Hunting Will Read online

  The Hunters whirled around. Clint had only managed to move a dozen yards, and was lying prone on the ground. “He’s drained,” Porthos said. With Clint no further threat to teleport, the Hunters jogged toward him, conserving their own precious Energy. Clint would recharge eventually if left alone; the Hunters knew it was still critical to get him into a protective cell as quickly as possible. But the man’s chance to escape had ended.

  Aramis rolled the man to a seated position, but Clint’s head lolled as if in a deep sleep. Aramis applied his Damper anyway, ensuring the man wouldn’t recharge; they were still paranoid after Will Stark had seemed subdued, only to draw on hidden Energy stores and escape again. Clint was no Will Stark, but the Hunters weren’t in the mood to take chances. Athos stepped forward and pressed his palm against Clint’s forehead, and nodded to Porthos. “Ready.”

  Porthos nodded, and began to read off each of the charges Aramis had compiled against Clint. Athos’ skill enabled him to test the truth of each charge with unerring accuracy, even as the man sat propped up and unconscious. After each charge, Athos would announce the verdict, and Porthos would record on Aramis’ notes the official decision rendered.

  When they completed the inquisition, Athos teleported away to fetch the rental car they’d left parked at Clint’s house. The Hunters would use the car to transport Clint to the transport vehicle for the flight back to Headquarters.

  “Not bad, Aramis,” Porthos said. “Looks like you got about 91% of the charges right. A new record for you?”

  “I got 98.6% correct on the one two weeks ago.”

  “That’s rather inflated since the guy sent an email to several people inside headquarters stating what he’d done. How could you miss any at that point?”

  “He bragged about something he hadn’t actually yet accomplished. I’d rather get a few wrong than miss including a critical charge.”

  By the time Athos pulled up in the vehicle, Clint had regained consciousness, but was still groggy. “Where are you taking me?” he asked, stifling a yawn.

  Athos smiled. “Back where you belong, of course. A jail cell twelve stories below the surface at Aliomenti Headquarters. You’re going to be there for a very long time.”

  Clint’s eyes widened, and then he hung his head, defeated.

  ●●●●●

  The woman called Eva crawled out of the burning barn without being seen. It had been a close call, but she’d known the risks when she’d volunteered for this particular assignment. There’d been a very real chance that the new sword splitting technology would fail, and she’d be dead by an assassin’s sword.

  For real this time.

  But it had worked. The plastic pouch of fake blood she’d planted in her dress had ruptured. The sword splitter had literally split the sword in half at an atomic level, turning it into a jellylike substance on contact, and the blade had wrapped itself around the outside of her body, reforming on the opposite side as if the blade had gone through her. She’d marveled at the technology when they’d tested it in slow motion the first time, and held her breath when she’d worn the final product and they’d taken turns plunging various blades through her. The technology also seemed to work on bullets, though such devices were never employed by the Aliomenti. She wasn’t complaining. She’d done her job, and Clint had been properly set up to do his.

  She sprinted away from the barn and the driveway. Eventually, she knew, the party guests would smell the smoke or see the flames, and would come to investigate. They’d never find her body, but would blame that on the total immolation of the building. As such, Eva Elizabeth Lowell would be considered dead, and the Aliomenti Leader would believe his Assassin had completed another successful execution of a human believed to have suspicions of their existence.

  The name chosen for her human identity had been selected by Will Stark months earlier to send a private message to the Aliomenti Leader. It was a means of reminding him of his past, using names only a very few knew about. Perhaps he’d realize then that he’d walked into a trap; then again, the man believed himself incapable of making mistakes, and he’d likely brush the name off as sheer coincidence. Then again, making such an assumption was probably unwise.

  Once she’d entered a grove of trees and had a minor bit of privacy, Eva pulled out a special satellite-based mobile phone that was secured against any form of tracking and dialed a number from memory. “Adam, it’s me. I survived; the Assassin thinks I’m dead. It looks like the Hunters are chasing Clint right now. The plan is working as defined.”

