2. Max Hunter: The Mystery Of The Renata

By H.S. Rehman

A computer scientist is murdered. His dying words plead for Elizabeth to find something mysterious known as the Renata. Max travels to Paris and searches on her behalf. But as he probes, he learns that the Shadow, the world’s most vicious vigilante, the Kobra Gang, the most ruthless in Europe, and the Secret Order, the most feared criminal organisation worldwide are hunting for it too. As Max discovers what it is, perilous secrets unfold, his life is suddenly in danger and he must find the Renata before anyone else.

~ An action-packed crime thriller that will keep you guessing until the end ~

~ Fans of Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan, Lee Child's Jack Reacher, Robert Ludlum's Jason Bourne, Anthony Horowitz's Alex Rider and James Patterson's Alex Cross, will enjoy this Max Hunter action crime-thriller ~

~ More details and updates of upcoming series can be found on my social media:
•Website: www.hsrehman.com
•Instagram: h.s.rehman
•Twitter: hs_rehman

• Language: English
• Publisher: H.S. Rehman
• Release date: Dec 25, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005155421

H.S. Rehman

My name is Hammad Saud Rehman and I’m an aspiring author. I was born and raised in London, United Kingdom and I’ve studied a Bachelors and Masters in English from King’s College London.I currently teach English to a group of amazing teenagers, who just like all teenagers on a bad day, drive me absolutely bonkers and crazy!In my spare time I write novels; I’ve been writing for ten years. After numerous rejections, I decided to self-publish my novels as eBooks online for free, so people can enjoy reading them. You can find out more about my first set of novels in my Max Hunter crime thriller series by visiting my website www.hsrehman.comThank you for reading and thank you to everyone for their amazing support so far. Please wish me well on my journey and dream of becoming a successful and established author!Best wishesH.S. Rehman.

Book preview

Max Hunter

The Mystery Of The Renata

By H.S. Rehman

Copyright Information

Please note that this story book is a work of fiction and any content is either fictitious or if real is used fictitiously and any resemblance to people or events is purely coincidental.

Copyright © 2021 by H.S. Rehman (Hammad Saud Rehman). Max Hunter and its rights and all rights are reserved and owned by the author H.S. Rehman

First Published, 2021, London, United Kingdom.

Thank You

Dear Reader,

Thank you for choosing the sequel to my crime-thriller ‘Max Hunter – The Hunting Begins.’ I really hope you enjoy reading this. If so, please do kindly leave a short review online afterwards and tell others about it!

You’re also welcome to follow me for the latest news on social media:

Website: www.hsrehman.com

Instagram: # h.s.rehman

Twitter: @ hs_rehman

Thank you so much once again!

H.S. Rehman.

A huge thank you to Allah (God) for giving me the ability to write this story!

Chapter One

Dead Meat

Hugo Ramirez was about to die.

It was inevitable. There was no escaping it. It made no difference that he was driving under protection with forty members of the Kobra Gang, the most feared and ruthless in Europe. And it made no difference that they were all armed with standard Uzi submachine guns that could fire ten bullets per second and rip through flesh and bone. Or that they each had a Spetsnaz machete that could cut through just about anything. It didn’t matter either that they were dressed in armoured bulletproof clothing made from highly resistant Kevlar that was almost impossible to penetrate.

And the fact that the person they were meeting was unarmed and alone was completely insignificant too. That’s because the person they were meeting was no ordinary man.

He was the Shadow.

The most efficient, cunning and feared vigilante in the world. He had once killed fifty armed triads from the famous Hao Tao clan in pitch black inside a nightclub in Beijing with nothing but his bare hands. And he had famously killed several armed corrupt police officers single-handedly in a New York underground drug-fuelled rave. The Shadow was known by his name because nobody knew what he looked or sounded like. And his shadow was the first and last thing his victims often saw.

