Hunting the Perfect Monster: The Engineered Killing Machine

By Ron J. Lee

When his Engineered Killing Machine (E-KIM) program is rejected by the Department of Defense and the Military, the egomaniacal Project Director hatches a plan to use the half animal, half machine to prove them wrong. A trail of bodies, a hired gun, a pair of determined police detectives and one of the most deadly beings ever conceived make “Hunting the Perfect Monster” a fast-paced sci-fi murder mystery with more twists and turns than a roller coaster, and an ending that will leave the reader with no questions unanswered.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Oct 31, 2014
• ISBN: 9781483542348

Book preview

Prologue

As Master Programmer, Darius Woldly had 24/7 access to the computer lab, so his arrival at 2:00 AM caused no alarm.  The task in front of him would be complicated and the time would be short, but he set about it with more determination than he’d ever had in his life.

Woldly had not seen it coming.  The Director and his minions had blindsided him.  They had completely convoluted the purpose of his scientific masterpiece, and they had done it right under his nose.  He would not let that stand.  Working right under their noses, he was going to reciprocate.  He would derail their plans or die trying, and very possibly, both.  As he sat at the keyboard, he began adding additional code to the program, working steadily and tirelessly.  The deathly silence of the lab was disturbed only by the sound of his keystrokes, their innocuous clicking not revealing the magnitude of what the Master Programmer was doing .  Periodically, a security guard would stroll by, but not an eyebrow was raised.  Darius Woldly belonged there.

By 4:00 AM, he was finished.  What he’d done would throw a monkey wrench into their scheme, but for how long, he couldn’t say.  He was far too intelligent to allow himself to be deluded.  He knew that the so-called big brains at ILLA would eventually figure out that something had gone wrong, and not long after, what had caused the malfunction.  He also knew that they would quickly realize that he was the only one capable of this type of sabotage, and that recrimination would be severe.  As he saw it, there were two choices, and one of them was simply not viable.  He had seen what one of the Engineered Killing Machines could do to a man, and he had no desire to be the Director’s next bait dog.  The second choice, then, was the obvious one.  Whatever happened would happen without him.  But he would leave a legacy.  He had turned the paradigm upside down.  He would pay them back for how they had perversely exploited his genius. Master Programmer Darius Woldly would exit on a high note.  To a man with his vanity and pride, that was more important than life itself.

Chapter 1.

By all accounts, Jared Darnelle was a lowlife.  Four kids by three different women, none of whom he supported, a long arrest record for drug possession, aggravated battery, DUI and most notably, indecent exposure (Jared liked to whip it out in public parks),  he was a loser with a capital L.  So when he somehow managed to land a job as a night watchman at an airfreight warehouse (thanks to a sympathetic parole officer who had connections,) it was no surprise that the first thing he did was look for things to steal. 

He’d gotten away with petty stuff (he couldn’t believe how easy it was to avoid the security cameras), but tonight he was going to hit the jackpot, thanks to a certain shipment that had arrived via special courier just an hour ago.  It looked normal enough, just a nondescript shipping crate with fragile stickers pasted on all sides.  But there was something a bit different about it.  It was secured by several locked latches, and it made noise, or whatever was inside of it did.  A kind of whimpering.  Sounded sort of like a puppy, but judging from the size of the crate, it was more like a full grown dog with a wimpy disposition.

But it was the bill of lading that got Jared’s attention. The thing,  whatever it was, carried a two hundred and fifty thousand dollar insurance rider.  Two hundred fifty thou!  Jared knew whatever that crate contained had plenty of value on the street.  Given the sounds, he figured it was some sort of prize winning dog or rare and precious boutique pet.  Maybe some celebrity’s pet anteater, he chuckled to himself.  Whatever, his felonious mind knew an opportunity when he saw one.  All he would have to do is steal it (make it look like the thing escaped,) sell it to an operator he knew from the old neighborhood (the guy could fence anything) for 50 cents on the dollar and quit this shit job.  Vegas, strippers, cocaine and call girls till his money ran out, and if he was a little lucky at the gambling tables, that could be years.  Jared felt it in his heart – his ship was about to come in; ironically, in a shipping crate.

He thought it over.  It wouldn’t be hard to stage the escape.  There were plenty of tools in the warehouse, and