  “Good job, Eva,” Adam said. “I hated the risk with the sword splitter, but…”

  “It was a risk I was willing to take, Adam,” Eva replied. “It was my part in getting our spy in place at Headquarters. Do you really think he can spring all of our captives?”

  “I don’t know, Eva,” Adam said. “But we’ll never know until we try.”

  “Very true, Adam. Very true.” Eva paused. “Have you heard from Will?”

  She could almost see Adam shaking his head. “I haven’t, Eva. I don’t think the Hunters got him or we’d never stop hearing about it. We know the plan going forward. All we can do now is follow it.”

  Eva sighed. “I hope all of our converts withdrew their funds already. After this stunt, after choosing the name we planted in the local news stories… The Leader’s going to be shocked enough that he’s going to get suspicious. They’re going to start freezing funds and assets.” She paused. “If we haven’t gotten a lot out by now we’re going to struggle for funds in the not-too-distant future. Our operations are not cheap.”

  “Will gave me an assignment that should give us a large infusion of cash down the road. But we’ll need to do what we can in the interim. We may need to buy or create our own bank.”

  “That’s good to hear, about the infusion of money,” Eva replied. “We’re going to need to recruit from the outside more and more. They’ll really start to ramp up eavesdropping efforts to prevent migrations here. The devices we took out of Clint were incredible in their complexity.”

  “We’ll make do, Eva,” Adam replied. “We always have. And somewhere out there, Will’s waiting to make his appearance yet again.”

  “I know,” Eva said. “I just hope he’s not in hiding for very long.”

  They both disconnected their phones, and Eva vanished from the grounds surrounding Clint Jones’ manor.

  Part III

  Fortress

  “I still don’t understand how so many of the criminals that have been Hunted down and imprisoned in Energy dampering cells could be escaping,” The Leader seethed.

  He was meeting with the Hunters and The Assassin. The Hunts had gone well; the Hunters had yet to fail to capture their assigned targets, and The Assassin had performed well in eliminating any potential exposure risks from human. Yet many of those who’d been captured had escaped.

  Porthos shrugged. “Not sure, sir. Do the scientists who built the cells have ideas?”

  “No,” The Leader said, scowling. “The cells are functioning fully. I have tested them myself. I tested the cell that the woman called Selena used, and I can assure you it fully incapacitated me. Yet somehow she escaped from the cell and from Headquarters. How?”

  “It has to be Stark,” Athos said, and Aramis nodded.

  “Of course it has to be Stark,” The Leader snapped. “The question is: how? How is he doing this? These cells have worked flawlessly for years. It’s only recently that they’ve stopped working.”

  “Perhaps the people from the Alliance have stronger Energy stores than we suspect,” Aramis suggested. “The cells may need to be redesigned for that possibility.”

  “I’ve just stated that the cells incapacitated me, Aramis,” The Leader replied, his tone deadly. “Are you suggesting that there are members of the Alliance more powerful than me?”

  “No, sir,” Aramis replied, almost too quickly. “Nothing like that at all, sir.”

  “If you’d like, sir,” At
hos said, “I can Read the next target we Hunt down with that question.”

  “Won’t work,” Porthos said. “You need to ask true or false types of questions, right? How can you ask them how Stark is pulling this off and get an answer?”

  “I won’t ask them anything in that fashion,” Athos replied. “But I can ask them if Stark is behind it, and if they themselves know how it’s being accomplished. If they do, then… perhaps we can think of ways to persuade them to talk.” His face curled into an evil smile, accentuated by the scar provided by Will Stark in their most recent encounter.

  “A sensible approach, Athos,” The Leader replied. “I’ll expect immediate updates if you identify a source of information on this matter. The threat of being Hunted loses its deterrent effect if word gets out that our prisoners keep escaping.”

  “Sir, do we have any idea why so many of our people are going to Stark?” Aramis asked.

  The Leader’s eyes flashed. “No, Aramis, we do not. And I’d prefer not to have a conversation on that topic.”