Now they were about to meet this same individual to deliver something small and precious known as the Renata. It was worth hundreds of millions of dollars. But the Shadow was willing to pay twenty and the Kobra Gang had agreed. That’s what worried Hugo the most. It was known throughout the criminal underworld that the Renata was worth much more.

But there was a problem.

The meeting was a setup. They hadn’t bought the Renata with them. Only their Uzi submachine guns, their Spetsnaz machetes and a cluster of M15 grenades that released white phosphorus smoke, toxic to the lungs and skin. That’s because the plan wasn’t to sell the Renata to the Shadow – the plan was to kill him. He had killed many of them; he was their greatest enemy and threat. And the opportunity to meet and kill the Shadow was too hard to resist.

The Renata itself was locked safely away in a secret place only Hugo knew where. Soon the Kobra Gang would torture and prize the information from him. Then they would kill his five-year-old son, Antonio, whom they had taken as hostage. Hugo wasn’t sure how he would save them both. But for now, he had to bitterly oblige.

And he’d also had to travel from Paris to the outskirts of the small town of Reedham near the east coast of England with the gang. The Shadow had insisted that they do that. He had wanted to meet them at an abandoned meat factory known as Bull and Sons Ltd.

The Kobra Gang knew it well. They had once owned it and used it to stuff dead animals with cocaine and transport it around the United Kingdom. Then they had discovered that it was more efficient to use migrants and lorries instead. People were far more effective at carrying illegal goods and concealing them with their lives.

That’s because their lives depended on it.

The Shadow had also instructed that Hugo bring the Renata with him. And the Renata was the key. He was the only one who had access to it and the first port of security was through his right hand and iris. But nobody knew that except him.

He stared out the car window. The weather forecaster had predicted a storm tonight and she wasn’t wrong. The rain splashed violently around them. The eight BMW X3s roared down the motorway and turned onto a long muddy bumpy track. The sports utility vehicles raced past the creaking sign of Bull and Sons Ltd painted in red on a dirty wooden board that hung loosely on a cracked pole.

The road was abandoned just like the factory. It was far away and hidden from view, so people couldn’t see what the gang were up to. It was perfect for an ambush. And that was the problem.

The person they were meeting was the master of ambushes.

A tattered scarecrow appeared wedged on a broken stick. Even in the darkness, Hugo saw the hollow eyes staring at him, almost as if warning him to turn back and run. But it was too late for that. A ripple of fear crawled down his spine. He twitched.

‘You look a little afraid!’ said a Russian accent, cutting through his thoughts.

Hugo glanced to his right where the voice had come from. A scruffy man sat there with a wry grin stretched across his hardened face. His muscles bulged and tensed through his armoured uniform as he gripped an Uzi submachine gun aimed straight at Hugo. One pull of the trigger and ten bullets would rip through him before he had even blinked.

But it wasn’t the gun that Hugo was afraid of.

It was the black fanged cobra snake coiled with fiery red eyes tattooed onto the man’s neck that sent a shiver through his bones. It was the symbol of the Kobra Gang and had it spread terror across the underworld. The person it was tattooed on was called Viktor; he was the designated leader of the Kobra Gang for this mission.

‘How can we… how can we not be afraid when we’re about to meet such a crazy man?’ said Hugo, nervously adjusting his square spectacles and wiping the beads of sweat from his bald head.

Viktor jabbed the butt of his gun into Hugo’s stomach. The air rushed out from his lungs and the computer scientist coughed and spluttered.

‘Control your tongue!’ Viktor growled. ‘There are forty of us and only one of him. We’re armed to the teeth and the agreement was for him to come empty-handed. We’ll check to make sure that he’s come as agreed. I’m sure he will; he’s desperate. He wants the Renata… and we want his blood!’

Viktor burst into rapturous laughter. The other four gang members inside the car followed; their laughs and cackles bounced off the tinted windows and echoed inside Hugo’s mind. The Shadow had hunted members of the Kobra Gang for years and they had wanted revenge.

But Hugo wasn’t so sure they would get it.

