The Hunter and the Hunted

We finally left the ghost town after we had buried Pierre, thoroughly destroyed his helmet and collected everything of importance to me, which consisted almost solely of Lucas, my small trusty ice bear. Neil wasn't yet used to living on the run and took way too much clutter with him. Maybe I would teach him how to live frugally and improvise when needed. Maybe my life style was about to change radically. I didn't care, I was open for anything, as long as it happened together with my Neil.

I was looking forward to life for the first time as we were about to start our long drive back to civilization. Everything we didn't need, including all weapons and all traces of what had recently happened in that godforsaken place, was burned in a large bonfire. I wasn't good at this civilization thing, but was willing to follow Neil's lead.

We sat there in the dusk in each other's arms, watched the flames and connected our minds again. I felt him enter mine this time and welcomed him home. I shared my feelings about this fire. It cleansed all the old shit from my life, all the hurt, distrust and fear. It emptied me and opened me for something new. We shared that feeling and I felt him willing to change his life as completely as I wanted to change mine. We'd do this together.

'Can you see him, Neil?'

'Yes, it's the guy with that garish straw hat.'

I watched Neil sitting in the café, lazily sipping at his Cappu, seemingly without a care in the world. We had finished a mind-privacy time of a few weeks. Now that we had a job to do, we were, of course, connected again. I enjoyed these jobs, but the best part of our linked-periods clearly was the sex. The wordless communication was a big plus, as well, as this situation proved. The two years since I'd met him in that godforsaken mining town had proven that we'd go insane if we stayed linked for too long, unfortunately. I had still not given up on my dream of being permanently linked someday, but Neil had shied away from that, the lovable coward.

'The white suit?'

'Right.'

'Seriously? I know, he's a big cheese drug dealer. But can't he look like a normal person? Look at those croc-leather shoes. How can anyone wear that shit without shriveling up in shame?'

'Effie, for someone who has just recently joined civilization, you've become quite the fashion snob.'

'I have a lot of catching up to do.'

'You're certainly doing your best. Luckily, we have plenty of money.'

'Let's make some more. Can you get near enough for us to connect to him?'

'Sure.'

I watched him get up and move to a table near "El Rey" aka Juan Gordillo. Eight of the men around him were bodyguards. We had already checked everything that would happen in the next few hours. None of them would notice a thing. The half-hour time limit was gone whenever I connected my mind with Neil's. We had extended our previews to almost two hours, but had learned that things became more unreliable the further ahead we looked. More people who could mess things up inadvertently became involved. The threads became a bit fuzzy in those cases.

This time, the thread was crystal clear. I looked into Juan's mind, just to be sure. Cesspools like his didn't bother me anymore when I was connected to Neil. Yes, the mighty El Rey would take a leak in a few minutes. He would drop his pants in the café's restroom. Neil would pick the car keys from the neighboring stall.

Seven minutes later, a very attractive lady, namely me, would walk by the goon who guarded the car. She would wink at him and he would brainlessly follow her like a dog in heat. A few seconds later, a handsome man named Neil would simply unlock the car with Juan's keys and drive away with a few millions of drug money in the trunk. He would pick up said hot lady once she lost her pursuer through the back door of a rather shady restaurant.

We had tried lots of ways to make money. Horse races, lotteries, and stock markets had all worked. We had more than enough money for a few life times, so we limited our work to what was the most fun. We called it Robin-Hooding. We selected the worst assholes we could find and stole from them. Drug dealers, scammers, corrupt politicians. We had made this into a kind of sport, and we were a lot better at it than we were at, say, beach volleyball.

"This was fun, honey," I said after getting into the preposterous car. I mean, come on, a gold Bentley with spinning wheel-covers, plated with rhinestones?

"It was," he agreed and kissed me. "And I agree, we need to scrap this car just for aesthetic reasons."

We drove on for some time, while I just watched the pink fuzzy dice hanging from the rear-view mirror.

"Really?" he suddenly asked, having read my mind.

"Yes, maybe you're right," I replied with a bit of remorse. It had been a bit of an argument between us. He wanted to stop, shying away from the risk. I still wanted the thrill of the hunt. "Maybe it's really not worth the risk, anymore."

I knew that he had sensed the new mind in my belly that had already joined us on occasion. There had been no need for tests or words.

"Thank you, my love," was all he said.

Many thanks to Blackrandl1958, Bebop3 and especially GeorgeAnderson for their help. Working with George has massively improved many of my stories over the years. Thanks.