Chapter One

Chapter One

Jude Gershon, made his way through the crowded room to the elevator. He was fully loaded. Nobody could have guessed he was carrying a pistol underneath that nicely tailored suit, with two sleek wooden-handle hand blades, throwing knives, both stacked underneath the overcoat he was wearing.

"I can never be too careful", he would ponder on this thought guiding his every move.

He was a tactical believer, thus, always came prepared for the job.

He jumped off the elevator on the ground floor and headed for the exit of the Executive building. He went to start his car, and drove off within an instant. His phone rang on the road and he answered it whilst driving.

"Hello Honey, I'm on my way…" he replied to the soft voice speaking through the phone.

"Aha, I will get the Cake on my way… okay, Love you too" he further spoke, then hung up to a beep.

It was a special day for him and Harriet. They had gotten married on this date a year ago.

Harriet had changed a lot in him. Becoming the man he was today took five years in the making from the day she came into his life. And he was doing fine so far.

He stopped by their usual bakery to get the ordered cake and headed home. He reached their house thirty minutes later, hoping to start a love-fest mood right on. He walked through the front door to a quite surprising candle lit dinner table. There was music playing in the background softly. This to set the mood, he suspected. There was no sign of Harriet in the living room or Kitchen, so he concluded she must be in the bedroom.

He tiptoed up the stairs to the bedroom so as to surprise her. What he saw in the bedroom was no surprise to him. The bed was ridden with rose petals and on it a carefully folded paper. He moved towards the bed to undress and noticed a writing on the outer cover of the paper which read:

"For you, CHAMP"….

He opened the folded paper, half-expectant, to a carefully written sentence…

"We are Pregnant"

He smiled trying to compress the joy swelling within him. A glint of tears formed at the corners of his eyes. He undressed and moved to the bathroom hoping to meet Harriet there. She was not there either. He decided to take a quick bath, easing his mind she had a surprise for him, hence her absence that moment. Then getting casually dressed for the evening ahead, after the bath, he waited a while for the surprise. Forty minutes had passed since he arrived home and there was no sign of Harriet.

Jude's detective senses began to heighten. There was something wrong. He reached for his phone and dialed Harriet's personal line. He heard a noise and a vibration somewhere in the house. He moved around to find the source of the noise. It was on the kitchen sink, her phone. She had left her phone in the kitchen. How did he miss that, when he came to place the cake in the kitchen?

The room started to spin round and round around him, and he tried to remain positive. Harriet never leaves her phone behind before going out or anywhere. He started to search around the house strategically, in order to stay calm and avoid hysterical behavior. It was right when he exhausted all the rooms in the house that the telephone rang.

He ran to pick the telephone on the third ring with high hopes of it being Harriet calling.

"Hello, Harriet! Are you Okay..?" he spoke first and quickly, presumptuously….

"Black Hunter…" a Man's voice began to respond from the other end

Jude shivered at the mention of that name. Nobody had called him by that name in a long time. And only the darkest minds knew him by that name. He knew something was about to come up and his past was coming back to haunt him.

"…Are you ready for Re-Activation, Agent?" the Man on the other end continued…

"What?! Where is Harriet? What have you done with her?" Jude began to ask in fits of hysteria.

"I repeat, are you ready for Re-Activation, Agent?" the Man Continued to ask with little to no regard for the questions asked by the wounded father-to-be.

At this moment, Jude was thinking about Harriet and the baby. And if these people whom he disassociated himself from to have a life with the love of his life have them, then he had to do everything possible to keep them safe.

"Ready for RE-Activation! Agent Number 008. Code Name: Black Hunter, at your service", a now composed Jude responded.

"Roger!" the Man replied then hanged up.

Jude placed the telephone back on the receiver, sighed and observed his surroundings through the corners of his eyes. From that moment on he realized they never let him go. They were always watching, waiting for the right incentive to bring him back in.

He put off the lit candles on the dinner table, then moved to the kitchen and placed the cake in the refrigerator. He turned off the music playing and moved to the bedroom. He took his spare pistol, which he often hid from Harriet in a hollow spot behind their closet. He moved back to the living room where the telephone was and sat close to it.

He was expectant. He knew there wouldn't be any celebration that night, and if he wanted Harriet and the baby safe, he had to bring back Black Hunter. And so he waited.

He waited for the Telephone to ring Again. And this time, he knew it came with Orders. Orders from above.