“This Sombra isn’t some militia-guy with a twenty-year-old rifle. He’s got his own rep, and I don’t think he’s gonna give much of a shit about yours.”
Brownstone looked at her and nodded. “Yeah, I know.”
Shay watched the road, blinking twice before asking, “You know?”
“I care about my rep for easier guys. As for this guy…” He shrugged. “Wasn’t planning on announcing myself.” He grunted. “You should be happy. I’m taking this guy seriously. More seriously than I’ve taken any bounty in a long time.”
Shay groaned. “All the more reason to wait.”
“Nope. All the more reason to take him out right away.”
Shay slammed a hand on the steering wheel. “Damn it, Brownstone. Could you be any more stubborn?”
A huge grin broke out on the bounty hunter’s face. “Yes. Way more.”
She huffed. “If we get ambushed and I lose the artifact, I’m telling Smite-Williams it’s your fault and making you pay me for the job. And that’s assuming I’m not killed.”
“And if you’re killed?”
“Then I’m haunting your ass.”
James pursed his lips. “Fair enough.”
With all the Oriceran shit around, she might just be able to do that.
An hour later, they’d reached the area indicated by the militia leader. Shay kept her mouth shut, though James could practically feel the irritation radiating off her.
He didn’t want to keep fighting about going after the guy so quickly, but he also didn’t want to waste another day. From what he’d read and been told, Sombra killed as often as he could. The guy was a monster, and he needed to be taken down.
Shay might scoff at him for it, but James also suspected that if he made too much noise announcing himself, Sombra might decide to relocate. He couldn’t take a chance on losing the guy when he had good information on his location. Early in his career, he’d had trouble landing a level-one bounty because of something similar.
James thought about his career as the Forerunner rumbled along. He didn’t much bother with anything below a three anymore. It wasn’t out of arrogance, but more because he only had so many hours in the day and wasting them going after bounties that other people could take down meant he was leaving more dangerous men free to threaten innocent people.
Huh. Maybe that is arrogance. I don’t know.
Despite what his current partner might think, James didn’t believe he was unbeatable. He just adjusted his tactics to the relative threat level. King Pyro might have presented more of a challenge if the criminal had been a little smarter.
A sick grin appeared on his face. He didn’t regret beating the shit out of that guy. The bastard’d had it coming even before he’d threatened everyone the bounty hunter loved, but the gloves had metaphorically come off when he’d done that.
“I don’t even want to ask,” Shay began, “but what are you smiling about?”
“Just thinking about assholes getting what they deserve.”
Shay smirked. “Be careful, Brownstone. Everybody’s an asshole from someone’s perspective.”
“Sure. I’m sure someday I’ll get what I deserve, but today it’s going to be the necromancer.”
For all James’ concern about fair play, he didn’t give two shits about trying to restrain himself with Sombra. A level-five bounty dangerous enough to warrant a military bombing meant that the bounty hunter didn’t have to hold back. For the first time since coming to Mexico, he wondered if he’d made a mistake not bringing the necklace.
James looked down at his phone. “This should be it. Slow down.” He gestured out the window to the right. “That’s the path Carlos was talking about.”
Shay frowned and slowed the Forerunner to a halt. When the car stopped, she looked at him. “Are you absolutely sure about this?”
“Why are you so freaked?”
“I don’t know… Maybe almost getting blown up by a dragon rocket today has made me skittish or some shit. I just feel like you’re not taking this guy seriously, despite what you’ve said. Have you looked at everything they say he can do? You being tough might not be enough. This guy literally controls life and death.”
James snorted. “You might be a kick-ass field archaeologist, but I’m the bounty hunter. Let me tell you that half the shit you read about bounties is crap they’ve made up to sound tougher.”
“If he’s only half as tough as they say, that’s still plenty tough.”
“If I don’t bring him in, who will?”
Shay muttered something rude under her breath. “I don’t know, maybe some stubborn Mexican bounty hunter who doesn’t listen when hot chicks give him good advice.”
He looked at her, his eyebrows furrowing. “I’m listening. I just don’t agree.”
The woman took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, a defeated look settling over her face. “I still think this is idiotically reckless. I want to make it real fucking clear, Brownstone, that I’m not coming on this one. This isn’t about revenge or protecting someone. This is just a regular old bounty that you don’t have to take on right now. We should be getting back to town and securing the artifact.”
James shrugged and opened the door. “I can get back to town on my own.”
The tomb raider rolled her eyes in exasperation. “It’s not exactly a one-mile stroll.”
“I’ll figure something out.” The bounty hunter grinned and stepped out of the vehicle. “Stay, go…whatever. It doesn’t change the fact that Sombra goes down before I go back to town.”
Shay crossed her arms and blew some strands of hair out of her face. “If you don’t find this guy quickly, I’m leaving. I did my job, and I want some damn tacos.” Her stomach audibly rumbled.
James chuckled, waved, and jogged away. If he could take out two trucks filled with men and not even have to kill anyone, he could take on one powerful dead-guy focused asshole.
Shay had been right about one thing. James really didn’t want to take on Sombra at night, so he needed to find the man and finish him soon. Still, he wasn’t very worried.
