Chapter 1

The humidity of the mid-August day was high and uncomfortable. I kept unconsciously scratching my stomach and my chest where my shirt touched my skin as I sat in my car waiting and watching. The red welts I was raising with my nails were irritating me. This vacant lot was scoped out about three months ago and only during the past week had I returned to stake it out.

I'm a hunter, at least that's what "they" call me. "They" are those two men who pay me for the prey that I bag for them. I don't ask questions, they don't offer answers but they pay in cash and they pay $50,000 per head. The only items that connect me to them is a garage door opener and a modified dart gun that shoots thin needles with barely a hiss. The narcotic on the tip lasts anywhere from 90 to 120 minutes depending on the size of the target.

Young girls, I hunted girls for them. Sometimes they would ask me to find a specific type or age, other times they were just as happy with whatever I brought in.

In this age of national identity cards, camera feeds, and chemical sniffer modules, about 5000 people still disappear each year in the United States. I can personally account for twelve of them each of the last three years. Yep, do the math, I am worth about $1.8 million but I drive a dated car with cloth seats, a crappy radio, and a grey, faded paint job. My apartment isn't any better. I'm a solitary hunter, no friends to speak of, and a complete camouflage that no one has penetrated since I took this contract. Because takes about a month to chase down and nab a target, twelve a year a good hunt.

A mark appeared from the back of the lot. The property backed up to the little shopping district on the other side of the buildings. One of businesses was a convenience store with soda and candy put out just for those kids with a buck or two in their pockets. The girl appeared to be about twelve years old with brown hair pulled back into a single pony tail. She wore a midriff blouse that showed off her small tits and shorts. As she came down the path through the trodden weeds, I glanced both ways and saw only a deserted street with closed warehouses and garages. Sighting my oblivious target with a laser as she drew near the sidewalk, I popped a needle through the open window into her neck. She went straight down.

Scooping her up, I threw her in the back seat and drove calmly away. The drop off point was about 40 minutes away and I matched the speed of the traffic on the Jersey highway. Pulling up to the garage, I pressed the button on the garage door opener. The door went up, quick, and revealed a bare room except some shelves with two paint cans, a garbage can and two doors. Once inside, I hit the button again and door went down just a fast. Pulling the unconscious girl from the car, I waited for the back door to open as usual but it didn't. Strange.

Suddenly the garbage can wobbled and slid to one side and revealed an opening in the floor.

A man I didn't recognize popped up and saw me, froze for an instant and barked, "Good, help me!. Put her down and leave her. Help me get this one up."

I dropped the dead weight and ran over as he crawled out of the hole. We both reached back in and grabbed a teenaged girl with black hair and pulled her up from the ladder that was bolted to the wall. As we pulled her free, I heard a minor explosion from down below followed by a burst of automatic fire. I fell backwards when chips of concrete shot out from wall below.

"Fuck it!" The man shouted. "Take care of her," and he pushed the black haired girl towards me. He slammed the hidden door back into place and ran out the side door into the alley. I pulled the girl into the car and hit the button. I backed out quickly but jerked short, when a BMW shot out of the alley and tore off like a bat out hell down the street. I hit the button again and caught a glimpse of smoke wafting from the floor near to my unrecompensed prey as the door slammed down.

Taking the hint to flee immediately, I turned the other direction from Mr. "Fuck it" and quickly but calmly drove off in the opposite direction. My heart was racing and my foot wanted to slam down on the accelerator, but I resisted. Speeders stand out in traffic. After five minutes, no sirens or flashing lights appeared and I breathed a sigh of relief.

The car was cruising nonchalantly through the neighborhoods but my mind was racing. 'What did he mean, "take care of her"? Did he mean dispose of her or watch after her.'

I may hunt but I don't kill, at least not any more. The girl could be dropped off on a street corner by a suburban mall and the matter would be done or she could stay with me. I decided not to choose for the moment.

My best guess was that Mr. "Fuck it" was dead meat; if that was the cops or the feds, they wouldn't miss a speeding BMW. He was heading for the turnpike, the dumbass, the tollbooth registers the vehicle, the license plate and your face as the car goes through. Amateur.

The girl was quiet and staring ahead. I returned to the problem next to me. "What's your name?" I growled.

"Hi. I always wanted to meet a man like you," She replied with a big smile.

That was odd. I asked her name again and she gave me the same answer. Confused and clueless, I turned the car into a small warehouse where I rented space. Parking the car, I moved the girl to my backup vehicle along with my few belongings. I wiped down the car with Windex, which I figured was only a stopgap with the sensitivity of sniffers these days.

My backup was a tan, two year old sedan with a pay radio receiver in the glove compartment that plugged into the microdisk player. Girl in tow, I drove next to the self-storage lot and pulled two duffle bags from the closet I rented. One contained all of the cash and the second held my former life. Walter James the hunter was disappearing; Jamison Hughes, the forgettable, honorably discharged Army veteran was returning to society. Walter paid the last bill of his life and terminated the contract.