They passed an old tractor and weaved between three barns. Then the meat factory arrived. It looked like an old barn. It was a tall square building made from cracked slates with no windows and a small broken wooden fence around it. The factory had been abandoned for years and lay in ruins. The only signs of life were a few deciduous trees surrounding it. But the largest had fallen and blocked the side entrance leaving only the main one free.

Viktor noticed. He cursed under his breath and angrily muttered. ‘It looks like we’ll all have to go through the main entrance.’

Hugo understood. It wasn’t good news. That meant there was only one way to get into the factory… and one way out.

The X3 raced past the broken gate and down a slope and skidded to a halt outside the factory. The other X3s followed and stopped nearby. Viktor picked up his phone from a side port, lifted it close to his mouth and muttered something in Russian. Then he nudged a stout gang member sitting next to him with a barbell ring dangling from her nostrils. ‘Alina, perform the scans!’

Alina understood. She took out a handheld thermographic camera from a rucksack slumped around her shoulder and switched it on. Everyone waited. A green image appeared on the screen of a man standing inside the factory. He was unarmed and there wasn’t a single person in sight except for them… just as agreed. She switched on the heat sensors; they flashed and showed no explosive devices nearby.

Viktor wryly grinned and lifted the phone close to his mouth again. ‘Mikhail, take your guards and go and do the checks. Make sure you check thoroughly.’

‘Yes, Sir,’ Mikhail’s voice crackled from the other side.

The doors of an X3 behind them sprung open. Five men burst out and crouched low like an army squadron. They gripped their Uzis and hurried across to the sides of the factory. The others waited in silence. The minutes ticked by. A nervous lump grew inside Hugo’s throat. He tried to swallow it, but it refused to budge.

A voice suddenly crackled through the phone. ‘It’s all clear,’ said Mikhail. ‘He’s alone and the windows are boarded. There are no bombs and the gas pipes are all secure. We didn’t find anything suspicious except what looks like some sort of water leak. But there’s no power inside the factory building and there’s only one way in and out and that’s through the main entrance.’

‘The power cut is probably because of the storm and the water leak is just the rain seeping in.’ Viktor wryly grinned and laughed and shrieked in excitement. ‘The Shadow is an even bigger fool than I had imagined!’ He muttered something in Russian as if to approve.

The gang members around them clutched their Uzis and checked their pockets for their grenades and their sheaths for their machetes. Then they slipped on their GP-5 gas masks around their heads like a balloon with two round eyes.

Viktor opened the door and stepped outside. His feet plodded into the wet mud. He lifted his phone to his mouth and spluttered through the heavy rain. ‘Are we ready?’

The X3s behind them flashed their headlights to confirm. The doors swung open and everyone jumped out with their Uzis gripped in their hands.

Viktor winked at Hugo and mocked. ‘There’s no need to worry. There’s only one of him and forty of us. He has no chance!’ He lifted his Uzi.

The rain pelted onto Hugo. He peered between his fingers. An Uzi would rip through the flesh of anyone in seconds. And each gang member had one and the Shadow was unarmed. He took a deep breath. Maybe Viktor was right. Maybe they wouldn’t die after all. But he still wasn’t entirely convinced.

The person they were meeting was not an ordinary man.

He reluctantly put on his mask. Viktor ushered with his hand. Five gang members led the way forward and the others followed. Viktor nudged Hugo with the gun. He twitched with fear and jerked forward. A clap of thunder echoed. A bolt of lightning rippled across the dark sky. Hugo gasped; his eyes widened. He slipped on the muddy floor and lost his footing.

Viktor glared and cursed under his breath in Russian. Any sound could alert the Shadow of their presence. Hugo shook his head. It didn’t matter. The Shadow probably knew they were here already. He steadied himself.

Viktor snapped his fingers and ushered once more. A dozen gang members crouched against the walls and hurried along the perimeter. They were going to surround the factory and enter. It would be impossible for the Shadow to escape.

