Canadian laws in the process. They want him back in a very bad way
for justice. With him being rich and powerful my job wasn't easy.
He had the means to stay hidden wherever he wanted to, where law
enforcement couldn't find him. Unfortunately for him I was
contracted to track him down and even though it took me a few weeks
to do so, I had. Now I figured I would have roughly three hours or
so before Lenevos, Kilgore and a squad of their goons showed up to
play. I was sure Lenevos would show and not just send Kilgore. I
had come into his home, threatened him and his family and basically
made him look weak and impotent in his own home. His personality
from what I was able to dig up showed he would want retribution for
my actions in person.

I switched out of the suit I wore and into my
combat outfit and rig. This consisted of black Nano Jeans, and a
black long sleeve Nano Pullover form fitting shirt. I pulled on my
black combat boots with the special half-inch thick Flo-Tech one
piece soles. These sole allowed me to walk virtually soundless.
These boots could take me for a walk thru hell in comfort. I then
strapped on my hip my Dynotyne 44C Auto Pistol chambered in .44C
caliber caseless ammo, capacity twelve rounds. In today's world of
laser guns, blasters and such, my guns were considered antiques.
Yet I love the feel of the big gun which was slim, but overall was
12.4" long and deadly accurate out to one hundred yards. I then
strapped on my shoulder rig which contained my Dynotyne 40C Auto
Pistol, which was of the same general design, but smaller, at only
8.2" inches long, chambered in .40C caliber caseless ammo, capacity
nineteen rounds. Around 2045, Dynotyne Products designed the .44C
caliber caseless ammo for law enforcement and the military. They
later designed the 44C Auto Pistol, capacity twelve rounds to fire
the new rounds. A year later the 40C Auto Pistol and ammo was
produced. The mags for these guns are completely disposable, after
firing, so switching mags was as simple as hitting the mag release
with my thumb, which kicked the mag positively out even if the gun
was upside down, or under water, and slamming in the new mag. The
greatest claim for the guns was that they were jam proof, and in my
years of using them, they have never jammed. I didn't take any
chances though by maintaining my guns diligently. Due to the
caseless propellant, they would fire under water, and reportedly in
the vacuum of space, although I haven't had occasion to test the
guns in space. Over the years I have found the guns to be
relentlessly reliable and accurate. The newer guns of today was big
bulky things, hard to conceal, except for some lasers and outlawed
needle guns. They were however very efficient killing instruments,
and in some cases highly destructive. Gun laws in the country had
loosen a lot where the average citizen could be armed, but only
after extensive training and only outside of the new Mega Cities.
This was due in part to the vast uninhabited regions of the country
people had to travel through to get to another Mega City, smaller
town or village and the fact that crime was a major problem in the
wild, not to mention the resurgent wildlife. The newly established
police forces patrolled the wilderness, but it could still take
them some time to get to you if you called for help. That's why it
was highly recommended that people use the high-speed train lines
or passenger jets for travel between cities, which were heavily
protected. Travel between the cities any other way was not
recommended, but there were people who choose to travel their own
way. Only small Class Two and Three lasers or projectile guns were
allowed to be carried, unless you were in Law Enforcement, or Felon
Apprehension, which bounty hunting fell under. The technology of
bulletproof vests had fallen behind firearms development since
lasers could cut right through them in seconds. To date no material
except Nano Core Body Armor which was strictly for law enforcement
use and was extremely light weight and flexible could stand up to a
Class Four or Five laser which was the weapons of choice for
practically all law enforcement and bounty hunters. Bounty hunters
could carry projectile weapons if they so choose. Needle Guns and
Class Six and Seven lasers was for the military's use. A Class
Seven Laser was capable of cutting through Nano Core Body Armor,
although you had to keep the beam on the target for a quite some
time to do so. Nano Core Reflexed Armor was used by the military in
the production of the military's Battle Suits, battle tanks and
other vehicles. This made both the soldier and vehicles light
weight, fast and powerful. These armored military vehicles were
equipped with Class Nine lasers. Military battle tanks were
equipped with Class Eleven and Class Twelve lasers and navy vessels
were equipped with the newer Class Fourteen (and reportedly Class
Fifteen) lasers, which was incredibly destructive. As a result Nano
Core Reflex Armor technology was one of the most highly guarded
secrets of the military.

When I finished changing I was a completely
different man from the one who had arrogantly invaded Lenevos home.
I had padded my physical appearance to appear twice as bulky as I
was, as well as cosmetic face makeup to change my facial appearance
to insure I got into the compound in case Lenevos men had ID
recognition equipment, which they did. I had spotted the camera
previously while conducting my surveillance. If I had been ID'ed
before I got in, my whole plan would have fallen apart, and I would
have been exposed in the open. I had a backup plan in case that
happened, but I was really glad I didn't have to fall back on that.
Especially since there were children on the estate. After I
finished donning my rigs I then checked all the equipment to make
sure everything was set, and then hunkered down to wait. I was
situated about twenty feet up on an arch hidden from view. I had
waited for barely an hour before my detectors went off notifying me
on my handheld comm that someone had broken the perimeter around
the warehouse. Lenevos must be pissed off at me big time to get
here so fast. Five minutes later I heard the front door slowly
opening and the detectors on my handheld comm for the roof and back
door also went off. A few seconds later Lenevos and three of his
goons slowly walked into view. I could barely hear them, but
Kilgore and some others were entering through the roof and back
door. Lenevos started shouting my name.