The Secret Gift

by Ian Somers

  ‘I got it about five years ago. Romand and I were investigating a rumour that a major drug dealer in Birmingham was actually gifted and using that gift to rise to the top of the criminal class. We eventually cornered him in a flat complex and he came out fighting. We had no choice but to take extreme measures.’

  ‘You killed him?’

  ‘Romand was the one who struck the final blow. We were about to move on when we discovered the reason why he’d decided that a fight against two Guild agents was a good idea. He’d hidden a lot of drug money in the bedroom of the flat.’

  ‘How much?’

  ‘Just over five hundred thousand pounds.’

  ‘And you took it all?’

  ‘I took half. Romand took half. It was during a time that the Guild was awash with money and we felt they wouldn’t need it. If we’d left the cash at the apartment, the police would have taken it and chucked it into the black hole of the government coffers. It was a golden opportunity for us to have a pension that the Guild couldn’t dig into whenever it needed to finance some expedition or survey or study. We’d risked our lives more times than I care to remember and we bloody well deserved that money.’

  ‘What did Romand do with his half?’

  ‘He never told me. Although, I suspect he squandered it on his private quest to capture Marianne Dolloway. I was more sensible with my share. I sat on it for a couple of years then used a portion of it to buy the house near Hornsea.’

  ‘I was right about you, Hunter. You are a common criminal.’

  ‘More like Robin Hood actually.’

  ‘He used to give his money away, not purchase beach front property with it.’

  ‘I didn’t spend it all on the house. The rest of the cash is buried under the shed in the back garden. Remember that in case you’re ever in dire straits.’

  Our conversation was interrupted when the waitress brought us our breakfast and coffee. I don’t think I’d ever eaten so much in such a short space of time. Hunter was only half way through his as I’d pushed my plate to the centre of the table and washed down the last mouthful of beans with my coffee.

  ‘You’ll give yourself indigestion eating that fast,’ Hunter mumbled. ‘You need to learn patience in everything you do. The way you use your gifts, the way you deal with your personal life and the manner in which you fight.’

  ‘Spare me your advice, Hunter. I bet you were just as bad when you were my age.’

  ‘I was,’ he nodded. ‘That’s what qualifies me to lecture you on such matters. I can help you to avoid the mistakes I made.’

  ‘Lecture me some other time.’ I took a sip from my cup and leaned back into the leather couch. ‘What are we going to do if Canavan can’t shed any light on what’s been going on?’

  ‘We’ll track down Ballentine and make him talk.’

  ‘So you’ve decided that he’s the traitor?’

  ‘Remember the hit list?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Obviously you don’t remember it as well as I do.’ He laid down his knife and fork, wiped his mouth with a napkin then leaned forward and lowered his voice. ‘Everyone on the list had a status. Each agent was either a high or mid priority target. Everyone except Ballentine, that is. He was classed as undetermined.’

  ‘I suppose that is quite incriminating.’

  ‘It’s damning, Bentley. Damning. There were also code names that the enemy created for each person on the list. Ballentine’s was Chimera.’

  ‘What’s a Chimera?’

  ‘Two-headed beast from Greek mythology.’

  ‘Two-headed is different than two-faced.’

  ‘I took it to mean that he is playing both sides.’

  ‘Then why would he be on the list in the first place?’

  ‘He might have been on the original list, before they turned him.’

  ‘This is becoming very far-fetched, Hunter.’

  ‘I’m quite sure he’s our man.’

  ‘Can we handle him?’

  ‘Yes,’ he nodded. ‘We can handle him together. But let’s not concern ourselves with all that right now. First we go to Canavan and see what she knows. Now is not the time to get worked up for a fight.’

  ‘It might be …’

  ‘Hmm?’

  ‘Look at that.’ I pointed out the window at a helicopter that was high up over the filling station. It was just hovering in the one spot, hundreds of feet above the road outside. ‘I had a strange feeling back in Liverpool that a helicopter was following us. Then it disappeared from sight and I didn’t give it any more thought.’