  “It might make for a good bit of marketing with our people,” Porthos mused, so quietly that it was nearly inaudible.

  But the Aliomenti had exceptionally powerful senses, and The Leader picked up on the comment. “Excuse me, Porthos?”

  Porthos blinked, as if only then realizing he might have been heard. “Sorry, sir. Was thinking of something I learned from the humans about a topic they call marketing that might be applicable to Aramis’ idea.”

  The Leader scowled. “You’re suggesting a human idea can solve an Aliomenti problem?”

  Porthos snorted. “Not as they’ve defined it. The humans have a saying: ‘The grass is always greener on the other side.’ It means that many people believe what they’re not experiencing is somehow vastly greater than what they are experiencing. For some reason, some horrifically stupid reason, too many of our people believe that Stark’s Alliance is that greener grass. Perhaps we need to tell them that the grass with Stark is poisoned…”

  The Leader finally seemed interested. “You’re saying that Stark has somehow been telling people lies about the Alliance, and that by countering those lies with the truth we can stop the outflow of people?”

  “As always sir, you state it better and more succinctly than I could ever hope.” Athos snorted, muttering something derogatory in Porthos’ direction, but Porthos ignored him. “Yes, if we specifically know what Stark is saying to attract the weak-minded, we can certainly counter those lies. I think we also need to make sure that our people see the effects of the dampering cells; they feel a miniature version of it in the main parts of Headquarters, but actually spending time in a cell, as you so bravely did… that might be enough to convince others to behave.”

  The Leader nodded. “I’ll consider it. Athos, do you have your next Hunt target?”

  Athos nodded. “I do, sir. We expect to leave in the next few hours.”

  “Good. Keep me posted.”

  As the men stood from the conference table to leave, a massive burst of Energy rocketed through the building, knocking all of them from their feet as if the Headquarters had been struck by an earthquake. Porthos, the most highly attuned to Energy, wrapped his arms around his head and screamed in agony.

  “What was that?” The Leader roared.

  “I don’t know, sir,” Athos replied, “but if that was Energy, I can think of only one source capable of something that strong.”

  “Stark,” The Leader hissed, steadying himself against the sturdy table. “Porthos! Was it Stark?”

  Porthos didn’t respond; he maintained his posture of agony, the shrieking replaced with a low moan of pain.

  “I… think that means yes, it is Stark,” Aramis murmured. “That was an incredible amount of Energy power. It’s going to be an immense challenge to capture him.”

  “I do not accept failure, Aramis,” The Leader spat. “Capturing Stark solves far too many problems for us, too many for us to simply avoid the attempt because it’s difficult. He’s eliminated as a threat to us, his smooth talking overtures to our people fail to work if he’s in a holding cell, and it’s entirely possible that the escape efforts stop as well. Cancel the original Hunt, Athos. This takes priority.”

  Athos nodded.

  The Leader glanced at Porthos, who had stopped whimpering and was silent. He then looked at Athos. “Start planning immediately. I want to know where he is, what he’s been up to, and most importantly, how you’re going to capture him this time.” He paused. “The man seemed nearly resistant to the sleep injection the last time, and he’ll be expecting it this time. You’ll want to come up with something new.” He stood and started from the room. “Don’t fail me again, Athos.” The door shut behind him.

  Athos glanced at Porthos, who was finally sitting up. “When you’re ready, we need a location on our dear old friend.”

  Porthos moaned, flipped a rude gesture at Athos, and scrambled to his feet. “I’m aware of that. I need to get my head to stop spinning first.” He took several deep breaths, steadying himself, and then activated the mapping software. When Porthos completed his routine, the Hunters had Tracked Will Stark to a city called Pleasanton, located in the southeastern portion of the state of Ohio, within the United States.

  “We need to do our homework before we go,” Athos said. “Stark could very well be setting a trap. He’s been quiet for a while; no telling what he’s been scheming in the interim. We need to proceed with extreme caution. Stark’s wily and powerful.”