Viktor snapped his fingers again and pointed to the large wooden door of the entrance, which hung loosely to the side. Several gang members crouched, hurried ahead and entered. Viktor nudged Hugo again. He bit his lip and followed into a small dark room filled with a long empty desk, broken chairs and shelves.

The rain spat against the walls. They edged forward. The water squelched beneath Hugo’s feet and seconds later he was wading through it. Mikhail was right. The water was swimming around his ankles. A pipe had probably burst. Or maybe there was a leak in the roof. It wasn’t surprising considering the rain outside.

In front was a large room dimly lit by a lamppost outside, which shone through some broken slats in the ceiling. Dead bits of cattle hung off a few hooks against the far wall. A mincing machine with shiny cutters and rubber belts was in the middle, boxed crates were stacked against the side and a stench of old beef carried through the air. The walls were covered in patches of blood... and they were presumably from the cattle.

This was the meat processing room.

Hugo looked across to the other side and froze; his fearful gaze fixed onto a dark silhouette in the middle. It was a tall man standing on a raised platform dressed in a long black overcoat with gloves and a hood slinked over his head. His balaclava covered his entire face including his eyes, nose and mouth. It was the Shadow.

Hugo shivered.

‘I apologise about the power cut and the water leakage,’ said the Shadow. His voice was deep and raspy. It was as if his throat had been lined with sandpaper. But it wasn’t sandpaper. It was a voice synthesiser fitted in front of his mouth to disguise his real speech.

‘I don’t give a damn about your hospitality or apologies!’ Viktor snapped and cursed again and again in Russian. ‘Let’s get down to business!’

Mikhail cursed as well, raised his middle finger and cackled. The other gang members hidden in the dark corners of the factory also sniggered and sneered.

Hugo nervously shifted. Why on earth were Viktor and Mikhail being so rude… did they not realise who they were talking to?

The Shadow slowly nodded. ‘Do you have the Renata?’

Viktor glanced at Hugo. He knew his role. They had planned and rehearsed it in Paris. He slowly nodded, slipped his hand inside his pocket and waved a replica. He was certain it wasn’t going to work. But he had been told to go along, otherwise a bullet would be fired in the middle of his son’s forehead.

‘Do you have the money?’ asked Viktor, wryly grinning.

The Shadow pointed to a table on the side with a laptop on it. He opened his hand and revealed a small remote wrapped around his index finger with a red button. ‘The laptop is set up to transfer twenty million dollars instantly into the offshore account agreed as soon as I press this red button.’ He waved his finger to show everyone.

It was then that it hit Hugo. The laptop was disguised as some sort of bomb. He was sure of it. And it seemed as if Viktor had understood this too. He ushered to Alina. She opened her rucksack and pulled out a small device that looked like a mobile phone. But it wasn’t a phone; it was a specially designed prototype of an ion mobility spectrometry machine fitted with x-ray and silicone nanowires to detect any type of explosive.

It was one of the most advanced of its types ever designed.

Alina tapped the screen and pressed a few buttons; then she cautiously moved close to the laptop and moved the device around it in a slow circular motion. The device beeped and flashed and seconds later she gave a thumbs up to Viktor. Hugo breathed a quiet sigh of relief. The laptop wasn’t a bomb after all.

Viktor glanced at Mikhail and nodded. He understood. So did Hugo. He slipped his hand inside his pocket and took out the Renata. Mikhail lowered his Uzi, carefully took the Renata from him and edged towards the Shadow on the platform.

Hugo wondered why they didn’t just kill the Shadow now. He remembered what Viktor had said earlier. They wanted the money first; it was blood money for all the gang members the Shadow had killed.

Mikhail reached the edge of the platform and playfully waived the Renata. Hugo sighed. The Shadow was an intelligent individual. Surely he wasn’t going to believe that they would simply hand him the Renata. Surely he had a way to check and ensure it was the Renata. But only Hugo knew the way to check and he suddenly wondered how the Shadow would do that.

The Shadow pointed to the edge of the platform in front. ‘Place the Renata on the floor right there, please.’

