Going into the Motel Issac made a point to ignore the cowering desk assistant and instead made a beeline for the stairs. The elevators were out of order so Issac had to make do with a little extra work out. Stepping off on the top floor and walking to the last room of the floor, Issac used his key and walked through the door.
Looking up into the two-bed room Issac saw Lucy sitting on the bed, wrapped up in a bathrobe at least a few sizes too big for her, watching TV and not even looking as he walked into the room closing the door behind him.
“ Hey, you find him yet or are you ready to give up.”
Laughing at her bland tone. “ HAHAHA, no I think I’ve found him, but this might be more fun than I thought, I think someone’s been using Manuel.”
Turning off the TV Lucy turned to Issac folding her legs under her, staring at Issac in confusion. “ What do you mean someone is using him? Manuel dos Piscatoris Silva is the drug lord over most of South America, his gang, Southern Angles contains at least 5,000 people that spread his influence and power, not even counting the small timers that move his product. And you think that someone is using him, why would that thought even enter your mind ?”
“ Well, the thought was already in my head before I even made it to Brazill.” Taking off his sandals Issac jumped onto the empty bed to the side and started at the ceiling. On the ceiling blocked out of sight by the fan was a satellite map of the Amazon forest. Circles and notes of different colors dotted the map, some of them showing villages, others showing the various lumber companies cutting patches of land into the forest.
“ You see Manuel is not the type of person that stays in power for long. Think of him like a water gun. Now most people would conserve the water in the gun, shooting short bursts at the best times to make sure that they never run out. Manuel on the other hand attaches a machine to the nozzle that empties all the water in one explosive shot.”
“ Someone like that should have been gone long ago, being only a small blip in the system of crime.” Taking some candy out of his pocket Issac continued after eating it. “ However instead he stays in power, washing away any problems with no regard to the amount of water in his gun, the only way that this is possible in this analogy is if someone attaches a hose to the water gun, feeding it water non-stop, never allowing it to go empty.”
“ So you think that because he hasn't been arrested yet is because he has to have some kind of support backing him up? Do you realize how stupid that sounds ?” Picking up and turning herself to face Issac Lucy squinted her eyes looking at Isaacs as if he was crazy.
“ No, I don't think that he has a backer, I think he has someone controlling him. Like an owner telling a dog to go fetch.” Not even bothering to look at Lucy, Issac continued to stare at the ceiling, staring at the picture of the forest. “ At first I thought the same, that either he paid some people off or had some kind of backer watching out for any problem that might arise. However, that all changed when I checked out this last place.”
“ What, Amazon Lumber ?”
“ Yeah, you see, at first I thought that maybe they were connected to the Southern Angels, but then I heard talk of some kind of new boss. If Amazon Lumber is connected to the Southern Angels isn't Manuel the boss? If Manuel was the old boss, why is there a new one? And why does this new boss give me such a weird feeling?”
“ What do you mean? You saw this ‘new’ boss .”
“ No, I felt him, I could feel in my heart that he was different, that someone like him could not ever work around the same level as some like Manuel.” Just remembering what he felt sent Issac back into a trance, staring at the ceiling with no regard for the things around him. No one could understand what Issac was feeling, his adrenaline rushing, his heart pounding like drums in his ears.
Deafening him with their noise, making it impossible for him to stop himself from storming Amazon Lumber and finding the source of this wondrous feeling.
“ Okay, say that you're right, what does that mean for Manuel.”
Still, in a trance Issac stared at Lucy, not even noticing that she was there. After a while, Issac was able to bring himself back away from the drums. Thinking about what she said, Issac was finally able to answer back.
“ Well I can't see someone spending all that effort to support someone like Manuel and then just killing him off just for me. No more than likely Senhor Manuel knowing himself to be in danger called his owners asking to be saved, after forcing Manuel into hiding the next step would be to set a trap that will remove any obstacles for the Southern Angels that are proving themselves to be more of a nuisance to them then they thought. And now that I know that everything connects back to Amazon Lumber, finding Manuel will be the obvious way to spring said trap .”
Picking himself off from the bed Issac grabbed a laptop from the desk before going and sitting back down on the bed. Pulling out the flash drive, Issac began the process of sorting through all that he had copied from the Amazon Lumber servers. Most of what he grabbed had nothing to do with the business, some being contracts leading to lands and equipment.
Over the next ten minutes Issac raced through the files, his fingers almost a blur over the keys, all files that weren’t of immediate use were placed in a new folder while everything else was studied by Issac. What instantly caught his eye however was a group of files containing the weights of the cargo trucks coming out of the forest over the past few years.
All of a sudden Issac saw a small brown hand reach out and pluck the laptop right out of his hand. His head shot up, Issac could only watch as Lucy threw the laptop onto the opposite bed screaming out.
“STOP ignoring me! I’ve been calling you for ten porra minutes! Say something.”
Mad at her for breaking his line of thought, Issac could only scream back. “ Hey! can't you see that I’m trying to work on something here, just watch TV like a little kid and wait for me to finish.”
“ NO! Why are you going to chase after Manual if you believe that the ‘people’ behind him are trying to set you up for a trap? And why do you even think that these people are even here for you ?”