  ‘It’s the same helicopter?’

  ‘I can’t say for certain. It is definitely the same model and colour.’ I turned from the window and looked Hunter dead in the eye. ‘It’s too much of a coincidence, right?’

  ‘I would say so.’ Hunter finished his coffee as he watched the helicopter circling like a vulture waiting for an injured animal to finally collapse so it could swoop down to feast. ‘I know a little about helicopters. That model is usually used by television stations. It’s not fast. I doubt it could manage more than 150kmph.’

  ‘Then we should be able to outrun it on the kinetibike.’

  ‘That sounds like a good plan.’ I could tell by the way he shook his left hand that he had created a cloak for us. ‘Come on,’ he said quietly, ‘let’s get the hell out of here.’

  We made our way to the door as the staff stared at the empty booth, shaking their heads and pointing. Normally Hunter wouldn’t have been so blatant in his use of light-tuning, but the arrival of the helicopter made such things seem trivial. We had been followed from the port, despite being cloaked for much of the way. Our situation was becoming precarious.

  By the time we reached the side of the road we saw how precarious it truly was.

  There were two more helicopters approaching fast from the east. These were lower to the ground and larger, certainly not the type of craft used by TV stations. These had the unmistakable characteristics of military helicopters. Hunter seemed stunned. He stopped in the centre of the road and watched them gliding over the landscape with wide eyes.

  ‘This is not good,’ he breathed. ‘Not good at all.’

  ‘British army?’

  ‘No, they’re not used by the British military. They’re KA50 Black Sharks. We’re in big trouble here. They’ll have heat sensitive cameras and will be able to see through any invisibility cloak.’

  ‘We can’t hide from them?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘How fast can they travel?’

  ‘Over 320kmph.’

  ‘I might not be able to outrun them.’

  ‘You’ll have to. We certainly won’t stand a chance if we try to fight them.’

  We were so preoccupied by the helicopters that we didn’t pay much attention to a dark coloured 4x4 speeding up the road. My attention turned to the approaching vehicle when my precognitive gift became active once again. My entire body tingled with fear as I watched it slide to a halt about twenty metres away. My blood ran cold as I watched an unusually tall and robust man climb out of the passenger seat.

  ‘Hunter, look!’ I gasped. ‘What the hell is that?’

  We both watched as the figure came into full view. He must have been seven feet tall and was built like a house. His attire was military in style and on his head he wore a black cowl that cast a deep shadow over his face and accentuated his glowing green eyes. I couldn’t even believe it at first. His eyes were actually glowing.

  ‘Bentley,’ Hunter said to me quietly. ‘I’ll hold him off while you make a run for the kinetibike.’

  ‘No, it’d be better to fight him together.’

  ‘You can’t fight him!’ he snapped. ‘Neither of us can. All I can do is delay him.’

  The tall figure was striding confidently along the road towards us. Then he spoke, and for a moment I thought I was hearing the sick mechanical voice of Edward Zalech; it had that same emotionless and robotic tone as my old nemesis. It w
asn’t him, though. This was someone, or something, altogether new to me.

  ‘Ah, this is a moment to savour,’ the monster called out as he drew near. ‘I finally come face to face with the infamous Michael Huntington.’

  ‘You should have stayed in hiding,’ Hunter shouted defiantly. ‘You just made a big mistake, pal.’

  ‘I have no need to hide from anyone. You should know that by now.’

  ‘I’ve already had enough of this conversation,’ Hunter spat. ‘Let’s see if you live up to your reputation.’

  Hunter’s reactions were lightning fast. He used his psychokinesis to pull down the power lines that criss-crossed above the road. They rolled and whipped through the air as if they had a life of their own. Within seconds they had wrapped themselves around the tall stranger and an immense burst of electricity flowed through them that brought him to his knees. Hunter was using his gift of electro-psyching to channel so much electricity through the cables that the assassin should have been set alight. Yet he was still alive and struggling with all his strength.

