Hunter's Games

by James P. Sumner

  Very nice!

  “Adrian Hell?” he asks. His voice is low and deliberate.

  I lower my gun a little. “Yeah, who’s asking?” I say.

  “We are Red Dragon.”

  “So you’re Jak Soo Yung?”

  He nods.

  I look over at Turner, who looks furious and frightened at the same time. He’s glaring at me.

  “I can’t believe you’re Adrian Hell!” he snarls through gritted teeth.

  I smile and shrug. “My reputation clearly precedes me. I’m sorry, Jo-Jo. All this is kinda my fault. You see, I told Mr. Yung here your secret—that you’re really an undercover Fed. That’s why he’s so pissed off.”

  His mouth opens and his eyes widen, shocked and appalled at the insinuation.

  “What? No I’m not!” he protests. He looks at Soo Yung, fear flickering into his eyes.

  “Jak, I’m not a cop—you know me!” he pleads. “We’ve done business together for years.”

  Soo Yung looks at me as he adjusts his grip on his Browning. He raises an eyebrow.

  “Hey, this is nothing to do with me,” I say. “Check out his computer if you don’t believe me.”

  Soo Yung looks past everyone to the old man and nods. The old man stands and pushes past Turner, then his men, then me, and sits down at the table, spinning the laptop in front of him and tapping away on the keyboard.

  He quickly finds the FBI file on Red Dragon. He shouts in Chinese—presumably cursing and looks at Soo Yung. He strides over and looks at the screen himself.

  “What? What are you looking at?” asks Turner, panicking. He looks at me. “What the fuck have you done?”

  “I think they’ve just found the FBI file you’ve been keeping on them on your computer,” I say.

  “That’s ridiculous! I don’t have a—”

  The old man interrupts him; he pushes past me and walks over to him, grabbing him by the back of the neck, and ushering him across the room to the table. He forces him into one of the chairs and moves the laptop in front of him, jabbing angrily at the screen.

  “You undercover?” asks the old man.

  Turner looks at the screen and his eyes go wide as he reads the file.

  I smile to myself.

  Gotcha.

  “You sonofabitch!” he yells at me. “You did this!”

  I shrug and look at Soo Yung. “I don’t know what he’s talking about,” I say. “But I’m not happy he’s giving your details to the FBI… he must be giving mine too.”

  I level my Desert Eagle at him.

  Doing this prompts everyone else to raise their guns too, causing a loud, metallic noise as multiple weapons simultaneously cock and take aim. Soo Yung levels his Browning at me. I look behind me and one of the three men in suits is aiming at Turner’s muscle. The other two have one gun on me, one on Turner.

  “Well, this is exciting, isn’t it?” I say with a smile.

  “You dead man,” Yung says to me.

  “Oh, are we still not okay?” I ask. “That’s… disappointing.”

  I move my gun and aim at Soo Yung.

  “Here’s what I propose… I’m going to walk out of here and you have my word you’ll never see me again. You can feel free to dispose of Mr. Turner here and destroy the FBI file, so you guys are in the clear. Everybody wins. Sound good?”

  He aims his gun at me.

  “No. You dead man. Nobody disrespect the Red Dragon!”

  I see Turner sitting at the table getting twitchy out of the corner of my eye. I think he’s getting ready to make a move… But what move can he make? He’s got one man with him, unarmed. He’s sitting down, unarmed. There are three Triad men with guns on the pair of them, and I’m in a standoff with the leader of the Triad. He’ll be dead before he takes a step.

  I see his right arm moving slightly and his hand’s under the table.

  That sneaky bastard’s got a gun under there, hasn’t he?

  I turn and look at him, raising an eyebrow. He smiles back at me and confirms my suspicions.

  Soo Yung is maybe four feet away from me. Arm’s length at a stretch. It’s the three guys behind me I’m worried about…

  I glance at Turner again and he’s ready to make his move.

