Hunter (9780698158504) Read online

  “Do the others even remember me?”

  “Sure they do. What, you thought Max might have wiped you from their memories?”

  “Yeah. Good to know he didn’t.”

  “He did tell them not to look for you. They wanted to, but he said you had to find your own way in the world. The first few years must have been tough.”

  Lance nodded. “Yeah, they weren’t easy. I had to talk my way out of a few nasty situations. And when that didn’t work, I had to run or fight. I almost starved to death a couple of times. And almost drowned once. I got picked up for vagrancy seven different times, four of them in Los Angeles in the space of two weeks. Oh, and once a guy shot at me when he caught me going through his garbage looking for food.”

  Cord said, “His garbage.”

  “I know! Unbelievable, right? He was throwing it out anyway, but he didn’t want me to have it!”

  “That’s not the point. Lance, you were eating from someone else’s garbage. Things were that bad?”

  “That wasn’t my lowest point, Sol. There was a town in Nevada . . . A couple of guys—brothers, eighteen or nineteen years old, maybe—pulled up next to me in their big, brand-new car. They seemed friendly. Said I looked lost and asked me where I was heading. When I told them I wasn’t really going anywhere, one of them just asked me straight out, ‘Are you homeless?’ I told them that I was, they got out of the car and beat the crap out of me. Then the other one said, ‘You’ve got twenty-four hours to get out of the city. If we see you around here this time tomorrow . . .’ The following day, they found me again, and beat me up again. I tried to tell them that I couldn’t leave the city because I was broke, but it didn’t make any difference.” Lance shuddered. “There’s a lot of sick people out there.”

  “This much I know.”

  “Still, those guys won’t be doing that again, so that’s something.”

  “Why? What did you do?”

  “I’m not proud of this. . . . I went to the police, but they didn’t want to know. It was a big college football town, and the older brother was a local hero, scouts for the NFL knocking down his door. This guy was untouchable, and the younger brother was a rising star too. I found out where they lived, and the next morning I waited for them to leave.”

  “What did you do, Lance?” Cord asked.

  “I hit them, but only once each.”

  “OK. That’s not so bad, I guess.”

  “In the knees, with a baseball bat. Hard. And I really mean hard. Hard enough that I doubt they’ll ever be able to play again.”

  Cord sighed. “Oh man . . .”

  “Yeah. And then I stole their wallets and left town.”

  “They could have come after you, Lance. You’re lucky to still be alive.”

  “I know. And now, thanks to Max, I’m going to be putting myself in harm’s way again by looking for Slaughter.”

  “You’ll be trying to find her, that’s all. You won’t be on the front line. You won’t be in any danger. That’s the plan.”

  “Care to make a bet on that?”

  Cord hesitated. “Not really. Plans have a way of not working out, especially when superhumans are involved.”

  • • •

  “There’s a storm coming,” Max Dalton said. He looked toward Cam Sharkey, who was sitting next to Lance, and added, “A metaphorical storm.”

  “Wish you’d stop doing that,” Cam said. “I do know what a metaphor is.”

  “Right,” Lance said. “A bullfighter.”

  Cam frowned. “No, that’s a matador. A metaphor is . . . Oh, very funny.”

  “If you’re done interrupting . . . ?” Max said.

  They were in Max’s private jet, flying west toward California. There were two other people present. The first was a thin young man with a shaved head and thick glasses. He hadn’t spoken yet, and Lance got the impression that he didn’t want to be there any more than he did. The other stranger was a red-haired woman whom Lance guessed was in her early forties.

  Max continued, “You four are going to form the core of my think tank. Each of you has a different set of skills, and you’ll need to be able to work together as a team. You will be presented with very specific problems and I expect solutions, immediately if not sooner.”

  Lance asked, “Who knows about us?”

  “You don’t need to know that. What’s important is that all of you are proto-superhumans. That means that Casey Duval will not have an easy time detecting you. That’s one of his abilities—he has a great understanding of the superhuman energies and how they affect people. My intel suggests that he’s building machines capable of tracking any superhuman. We don’t know if that’s true, but it’ll be one of your tasks to find out.” Max pushed himself out of his seat and stood in the middle of the aircraft. “So now you need to know who you’re working with.”

  He nodded toward Lance. “This is Lance, but from now on his code name is Hunter. Hunter’s worked with me before, and he and Paragon go way back. He’s an expert at lateral thinking, and while his knowledge base is comparatively poor, he’s a very fast learner, and when it comes to understanding people, he’s got one of the sharpest minds I’ve ever encountered.”

  Lance didn’t know where to look. He didn’t think he’d ever heard Max compliment him before.

  Next Max introduced Cam to the others, again demonstrating Cam’s gift of total recall by having him quickly name the first twenty movies he ever saw, in order, and the dates on which he watched them. Cam seemed to be able to remember everything back to when he was about a year old; he even remembered learning how to walk.

  Max pointed toward the thin man with the shaved head. “This is Thalamus. We’re not revealing his real name at this time. I know you’ve heard of him, but contrary to what we first thought, Thalamus isn’t actually a superhuman. He’s one of you.”

  Thalamus nodded a greeting.

