HENTY'S FIST 1: GAUNTLET RUN: birth of a superhero by Andre Jute, Dakota Franklin and Andrew McCoy. 60,000 words in 76 chapters.
CHAPTER 40
When the posse rides out, or the good man guns down the villain, the justification is always the same: extra-legal violence is the only protector of true justice in a world where authority has gone to seed and savagery is close at hand. — Michael Davie
The Humble & Poor Hunt originated, as the name suggests, in the institutions of Wall Street. But, as the New York megapolis spread, so the foxes retreated until there was not one to be found in Connecticut, Massachusetts, southern New York State, New Jersey, Vermont or New Hampshire. Or that is what the Master of the Fox Hounds of the Humble & Poor claimed. In fact, they had killed all the foxes long before urban sprawl became a danger to the descendants of tomarctus. When Abercrombie & Fitch moved to Los Angeles, the Humble & Poor recognized that the times had changed but they had no intention of going anywhere near that Sodom and Gomorrah. Instead, they moved to Nebraska, soon annihilated its foxes (and incidentally the rest of its never-abundant wildlife) and switched from hunting foxes to what one MFH described with a straight face as “the socially responsible duty of every properly constituted citizen to hunt the Gauntlet Runner”. Soon after, he was jailed for tax fraud.
Many members of the Humble & Poor were legal or financial advisers to one or more tentacles of the Syndicate. One of them was an actuarial consultant to the Syndicate’s betting arm and had told them that one Runner in about seven or eight would reach Nebraska; his friends in the Syndicate usually gave the Humble & Poor advance warning when a Runner would reach that far.
Of the Runners who made it to Nevada, only one in twenty survived the Humble & Poor Hunt to cross the border into Colorado or Wyoming. If a Runner tried to escape the Humble & Poor by going north or south, around Nebraska, the Humble & Poor would spare neither effort nor cost to punish him for his impertinence. They paid a permanent secretary to make all the arrangements. Of course, the Hunt was registered as a charitable institution to make its costs tax deductible for airlifting horses, hounds and hunters north to the Dakotas or south to Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. If the Runner made it across the Western borders of these states, the Humble & Poor would sportingly let him go. They were, however, negotiating with the State Legislatures of Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico to hunt across their territories as well.
Henty knew nothing about the Humble & Poor Hunt. She was not addicted to the vidi, the violence on Gauntlet Runner sickened her, and now that Petey was growing up, she switched the vidi off promptly when it came on to protect him from it as much as possible.
So she was quite unprepared when the Humble & Poor MFH shouted, “There she goes. Tallyho!” and blew his horn until he was red in the face and at the same time gestured to the handlers to take the muzzles off the dogs...
MORE SOON! A NEW CHAPTER ALMOST EVERY DAY! Add GAUNTLET RUN to your Reading List (click “Manage” in the right hand column, then tick “Reading List” and “Done”).
• MORE ABOUT THE AUTHORS AT:
Andre Jute http://coolmainpress.com/andrejute.html Andre’s latest book is VANGUARD ELITE Book 1 of COLD WAR, HOT PASSIONS http://www.amazon.com/DREAMS-COLD-WAR-PASSIONS-ebook/dp/B00A3BSJM2 Dakota Franklin http://coolmainpress.com/Dakota%20Franklin.html Dakota’s latest book is NASCAR FIRST http://www.amazon.com/NASCAR-FIRST-RUTHLESS-WIN-ebook/dp/B00A72A556 Andrew McCoy http://coolmainpress.com/andrewmccoy.html Andrew’s latest book is STIEG LARSSON Man, Myth & Mistress http://www.amazon.com/STIEG-LARSSON-Myth-Mistress-ebook/dp/B004GXAZAM
Copyright © 2012 André Jute, Dakota Franklin, Andrew McCoy. The authors have asserted their moral right. Published by CoolMain Press 2012 www.coolmainpress.com. Editor: Lisa Penington. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or performed by any means without the written permission of the publisher.
YOU ARE READING
HENTY'S FIST 1: GAUNTLET RUN by Andre Jute, Dakota Franklin, Andrew McCoy
ActionThe Gauntlet Run is the toughest race ever run by man: across America with every man’s hand turned against you from the statue of Liberty to the old US Mint in San Francisco. There the prize awaits you: $10 million and a full and free Presidential P...