  I’ve got to play this just right…

  I lunge forward, dropping and driving my left shoulder into Soo Yung’s thighs. I aim blindly behind me with my right and fire off a couple of rounds at the men behind me—the blast of the Desert Eagle is deafening in the quiet apartment. I don’t see if I hit anyone.

  As we hit the deck, Soo Yung grunts under my weight. A thunderous blast sounds behind me. I roll onto my back and look over to see Turner standing with a sawn-off double-barreled shotgun in his hand. Smoke is whispering out of the ends and the old man is on the floor—his head has pretty much evaporated and there’s a large pool of thick crimson all around him.

  I take my aim at Turner just as he fires at the three men in the center of the room. His blast takes out two of the men at the same moment I fire, hitting him in the shoulder, and nearly severing his left arm. He flies backward to the floor and I scramble to my feet at the exact moment Soo Yung does.

  Side by side with little room to maneuver, I drop my gun and grab him with both hands around the head, clasping them together and pulling him down toward me. I drive my right knee up to meet him and feel his jaw dislocate from the impact. I let go and he slumps to the floor, dropping his weapon.

  I crouch to retrieve it as a bullet flies over my head. I spin around to see the remaining Triad member taking aim at me. I raise the Browning that Soo Yung dropped and fire three rounds, hitting the guy in the chest.

  I stand for a moment, holding the gun ready while I let the scene settle. The echoes of the gunfire fade away and I hear a groaning off to my right. I look over and Turner is slumped against the wall, sitting upright on the floor holding his left shoulder.

  “Well, that was fun,” I say to him.

  He’s lost a lot of blood and is fighting to stay conscious.

  “What the… fuck, man?” he manages to say. “Why did… you… do this?”

  I walk over and squat down next to him, gesturing with the gun as I talk.

  “Well, initially, this was about the Remington,” I explain. “The one you sold the other day? The guy who bought it used it to shoot a friend of mine and I want to find the sonofabitch.”

  “That’s not… my fault…”

  “I never said it was. But along the way, I managed to piss off these Red Dragon assholes. When I found out they do business with you as well, I thought I’d kill two birds with one stone.”

  He smiles; his mouth is filled with blood. “You’ll never… get out of here… alive,” he says.

  “Don’t you worry yourself about that—I’ll think of something.”

  I place the barrel of the Browning Hi-Power against his left temple and rest my finger on the trigger. “Any last words?” I ask him.

  He turns his head slightly and looks at me. “Fuck… you…”

  I smile. “Original…”

  I squeeze the trigger and blow the right side of his head clean off. He falls away from me, landing heavily on the floor among the parts of his head and brain that’s exploded across the floor.

  I stand and walk over to Soo Yung, who’s out cold but not dead. I tap his foot with mine, but I get nothing.

  I look around the apartment. The three half-naked women are still sitting on the sofa, very much alive, if only in the biological sense of the word. The one on the left is covered in the blood of… someone—I don’t know who. They’re giggling to themselves, seemingly unaware of what’s been happening around them.

  I should really try to help them get out of here… but I just can’t find it in me to do it. These three are nothing but a colossal waste of life. I’ll let fate decide what happens to them.

  I walk out of the apartment and into the corridor. There’s a sea of bodies—both Red Dragon and Turner’s men, lead
ing from the doorway down to the elevators and the stairs.

  Jesus—it’s like a goddamn slaughterhouse in here!

  I navigate the minefield of corpses and stand at the top of the stairs. I look over the handrail, all the way down to the first floor. From what I can see, pretty much every floor is the same. I can hear voices below—sounds like some Triads are still alive, which means they’ll be coming to re-group with their Boss. I look at the Browning in my hand, which has maybe seven rounds left in it.

  Hmmm… the numbers are against me. How the hell am I getting out of here?

  Oooo, light bulb moment!

  I rush back to Turner’s apartment, stepping over Soo Yung’s still unconscious body and over into the kitchenette. I quickly raid the cupboards, looking for something useful. I find two bottles of vodka and a pack of cigarettes with a lighter.