  “Thalamus,” Max asked, “what’s the fifth root of one hundred and eighty-three billion?”

  “One hundred and seventy-eight point eight five zero five—”

  “Stop there,” Max said. “Thalamus is our calculator, for want of a better way of putting it. He’ll be working with Cord to design our computers and databases. And lastly we come to Adrianne.”

  Lance turned around to look at the red-haired woman.

  Max said, “Adrianne’s husband was killed by Slaughter two years ago. Adrianne herself was caught up in the attack, which is why she’s here.”

  Cam said, “I don’t get it.”

  For the first time the woman spoke, and though her English was clear and precise, her accent was strong. “Max tells me I’m like a clairvoyant. I know where things are, even when I shouldn’t know. But it only works for people. If I spend enough time with someone, then after that I’ll always know where they are.” She hesitated for a moment. “I know you’re wondering, so I’ll tell you. I was born in Macedonia—back then it was still part of Yugoslavia—and moved to America when I was eighteen.”

  “How accurate is your ability?” Lance asked.

  “That really depends on the distance and how well I know someone. If it’s someone I only barely know, then over a hundred miles I’d be accurate to within about ten miles. The closer I get, the more accurate I’ll be. But the people I know well, I can tell exactly where they are. I know that right now my sister is in Boston. She’s walking down the hall from her office toward the elevators. She’s on the way to meet her friend Tilly for lunch, but Tilly’s going to be late. I can tell that because she’s on the freeway and she hasn’t moved much in the past ten minutes—must be a traffic jam. Tilly’s frustrated and a little worried.”

  “You can sense their emotions too? Wow,” Lance said. “That’s a pretty cool power.”

  “Sometimes. But not when your daughter tells you she was at a friend’s house and you k
now she was really out with the boy she’s not supposed to be seeing.”

  Cam said, “Ooh, yeah, that’s not good. I wouldn’t want my mom to be able to spy on me the whole time.”

  “It’s not spying,” Adrianne said. “I can’t just turn that ability off. It’s a curse as much as a blessing.”

  “It’s how we’re going to find Slaughter,” Max said. “Or it could be. Problem is, Adrianne hasn’t yet been in Slaughter’s presence for long enough to be able to lock on to her. If we can find Slaughter, we’re hoping she’ll be able to lead us to Casey Duval.”

  Cam asked, “So . . . to be able to find Casey, first we have to find her?”

  “Right. You need to work out a way to get Adrianne close to Slaughter without Adrianne getting hurt in the process. And there’s still something we have to sort out first.”

  Lance said, “Like what we’re going do with her when we do find her.”

  “Exactly. There’s only a handful of superhumans capable of matching her strength, and only one who can match her for sheer ferocity. And that’s Hesperus.”

  “Well, that’s out,” Lance said. “Hesperus isn’t going anywhere near Slaughter. We’ll find another solution.”

  Cam said, “If we catch her, we kill her. It’s that simple.”

  “We’re not killing anyone,” Lance said. “In the other universe she wasn’t Slaughter. She was a freedom fighter called Suzanne Housten. She—”

  Max cut him off. “This is not that other universe, Lance. I don’t like killing any more than you do, but that option remains on the table. Cameron, you’ve read all the reports. How many people has Slaughter killed?”

  “Directly? Four hundred and eighteen. And there’s more than another hundred whose deaths she was involved in. That we know of. There’s also another two hundred and thirty deaths attributed to Slaughter, but they haven’t been confirmed.”

  “Injured? Don’t need the exact figures.”

  “Serious injuries, over two thousand. Minor injuries are well over ten thousand—she derailed a train last year, and that was seven hundred and ten people injured in one go.”

  Adrianne said, “That woman is insane.”

  Thalamus said, “Not necessarily—the word insanity suggests that her brain is malfunctioning. Everything I know about her tells me that her brain is likely to be physically normal. Compared with a human’s, anyway. It’s her judgment that’s at odds with what most people would consider acceptable. And personal judgment is derived from societal concepts of morality.”

  “Meaning?”

  Lance said, “She’s not insane. She’s evil.”

  Thalamus shook his head. “No. A person’s understanding of good and evil comes from their environment. We currently consider slavery to be an act of evil, but in the past there were pockets of civilization where it was perfectly acceptable, in certain circumstances. If Slaughter doesn’t believe that what she’s doing is wrong, then for her it’s not wrong. Ergo, she’s not evil.”

  Lance said, “This is one of those arguments that’s not going to get anywhere. Thalamus, regardless of whether you believe Slaughter is insane or evil, do you believe she should be stopped?”

  Cam said, “Of course she should be stopped. She’s a wild animal. You don’t let a dangerous wild animal run loose.”

  Thalamus nodded. “I agree with the boy. Slaughter—”

  “Hey! I’m not a kid, you know! I’m only a couple of years younger than you!”

  “Whatever,” Thalamus said. “Slaughter poses a serious threat to the human race, and we’d be fools to ignore that threat.”

  “That’s what’s important,” Lance said. “So that’s what we need to concentrate on, not figuring out which label is the one that fits best.”

