The Horsemen Gather: An Urban Fantasy Action Adventure (The Unbelievable Mr. Brownstone Book 17)

by Michael Anderle

  “Not too big,” Daniel replied. “But bigger than you’d like, I can tell you that. The only reason James Brownstone is allowed to walk around free is that everyone’s afraid of him. No one wants to be the one who finally sets him off.”

  “Good. It’s not that I think the bastards could take him, but he’s on edge, and I don’t need these Fortis fuckers spinning him up. We’re trying to plan a fucking wedding.”

  “A wedding?” Daniel looked confused.

  Shay pulled out her phone. “I better give James a call to let him know the fuckers might be coming after him. So, what’s the deal, right now? I know you’re not going to help me out with the job, but what about right now?”

  “We’ll drop you off wherever you want,” Daniel explained. “But after that, we need to get out of here. I’ll be blunt, Shay. We probably won’t see each other for a long time.”

  “Fair enough.” Shay nodded. “Thanks for your help. Don’t worry. If you can keep these bastards mostly off us, I’ll get that map to the Professor, and he’ll do what he needs to do with it.” She scoffed. “So we’re fighting other agents to get to a vimana map so we can have a weapon against the damned Nine Systems Alliance.”

  Daniel let out a dark chuckle. “When you say it like that, it sounds so complicated.”

  Daisy snickered in the back.

  Shay sighed. “Yeah. Fucking complicated.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Whispy radiated eagerness. Moderate adaptation potential. Engage and kill the enemy.

  James grunted. Don’t worry about that. There’ll be all sorts of killing soon. I’m gonna make sure of it. These fuckers don’t understand who they just went after.

  Drones trailed after him, but they didn’t have any obvious weapons.

  The F-350 screamed down the side streets, James’ hands tight on the wheel as he took deep breaths. He was still processing everything Shay had just told him over the phone. He’d wanted a little more action to spice up his week, but he hadn’t wanted government assassins coming after them.

  James didn’t give a shit if the Fortis assholes were rogue CIA. They’d gone after Shay. It didn’t matter that she had been doing a good job of taking them out and some other CIA fucker helped her. Any group who dared attacked someone he cared about was voting for its annihilation, up to and including him blowing up buildings.

  James’ heart thundered in his chest and he gritted his teeth, the anger thick in the air. A low growl escaped his mouth.

  You fuckers think I won’t go to war with you because you’ve got government connections? Screw you. I’ll fucking tear up anyone who threatens Shay or Alison. You’re only lucky that all those assholes are already dead.

  Sufficient power for advanced transformation available, Whispy reported. Engage and kill the enemy.

  Not yet, James sent. Not yet. I want these fuckers to be afraid. I want them to feel it right before I send them to Hell. That’s what they get for picking the wrong woman to screw with. That’s what they get for not learning the fucking lesson we already taught the government with Alison a while ago.

  James reached up to his ear to turn on the new model of receiver Heather had given him. He hadn’t even had a chance to use it yet, other than to test it a few weeks prior. He had already briefly talked to the hacker on the phone and relayed what Shay had told him. That was right before he spotted the drones following him and assumed Fortis was also coming at him soon.

  “Your tac drone close yet, Heather?” he rumbled. “I can’t do much to those things from my truck.”

  “Almost there. Fortunately, you’re heading right toward it. Where are you going, anyway?”

  “Runyon Canyon Park. I was close anyway. I was checking out a restaurant supply store when Shay called. I figure that since it’s already nighttime, there will be fewer people around, so I can fuck up these Fortis assholes without others getting caught in the crossfire. They probably brought more flashy artifact weapons and shit if they’re coming after me.”

  “Sounds good. I’ll see if I can bring up some satellite or drone imagery for the area after I finish checking on you.” Heather took a deep breath. “Damn. You’ve still got multiple drones from what I can see on the traffic cams, but they don’t look like they’re armed.”

