Gabriel Hunt - Hunt at Worlds End

Gabriel Hunt had taken a lot of punches to the face over the years. Hed come to think of it as an occupational hazard, dealing as he often did with criminals, pirates, gangsters, brawlers and all kinds of thugs who let their fists do the talking, and he usually gave as good as he got. But this time was different. This was the first time the guy throwing the punches was wearing a big, sharp silver ring in the shape of a horned stags head.

The punch stunned him, knocked him back into one of the large elephant tusks flanking the fireplace of the Discoverers League lounge. The tusk wobbled on its base, and Gabriel, feeling wobbly himself, dropped to his knees. Blood trickled along his cheek where the stags horns had cut him. He looked up at the slender blond man standing over him in a gray houndstooth blazer and gray slacks. He was wearing a crooked sneer. Glancing at his hand, he wiped a spot of blood off his ring.

We can continue this as long as you wish, Mr. Hunt, he said. I have nowhere else I need to be. But you see my friends back there? They dont have as much patience as I do.

Behind the blond man, three men clad all in black stood with guns in their hands. One revolver was trained on Wade Boland, the weekend bartender, where he stood behind the bar. The second was pointed at Clyde Harris, a retired cartographer in his seventies who came to the League every Saturday to partake of his two favorite pastimes, drinking and swapping tall tales. He sat on his usual barstool at the end of the counter and stared at the gun unblinking. Neither Wade nor Clyde looked particularly frightened by this turn of events, though they kept their hands dutifully raised above their heads.

But the third revolver was leveled at Katherine Dunlap, and she was a different story. The willowy redhead sat trembling at the table shed been sharing with Gabriel before the blond man and his cohorts had stormed in and started waving their guns around. Her fingernails dug into the plush arms of the red leather chair, and her pale green eyes were as wide as soup bowls. It was obvious shed never had a gun pointed at her before. Gabriel had only met her that morning, on his flight back from Brazil to New York City. Seated next to her in first class, hed passed the hours answering her questions about his just-completed expedition along the banks of the Amazon, and once theyd landed hed invited her back to the Discoverers League for a drink. She clearly hadnt expected their date to end in violence. Of course, neither had he.

The blond man reached into the inside pocket of his blazer, pulled out a large, well-polished chrome handgun and leveled it at Gabriel. Gabriel eyed the gun unhappily. The three bouncer types he figured he could take even though they were armed. But this man was another matter. Compared to the other three he looked almost scrawny, but he punched like someone had taught him how, and he was holding his gun with a professionals grip.

I dont have what youre looking for, Gabriel said, rubbing his jaw.

I want you to think very carefully about what you do next, Mr. Hunt. Id hate to have to tell my men to start shooting. The man gestured around the lounge at the bookshelves filled with antique volumes and the display cases of artifacts, many of them fragile, all of them irreplaceable. These beautiful things might get damaged. Bloodstains, you know. So difficult to wash off.

Gabriel, Katherine pleaded, her voice shaking.

The man smiled. You see? Your friend has a good head on her shoulders. Im sure she would like it to remain there.

Gabriel rose slowly to his feet.

No more heroics, Mr. Hunt, the man cautioned. And no more lies. I know you were in the Amazon until this morning, and I know you brought the Deaths Head Key back with you. Just hand it over and well go quietly. He smiled slightly. Its name notwithstanding, no one has to die over the thing.

Why should I give it to you? Gabriel asked.

The blond man cocked his head and knit his brow. Why? Because I am the man with the gun, Mr. Hunt.

Why do you want it? Gabriel said. Its not that valuable. Itll fetch maybe five, six grand on the black market, if youre lucky. It hardly seems worth your time.

The blond man stepped nearer. This close, Gabriel got a good look at the mans eyes and could see the brutality he concealed beneath his veneer of civility. The man opened his mouth to answer, then changed his mind and swung his Magnum, slamming the heavy butt into Gabriels jaw. Gabriels head snapped back. At least this time he managed to stay on his feet.

The key, the blond man repeated.

Gabriel narrowed his eyes. He tasted blood and spat red-tinged saliva onto the carpet. You better hope I never see you again.

The man cocked the Magnum. You will never see anyone again, Mr. Hunt, if you dont hand over the key. And when Gabriel failed to do so: For heavens sake, Hunt, what difference does it make to you? What were you planning to do with it, stick it in one of these cases? Photograph it for National Geographic? Give it to the Metropolitan? What a colossal waste. You dont even know what the key unlocks.

And you do?

The blond man leveled the barrel of the Magnum at Gabriels forehead and said, Five.

Tell me, Gabriel said. Tell me what the key opens.

Four.

Gabriel, for Gods sake, Clyde muttered from his barstool. My ice is melting. Just give the man whatever hes looking for, and Ill buy you and the lady a round.

Three.

The blond man swung the gun to point it at Katherine. Her hands shot up as though they might be able to deflect a bullet. Two.

Gabriel!

One

All right, Gabriel said. All right. Justput that thing away.

The blond man took the gun off of Katherine and swung it to face Gabriel instead.

Gabriel unbuttoned his shirt. The Deaths Head Key hung on a leather strap around his neck. He lifted it over his head. The blond man snatched the heavy bronze key with his free hand and held it up, eyeing it with satisfaction.

No one knew how old the Deaths Head Key was. It had been given its name in 1581 when the explorer Vincenzo de Montoya found it on a trip through Asia and noticed its bow was shaped like a skull, with concavities where the eye sockets might have been and a diamond-shaped groove between them. No one, not even de Montoya, knew what it unlockedbut whatever it was, Gabriel could guess from the look of the thing that it was no simple door. Most keys had a single blade that fit into the keyway of a lock, but the Deaths Head Key had three, one straight and the other two flanking it at forty-five-degree angles. De Montoya had reportedly worn it around his neck as a good luck charm, but it hadnt kept up its end of the bargain. His luck ran out when he disappeared during an Amazon expedition a few years later, and the Deaths Head Key had been lost with him.