Sneering at Lucy, Issac was forced to relocate to the other bed so that he could return to studing the files, trying to piece together the best way to look for Manuel. However, no matter how hard he tried to block out the incessant buzzing that was the fly in front of him he couldn't focus enough effort to continue his search.
“What is it, little one, I am very busy right now and I can't afford to waste any more time answering useless questions right now.”
“ It takes no time to answer these ‘useless’ questions, when are you gonna tell me who you are, why is the leader of the Southern Angels so afraid of you ?”
For the life of him, Issac couldn't figure out why she just wouldn't let this go, whatever questions she might have could wait. Right now his body would not accept any more delays for the hunt.
To him the only thing that he had on his mind was finishing the hunt, it didn't matter that Manuel was of little importance anymore. It didn't matter that he was a bird barely still stuck in its nest, unable to pose a challenge to even a child to capture compared to the challenge to whatever mysterious owners were behind Manuel.
But when he starts a hunt nothing can get in his way, not even a game that seemed more exciting. A hunt can only start again when the one before it is finished, switching targets would be sacrilegious to the art of the hunt.
And while he doesn't regret the detours that he has taken during his hunt into Brazil, he can no longer delay what was right in front of him. Not when there was an even tastier morsel standing right beyond the horizon.
Feeling a headache start to come on Isaac began to wonder why he even brought this little nuisance with him. If he had just continued with what he was doing then he could have finished already. The only thing that he can do now though is move forward, if he went back on his word just because of regret then he might have not made the offer in the first place. So since he decided to make her a part of this he might as well go all the way.
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Rubbing his hand through his hair Issac decided that he will just have to put up with some inconveniences if he is going to have any chance of finding where Manuel is hiding by tonight.
“ Okay, okay, have you heard of anyone in the news called the Hunter ?”
“ No I’ve been on the streets for a while, haven't really been trying to keep in touch with current events happening but what does that have anything to do with right now ?” With her hands on her hips, Lucy couldn't seem to understand why Issac was acting the easy that he was. He seemed almost bipolar to her, at times he was lazy and fun-loving, others he could be cruel or deathly serious.
“ Well if you had, then you would know that over a little more than five years, there has been a steep decline in the number of living criminals in the world. This all pertains to the work of a prolific killer named the Hunter.”
Standing up from the bed, Issac brought the laptop back to the desk before going over and grabbing water from the refrigerator. “ Whenever this man happened to put his sights on someone he would begin the hunt. Following, learning, and finally killing his prey, every single one of his prey were known criminals. Whether they were small-time serial killers or large criminal enterprises. Throughout his ‘career,’ he has managed to send over 10,000 criminals off into the night.”
Surprised at the number Lucy couldn't help but ask. “ 10,000, how could anyone have killed that many people ?” The more that she thought about it the more confused she became. Someone that could kill that many people would surely be the devil in the minds of regular people.
But to Lucy, the thing that got her scratching her head wasn't how this ‘Hunter’ could do such a thing, it was how the rest of the world could let him. “ The governments around the world would never let someone like this go, especially if any of them had ties to any of these criminals.”
“ Well you would be right, if some of the people that he has hunted also weren't government bodies that had taken bribes or were criminals themselves then he would be one of the most wanted men today. However, while he is wanted by some governments, most of them aren't bothering him right now. Their policy is mainly out of sight out of mind, if he is seen then he is supposed to be taken in, but otherwise, they are not actively looking for him.”
“ What matters though isn't what he has done, it's that he has set his sight—I have set my sights on Manuel.” Dropping the bomb in Lucy’s lap, Issac waited to see what her reaction would be. Would she be scared over knowing who he was, would she be delighted, indifferent?
Whichever emotion she chose to be, Issac had decided that the only way that he could move forward with his plans was if she knew exactly who she would be working with in the future. But he was pleasantly surprised when he saw that she seemed to feel nothing over this new revelation.
“Okay so you're this ‘Hunter’ person, what does that have anything to do with walking into a trap ?”
“ Well if you know that you're walking into a trap then you know what to be on the lookout for, but if I miss this chance then these people will still be in the shadows, always planning for the next trap. I need to spring this trap so that I can at least get a good look at these people.”
Walking back over to the desk Issac turned to look at Lucy “ Now do you want to keep asking questions or do you want to know how I just found where they are hiding Manuel Little one ?”
Sitting on his bed Lucy waited for Issac to begin his explanation. Smirking in her direction Issac brought back up the files that had caught his attention.
“ So the one thing that you have to know about shipping companies is that they always write down the approximate weight of their cargo for their files, you know so that they know how much wood they are bringing in and to keep track of all of their property.”
Moving around to show Lucy Issac brought up another pair of files. “ Now here it shows that generally every time their trucks bring in new trees the weight they carry in is generally around forty tons, this amount will bring them a yield of a little over 10,000 pieces of lumber, but look at this.” Handing over the laptop to Lucy, Issac tried to show her what it was that caught his attention.