  James grunted. “Yeah, not worried about the drones. These fuckers aren’t gonna come after me yet. They’ll wait until I’m somewhere a little more deserted. They might even know where I’m going and wait for their chance.” He did a mirror check. “Not seeing any vehicles looking like they’re following me. Got eyes on any strange helicopters or shit like that? I don’t want any surprises.”

  “Nope, but wait. One sec.” The faint clack of typing came over the line. “There are several black SUVs driving parallel to you a few blocks over. I’ve been checking the nearby traffic cameras just in case. It’s too perfect. Tinted windows. Looks like they are going to hit you a lot harder than they hit Shay at first.”

  “Then they understand who they are dealing with. Good for them. It’s not gonna save them.” James flexed his fingers. “The fuckers are gonna make it nice and personal. Fucking terrific. I want to look them in the eye as I fucking kill them.”

  “I’ll let you know if the situation changes,” Heather replied quietly.

  A few minutes passed before James slammed on the brakes. A closed gate blocked the road, and a house sat right next to the gate.

  Fuck. The gate’s closed? Damn it. Need to put some distance between this house and the fight. The whole fucking point was to keep other people out of my shit.

  James glanced to his left. A fence blocked access to a steep hill. There wasn’t much in the way of cover other than a few shrubs, but he’d already bonded Whispy and wasn’t concerned about avoiding attacks.

  He didn’t bother grabbing any weapons from the back. Whispy would be enough. He wanted to kill these so-called alien hunters with an alien weapon, if only to make a point. They needed to understand who they were allowed to mess with and who they weren’t.

  Engage and kill the enemy, Whispy insisted. Achieve maximum adaptation for primary directive.

  Fuck that. This is personal. You’ll get what you want, but that’s just because you’re lucky.

  Acceptable. Engage and kill enemy.

  James snorted as he threw open the F-350’s door and stepped into the chilly LA November evening air. Not worried about the temperature, he threw his coat on the seat along with his holster and knife sheath. He pulled off his t-shirt next and set it on top of his holster.

  I wonder how smart these fuckers will be. I hope they’re stupid-brave. That’ll be more fun when I beat their asses into the ground.

  James marched over to and hopped the nearby chain link fence before starting up the steep shrub-covered hill. The bright moonlight made it so he didn’t need any eye modifications.

  He frowned and narrowed his eyes as he realized something. SUVs were zooming up the road in the distance, but he didn’t see the drones anywhere. There was no light buzz in the air. Everything was still and quiet, like a graveyard. There wasn’t even a breeze.

  “Heather, you there?” James asked.

  Silence.

  “Shit, Shay warned me about jamming.” He frowned.

  It didn’t matter. She’d already done her part by letting him know they were on the way, and jamming meant the enemy had reduced their ability to use drones. He could handle the rest by himself.

  James continued climbing the hill as the SUVs screeched to a halt. Men piled out of the vehicles, most holding small silver pistols and two holding blocky gray rifles James didn’t recognize. He couldn’t pick out much detail from a distance, and he didn’t want Whispy to modify his vision right before a fight.

  You better hope that’s the world’s best anti-Vax gun, fuckers, or this is gonna be a very short fight. Who am I kidding? It’s gonna be a short fight anyway.

  Engage and kill the enemy, Whispy ordered.

  Nah. They’re going t
o engage me, and then I’ll kill them.

  “I’m here, you Fortis motherfuckers,” James roared, waving his arms. “You fuckers should have attacked me before you went after Shay. Then maybe you would have had a tiny chance, but now you have none. I’m ready for you, and now you’re gonna die.”

  The new arrivals aimed their pistols at the fence and fired. Blue beams blasted from the silver weapons and sliced through the metal, but the men with the rifles didn’t fire. The agents kicked the fence down and rushed onto the hill, their weapons aimed at James.

  High potential for adaptation, Whispy declared, a mixture of curiosity and happiness accompanying his report.

  James continued to wait, his fingers twitching. He didn’t need Whispy’s continued taunts to urge him on to battle. He’d been ready for this from the minute Shay let him know she’d been attacked after leaving the Leanan Sidhe.

  These fuckers will die, and they don’t even know it yet.