  ‘Bentley,’ Hunter shouted over the zapping sounds of the electrical cloud, ‘get to the bike. I can’t hold him much longer!’

  I ran as fast as I could across the courtyard of the filling station. There were people standing by their cars staring at Hunter and the giant, others looked disbelievingly at the two Black Sharks that were now only a few hundred feet away. I barged them out of my way and sprinted to the car park at the rear of the building and dragged the kinetibike off its kickstand.

  By the time I jumped on the saddle there was a shuddering sound in the air. The helicopters had opened fire and a line of bullets swept across the ground next to me and peppered the side of the building. I reacted out of instinct and shot out a slice of energy at the approaching crafts. I actually saw the air in front of the lead helicopter rippling as the kinetic slice struck what appeared to be an invisible barrier of some kind. These were no normal helicopters. These were specifically designed to hunt and kill the gifted. Golding Scientific had indeed been busy.

  Another volley of bullets ripped up the concrete car park and almost sent me off the bike. Once more I shot out a bolt of energy at the lead helicopter, and once more my assault was deflected. I was in luck this time. The bolt of energy ricocheted off the shield and shot towards the second of the Black Sharks. I saw its tail snapping away from the main body and it went into a violent spin, almost taking out the lead helicopter. This was my opportunity to escape. I channelled energy into the kinetibike and it skidded forward across the car park as the Black Shark nosedived onto the road. There was a powerful explosion on impact and I barely evaded the flames as they spewed along the road.

  The tall assassin was back on his feet and, although his arms were still braced against his body by the tangle of power lines, he was stalking forward once more. I yelled out at Hunter as I drove towards them and he released the heavy metal cables and leaped onto the back of the bike as I made my pass. I pushed as much energy into the bike as I could and we accelerated so fast that I thought my face would be left behind. We were just fast enough to evade our attacker as he snapped the cables with his powerful arms and reached out for us.

  We hit top speed in under a minute but the remaining Black Shark was catching up fast. Hunter instructed me to drive onto the motorway and I foolishly thought that the helicopter wouldn’t attack us on a roadway as busy as the M62. I was very wrong. We’d only gotten a few miles away from the filling station when the first line of bullets darted over our heads and cut a number of vehicles to shreds. We powered past the cars as they spun and broke apart, the drivers and passengers helplessly tossed onto the road, their screams quenched when a petrol tank of one of the cars exploded.

  Then another blast went off just behind us. I instinctively knew this was no exploding car. There were missiles being fired on us. I screamed at Hunter to use his powers to bring down the helicopter. He tried everything he could and still the terror in the sky remained. Its shield had repelled Hunter’s every effort to destroy it.

  ‘Hunter, look up ahead,’ I shouted. ‘The pylons!’

  ‘I’ll try!’ he roared back. ‘I’m all out of ideas if this fails.’

  There was a line of mighty electrical pylons ahead, with one standing no more than twenty yards from the edge of the road. I glanced in the side mirror to see the Black Shark bearing down on us. My precognitive gift was warning me of imminent danger. I was just about to close my eyes and get ready to meet my maker when the pylon to the right cracked in half – Hunter was using his gifts to drag it down onto the road.

  There was an almighty blast as the helicopter slammed into the metal pylon and its twin rotors got entangled in the power lines. It spun through the air as it caught fire and smashed onto the road with a terrible bang. We were travelling at such speed that the flames disappeared from the side mirror within seconds. Then for a fleeting moment I thought we were out of harm’s way. I was wrong.

  I glanced in the side mirror again and saw a black shape speeding along the motorway. It was growing bigger in the mirror which meant it was gaining on us, despite the fact that I was driving the bike at its top speed. There was only one type of vehicle that could move as fast a kinetibike. Another kinetibike.

  The kinetirider was catching up on us. His bike had to be a more advanced model than my own. And I had a feeling that it might even be shielded by the same type of defence system as the Black Sharks.

  ‘Bentley,’ Hunter shouted in my ear, ‘we’ve got company!’