  “Well said, Hunter,” Max said to Lance. “We find her and stop her by any means necessary.”

  “And then we get to go home?” Cam asked.

  “Sure,” Max said, nodding. “Our destination is a facility I own in Santa Barbara. We’ll be there within the hour. You’ll all have your own quarters and food will be provided, but you can’t leave without an escort. You won’t be able to contact the outside world without my approval. This is for your individual safety as well as the security of the team as a whole. You’ll have to decide among yourselves how you’re best going to work together. Ideally I’d have Cord lead you, but he’s not always going to be available to you. Nor will I.”

  “Where will you be?” Cam asked. “I mean, if this is all as important as you say it is, you should be there all the time.”

  “I have my companies to run, Cam. And a hundred other tasks that need my regular attention.”

  Lance said, “Well, I’m not worried about that. We’ll be fine, Max. You go ahead and run your companies and scan the minds of your rivals so you can steal their secrets and preempt their plans. But think about this for a second. . . . By your own words, you’ve now put together a think tank of some of the sharpest minds on the planet. Hey, let’s just hope we don’t decide to turn on you, huh? That’d be ironic, wouldn’t it?”

  He saw a flicker of doubt cross Max’s face.

  “No, don’t worry, Max. There’s a very good chance that we won’t turn against you. You’re probably safe enough. Though if you are up to something that you really shouldn’t be doing, it might not be the greatest idea in the world to assemble a team of people who are smarter than you, can recall everything you’ve said to them, and always know exactly where you are and what your emotional state is.” Lance grinned. “Not to mention that one of us has the ability to persuade the people around him to do pretty much anything he asks.”

  Max returned to his seat, and didn’t speak again until the aircraft had touched down.

  MAX’S SANTA BARBARA FACILITY was right in the heart of the city, and at first Lance was sure that their driver had taken them to the wrong location. “This is a shopping mall,” Lance said. “Or it’s going to be, when it’s finished.”

  The mall was a square, four-story building that looked to be only weeks away from completion. Tied across one side, and flapping slightly in the wind, was a giant vinyl banner with Opening Soon! in cheerful red letters. All of the windows had large white Xs taped on the inside, and some boasted the names of chain stores.

  “It’s not actually a mall,” Max said as he climbed out of the car. “Though everyone thinks it is, even the builders who worked on it. I’m funding an organization of local retailers who are having lots of fun objecting to this place opening and taking business away from them. They’re hiring the best lawyers, who are also having fun—and making lots of money—by battling with the lawyers who work for the fake company everyone believes owns the place.”

  Lance stood next to Max, looking up at the building as the second car came to a stop behind them. “It must be nice to have so much money. You could have built it somewhere else and saved a fortune.”

  “It needs to be inconspicuous. What’s more normal and boring than a shopping mall that’s unable to open because of legal troubles?”

  Inside, the mall looked exactly as its exterior would suggest, all polished floors and gleaming steelwork, but the storefronts were all fake. In the heart of the mall was an atrium containing elevators and escalators. “Living quarters are on the top floor,” Max said. “There’s enough space for everyone. Find a room you like and make yourselves comfortable. Dining area’s on the next floor down—just follow the signs to Uncle Max’s Kitchen.”

  “Gee, thanks, Uncle Max,” Lance said.

  Max ignored that. “There’ll be other people around, but they’ve all got jobs of their own, so try not to bother them too much.” He walked away, heading across the atrium. “Follow me.”

  Max led them through one of the fake stores—this one claiming to be a small beauty salon that was “Opening Real Soon!”—and into a windowless room about t
he size of a basketball court. Along one wall was a long table with ten chairs, opposite a large bank of computer stations. “And this is your workspace. No one will bother you here. The walls are completely soundproof, and we’ve installed scanners that will block any radio transmissions. So no one will be able to bug the place. It’s in here that you’re going to solve all the problems I throw at you. I call it the Strategarium.”

  Adrianne asked, “How much are we getting paid for this? I’m not being greedy, but my kids think I’ve got a new job that’s keeping me away from home for the next ten weeks. So, you know, when I do go home, I have to have some money to show for it?”

  Lance asked, “Who’s watching your kids?”

  “My brother and his wife. They needed a place to stay anyway, so they’re staying in my house.”

  Lance threw a quick glance at Max. “Your brother needed a place to stay at the same time as Max needed you here? That’s a coincidence. Let me guess—he lost his old apartment or whatever for some reason that no one could have seen coming? What was it? Mysterious gas leak? The owner suddenly decided to sell and the new owner wanted everyone out?”

  “No, his wife got a new job close to my house, so they decided to move. But there’s been some problems with their credit rating, so until that gets sorted, they can’t rent or buy a new place.”

  “That’s a good one,” Lance said. “Well done, Max.”

  “It was none of my doing,” Max said.

  “Yeah, right.”

  Adrianne asked, “So, how much are we getting? You were vague about that when you recruited me.”

  Max shrugged. “How much do you want?”

  “Um, a million dollars?”

  “Done. But that’s a lot to suddenly appear in your bank account. My people will work out something to make it seem credible.”

  Cam said, “Hey, I want a million dollars too!”