Hunter

Hundar looked up from his desk, he'd just finished writing a letter to his wife, Liana, explaining in detail to her the events of his journey to Myami and that he had made it to Myami safe and sound, and that he missed her terribly, and that his headaches weren't bothering him, and that he wasn't diseased and was of perfectly healthy weight, and that he still loved her with all his heart.

He rubbed his eyes and yawned. Feeling the shade of tiredness come over him, Hundar elected to take a brief break. He stood up and looked around his new office. It was a dark room; the walls were lined with bookshelves packed with files and papers, there were also small potted plants on various shelves, tables and desks. The desk he was letter writing on was itself littered with various files, papers, pens, and inkwells.

He walked to the window and opened the curtains, revealing a busy city street, something to be expected since the building itself was located in Myami's downtown. Unlike the rest of the city, the buildings here were tall, the lowest ones being around seven stories, while the tallest were up to ten stories high. The pedestrians below were dressed in Yankee suits and dresses, rather than the local guayabera shirts and long skirts of the bata cubana.

It put a smile on Hundar's face.

The former was the wear of free civilized peoples unburned by archaic superstitions and backwards traditions. He didn't know what to think about Myamians yet, but from how every Myamian he'd met so far called him a Yankee, regardless of the many times he tried to clarify that he was actually of the Hudson, he could tell they were a truly ignorant people. Though it was true that as a Hudsonian he naturally gravitated towards Yankeedom, they seemed to make no distinction between people they believed were from north of the city. To them they were all "Yankees."

In the window's glass, Hundar's reflection was faint, but visible.

His hair was a light brown and short. His face was gaunt with deep shadows under his eyes, his small mustache was slightly out of place. He wore a long buttoned black shirt with low collar and a dark grey waistcoat suit which hung loosely on his thin frame. A black tie complemented the suit. Despite sweat being present all over his body and the room being rather warm and humid, Hundar felt chilly as he sat back down in his chair. Coughing twice, he covered his mouth with his rough, calloused hands.

Using the same hands, he picked up the letter and briefly reread it before tossing it into a wastebin nearby.

Rubbish! the letters Lianna reads must be the pinnacle of literature!

Hundar sighed as he thought of his wife. She was a good woman. While his work for the CIA was very lucrative, the long periods of time spent away from home made him feel neglectful both as a husband and as a man who cherished her.

It didn't help that she was five months pregnant with their second child and it seemed to want to be born sooner rather than later.

He coughed again and looked at the documents on his desk.

Judges and other supernatural elements had been growing unabated in Myami for quite some time. The Myamian population in particular seemed to have a passion for engaging in occult and other supernatural rituals in the name of religion, completely flouting the anti judge acts and many religious regulations enshrined in the constitution. This was also encouraged by migration to the city from the Caribbean territories where anti judge policies were laxer in enforcement due to their imposition causing widespread outrage and hindering integration efforts.

While this lax attitude was called for in the new Caribbean territories where the full imposition of anti judge laws caused riots and inflamed the ongoing war against piracy, there was almost no reason for the same to be true in Myami. So, per governor's orders, Hundar's duties as chief of operations were simple. Locate and eliminate Myami's judges by any means necessary and persecute religious groups engaging in the supernatural.

His first target was an oracle whose services had become popular in the city. He planned for her elimination to signal to the local populace the start of an anti judge crackdown to both push the populace away from the supernatural and to isolate the currently thriving local judges.

Outside of hunting judges and other supernatural entities present in Myami, his primary task was the elimination of Ezlan D'vinarth, and his co-conspirators who were hiding somewhere in the city. He was a powerful judge who the CIA had been hunting for years. CIA operatives had cornered him here and Hundar's role now was to ensure that when the time came to eliminate Ezlan, he'd have nowhere to escape.

As Hundar read through the files, he saw a drawing. It was a sketch of Ezlan's face. He was a light-skinned man with dark hair and brown eyes. In other words, a perfectly average person who wouldn't be out of place in Boston. The only thing particularly distinctive about him were his eyes, which seemed emotionless and dead.

There was no information on his abilities as a judge. The only thing of note was that during every attempt federal agents made to apprehend him, a crowd of allies and followers would regularly interfere, foiling their plans and facilitating his escape.

Hundar rubbed his temples. His headache was bothering him again. He put away the files on Ezlan and pulled up a folder he'd marked for special attention with a paper clip. The papers inside focused on the resources he'd have while in the city.

On them were lists of federal agents available, informants, CIA agents, budgets, and various other documents that would be useful for hunting down Ezlan.

There was also information regarding the ongoing military campaign in the South Florida swamps, which was infamous in CIA circles for being rife with supernatural activity. The impacts of the fighting would almost certainly bleed into Myami as time went on. What the consequences would be he could not say.

He had to be prepared for any eventuality.

Hundar's mind was also on Liana and his soon to be born child. His mission had to be completed as quickly as possible if there was to be any hope of him making it back home for his child's birth. When coming to Myami he'd originally contemplated taking her with him, but the distance and stresses of travel meant he had to toss out the idea. He sighed again and stood up. He then closed his eyes, clasped his hands, and prayed.

***

After searching for an hour, Kevin finally found Clay sitting on a bench under the shade of a palm tree. As he approached, he saw that the young man had a small smile on his face. "Good day Kevin, what are you doing here?"

Stopping for a few moments to catch his breath, Kevin wiped sweat off his forehead and said "I want to go to the bounty board....you said you'd show me yesterday"

Clay said "Alright....it's almost five, though. Why'd you find me so late?"

Kevin ranted, "I don't know what you do all day! You just told me to find you when I wanted to leave! I've been looking for you for over an hour! Do you know how big this campus is not to mention basically everyone's wearing the same clothes and-"

Clay interrupted "Well I apologize, anyway lets gets going"

Clay looked at the sky as he stood up. It was filled with grey clouds.

"Let us head to my dorm room first. I need to get my umbrella before we go."

Kevin nodded and followed Clay as he led him to a large white building with a tan roof and a yellow door.

Clay went in and after a minute came out with a closed black umbrella in his hand.

Clay asked, "Do you need one? It looks like rain will fall soon"

Kevin shook his head and replied, "I'm fine"

The two walked for several minutes out of campus and into Coral Gables, conversing and joking along the way.

Once they saw a carriage or "Car" as Clay kept referring to it. Clay called it over and the two got in. The driver in Myamian accented Yankish asked, "Where are you two going?"

Clay answered "To the bounty board downtown," as the two sat in the back of the carriage, which was lined with seats and seemed comfortable to them.

"Seven copper pennies"

Clay handed the driver the money, and the two relaxed as the carriage took them deeper into the city.