  ‘I know. See if you can discourage him.’

  I could feel the reverberations of Hunter’s assaults and could also see in the mirrors that they had little or no effect on the kinetirider. He was much closer now, and I could see he was wearing black clothing which was very similar to the outfit that Irena Hofer wore when I fought her under the Golding Plaza hotel. This meant the rider was immune to psychokinetic strikes. It seemed we were hopelessly outmatched. And before long I realised that the good guys are always at a disadvantage. We didn’t use civilians as weapons. Our foe did.

  I watched a car far up ahead wobbling across the road before it leaned to one side and toppled over. It was an unnatural movement and obviously the psychokinetic rider had used his gift to force the car into our path. I was skilful enough to dodge the tumbling vehicle. It was much more difficult to evade the next vehicle that spun into my path. Eventually I had to use my powers to brush the vehicles aside as they were thrown directly at me. I could hear the passengers screaming as I shot out power to knock them out of our way. For a moment I considered giving in and allowing one of the vehicles to hit us; how many people would have to suffer and die so we could survive for a few seconds more?

  ‘Look,’ Hunter shouted. ‘Up ahead. The bridge!’

  I stared at an overpass that we were approaching. This would be our only chance of escape. Out of nowhere a motorcycle ahead of us rose up on its front wheel and the driver fell off as it left the ground and came spinning right at me. I raised one finger and sent out a slight cushion of energy that deflected the motorcycle above my head. Our pursuer had to act fast to avoid the flying bike. He had been distracted for a couple of seconds and that’s all I needed.

  The kinetirider never even saw the end coming. While he was distracted I shot as much energy I had into the bike and we powered ahead of our pursuer as we drove through the overpasses. As we were swallowed by its shadow I used my gift to crack the concrete above and it crumbled just as we met sunlight again. The black rider was crushed as the overpass collapsed under its own weight.

  There was open road ahead and no more assassins behind. I didn’t slow down until we were by the coast – on the other side of the country.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  War

  Canavan’s home was a few miles north of Hornsea and overlooked a strip of sandy beach that was being battered by a turbulent sea crashing in from the east. It was a small, two-storey abode with white washed walls
and a terracotta roof, and was surrounded by a circle of rowan trees. A fitting retirement home for someone who had dedicated her life to the Guild. It was peaceful and seemed safe enough, although nowhere was truly safe for us that day, not with the type of evil that was searching for us.

  I wheeled the bike into the shade of the trees to hide it from view, then followed Hunter inside. Darkness was setting in and the house was frigid and unwelcoming. That didn’t bother me in the slightest; I was more concerned that we might have been followed and I remained by the sitting room window for a long while, watching the sky and the road for any unwanted visitors. When I felt sure that we’d escaped our enemy for the time being I went to the kitchen to find Hunter rummaging through the cupboards. He was complaining that there was no coffee. Sometimes I felt as if I didn’t know him at all. We’d just been chased across England by attack helicopters and a kinetirider, many innocent people had been either killed or seriously injured and all Hunter cared about was having a cup of coffee. And that wasn’t the worst of it! We’d faced some sort of monster on the road outside the filling station. He barely looked human. No man has glowing eyes. No one could withstand the electricity that had been driven into him. This was an enemy like no other, and I had a good idea as to his real identity. I wasn’t going to be a fool any longer. I wanted answers and I wanted them right away.

  ‘Ah, I think a shot of whiskey is in order,’ Hunter said as pulled a dusty bottle of scotch from a cabinet over the sink. ‘I knew this would come in handy some day.’

  I used my gift to pull the bottle from his grasp and it flew across the kitchen into my hands. Then I summoned a much more potent power and knocked Hunter off his feet and across the room. The crush layer was so strong that he couldn’t peel himself more than an inch from the wall.

  ‘You better tell me right now what’s going on or I’ll kill you,’ I snapped. ‘You’ve led me into the heart of this war and you’ve been lying all along.’

  ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about, Bentley,’ he hissed at me. ‘Release me before I lose my temper.’