  I smile. These will do nicely.

  I tuck the Browning in my waistband at the back and move over to the oven, turning all the gas burners on full. I grab both bottles of vodka in one hand and the lighter in the other and turn to walk out of the apartment.

  I glance over at the women on the sofa. Two of them have passed out and the third one is looking at me curiously.

  “You might want to consider getting out of here,” I say to her, but she doesn’t reply.

  I shrug and walk away. “Suit yourself…” I mutter.

  I walk toward the door but Soo Yung stops me, grabbing my ankle as I walk past. I look down at him and see he’s trying to say something, but he can’t get the words out because of the dislocated jaw. I kick him in the face with my other foot.

  “Piss off,” I say to him.

  I stand in the doorway and tuck one bottle under my arm, as I open the other, and pour it on the floor just inside the room. Walking backward down the hall and toward the elevator, I pour a thin trail of vodka as I do.

  I reach the handrail by the stairs and can hear shouting below me. I quickly glance over the edge and see at least ten guys running up the stairs toward me—all Triad.

  I empty the bottle and open the second one, pouring a small pool of it at the top of the stairs before trailing it back to the elevators. I place it on the ground and, using my fingertips, force the doors of the elevator open. I slide them apart and look down the ten story shaft, glimpsing the roof of the elevator below. I let out a heavy sigh.

  Heights have never been a favorite of mine… I haven’t really thought this through have I?

  I hear the noise of the men getting closer behind me.

  Well, no time for fear now.

  I finish emptying the second vodka bottle on the floor by the doors and without thinking, I step out into the abyss, grabbing hold of the thick cables running down the center of the shaft. I grip them tightly and wrap my feet around it. Putting one hand underneath the other, I slowly move myself down. I stop when my head’s level with the floor and get the lighter, flicking it on and holding it for a moment, watching the flame flickering in my hand.

  I glance down and close my eyes briefly, steeling myself for what is going to have to be a very quick descent.

  I open my eyes again and throw the lighter up through the doors. I hear the faint whooshing sound as the trail of vodka catches fire.

  Time to go!

  As quickly as I dare, I climb down the cables. My hands soon start to sting and burn, but I ignore it. I’m keeping count of how many sets of doors I pass, so I know how far down I am without having to look below me.

  I’ve just passed the fifth floor.

  I hear screaming above me. I’ve got just a few more seconds before that trail of alcohol leads the flame into the apartment filled with gas… With a bit of luck, the remaining Triad men will make it in there just in time.

  Third floor.

  The cable shakes as I hear the explosion, almost causing me to lose my grip. Looking up, I see a huge fireball enter the shaft and force its way down toward me.

  Oh shit!

  I start to fall. Looking up again, the cable whips and lashes toward me, being chased by a cloud of fire. The blast must have snapped it…

  Thankfully, I don’t have that far to fall, but it’s still close to two floors. I land heavily on the roof of the elevator, pain instantly shooting through my entire body. I wince, but I know I have very little time to get out of here. I scramble to my feet and stomp on the security vent on the roof. It takes me three kicks, but it eventually falls into the elevator. Quickly, I jump into it, diving through the open doors and into the lobby. As I land, the explosion completely engulfs the elevator shaft and billows out behind me.

  There’s a loud roar as the flames rush over me. I cover my head with my hands and make myself as flat as possible. The heat scorches my skin, and the stench of burnt vodka and flesh stings my nostrils.

  After a few seconds, it’s over.

  I push myself up and rest on all fours, catching my breath. My arms are burning from the workout of climbing down the cable. It seems I’m not as light as I used to be…

  I look up at the front door, only to see the large twins both standing with their mouths open, in complete shock.

  Speaking of not being as light as we used to be...

  I stand up, dust myself down and stretch to crack my neck and back. I draw Soo Yung’s gold Browning and level it at the pair of them.

