Jason Pinter - The Hunters

Jack did a brief inventory of the items on his desk:

– one printer, not hooked up

– two empty picture frames

– one picture of his old dog, Bubbles, who had been more of a partner than any of his wives

– one beer mug, still with alcohol residue staining the bottom. It was a miracle fungus had not begun to grow from it.

– between two heavy paperweights, first printings of the American editions of each of his books

His old desk at the Gazette was a third of the size, but had three times as many items on it. Fitting, he supposed, since work was really where his life took place. That was where he kept newspaper clippings, notebooks, important phone numbers. It was at home where Jack ceased to function properly. At work Jack had everything he could possibly need.

Jack went over and plucked out a hardcover copy of Through the Darkness. He hadn’t picked up the book in years. He remembered all the aching late nights, spent hunched over a typewriter while the sun rose outside of the crummy one-bedroom apartment he rented in Hell’s Kitchen. At the time Jack remembered hating it, but looking back, he couldn’t think of any fonder memories.

He remembered the pride he felt when he sent the finished manuscript to his publisher, and the letter he received from his editor just days later with just one sentence on it:

This book is an American classic, and we will be honored to publish it as such.

Jack found a paperback copy on his shelf and read all the glowing praise reviewers had heaped upon it. He felt a swell of pride. This book was him, something he’d poured his heart and soul into and could never be taken away. The book was truth, it was light, and it was everything he could have been.

Only the book wasn’t finished.

The Fury was out there, Jack was sure of it. He slipped the paperback onto the shelf and placed the hardcover gently back between the other books. He sat down at his desk. It was late. Much later than he’d stayed up in a long time, at least, the latest he’d stayed up while also sober.

It felt good.

Jack was nervous. Nervous about tomorrow, about seeing Henry, about what they would find.

He hadn’t felt truly nervous in a long, long time.

Jack O’Donnell sat in that chair, folded his hands behind his head and decided he would try to stay awake to watch the sun rise.

At three in the morning, the blond man left an apartment building in Chelsea and tucked his shirt back in. His breathing was slightly elevated. He hadn’t expected the chemist to fight back.

Over the years, the man named Malloy had seen many people die. He could usually tell from a glance just how people would react when faced with death, and how readily they would accept it.

The chemist he had just killed was a scrawny man without an ounce of muscle on him. He’d spent his life in a lab, poring over texts and notebooks. He had barely lived a day in his life, and despite that, he had the temerity to attack Malloy when confronted with the gun.

Malloy had confirmed that the mixture the chemist had made was complete and potent. He also made sure that it was easily replicated. Because once the chemist was gone, the operation would be run by people following the chemist’s instructions.

At first, the chemist had begged for his life. He told Malloy that he had a wife and daughter back in Panama, that he needed to take care of them. This was true, Malloy knew, but he also knew that the wife and daughter had received well over a hundred thousand dollars from the chemist. In Panama, that would go a long way.

Malloy had met the chemist nearly twenty years ago, and when he was brought over to New York, Malloy trusted him implicitly. The man created drugs because that was all he knew how to do. Just like when people were bankers or lawyers or athletes because that’s what they were born to do.

The chemist was not a bad man, and in fact Malloy did not believe he had ever even partaken in his own creations. The drugs paid the bills, so to speak, that was all. Malloy did feel a slight twinge of guilt at taking away the family’s only breadwinner, but he knew that the dark-haired woman would make sure the family was taken care of.

The family was still in Panama. Their battle was not in America.

Hers was.

When Malloy rounded the corner, he raised his hand to call a cab only to see the dark-haired woman standing there, staring at him. He did not expect her to be there, but he’d ceased to be surprised by her a long time ago.

“Did he fight?” she asked.

“A little,” Malloy responded. “Nothing that caused too much trouble.”

“That’s good. Death hurts more when you fight it.”

“He begged first,” Malloy said, “for his family.”

“They’ll be compensated,” the woman responded. The chemist was dead, and three men were on their way to dispose of the body. Three men he trusted, who’d been with them a long time.

“Did he suffer?” the woman asked.

“Just for a moment, when he realized what was happening.”

She seemed disappointed.

“I see no body with you. I assume someone will be taking care of it.”

There’s a butcher on the Upper West Side, done us some favors over the years. Two grand and nobody ever sees a body again.”

“Good price,” the woman said.

“We give him good business,” Malloy replied. His voice was soft, hesitant.

“You don’t think we should have killed him,” she said.

“I just wonder if it was totally necessary. From a business perspective, nothing more.”

“We didn’t need the chemist any longer,” the woman said. “At least half a dozen of our employees have been able to duplicate the process without fault. The product we gave Leroy Culvert tonight came from one of those batches and was taken by one employee who, let’s just say, enjoyed it.”

Malloy nodded. “You don’t need to convince me.”

The woman approached Malloy until they were standing barely a foot apart.

“We’ve known each other a long time.”

“Yes, we have.”

“We’ve both suffered great tragedies.”

“Yes, we have.”

“And what we’re about to get under way will be the end of what began twenty years ago. Your brother did not die in vain.”

“I know he did not,” Malloy said.

“Everything that happened in Panama has led up to this. This wheel was set in motion a long time ago. The chemist was no longer needed, and he was a link to what happened in Panama. Nobody here knows who he is. He could have only hurt us from this point forward. A man’s ability to create substances is not the same as his ability to witness calamity without sounding the alarm. I worry that the chemist could have come back to haunt us.”

“And you may have been right,” Malloy said. “I understand why this was necessary.”

Trust within the organization had been shaken over the past few days, culminating in the death of Stephen Gaines. They did not see Gaines’s defection coming. And that’s what this night was about: tying up loose ends. She was right. Malloy knew this. He was still haunted by that day twenty years ago, the battle that had irreparably changed his life. Everything that happened then was leading up to now.

“The Asian is next,” the woman said.

“He’s waiting for us at the club,” Malloy said.

“What did you tell him?”

“That he was getting a bump up. Title and salary.”

“Was he excited?”

“Like a little girl getting a pony.”

The woman smiled. “Good. Then let’s go. And let’s make sure the Asian’s body is in the water by the time the morning commute begins.”