The more the bounty hunter thought about it, the more he believed that the man’s reputation had been exaggerated. Sombra choosing to live out in the wilderness helped with that. Yes, magic could be a pain in the ass to deal with, but he doubted the man couldn’t be taken down via good old-fashioned overwhelming force. James hadn’t run into a bounty yet where that hadn’t been true.
Sure, someday some weird-ass Oriceran dragon or something might end up on the bounty list and James would have a little bit more trouble, but when it came to two-legged human threats James was confident he could win, even if he might end up damaged.
Arrogance or confidence? He knew what Shay would say.
James just needed to find the man. As he strode along the barely-there dirt path, he realized he wouldn’t have to put much effort into it.
One crucial fact James had learned through the years as a bounty hunter was that with power came arrogance, King Pyro being a stunning recent example of that.
A man like Sombra, who was living practically as a god and had the military too afraid to take him on, wasn’t going to hide. The bastard probably fed off people’s fear just as he fed off their lifeforce.
Confidence was a strength. Arrogance was a weakness. Hell, James suspected arrogance might get him killed someday. Not today, he hoped, but someday.
No, he wouldn’t have to go looking too hard for Sombra. The asshole necromancer would come to him. If anything, he’d probably already spotted the Forerunner via drone or magic.
Fucking drones.
James glanced around as he jogged farther down the thin dirt path. Signs of recent disturbance were all over. Maybe his bounty had buried mines and he’d underestimated the man’s arrogance, after all. He couldn’t be sure, so he’d do his best to avoid any suspicious-looking dirt piles and stay on the path for as long as he could manage.
Being killed in a fight was one thing.
Being blown up by a landmine because he wasn’t being careful would be mortifyingly embarrassing.
The bounty hunter dropped into a crouch as the path faded into the terrain. The density of cacti had increased when the path ended. It was a prickly forest out there.
So, gonna fight with a necromancer in a cactus field that’s probably filled with landmines. Yeah, this is smart. I begin to see your point, Shay.
But shit, I’m already here, and I’m not admitting shit to you at the moment.
James grunted. The militia ambush had been much more entertaining and less annoying.
He needed better information, so it was time to test one of the dirt piles. Quick searching yielded a small boulder. An explosion would signal that he was there, but he wanted Sombra to come sooner than later anyway.
Straining and grunting, James lifted the medium-heavy rock and carried it toward one of the suspicious dirt piles. He tossed the rock onto the pile and then jumped backward, throwing his arms in front of his face to protect it from shrapnel.
No explosion. No shrapnel. Nothing.
“That was kind of anti-climactic,” the bounty hunter murmured to himself.
He ran through the different types of mines Sombra might have buried before deciding most would be far too complicated for a necromancer hiding in the mountainous Mexican wilderness to manage, although there was still the possibility that they were remote controlled.
There also was the sobering reality that James was only seeing the areas where something recently had disturbed the soil. For all he knew, something had been buried in every square foot of the place.
Even if he didn’t know what Sombra had buried, he felt more confident that he wouldn’t be blown up if he took the wrong step. The more he thought about it, the more that made sense.
A necromancer just didn’t strike him as the kind of man who would litter the area with landmines. The mystery of the disturbed soil would have to wait until he caught up with the necromancer so he could ask him.
James crept farther along before dropping to his stomach at the sight of movement in the distance. He crawled along the cacti-infested dirt path. Just because he wanted the necromancer to come to him didn’t mean he couldn’t take advantage of a little surprise.
That better be you, you arrogant bastard, and not some coyote.
He took a few deep breaths. James suspected a major workout was coming.
Shay drummed her fingers on the steering wheel.
Fucking Brownstone.
He knew she wouldn’t leave him in the mountains without a way to get back, so now she had to risk her life and the artifact because Brownstone had a raging hard-on for catching the damn necromancer right away.
“It wasn’t like he was going anywhere,” she grumbled. “Fuck, he’s a necromancer. You probably have all eternity to catch the bastard.”
Shay pulled out her phone. It was time for the tomb raider to at least give her employer a little update.
“No signal, of course. Peachy.” Frustrated, she tossed the phone on the other seat.
She sighed and scrubbed a hand over her face. She’d need to start carrying a satellite phone or get a phone that could switch between cell and satellite service like Brownstone’s. It was always the little inconveniences that really got to a person.
Sure, an ancient rocket trap had nearly blown her apart and almost knocked her into an underground river; that was no big deal. But no cell service?
That was the greatest affront known to mankind.
She looked down the path James had taken. “Hurry up, Brownstone, before I die of boredom and the necromancer has to bring me back.”
18
James continued crawling across the rough ground, which was harder than he would have expected if only because of the arsenal he was carrying on his body.
Guess it was a good thing I didn’t bring the grenades after all, he mused.
He didn’t spot a living soul, human or coyote. Now he wasn’t even sure if he’d really seen movement, or if it had just been a trick of the light.
For all he knew, the necromancer might be able to turn invisible. It was true that the average bounty exaggerated their powers, but the smart ones also kept a few trump cards secret in case someone like James showed up looking for them.
