Hunters: A Trilogy (25 page)

Mike stood up, his movement ending the melancholic moment.

‘When do we move?’ he asked, softly.

His words prompted Ken, who quickly joined his friend in the upright stance to stand quietly whilst he listened to Mike’s next question.

‘How long do we have before we need to go back?’

George answered him immediately. ‘We need you to go tonight, although, if I am to be honest, the sooner you can go the better, we do not have time to waste because the enemy have hidden themselves in some caves near a large lake, the signal from the device is faint and we have no wish to lose them. However, there is time for a meal, if you would like?’

His offer didn’t sound genuine and Ken had the feeling that if George had been wearing a watch, then he would have been glancing nervously at it. The old man’s sense of eagerness was almost palpable. Mike must have seen the impatience in George as clearly as Ken had.

‘Nah, let’s just do this now, shall we, Ken, eh?’ he said, with a soft laugh. ‘One Spear each and its tally-fucking-ho, chaps!’ He grinned infectiously at his partner, and then unexpectedly extended his hand.

Ken shook it and then paused as he listened to Mike saying that he would see him on the other side. The strange phrase made him blink. The thought alarmed him. ‘The other side...yeah, sure, Mikey, wherever the hell that is going to be, the other side?’ Once more the feeling of being an outsider, of some shared secrets held between George and Mike, washed over Ken. He shoved the thoughts away as it was too late for any of that, far too late.

‘Yeah, let’s just get to it, fellas!’ he said, plastering a false smile across his face. The speed with which their imminent, and totally unexpected, departure had arrived, completely threw him off kilter.

Mike stared back at him for a moment, eyes searching Ken’s face. Seeing nothing more than an inane grin, Mike shook his head and bent down to pick up the med pack. Having gathered their belongings, they turned to George. He approached them and embraced both of the big men in his bony arms. His grasp barely went around their sides and only just reached their waist height.

‘Thank you so much,’ he whispered into the front of Ken’s shirt. ‘You are truly magnificent, so quick to learn, such an ambassador for your kind, if only things had been different!’ Ken felt a gentle shudder go through George’s body as he clung to them. Clasping them even tighter, just for a second, George then stepped back and looked up with his eyes shining brightly, not with tears but more as though he was in some kind of fearful anticipation.

‘Two more things,’ he said. ‘Michael, the Stone, the device, it is yours. You will know what to do!’ Turning to Ken, he said, ‘Kenneth, Red is yours and you already know what to do with him – stop him by any means you have, kill him if necessary. You are the only man we know who can do this without being turned by the Darkness!’ He looked into Ken’s face with his eyes alight. Ken saw the utmost ferocity within their blue depths, and with a small shudder of his own, listened as George finished talking to him. ‘But, whatever you do, please ensure when Michael heals the Light Maker that you are looking away – not for one second must you look at it, do you understand?’

George looked so forlorn, standing there under the bright lights with his blue eyes glistening, that Ken very nearly went over and hugged him again. Instead, he stayed put and replied with: ‘Sure thing, George, I’ll turn the other way!’

George smiled and started to walk away. He stopped and turned back, eyes lighting up again. Shaking his head, he said, ‘Oh, before I forget...these are hot off the production line!’ Reaching into his trousers, he pulled two small bags from his pockets and held them out. ‘Wear these for your transfer and at any other time you like, they are of the same design as the vision module on the Spears…’ He waggled the bags and waited impatiently whilst the men approached him again.

Each man took a bag, reached inside and removed the folded pair of dark sunglasses that lay therein. Ken flipped his pair open and put them on. ‘Nothing special there, just normal shades…’ he thought, looking at Mike. His friend laughed and then, dramatically, touched the centre of his glasses above the nose piece. Doing likewise, Ken found himself with his own mini version of the amazing windshield belonging to the Spear. He was able to see right through George, right through the sides of the Cavern, right through almost anything...

‘Make sure they are turned off for your trip to the other side!’ Those words were the only user instructions that George gave them.

Both men did as he ordered, Ken took his lenses and rested them on top of his head. ‘Pretty cool, huh?’ he said, looking at Mike.

They both laughed and then turned for a final goodbye with George.