  “Okay, here’s the deal,” I say. “I’ve had a really bad day. I’ve just killed Joseph Turner and most of the Red Dragon Triad—including its boss, Jak Soo Yung. Before that, they killed the majority of Turner’s men. I’ve also just blown up probably the top three floors of the building, hopefully killing any stragglers. I can’t be bothered fighting with you two, and trust me, you two don’t wanna try to fight with me, either. What say we all forget we saw one another, and we live to see another day?”

  They look at each other, and then throw their guns down, turning and running for the main doors. Well, I say ‘running’... it’s more like an awkward waddle, but you get the idea.

  I breathe a sigh of relief and walk slowly out of the main doors.

  13.

  13:40

  I’M SITTING IN the conference room in the FBI Field Office, at the head of the table at the far end, with the TV behind me. To my immediate left and right are Agents Wallis and Johnson respectively. At the opposite end of the table is Agent Chambers.

  The mood is… tense, shall we say.

  I’d walked out of Turner’s apartment building and seen bodies—and bits of bodies—littering the sidewalk. I looked up and saw the top of the building on fire. Must’ve been the top three floors easily.

  I smiled to myself, walked back to the car, climbed in the back beside Johnson, and we’d sped off as fire crews and local police began showing up.

  We made our way back to the Field Office and I was ushered into this room with very little interaction from anyone. The three of them disappeared for a while and only came back a few minutes ago.

  Chambers stands and leans on the desk, looking at me with disappointment in her eyes.

  “Adrian, we trusted you,” she says. “What the hell happened in there?”

  I shrug. “It went south,” I reply. “It started off alright—Jak Soo Yung arrived just as I was conducting the deal with Turner. I managed to plant the file on Turner’s laptop, and Soo Yung found it like I’d hoped he would.”

  “So what went wrong?” asks Wallis.

  “The Red Dragon came a little more prepared than I anticipated. They brought a goddamn army with them—must’ve taken out nearly all of Turner’s men and were coming for me. I had no choice but to fight my way out.”

  Chambers sits down again and massages her temples, struggling to get her head around what’s happened.

  “Adrian, you killed one of the largest black market weapons dealers in the country and single-handedly destroyed an entire Triad operation,” she says. “The repercussions this will have on the streets don’t bear thinking about. What have you got to say for yourself?�
��

  I shrug. “I don’t know… you’re welcome?”

  She shakes her head and leans back in her chair and the room falls awkwardly silent.

  “Did you find anything out from Turner about Pellaggio?’ asks Wallis after a moment”

  I reach down and take off my shoe, sliding the heel back and taking out the USB drive. I slide it over to him.

  “What’s this?” he asks.

  “I found it on his laptop,” I say. “Well, on an external server. It’s a rather long shopping list of disturbingly high-quality weaponry and tech—including a Remington—from a few days ago, along with an address where Turner delivered them.”

  The agents exchange looks and Wallis gets up and leaves the room.

  “At least you did something right,” mutters Johnson, a little too loudly.

  “Hey, it was either that or die in there,” I say. “Sorry I chose not to sacrifice my life for the sake of your bureaucracy.”

  “Cut it out, the pair of you,” says Chambers. “This isn’t the time. We need to focus on finding Pellaggio and stopping him before anyone else dies.”

  Wallis re-enters holding a laptop. He sits back down without a word and opens the lid, connecting it via a cable that allows his screen to be displayed on the TV behind me. He connects the USB drive and opens up the file it contains.

  Silence falls as the three of them stare at the screen behind me, reading through the list. I watch Chambers. I see her expression change, as mine had when I read it.

  “I don’t even know what half of this stuff is,” she says.

  “It’s all bad, trust me,” I explain. “Especially in Pellaggio’s hands.”

  They all finish reading and look at each other, worrying as the numerous possibilities of what this stuff could be used for crosses their minds.

  “Right, Johnson, I want eyes on that address,” says Chambers after a moment. “Get me a real-time feed, plus still images going back seven days at thirty minute intervals. If he’s there, I want to see what he’s doing. If he’s moved on, I want to know when, and where to.”