  The men fanned out, crushing the shrubs under their feet as they advanced slowly up the hill.

  “James Brownstone,” one of the agents called. “You’re in possession of illegal technology that represents a threat to the national security of the United States. You are to immediately turn over said technology and surrender to us.”

  “There’s no fucking law against this shit.” James slapped his palm over Whispy, who had sunk into the center of his chest. “You telling me there’s some sort of Vax Technology Control Law or some shit? Fuck you, assholes.”

  “So you acknowledge you’re currently using alien technology?”

  “I acknowledge I’m about to fuck you up, and I’ll fucking end anyone who helps you.”

  The men continued their advance. A porch light turned on from the house on the opposite side of the fence, and a man in a robe stepped outside.

  Shit. Stay inside.

  One of the Fortis agents turned and shot him through the chest with his silver energy pistol. The poor bastard didn’t even have time to scream before he tumbled to the porch, dead.

  James growled. “You fucking sonsofbitches.”

  Sufficient power for advanced transformation, Whispy reiterated.

  Do it.

  The armor spread from the amulet, the sound of the ripping pants clear in the otherwise still night. The blade extended, and James let out a low growl.

  “If you are smart government assholes, then you should know you don’t have a chance against me,” James rumbled.

  The previous speaker shook his head. “We’ve got a few more tools available than your common criminal, and we understand your anti-magic potential.”

  The advancing Fortis agents stopped but didn’t fire.

  “We don’t need you, Brownstone,” the man continued. He hadn’t even bothered to turn around when his friend murdered an innocent man. “We just need the symbiont. If you claim to care about this country and this planet at all, you’ll surrender it to us. It’s safest with us. We can study it. Find out its weaknesses. Think about it—we could be ready if the Vax ever come to this planet.”

  James snorted. “You just fucking killed some poor sonofabitch for stepping onto his porch. Fuck you. I’m not giving you shit. Besides that, you fuckers went after Shay. Those guys are dead, and now you’re going to die. You shouldn’t be worried about the Vax coming here. You should worry about the Vax right in front of you.”

  Whispy’s eager joy was palpable.

  The agent nodded slowly. “So that’s how it’s going to be.” He holstered his pistol and reached into his pocket, and a moment later, Alison appeared in the grass and shrubs, kneeling and blindfolded, with her hands bound behind her. Cuts and bruises covered her face.

  “Alison?” James called, his heartbeat kicking into a gallop. “What the fuck?”

  Engage and kill the enemy.

  Shut the fuck up and let me concentrate.

  “I’m scared, Dad,” Alison whimpered. “I don’t know what happened. They’ve done something. My magic doesn’t work.”

  “Nothing like a little alien teleportation tech. Much better than portals.” The Fortis agent pulled out his gun and aimed it at her head. “Your choice, Brownstone. Your symbiont or your daughter.”

  Rage flooded James. His vision swam, and his entire body trembled. His bellow of anger echoed around the hill. Several of the agents stepped back, the calm gone from their faces.

  James took a single step forward. “Get. The. Fuck. Away. From. Her.”

  The agent pressed the gun to the back of Alison’s head. “Uh, uh, uh, Brownstone. One more step and I introduce her brains to a direct plasma beam at point-blank range. We’ve neutralized her magic, so there’s no shield protecting her.”

  Several of the other agents stepped farther back at James’ loud growl.

  Power sufficient for extended advanced transformation, Whispy reported. Engage and kill the enemy.

  Tears rolled down Alison’s cheeks. “Please, Dad. Just give them what they want. I’m so scared.”

  James stopped moving and narrowed his eyes.

  Big mistake, fucker.

  “Good boy, Brownstone,” the Fortis agent shouted. “You of all people can’t question someone using a little excess force during a job. Sometimes it’s necessary for the greater good. This is just a little more important than removing a few criminals from the streets. This is about saving the planet from potential alien invaders. The way I see it, you don’t have a choice. The whole planet followed your little adoption hearing. We know how important this girl is to you.”

