Alien Assassin (The Human Chronicles -- Book Two)

by T. R. Harris

  The Human Chronicles

  Book Two

  Alien Assassin

  By

  T.R. Harris

  Published by

  Harris Publications

  Copyright 2012 by T.R. Harris

  Email: bytrharris@hotmail.com

  Website: TheHumanChronicles.com

  All rights reserved, without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanically, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, or associated with, or sponsored by, the trademark owners.

  Adam Cain is an alien with an attitude.

  His story continues…

  Chapter One

  Adam Cain had an alien to kill.

  Yet before he set out on the mission, his professional training dictated that he take inventory of his equipment and check his weapons…

  Adam was in a pressurized hotel room in the Hildorian city of Jaxas, and spread out on the bed before him was a full array of energy weapons and other tactical gear. Although the tactics and strategies from his formal U.S. Navy SEAL training had very little carryover to his present occupation, the habits developed during his military years were hard to break. So with methodical precision, Adam went down the mental checklist and triple-checked his weapons.

  His formidable weapons cache ranged from the standard MK-17 and XF Flash Rifle, all the way up to and including his prized MK-47 High Energy Bolt Launcher. The ’47 had cost him nearly an entire contract fee, but it was well worth it. Being the top-of-the-line for handguns, the weapon boasted a standard level-one charge of twenty bolts, and its targeting computer carried the fastest rating in its class. Personally, Adam never used the targeting assist, but just carrying the weapon often gave many who sought to challenge him second thoughts.

  Honestly, Adam didn’t really care if they made good with their challenges or not. He would kill anything that walked, slithered or crawled in this god-forsaken galaxy. In fact, Adam often referred to himself as The Exterminator, and every time he performed a hit, he felt about as much remorse as The Orkin Man did when he wiped out a colony of termites back on Earth.

  Adam lifted the ’47, feeling its weight and the comfort of the grip. All his pistol grips were customized, as was the stock on his Xan-Fi Flash Rifle. With over 8,000 species in the Juirean Expansion, weapons manufacturers had to provide an extensive selection of grips and stocks to fit the variety of hands, tentacles and even robotic nerve attachments of their various customers. Luckily for Adam, human-style hands were quite common. Even still, each of his weapons had custom-formed grips, molded to fit his hands exactly, and providing even more control and confidence than he probably needed. But Adam was a professional, and nothing but the best would satisfy him.

  For the past three days, Adam had donned the uncomfortable pressure suit and breathing attachment and scouted his target. His name was Kunnlar Bundnet, and he was a high-level gang leader who had offended an even higher-level gang leader – and now had to pay the price. As it was back on Earth, most gang hits were within and between the gangs themselves. Adam didn’t really care. As long as they paid, he would kill. After all, it was the only thing he was really good at.

  Satisfied that all was in order, Adam packed up the tools of his trade and placed them in one of the backpacks on the bed, while reserving the ’47 for this oiled leather holster. He then strapped the clear plastic breathing cup over his nose, and scooped up the other knapsack from the bed. Lastly, Adam Cain placed the camouflage boonie hat atop his head – the trademark of his SEAL persona – and cinched up the cord under his chin.

  It was game time.

  His target lived in a fortified compound on a hill about thirty klicks outside of town. Adam drove the rented transport to within a kilometer of the house, and after applying streaks of black grease to his face, slung the flash rifle across his back and secured four slide grenades to the MK’s utility belt. Then with the small knapsack secured across his left shoulder, he set off for the compound, covering the remaining distance in about a minute, through a combination of jogs and long leaps in the weak gravity.

  In fact, gravity was an integral part of his attack plan. Rated at just .69 of standard, Adam estimated the gravity of Hildoria to be a little less than half that of Earth’s. That was one of the reasons the atmosphere was so thin and the air pressure too low for him to function without the light pressure suit. It also produced natives who were all well-over two meters tall with huge, barrel chests. Apparently it required large lungs to inhale enough oxygen to survive…

  The singular yellow sun had set by the time Adam reached the compound, and a deep darkness descended on the landscape of thick woods and bristled bushes. But the compound itself stood out like a beacon, illuminated by numerous floodlights, and with at least a dozen heavily-armed guards patrolling both sides of the surrounding wall. The place was hard to miss.

  His sources had informed him that Bundnet may have been forewarned of the impending hit. This didn’t concern Adam too much – it simply came down to whether or not this would be a surgical strike or an all-out scorched-earth campaign. To The Exterminator, either way would get him paid.

  Crouching in a clump of bushes at the tree line, Adam watched as the first set of guards covered their route, flash rifles of their own held casually at their sides. Once they passed, he dashed off to a point at the wall he’d determined would be his best point of entry. Leaning against the warm stone surface, he estimated the height of the wall to be about five to six meters.

  Here comes the fun part, Adam thought, smiling to himself.

  Then he jumped straight up, enjoying the brief sensation of flying as he easily reached the top of the wall with his outstretched arms – a move that would have made any NBA center green with envy. Then in a quick, fluid motion, he swung himself over the top and descended – essentially in slow motion – to the ground below.