  “We’re aware of that, Athos,” Aramis said. “Stark is presently on the hook for around three centuries worth of prison time; it’s difficult to get that high without considerable power.”

  “Indubitably,” Porthos said. “What do we know about this city he lives in?”

  Athos spoke. “Computer, details on the human city known as Pleasanton, located in the state of Ohio in the United States.”

  The image displayed, and the three Hunters gasped in surprise. “Wow,” Porthos said. “I have to admit… that’s impressive.”

  The city featured sleek, modern buildings that were, at most, ten stories in height. The layout of the city focused the tallest buildings at the center around a central square. The layout featured organized patches of green space, and there were no roads visible. Instead, the sidewalks meandering among the buildings moved, carrying pedestrians along past shops, stores, and offices. The buildings gradually tapered in size, shrinking as the distance from the city center increased. By the time one reached the perimeter of the city, the buildings were only a single story in height. The city was clean, majestic, and beautiful.

  It was also covered by a translucent dome that glowed at night in the photograph shown on the table screen.

  Aramis looked at the other Hunters. “Why don’t we have something like that?”

  Neither man had an answer to that question.

  “We’ll suggest to some of the architects that they take some vacation time there,” Porthos suggested. “Maybe they can tweak Headquarters or one of the satellite offices with something like that dome, or the moving sidewalks, or….”

  “According to this,” Athos said, ignoring Porthos, “the dome was built out of something called nanomaterials, which are incredibly small building components that can be combined together to make something much larger.”

  “So what?” Porthos replied. “You take a bunch of small bricks and build a house. You take a bunch of words and build a book, not that the two of you would understand that. You take a bunch of brain cells and build Aramis’ brain. I guess that disproves the theory, though; in that case you’d take larger components and build something smaller…”

  Aramis fired an Energy bolt at Porthos, knocking him from the chair. Athos leaped between the two men. “We have a mission to plan, gentlemen. The Leader will not be pleased if we delay our departure because the two of you feel the need to squabble like children.”

  The two sat back down while Athos remained standing.
“What would you know about children?” Aramis muttered.

  Athos coughed loudly. “Apparently… these tiny building components make the surfaces constructed with them incredibly strong, and that’s how they could build that dome. It says that the surface is naturally transparent so that sunlight can get in, but at night they can run power to it and the whole thing glows, so it’s literally never dark in that city.”

  Athos read further, and then gasped. “Oh, now this is interesting.” He placed a hand on the table to steady himself.

  After a dramatic pause, Porthos snorted at the delay. “Oh, do tell, Athos. We’re so intrigued to hear what you find interesting.”

  “The company that built that dome is owned by a man named… Will Stark.”

  Aramis and Porthos both sat up straighter in their chairs, eyes wide in their stunned silence.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Aramis said. “I thought for sure he’d gone into hiding.”

  “Well, he went into hiding from us. Apparently he’s been very busy in the human world for quite some time; not sure how we missed that.”

  “Because we didn’t look in the human world?” Porthos proposed, trying with difficulty to replace his stunned look with one of feigned indignation.

  Athos scanned more of the information on the table screen. “Looks like the man has founded or bought dozens of businesses and is widely considered to be the richest man in the world.” He shook his head. “You’re right, Porthos; given the man’s love of humans, we should have been looking for activity there a long time ago.”

  “You think you know a guy, and then he goes off and gets rich in plain sight of the humans,” Aramis said.

  “Bugger always was an overachiever,” Porthos muttered. “Anything else about him? Does he live in the dome? Can we go there for a visit after we capture him? Or better yet, before?”

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea, actually,” Aramis replied, scanning through the details about the city that were displayed on the table screen. “Seems Stark owns half the businesses there, and actually bought the whole city and rebuilt it from scratch. I think if we go there and start asking questions, there’s a strong possibility he’ll be close enough to figure out we’re there and make a run for it. Or others will hear our questions and tell him about the three guys asking about him. I think we need to get close, but not go into the dome.” He glanced up. “Sorry, Porthos.”