The old man stepped forward and gave each of them a small key fob, the device was very similar to one that would be used with a normal car, a small black object with a clip on one end and a lens at the other. It came with two buttons on the top, one large and one small, and both were recessed slightly, probably to stop them being accidentally activated.

‘Hoods up please, gentlemen!’ George said, waiting whilst Ken removed the glasses from his head, before helping him extract his previously unseen hood from the collar of his flight suit. Ken pulled the hood up and tightened it with the draw cord. The silken material of the cowl moulded perfectly to the outline of his skull.

Mike turned to him and placed his glasses on, Ken followed his lead, and once he had made some final adjustments to his attire, stood and waited, although what he was actually waiting for was anybody’s guess. He shot a worried glance at Mike, by the looks of things his friend was as calm as a commuter waiting for his daily bus. Mike’s unruffled posture helped Ken to dispel some of the insane thoughts that he was starting to have.

He still felt his heart trying to jump straight out of his chest, though. Mr Tiny tried to speak but Ken silenced him immediately. ‘Shut up, idiot!’ He had no time for fear right now. Taking a breath, he turned and looked back at Mike, who was now talking to him in a measured tone.

‘Point the zapper at your wagon and then push the small button, the Spears are going first, go ahead and zap it mate…’ Mike said, waggling his own zapper in the air.

Following his friend’s instructions, Ken pointed his little fob at the vehicle and then pushed the small button. He watched in fascination as the circling whirlpool of liquid energy appeared again, only this time wrapping itself around the Spear instead of him. The air filled with the sound of tearing water and the huge vehicle seemed almost to blink, just the once, and then it was gone. In a blaze of green light, the Spear had simply disappeared right in front of his eyes. Before Ken had time to say anything, Mike had pushed the button on his remote control and the process was repeated. Accompanied by the sound of a watery rip, the second vehicle shimmered in its whirlpool and flicked out of sight.

Mike moved into the centre of the room. ‘Come and stand next to me, big guy,’ he said, beckoning Ken over with a wave of the hand.

Like a sleepwalker, Ken did as he was asked and joined his friend in the middle of the Cavern. His stomach was churning and the pressure on his chest was only marginally less than the loud pounding in his temples. He heard a whining sound from above and looked up to see that the overhead spot lamps were now reeling downwards. There was a soft clicking sound as the huge lamps ignited, their intense beams illuminating the men below in a pool of brilliant green light. Ken was about to say something along the lines of: ‘Bye, George…’ but he didn’t actually get the chance to say anything in the end.

Without a flinch, George leaned forward and, with a small movement of his hand, zapped the two men. The green lights above them started to whine loudly and a weird thickening sensation filled the air. Ken heard the sound of water and felt the suction pulling him inwards, crushing his chest, he sensed that awful sliding feeling enter his head again, a liquid black dizziness that sent him freefalling into the darkness of unknown worlds.

Then he was gone, gone into the blackness, a blackness that was so dark, it was almost bright. The sensation hurt his eyes with its dazzling intensity. So deep and so black...his head began to hold its own private firework display. It felt as though someone was shining a black spotlight under his eyelids. He heard himself scream, only the once. Then, Ken heard, saw and felt no more. He was into the void, an empty, dreamless, black void.

It was the noisy neighbours who disturbed him, they were shouting up at the window from the pavement outside the London apartment. ‘Ken, Kenny...come back. Hey you, come on, wake up!’ The clamouring racket was about as welcome as a gunshot in a church, he knew that it must be London, nowhere else was as noisy as that bloody place, but he was damned if he was able to remember how he’d ended up there. Ken caught a whiff of his wife’s fragrance – curled up in the blackness he was so comfortable, so warm and so very content.

He didn’t want to get up.

‘Who is making such a racket?’ he thought, reaching out for Jane and fumbling in the darkness for the feel of her soft touch. She wasn’t there and the bed was cold. Noisy bastard just wouldn’t let it go. Ken’s waking thoughts flared with anger. ‘Who the hell is shouting? Goddamned idiot, what the...It’s the middle of the bloody night!’ He tried to cover his head but the sound just wouldn’t go away.

The voice started to become clearer. ‘Hey you...numb nuts, wake up, come on, we have a job to do, let’s go, shake a leg!’