  Almost immediately, alarms began to blare as motion sensors along the wall were tripped. Adam scrambled to a dark patch of trees and vegetation and lay on the cool, moist ground as more guards rushed toward the clearing between the wall and the house. Each held flash rifles, and their size and huge chests produced a menacing, ominous scene.

  Removing the small knapsack from his shoulder, Adam quickly released the binding cord and opened the pouch. With angry growls, two furry creatures, looking like large squirrels with spiked tails, shot out of the bag and ran off into the opening. The guards spotted the animals almost immediately and began chasing after them in a vain attempt to corral the elusive creatures.

  As planned, Adam watched as one of the guards placed a communicator to his mouth, and a few moments later the alarms were silenced. The obedient rodents continued their flight to freedom across the opening and away from Adam’s position, with the guards following closely behind.

  Soon Adam saw his opportunity, and in a low crouch took off for the house. Without breaking stride, he leaped to the top of a small pagoda-type structure, and then onto the roof of the main building. He slipped in behind a towering chimney stack, and waited to see if anyone had spotted his m
ovement. Satisfied that he was unseen, he proceeded along the roof until he came to a large skylight made up of numerous individual glass panels. A dim light filtered up from a single source in the room below.

  Adam peered over the edge of the skylight and saw a large bedroom below; an expansive bed to one side, a set of dresser drawers against one wall and a wooden writing desk against another. And seated at the desk was Bundnet, leaning forward slightly, his arms on the desk.

  Figuring that the skylight frame would be wired for security, Adam removed a roll of tape from his bag and quickly and quietly covered one of the glass panes with a large ‘X,’ leaving a rise of tape at the center. Next he took a pen-laser, a special one with a muted tip, and began to silently cut through the glass along its edge. Then holding the rise of tape at the center, he lifted the glass away from the skylight frame and set it to one side.

  Next he stood, drew his MK-47 and took a deep breath. Then he stepped into the skylight opening, and began a slow-motion drop into the room below.

  Landing with a muffled sound, Adam crouched on one knee and pointed his weapon at Bundnet’s back, fully expecting the crime lord to spin around in his chair toward the sound. But no movement came.

  Adam moved cautiously towards Bundnet, weapon at his cheek, sighting along the barrel. Still no movement. He moved to the side of the desk and leaned forward to look into Bundnet’s face.

  The large, beady alien eyes were wide open, with a look of sheer terror frozen in them. And across his neck was a smooth razor cut, filled with dark, coagulated blood that had soaked into the front of his gold and green shirt.

  But what surprised Adam the most – this was not Bundnet.

  Adam sensed another presence in the room—

  He dove to his left, just as a bolt of electric blue energy slammed into the desk, sending splinters of wood trailing after him. Rolling on his shoulder, Adam came up on one knee just as a large, boxy figure appeared out of the shadows near the door to the bedroom. He leveled the MK-47 and fired. Instantly, a shimmering screen of blue light enveloped the figure, and then quickly dissipated. A diffusion screen! His sidearm would be unable to penetrate the shield. He would need something larger – like the flash rifle – to make it through.

  But before Adam could un-sling his rifle, the large figure moved further into the room and stopped. It made no further threatening moves, so Adam slowly stood to face his attacker.

  It was Bundnet, very much alive and encased in an exosuit. He had an MK-17 leveled at him – and he was smiling.

  Hildorians often wore exosuits when off-planet to help compensate for the heavier gravity they encountered on nearly every other world in The Fringe. The suits were mechanical transports, attached to the limbs of the wearer, providing added strength and support to their brittle-boned bodies. They also carried their own power supply, to which Bundnet had obviously linked a diffusion screen. Diffusion screens were very basic shields against smaller bolt launchers, yet because they required an external power source, they were impractical for personal protection – unless you were wearing an exosuit.

  “So you must be the assassin Amick sent to kill me,” Bundnet stated in a rough, gravelly voice. Adam couldn’t help but notice how the movements of his mouth were not in sync with the words he heard, a common occurrence with the implanted translation bug behind his ear. This oddity was something Adam had never gotten used to.

  Adam did not answer. Instead he glanced around as he heard metal shutters quickly lower over the windows to the bedroom, effectively trapping him in the room with the mechanically-enhanced Hildorian crime boss.

  “Yes, I’ve been expecting you,” Bundnet said. “You see, I have my sources as well. And I can assure you that plans are in the works that will have Amick paying a steep price of his own for sending you against me.”

  Adam heard the servos whine as Bundnet stepped further into the room until he was only a few meters from Adam. With the alien naturally standing over two meters tall, in the exosuit he was now a truly intimidating figure, towering over Adam by a good meter or more.

  “I’ve heard of you,” the alien continued, confident in his control of the situation. “At times, I have even considered enlisting your services for my own ends.”

  “You should have,” Adam finally said. “You probably would have lived longer.”

