Bounty Hunter [REWRITTEN VERSION]

Chapter 39: The Name is RYDER

ALEC

Something wasn't right.

The detective's first thought as he began to wake up was; why is it so damn bright?

The second; was trying to remember when he had actually gone to sleep.

The third; was why he found himself in the middle of the forest, encased by net, his hands bound in front of him, hanging nearly 20 feet in the air.

As soon as that fact processed in his mind and the realization that he was not imagining things struck him, Alec bolted up-right. Or rather, that had been his intent. The thick ropes that surrounded him didn't provide leisure for much orchestrated movement.

He tried again to shift his body around to try and catch a glimpse of something that might answer his question, but it seemed like every move he tried to make only succeeded in tangling him up even more.

What. The. Hell? Where am I?

Someone was about to be the recipient of a whole wave of murderous fury.

Rile—RYDER

He watched with a just feeling of satisfaction as he watched Daiyu's irritating partner wake, only to find himself trapped in bindings of rope that he couldn't possibly hope to escape. He had assured that much.

Or he supposed he should get used to calling her only Maize from now on.

It was funny, when they first met all those years ago, they had been two very different people. Or rather, she had been different, and he had been the same couldn't-have-a-care guy. Who had stolen something fairly valuable from a cartel boss. And had landed himself in a rather unfortunate situation. With a bounty on his head. From someone willing to pay for the best. Daiyu.

Oh the good times.

He had been four years less experienced back then, barely past the age of 23 when he had encountered a bounty hunter even younger than himself. She couldn't have been more than 21 at the time. He would have never expected that the hunter after him was a young woman barely past her 20's. And boy did he remember her using that to her advantage.

She had cornered him one night, pretending to flirt with him to draw him closer, planning to get him alone and then most likely take him out so she could deliver him to her employer, but while he hadn't had the same number of years of experience, he still had instinct. Enough so that he had been too cautious to risk falling into her trap.

It was only later when he encountered her a second time—no longer hiding behind a charade—that he realized he had been right to follow his gut.

The order hadn't been to kill. Just to deliver him to the cartel boss's doorstep—so he could do the killing himself. They must have thought it'd be easy.

Twenty-seven attempts. Twenty-seven times she tried one way or another to capture him. Twenty-seven times he had maneuvered himself out of her reach. And not to mention having Kota who would warn him any time he sensed her did help immensely. If not for that he would have been caught for sure.

He remembered all the conversations they had had as she either tried to subdue him or him giving her a call after he had disappeared—just to antagonize her. He had a knack for pissing people off, which he learned quickly.