After waiting for her to notice the problem Issac ran out of patience and reached over to point out the numbers along the graphs. “Look here, three years ago the weight of their cargo stayed about the same. But what changed was that the processed lumber turned into the material and never sold over 5,000 pieces of material. Next year the numbers will go back to normal.”
“So you're saying that three years ago Amazon Lumber took some of their new inventory and used it to build Manuel his safe house.”
“ Yes, now according to these files, their processing warehouse isn't in the city, it's instead further into the forest, more than likely to allow trucks to quickly come and go with the material. I’m Betting since moving this material is a difficult thing to do that Manuel's safe house is somewhere close to this area. And I’m gonna go check tonight.”
Opening the closest to the side, Issac pulled out a light brown single-strap bag with a flap over the mouth of the bag and two small pockets. This satchel was the only thing that he had brought with him to Rio, but it was also all that he would ever need.
Lucy has seen this bag many times since she started staying with Issac, unless he was going out to investigate he never let the bag out of his hands. And yet she never saw him open the bag, every day he seemed to wear the same clothes and yet they never looked dirty.
He kept his candies and wallet in his pockets and always seemed to pay with cash. Throughout the entire time that Lucy has seen Issac, he has only ever seemed to have a shirt, loose khakis, sandals, and this plain-looking satchel.
Setting his bag onto the coffee table, Issac opened the bag, and then to the surprise of Lucy he reached into the bag until his shoulder disappeared into the bag. Jumping up Lucy raced over to the bag, pulling the bag open
Lucy hoped to see Issac playing a trick, like folding up his arm to make it seem as if the bag was deeper than it should have been. However what she found was that she could see anything past the lip of the bag, everything was pitch black, like a black hole trying to swallow everything.
Jumping back Lucy yelled out. “ WHAT THE HELL IS THAT !” Looking over Issac was confused, why was Lucy acting this way? Then as his fingers touched the leather Issac realized that doing this in front of her might not have been the best idea. He would never have been this open, everything that has happened today had thrown him off.
Pulling out a long leather overcoat Issac said. “ This? This is my space bag. I opened a ‘pocket’ in space and anchored it to my bag.”
Angry at his casual response Lucy pressed for an explanation. “ That’s impossible! There is no technology known by man that can do things like that.” Pointing towards the satchel Lucy tried to completely convey her need for an answer to this, thing in front of her.
Reaching back into the bag Issac couldn't help but remember how before he learned to have control over his abilities he had spent his life blinded by the light. “ Did you know that until I was ten I considered myself medically blind ?”
“No? What does that…”
“ Yeah, you see ever since I was born all I could see was a bright ‘light’, for years I thought that I was blind, No one else did cause all their tests told them I was fine.” As he talked he never stopped pulling objects out of the bag, some big ones, other smaller tiny things. “ It wasn't until I was a little older that I realized that I wasn't blind, I could just see more than everyone else.”
Looking off into the distance Issac saw as the color around him seemed to fade out into the background, and what took their places were hazy lights almost in the shapes of the objects around him.
“ See what I figured was that somehow, I could see the natural energy of everything around me, I just didn't know how to ‘unfocus’ my gaze, when I was younger I could see even the particles in the air, everything being too much for me to handle thus my brain grouping all this information into ‘ bright light’.”
As Lucy sat off to the side she tried to make sense of what was being told to her. Everything seemed like some kind of big joke that Issac was trying to play on her. And if she hadn't already seen him bull at least twice the amount of things that his satchel was supposed to hold she would have begun believing that he might have been a little crazier than she initially thought.
“ It wasn't until a year into my new business that I realized that I could not only control how much I could ‘see’ but that I could also somehow control the energy around me. With a little bit of experimenting, I was able to make things like this bag to help me in my hunts over the years. And until today I had begun to think that I was the only one to be able to do what I can do but now—.”
Pulling out a long black case out of the bag Issac placed it onto the table only to open it and pull out what looked to be a black sniper rifle with a crossbow attached to the front. Reaching back into the case Issac pulled out a segmented cylinder, a segment carrying markings with protruding spike, that he then proceeded to attach to the barrel of his gun.
“ After going to that office I now believe that people like me do exist, and after I finish my business with Senhor Manuel, I plan to get answers from them as well.” Taking some new clothes Issac walked into the restroom to change, and as he did Lucy stayed sitting down calling out to him
“ Wait, so the people that you believe are behind the Southern Angels, are also the ones with ‘magic’ just like you? And now-” waving her hand in the air towards Issac as he walked out in socks, a new black t-shirt, and loose black pants. “ You want to talk to these people about whatever this is after you kill the person that they are supporting, and how are you gonna do this again ?”
Believing that her question had stumped him, Lucy watched as Issac stared down at the things laid out in order on his bed. Reaching out Issac pulled on a pair of combat boots, strapped on a belt holding different holsters and bags as well as silver cylinders hanging off from the leather of the belt and a pair of gloved arm guards.
The arm guards almost reaching his elbow were the strangest looking of the bunch, with silver lines seeming to go all around the guard in three columns. On the top of the gloves themself were protruding discs with a still ball attached to the disk.
Looking over at Lucy he said “ Yes I do.