The unceasing noise gave Ken the energy to open his sticky eyelids. He rolled onto his back and looked up at the ceiling. ‘Jane?’ He fumbled for her again. She still wasn’t there, and instead it was the sound of Mike’s voice that yanked him into the present.

‘No, I ain’t Jane, and even if I were I wouldn’t get into bed with an ugly bastard like you! Now...come on, move your arse!’

It was right about then that reality decided to slap Ken right in the face. Struggling against the shocking arrival of truth, he groaned and then gingerly raised himself into the sitting position. ‘What time is it?’ he said, and peered at his watch. It told him nothing and he wasn’t able to focus his eyes on its crystal face.

Mike laughed softly. ‘God only knows, it might be the middle of next week for all I know – are you feeling okay?’ he asked, grinning down at his unhappy partner.

Ken realised the glasses were still on and was more than happy to hide behind their disguise for a while. He felt sure that his eyes were as big as green moons and didn’t quite face any further abuse from Mike, not just yet. With a sigh, he answered: ‘I feel like death warmed-up, I’m gagging for a drink and I think that I might need a couple of those headache pills, too,’ he said, getting to his feet and looking around. The place was familiar and he instantly recognised the curved ceilings with their missing plaster.

‘Great, we’re in the damn Funny House – that’s just bloody marvellous, it’s so
wonderful
to be home!’ he said, with a grimace.

His dry sarcasm tickled Mike. ‘Bloody hell, Ken,’ he said. ‘You’re a right miserable git in the morning!’ He laughed and grabbed Ken’s upper arm, steering him toward the entranceway and saying: ‘Right then, one each, eh?’

Mike pointed to the floor, where, to his sheer amazement, Ken saw the Spears parked side-by-side. They were in the same position as they had been when he’d last seen them, only this time they were in miniature.

He panicked. ‘Now what the hell do we do? We can hardly get in them like that, can we?’ he asked, hesitantly.

Mike looked at him in despair, ‘Where would you be without me, you dummy? All we do is pick them up, take them outside and then zap ‘em...It’s as easy as pie, me old China!’ He bent down and hefted one of the palm-sized vehicles into his hand. Then he said, ‘Mine was the one on the left, I do recall…’

With a long trail of laugher flowing over his broad shoulders, Mike walked towards the door, shouting out as he went. ‘Close your mouth, Ken, you never know where these flies may have been, especially around here!’

Sliding the hood off his head, Ken did exactly that. Slamming his gaping mouth shut, he bent down and retrieved his Spear. It was a solid weight in his hand, more solid then the Dinky toys he had played with as a kid, but still a toy though, surely? Mind whirling, he followed his friend out into the bright light of day to find him standing on the road with the vehicle on the ground in front of him.

Without a word, Mike pushed the button. Once again the whirlpool arrived to do its magic. In two seconds, the Spear had ripped its way back into their normality, with a slight hiss it settled upon its enormous haunches in front of them. Ken didn’t wait to be told, after all, he was a fast learner, or so George had told him. Without further delay, he pushed the button on his own zapper. Seconds later he was left staring in awe at both vehicles that now rested on the road before him. As Ken stood gawping at the vehicles, he was almost sure that he heard the buzz of flies – yes, a whole swarm of them, and they were most likely heading straight towards the inviting chasm of his open mouth.

‘Pretty damn impressive, if you were to ask me…’ Mike’s amazed tone helped to bring Ken back into reality. Still grinning, Mike took the glasses off his face. ‘We don’t need these yet, nor the suits,’ he said.

They slipped off the garments, rolled them into balls, and then stashed the suits and glasses in the rear of the Spears. Once changed, they pulled their rifles out of the bags, chambered a round and left the selectors on single shot. Pistols were habitually placed into their snap holsters, and then clipped into waistbands. Finally, Ken dragged out the holdall containing the sniper rifle and laid it across his passenger seat with the zips of the bag left undone. In typical fashion, their years of training had automatically taken over, and even whilst in the midst of some cranium-exploding reality, the two of them casually carried out the tasks that needed doing without a second thought.

Shutting the tailgate on his Spear, Mike paused, and then looked down at his rifle. ‘Do you reckon we need to wear any body armour?’ he asked.