Mikhail looked behind at Viktor, who nodded. He carefully put the Renata on the platform and took a few steps back. The Shadow leaned forward and peered. Silence filled the room. The seconds slowly ticked by.

Hugo bit his lip. Why was the Shadow simply staring at it… why wasn’t he moving forward to pick it up and inspect it?

Suddenly the Shadow shook his head. ‘That’s not the Renata, I’m afraid. I will not be paying!’

Hugo blinked in surprise. How did the Shadow know? He hadn’t checked or scanned its contents inside. He hadn’t even picked it up.

Mikhail glanced behind at Viktor. He nodded again. Mihail raised his middle finger and spat at the Shadow. That was the signal. The discussion had ended. They weren’t going to bother pursuing money from the Shadow anymore.

Viktor raised his Uzi. The other gang members followed. They all pulled their triggers. A clatter of bullets rained onto the Shadow; their crackles and blinding lights lit up the room. Hugo covered his eyes and squinted through his fingers. A cloud of smoke filled the factory. Then the firing stopped. The Shadow didn’t stand a chance.

It was impossible for him to have survived.

The gang members edged closer and surrounded the Shadow like a net. Hugo nervously twitched; his feet were rooted to the ground. The smoke slowly cleared… and the Shadow stood in the same position completely unmoved like a statue. Hugo’s mouth widened in surprise. Maybe they had missed. No, they had all fired straight at the Shadow. He had seen it with his own eyes.

Then it hit him.

There was a glass screen surrounding the Shadow made from layers of thick polycarbonate plastic. The bullets had scratched the surfaces; the hairline cracks were just about visible in the dimly lit darkness.

Viktor sneered. ‘Do you think a bulletproof screen will save you?’

He was right. A few more minutes of relentless firing and the bullets would smash the glass apart. But the Shadow was probably wearing bulletproof clothing and it wasn’t certain if they had enough bullets left. Viktor understood this. He slipped his hand inside his pockets, plucked out a grenade and threw it.

The other gang members followed. A cluster of grenades smashed onto the floor and a blast followed. Smoke filled the room like a stormy cloud. Hugo held his breath; his eyes had fixed on the platform through his gas mask. Without it, he would be dead… but Shadow didn’t have one. The gang members watched and waited in silence. The smoke slowly cleared.

And the Shadow remained standing where he was.

Hugo nervously stepped back. The Shadow had also worn protective clothing. He had prepared for an ambush and something suddenly didn’t feel right. It was the way in which the Shadow simply stood remarkably calm without even flinching.

Hugo peered closely at the Shadow’s face and blinked in surprise. The vigilante wasn’t wearing a balaclava after all. It was a specially designed rubber gas mask with an inbuilt air-purifying respirator and a narrow tube most likely attached to a small oxygen cylinder inside his long overcoat.

Viktor clicked his fingers and ushered to a stocky gang member standing in the far corner and muttered through gritted teeth. ‘Roman, unload the rocket.’

Roman placed his Uzi on the floor and grabbed a long bag slung over his shoulder. He opened it and pulled out a handheld rocket launcher; it was also known as a bazooka. And this model was an M1 with a four-pound warhead wedged inside. It was enough to blow any person into ashes. Three more gang members in every other corner did the same. They rested the launchers onto their shoulders.

Roman fired first.

A rocket screeched and hissed and zoomed forward. A flurry of flames trailed behind. It smashed into the bulletproof screen. An explosion boomed. Debris flew everywhere. Hugo staggered back and covered his eyes. So did everyone else. The smoke cleared. One side of the bulletproof glass screen had cracked and clumps of metal from the rocket lay scattered on the floor.

But Shadow remained where he was, calmly watching on.

Hugo sighed and wheezed; his breath suddenly felt heavy. The Shadow’s reaction was strange. He had

Reviews for 2. Max Hunter

[thomas rea · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I figured out who they were but there still a lot of unanswered questions