  James continued staring at Alison and the gun. Even in the anger and hatred swirling through his body and mind, something was screaming for him to notice. He finally did. The Fortis agent had leaned forward, and the tip of his weapon had disappeared into the back of Alison’s head.

  It’s a fucking trick.

  The realization didn’t kill the waves of anger radiating through his body. Whispy had always been that good at keeping that kind of thing going.

  Kill the enemy. Kill the enemy. Kill the enemy.

  Fuck it. I was gonna do it anyway. Let’s go the next step.

  The remainder of his armor appeared, along with his claws and helmet, his expanded vision coming in a moment later. The Fortis agents let out a startled gasp, except for the lead agent, who still hadn’t realized his error. His face wore a smug grin, the mask of a too-confident fool.

  James pointed a blade at the agent. “You made a big mistake, asshole,” he growled. “You shouldn’t have tried to fool me with a fake Alison. You die first, and you die painfully.”

  The lead agent sighed and looked down at this gun. “Oh, shit. Whatever. I’m tired of this. Use the blast pistols. We can still study the corpse.”

  The image of Alison disappeared, and he raised his weapon.

  Blue beams lit up the night and buzzed as shot after shot after shot struck him, the beam dissipating across his armor.

  Near maximum adaptation already achieved against attack type, Whispy reported, disappointment filtering in with the thought.

  James had no idea when he’d run into plasma beams before, nor did he care. He still had a fucker to kill. With a roar, he launched himself into the air and raised his blade.

  The Fortis agents continued firing, but their shots weren’t doing anything more than scraping a thin layer off the armor. James brought his blade down and sliced the lead agent in half. The man’s blood splattered and coated the agents near him.

  As the man’s body split into pieces, James growled, “Told you that you’d die first.”

  He charged another man and decapitated him before ripping out a man’s throat with his claws. The two agents with the rifles backed away as James carved through the rest of the agents with ease. Neither had fired. Both were furiously tapping on some sort of keypads on the sides of the weapons.

  Huh. Should have had that shit ready. Why is this crap so locked down?

  One of the riflemen turned and rushed down the hill toward the c
ars. The other raised his weapon, his body shaking.

  Warning: unusual resonance detected, Whispy reported. Caution recommended.

  Caution? Since when the fuck are you worried about an attack? You always want new adaptations. Don’t suddenly become a pussy.

  James let out a long low growl as he stalked toward the fleeing agent.

  The man raised his gun and fired. James’ left arm disappeared in a cloud of purple lilac-scented smoke. He was too surprised for the pain to set in before he sliced the man and weapon in half.

  Yesssssss, Whispy sent. Then, as if realizing the situation added, Extreme damage detected. Regeneration in progress. Adaptation in progress. Prioritizing adaptation.

  James bellowed a mix of rage and pain and pointed his blade at the line of cars. Green light formed over the blade as he sent an energy attack at the vehicles, the pain continuing to cloud his mind.

  The green beam blasted from his blade-cannon and raked the street, slicing through the cars and carving a thin path through the asphalt. Several of the cars exploded, and the rest collapsed into pieces.

  The fleeing agent spun, his eyes wide with terror as an extremely pissed, one-armed, fully armored Vax advanced on him.

  The rifle flashed, and the top layer of James’ armor turned to soft feathers and flaked off with the breeze.

  Primary adaptation achieved, Whispy reported. Rebalancing regeneration and adaptation.

  “No, this is impossible,” the surviving Fortis agent shouted as he fired again. “Nothing’s immune to this thing. That was why they stashed them around to begin with.”

  The space around James’ armor shimmered for a second, a thin layer of gummy bears appeared and fell to the ground.

  James raised his remaining arm. “There’s always a defense,” he snarled.

  “You can’t still be alive,” the agent complained.

  James stabbed the man through the heart and the agent coughed up blood, blinking in surprise before his head slumped forward. The bounty hunter yanked his blade out, and the dead agent pitched backward and rolled down the hill, his weapon at James’ feet. A few hacks with the blade shredded the weapon.