Free Dark Hunter by Andy Briggs Page A

music!”
    Despite his sadness, Jake couldn’t help but smile. He recognized the music as something Beth would ordinarily hate, but for some reason she was playing it loud. It was Jake’s favorite band, Ironfist.
    Somewhere in Beth’s head were rebellious threads of memory about her brother. And that gave Jake a sudden flush of confidence.
    Mr. Grimm was never ever late. Punctuality was a sign of character. It defined a person’s integrity and reliability. In Mr. Grimm’s opinion it was more important than honesty and loyalty. Loyalty was just a matter of opinion; punctuality was a matter of breeding.
    Jake was twenty-three minutes late, which was an achievement, since he had nothing to do except while away the hours. He’d done that by leaving a few text messages on Lorna’s cell, then stopped because he didn’t want to look too interested.
    Before leaving for his meeting, Jake went to his father’s shed to hide the laptop. He was trembling slightly, a sign he needed to replenish his power. He connected the laptop to the cell phone and accessed Villain.net. The site was pretty much the same. Heclicked on the flashing news banner and read through a page depicting the Council of Evil’s progress in what they described as
“a war.”
    Jake refreshed his powers with a few random selections. Rejuvenated, he noticed the “LOW BATTERY” icon was flashing in the corner of the screen. Seconds later the laptop suddenly turned itself off. Jake hesitated. The only power sockets were in the house, along with Beth’s power pack to charge it. He decided to leave it for now, but a quick glance at the cell phone revealed that its battery level was also in the red zone. And he didn’t have a charger for that.
    Jake panicked. His only two access points to Villain.net were running flat. Without constant access to powers to feed his addiction, he would die!
    Jake took a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves. His latest fix would keep him going for several hours. He would have to arrange something else after he met Grimm.
    Not showing any signs of feeling the chill wind that blew across the top floor of the multilevel parking lot, Mr. Grimm repressed every urge to rebuke Jake for his tardiness. Instead he tried to smile, but managed nothing more than a grimace.
    â€œMr. Hunter, I’m so glad you turned up.” The unspoken word “finally” hung in the air.
    â€œYou have some info?”
    â€œI have so much more than
that
for you. Please, come with me.”
    Mr. Grimm gestured across the empty parking lot. Jake frowned.
    â€œWhere to?”
    â€œTo your new home, if you’ll have it.”
    Jake followed Grimm’s hand, and this time noticed the air next to him was wavering slightly, as though it were liquefied. Jake instantly sensed a trap. Mr. Grimm must have picked up on his thoughts.
    â€œPlease, follow me.”
    Mr. Grimm sidestepped into the portal and vanished. Jake hesitated—then reacted as Mr. Grimm’s head poked back from the portal although the rest of his body was unseen. It was like talking to a severed head.
    â€œQuickly now.”
    Jake tensed himself, ready for anything, then followed Grimm through the shimmering portal. He stepped out into a large stone-flagged hall, close to a roaring fireplace that was taller than he was.
    â€œWhere are we?”
    â€œRomania. Follow me.”
    Mr. Grimm opened a door and Jake followed him down a stone corridor that was lit by recessed lights. The walls were large bricks, and their footsteps echoed spookily. It felt as if they were in an old castle that somebody had tried to modernize. Grimm climbed upa large spiraling staircase that went on for some time. Eventually they entered a spacious circular room that was bare except for two massive plasma screens sitting side by side on stands, the images on them fed from several computers. Jake instantly recognized Villain.net on one and a