  Adam saw a look of confusion cross the alien’s face. “You don’t seem to realize the position you are in, assassin. You’re as good as dead. And I have options as to how I will do it. I can either shoot you, or I can rip you apart limb by limb and revel in the agony you will be experiencing. I think I prefer the second option.”

  Adam just smiled, which did nothing to fit into the Hildorian’s vision he had of this moment. Here we go again, Adam thought. Then aloud he spoke: “Bring it on, asshole!”

  Knowing that the MK in his hand was useless against the diffusion screen, Adam reeled back and heaved the gun at Bundnet. With the weapon carrying no electrical charge of its own, his MK passed through the screen as if it wasn’t there and struck Bundnet’s hand with the force of a sledgehammer, knocking his weapon away.

  Bundnet roared with anger and pain and lurched forward, swinging with his right arm, the exosuit adding extra quickness and agility. Still, it wasn’t enough. Adam blocked the blow easily, then lifted the entire mechanical/alien contraption and shoved it to his right. The suit was able to maintain balance, but Bundnet found himself twisted around, with Adam now behind him.

  Rather than attack, Adam simply waited for his opponent to spin back around. The smile had vanished from Bundnet’s face.

  “You missed,” Adam said through a toothy grin of his own.

  The Hildorian literally growled, displaying a double row of long, sharp teeth. He lunged again, but this time a mechanical hand was able to grasp Adam’s left bicep, sending a spasm of pain through his arm and shoulder. Adam reached across with his free hand and ripped the clamp from his arm, breaking the thin metal from its joints.

  Bundnet screamed in agony as his own flesh and blood hand was twisted and bones snapped. But he was still able to counter with a swipe of the other mechanical arm. Adam was struck hard against the side of his head and knocked to his knees, temporarily stunned. Bundnet used the opportunity to step forward, crashing his metal-encased left leg forcefully into Adam’s chest.

  Adam flew backwards in the light gravity and fell heavily onto the wooden chest next to the bed. Bundnet ran forward.

  Quickly regaining his senses, anger flared in Adam. He pushed off of the chest, and the two combatants crashed into each other in the center of the room. Adam climbed on top of the suit’s metal frame and began to rip at the upper cage above Bundnet’s head. Metal bars easily broke from their joints, as Bundnet’s mechanical arms flailed wildly, trying to pull Adam from atop the cage. Then Adam dropped in behind Bundnet and ripped the power cords from the battery pack.

  Instantly, the servos fell quiet, and Bundnet found himself trapped in the suit, only able to move it with his own feeble strength. He stopped struggling, and watched as Adam moved slowly back in front of him.

  Adam just shook his head. “You don’t have any idea what you’re up against, do you?” The alien’s bottom lip was trembling. He didn’t answer.

  “This is what I do. I kill aliens for a living. And I’m very good at it—”

  Adam then shot out with his right arm, clamping his hand around the alien’s neck. He squeezed, and could feel – and hear – the crunching of bone as the alien’s windpipe collapsed. In another moment it was all over.

  Adam Cain, alien assassin, had successfully fulfilled yet one more contract.

  After a brief moment of contemplation, Adam quickly gathered up his backpack and recovered his MK-47 – just as he became aware of the wailing of alarms outside the building. How long they had been going off he couldn’t tell; his mind had been on other matters.

  But Adam didn’t panic. Yes, he had been discovered, but all he had to do now
was get out of the compound. And that he had no doubt he could do.

  The windows of the bedroom were shuttered and the exterior walls of the building were made of stone, so his only escape route was through the bedroom door. Gripping his ’47 firmly in his right hand, he flung open the door and immediately came face-to-face with two guards, just as shocked to see him as he was to see them. With lightning-quick reactions, Adam blasted the first one through the chest with a bolt from the MK, and then swung his left fist at the second guard. To Adam’s surprise, his fist sank completely into the guard’s skull and exited out the other side, effective hooking the alien’s head onto Adam’s forearm, in a bloody spray of brains and shattered bone material.

  Damn! What else could go wrong?

  Just then a whole array of bolt streaks filled the hallway, as yet another group of armed guards appeared to his right. Adam needed a new exit strategy…

  One of the good things about a low-gravity world was that construction did not have to be as strong and sturdy as on a heavy-gravity world. Even though atoms were atoms everywhere in the universe, the strength of the compounds and building materials varied from world to world. So what Adam had discovered about construction on Hildoria – and Bundnet’s house in particular – was that everything was essentially built of material about as strong as balsa wood and popsicle-sticks.

  So Adam leaped across the hallway, through the blaze of energy bolts, and smashed through the opposite wall with little effort, dragging the dead alien on his arm as he did so.

  Stumbling through a fallen metal shelving unit, Adam found himself in the home’s kitchen area, and as he ran between rows of preparation tables, he continued to try and shake the stuck alien off his arm. At that moment, he could hear the words of Riyad Tarazi echoing in his head, as the Human leader of the Fringe Pirates had told him how Humans were the supermen of the galaxy. As he feverishly tried to dislodge the lifeless guard from his arm, Adam was pretty sure Clark Kent never had to deal with a problem like this…