On The Hunt (On Hold)

Chapter 1

"Lily, here's the file on your next target, he's a arms-dealer in the region of California, mostly LA for the Italian Mafia" Silas informed me. "This guys good, he's been connected not only to the Colombo Mafia as well as the Other Five Families, but the Bratva as well as the Yakuza and the Sicilain Mafia. This guy is so well connected but no one knows what he looks like, so you've got a lot of digging to do. "

"Well if this guy is so heavily connected why the hell are we - I mean ME - going after him?!" I huffed out. "Why not let the USA government do its job for once, and send one of those prissy special ops boys?" I mean honestly, I'm the best at what I do, and the USA military knew, but because I don't have a dick they wont let me join; since I'm 'a liability'. Dicks.

"To put it simply, the US government are trying but with all the bureaucracy and corrupt agents its kinda hard to so, so they recommended to case to Hunter Inc, us, so I've decided your up for the job."

"Fine, I'll look into it, can't guarantee much considering how much of a ghost this guy is, but I'll see if I can work my magic." I told my boss as I walked out of his office to the elevator. "I expect a bonus for this!" I also informed him, because honestly this job will likely get me killed.

Let me Introduce myself, I am Lily. No last name, no middle name, just Lily and according to the government I've been dead since I've been 25 when they erased my records and 'killed me'. I was abandoned at Penny's, a strip club in my town of Galena. Population 3000. I was 7, and knew enough to know that my dad wouldn't be coming back for me. So I waited till someone showed up, and 30 minutes later Harry did.

Harry took me in, raised me as his own and made me part of his life. Though not his daughter the former marine forged documents, payed of social workers and made me Lily Wood. I had a great life with Harry and when I was old enough joined and became a marine, and then worked my way up to become special forces.

Sadly, Harry died after my first tour of a heart attack, so once again I was alone. I was admitted into the Marine Corps Special Forces program, however one of the requirements was that I no longer existed as this was to be Top Secret. I did it. I passed every test, every fight yet was never considered special forces. So when they told me 'your a liability to the team' and wanted to give me a desk job pushing paper I left. Packed my bags and disappeared, the military knows I'm AWOL but they never took into consideration that everything they taught me I would use to remain a ghost.

That was 3 years ago, now at 27 I'm working as a bounty hunter for the biggest and best company, Hunter Inc, only they best apply, and even fewer get accepted. I work for Silas but no one else in the company knows who I am. I am the trick up Silas's sleeve. When we get cases such as the one I have now, I get hired in and payed the big bucks, not only to remain anonymous but the let Silas hand over the jackass to the government.

As I exit the elevator I head to my Mercedes Benz Gran Turismo, the only one of its kind, the rest haven even been made yet. I had to pay an arm and a leg for it, but this baby is sleek, fast and sexy. I race out of the underground garage and head to New York to my penthouse. Working the way I have amassed a fortune, enough to buy myself a penthouse in the center of New York equipped with the best security system money can buy. Trust me, this place is safer than Guantanamo prison. As I walk to my office I grab myself a beer from the fridge and gulp down most of it before I even make it to my desk.

"Lets have a look at you Gunsmith." I murmur to myself as I read his file. Sadly everything is on paper since computers get hacked in too easily, and I can't take the risk. "Gunsmith, estimated age 30- 35, Caucasian male, with distinctive skull tattoo on inner right calf. Has been active since the early 90's and has supplied the US government WMD's as well as the Russians, Brazilians and most of the middle-east but lately has been providing armor piercing weapons to mafias and gangs on the East Coast." Well doesn't he have quite the resume. "Gunsmith has also been know to associate with human trafficking, drugs, murder and the list goes on and on." Well then.

How the fuck am I meant to get the guy if he's never been photographed, has no real associations and can disappear? People have been after this guy for decades and they have nothing. I boot up my computer that I have conveniently hacked and linked to the military, the NSA and MI6, and look up anything that can be linked to 'The Gunsmith'.

'No Matches'

What...? That can't be right, I try again but this time just 'Gunsmith'.

Again, 'No Matches'.

This cant be right, I know for a fact that the NSA and the military have something on him, how else would I get the case from Silas. Maybe it's even more classified and need to know. "Okay lets try the CIA, they should have something."

'One Match'

Okay, lets see what you got. "The Gunsmith, suspected of global arms dealing....yada yada.... tell me something I don't know...oh...here's something, has been sighted once in Venice after a deal with the Sicilian Mafia in 2014." Finally something to go on.

Well shit, he's a handsome fucker.

Dark brown hair, defined and chiseled jaw sharp enough to cut yourself on, deep dark blue eyes, cold but none the less beautiful and memorizing. With a estimated height of 6"2 ...mmmm...where can I get me one of those. Immaculately dressed in a three piece suit, tailored to perfection, showing of broad shoulders and a narrow waist. I didn't realize I was day dreaming about him until I heard a knock from my door.

Shit, its already 6:30. As I opened my door I was greeted by Paul, the footman of my floor, so only me considering it was a penthouse. Dressed in a waiters uniform with prefect teeth and hair, he rolled in the food cart and gave me a run down of today's food.

"Thanks Paul, as always right on time" I thanked him while making it clear I wanted him to leave. Once he was gone I made sure to test all of the food, drink and even the cutlery for poisons or triggers of any kind as one can never be to careful. Once cleared I enjoyed the meal from the five star restaurant in peace and made my way to the gym.

This gym was state of the art, it had everything imaginable to keep my reflexes sharp and honed, with weapons lining two of the walls, one being a mirror and the last covered in TV monitoring the entire building and the streets around me. I had already changed into my work out clothes and spent the next 3 hours doing cardio, weights and weapons training, mixing in the military method with my own personal twist adapted from personal fights and experiences.

As a crawled into bed that night I downed the rest of the ridiculously priced bottle of wine and took one last look as the case file as I studied Gunsmiths face, feeling a sense of deja vu but the memory escaped my grasp before I could place it.

So this might not be the most interesting chapter to read...but I needed to add this is in so you get a background and buildup of the story. So hopefully you'll read further and find a reason to keep reading.
If you have any comments or suggestions for the story please don't hesitate to comment or message me about it.
-V