“You have come a long way to die, gringo,” someone shouted in Spanish, their voice echoing around the canyon. “At least die on your feet like a man and not like a worm.”
Well, fuck. There went surprise. This is why I hate trying to do this ninja shit.
With a grunt, James pushed off the ground and started slapping the dirt off his body. A man stood about fifty feet away.
“No hablo español,” the bounty hunter shouted back. He saw no reason to let the man know his language capabilities. If he got lucky, maybe the other man would let something slip in his native tongue.
“Only a fool comes to a place like this without knowing the language,” the man shouted back, this time in heavily accented English. “I’m going to kill you, mercenary. I am Sombra the Deathbringer, and your life will make me stronger. You think you are the first gringo mercenary who has been sent against me? Here you are nothing but worm food.”
The necromancer wasn’t exactly dressed like some terrible master of dark magic with his worn blue jeans and a shirt with some Mexican cartoon fox character James didn’t recognize.
Something about the casual outfit unnerved James a lot more than if the necromancer had shown up in some ridiculous robe and antlered crown. It suggested Sombra was confident enough in his abilities that he didn’t feel the need for fashion-based intimidation.
James glanced down at his coat. He wasn’t exactly practicing fashion-based intimidation himself. Then again, he was confident in his abilities.
“Point of fact, I’m not a mercenary,” James announced. “I’m a bounty hunter. Jose Padilla, you have a class-five bounty on you, and I’m gonna bring you in. If you surrender, it’ll be a lot less annoying for both of us.”
Sombra barked a harsh laugh, shaking his head. “I’m not a criminal. I am Death.”
James chuckled. No one ever surrendered. He was really having trouble taking the guy in the cartoon fox shirt seriously.
“You find me funny, bounty hunter?” Sombra snarled.
Oh, he wants respect? Thanks for the leverage, asshole.
“I’m just saying… You’ve got a cartoon fox on your shirt. It’s not all that scary.”
Sombra chuckled darkly. “I took this off the last man I killed. I go through many shirts because fools like you think guns will work on me.” He narrowed his eyes. “Or are you Oriceran?”
“Nope. One hundred percent Earth-born, and all that shit. Still going to kill you, though.”
“You are nothing more than a fool who will soon be my lunch.” Sombra spread his arms to either side. “I will enjoy killing you, stupido. I will drink your soul and use your body as part of my army.”
“What army?” James shook his head, twisted around, flung the coat back, and whipped out his .45 before looking at the necromancer again. “I want to thank you.”
“For killing you?” Sombra pursed his lips, his voice respectful. “You are not as stupid as you look. You should be honored to die at my hands.”
“I won’t be dying.” James shook his head. “Well, everyone dies in the end, but I’m not gonna die at the fucking hands of a dumb cartoon-fox-shirt-wearing douchebag like you.”
The necromancer’s face tightened and his voice was harsh. “I will enjoy killing you.”
“Yeah, sure. Anyway, I was thanking you for being in a place where I can go all out without worrying about hurting anyone.” The bounty hunter pointed his gun directly at Sombra. “Also, thanks for being an asshole in Mexico instead of the United States. You’ve make this bounty even easier.”
Sombra’s face scrunched in confusion, and James took more than a little pleasure at disconcerting him.
“You see,” James continued, �
��up north, it’s hard to find dead-or-alive bounties. Everyone’s very concerned about due process. Down here, though, they are all over the place. If you want to surrender, now’s the time. Otherwise, I’m not holding back, and I can’t guarantee you’ll be breathing at the end of this.”
The necromancer laughed. “You shouldn’t have told me you weren’t Oriceran. Now I know you’re nothing to fear.”
“I’ve run into a lot of criminals who said the same thing. And now they are dead or in jail.”
Sombra snorted. “I wondered what sort of man would have the courage to face me alone. Now I know you’re nothing but a fool…un tonto.”
James shrugged. “You know, you make King Pyro sound humble—and that’s saying something.”
“I’ll make your death long, slow, and painful.”
“I’m more generous than you.”
“More generous?” Sombra frowned.
“Yeah, I’m gonna kill you quickly.” The bounty hunter rushed forward and squeezed off three quick rounds.
Sombra jerked each time a bullet hit him in the chest. He collapsed to the ground, blood blossoming from his wounds.
“All talk, no walk, huh?” James frowned. The bounty hunter slowed his advance, keeping his weapon trained on the downed man. Too easy. Way too easy. No level five went down from a few bullets.
“I am Death,” Sombra growled, pushing himself back up. Blood leaked from his mouth. “You can’t defeat me. You can only delay your pitiful end.”
The bullets had torn into Sombra’s fox shirt and chest, splattering blood everywhere. A red-black glow surrounded the man, and his eyes turned solid black. The wounds started sealing themselves.
“Fuck,” James spit to the side as his eyes stayed on Sombra. “That’s not helpful.”
“Your weapons are useless, and when I drink your soul I will be whole again. You can’t kill death. You can only succumb to it.”
The Unbelievable Mr. Brownstone Boxed Set One (Books 1-3): Feared By Hell, Rejected By Heaven, Eye For An Eye (The Unbelievable Mr. Brownstone Boxed Sets) Page 33