Shay took a slow, deep breath, her eyes locked on the door, her heart thundering.
Don’t worry, James. You do what you need to do, and I’ll do what I need to do. I’m not dying in some fucking shed in Alberta.
The door flew open, harsh wind and snow flowing into the shed. James stood in the doorway, a frown on his face and his clothes a ripped and hole-filled mess. His tactical vest was gone.
Shay activated the safety, lowered her weapon, and let out a sigh of relief. Her man stepped inside with a box under one arm and slammed the door shut.
“Looks like you got in a fight or two,” Shay offered with a smile and slung her rifle over her shoulder. “I hope this is the part where you say, ‘You should see the other guy.’”
“Yeah.” James grunted. “The head of the Brotherhood is dead.” He set the box in front of the door. “The urn’s in there.”
Shay grinned. “Good. Even if the Canadian government tries to fuck with you over the bounties, at least we have this. Did you kill the guy, or was it the Wendigo?”
“It was me. He was an annoying piece of shit. Gave me a big speech.”
“Oh, more dick-measuring contests?” Shay smirked. “I worry about them when I’m not there to end them with a good blade or bullet.”
James shook his head. “Nah. Fucker thought he could convince me to join his dumbass cult. Wendigo showed up right after that. I killed it too, but it…” He grimaced. “It wasn’t a Wendigo.”
Shay blinked. “Wasn’t a Wendigo? Shifter after all? Or some magic-using type with an artifact?”
“Not magical at all.”
“Huh? You saying it’s some other kind of cryptid?” She laughed. “You saying it actually was a Yeti and not a Wendigo?”
“No. I’m saying it was a bunch of nanites.” James shrugged.
Shay laughed. When he didn’t laugh back, she stared at him. “Wait a minute. You’re serious?”
“Fucker shredded me through my armor. Yeah, I’m serious. Adaptive nanite collection, properly described as a nanoform.”
Shay shook her head. She understood the words coming out of James’ mouth, but they didn’t sound like something he’d come up with himself. What the hell had happened?
“Nanites?” She sighed. “Let me be clear: when you say nanites, you mean little robots? If I’m following you, you’re claiming a group of little robots pretended to be a Wendigo and attacked you, but you defeated those little robots. How? By cutting them up or shooting them? Grenade?”
“Nah. Did some sort of Whispy energy-wave shit.” James shrugged. “Don’t really know how it worked, just that it did. He’s the one who set it up.” He grunted and slid to the ground, his back against the wall. “And he’s the one who told me what the thing was after we got some good hits on it.” He winced a little.
“You okay?”
James nodded. “Yeah, he’s put full power to fixing me, or however it works. I hurt a lot less than before, and I don’t think I’ll even need a healing potion.”
“Oh, shit.” Shay closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
“What’s wrong with me getting better without a healing potion?” James looked up at Shay. “If it’s about letting an alien amulet fuck with my body, I think it’s way too late to start worrying about that.”
“No, that’s not what I’m worried about. If anything, we’re lucky that you’re getting better at using him.” Shay shook her head. “You do realize the implications of what you fought, don’t you, James?”
He shrugged. “Someone sent little robots after me. It was a little annoying to fight the fucker, and he kept changing his attack and getting through my defenses, but Whispy figured something out in the end, so no big deal, right? I just had to let the fucker beat on me first. The Drow got closer to killing me than that thing did.” He frowned. “But if I’d had advanced mode then, I probably would have beat their asses easy. Huh. Wonder if I could go to Oriceran and convince them to spar or some shit? Just to kind of measure things.”
Shay threw her head back and groaned. “You don’t get it, James. This is a huge fucking deal, probably the biggest deal since we figured out you were an alien.”
“Why?”
“First you have to understand what you fought. We’ve got nanotechnology on Earth, but that’s nothing more than really fancy chemistry on a small scale. I don’t understand it, although I know we can make some neat materials. But actual nanites, as in cooperating microscopic robots? That’s not something we can do.” She scrubbed a hand over her face. “You sure it wasn’t magic? Our lives would be much easier if it was magic.”
James nodded. “Whispy can tell the difference, and he’s adapted to Oriceran magic, Earth magic, and whatever the fuck He Who Hunts’ magic was. He’s pretty sure it’s not magic.”
“I had a visitor when you were out,” Shay explained after taking a deep breath. “Thought it was a ghost at first, but it was some kind of projected three-dimensional hologram of a woman. Maybe it was magical, but now I’m thinking it wasn’t.”
“A visitor? Who the fuck was she?”
“Now that is the big question.” Shay scratched her cheek. “It was some woman who kept going on and on about how you’re a monster and you need to be destroyed. She knew about your armor, and I think she knows it’s not just an Oriceran artifact. Even though she didn’t call you an alien directly, that was what she was getting at. I think the mercenaries and Customs stuff were related to her somehow. I told her to fuck off and tried to stab her, and she disappeared. I think the whole point was to convince me to leave you here to die while the Wendigo did its thing.”
James furrowed his brow. “Seriously?”
“Yeah.” Shay crossed her arms. “I figured she was a government bitch working with something like Project Ragnarok. That’s one of the big reasons I haven’t wanted to push deeper into your background, in addition to not believing we can make much progress. Don’t want to tip off the government fuckers and give them a new reason to come at you. Only so much Senator Johnston can do.”
James grunted.
Shay shook her head. “The problem with this new information is that some things don’t make sense. If the woman was with Ragnarok or another government program, American or otherwise, that might explain the advanced technology, like the hologram. But if you were fighting some sort of robot swarm taking the form of a Wendigo… Shit, shit, shit. We so didn’t need this.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” James asked. “So, what, the government knows what I am?” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Maybe you’re wrong and Senator Johnston can help, even with the secret government programs. He’s involved in a lot of black ops shit.”
“No, that’s just it. He won’t be able to help.” Shay walked over and squatted in front of James. “Listen to what I’m saying. Even if the government has reverse-engineered alien tech, there’s no way in hell they have programmable microrobot swarms with the power to form Wendigos and hurt you. That’s not just a few decades in the future, that’s like hundreds of years in the future.”
James stared at Shay. “Maybe my head’s still fucked up from fighting that thing, but I’m not following you. What do you mean it’s hundreds of years in the future? They’re using magic, then?”
“No. I wish that were the case, but you just told me that Whispy says it’s not magic. If it’s not magic, it’s technology—very advanced technology.” Shay dropped to her knees. “Someone’s targeting you. Someone who can fuck around on the internet with world-class hacker ease, judging by what Heather told us. Someone who knows what you are, and even knows about your amulet and its ability to adapt to attacks. Someone with advanced technology centuries beyond what we have on Earth.” She stared at him. “Do you understand what I’m saying now?”
He winced. “Oh shit. That’s…”
“Complicated?”
“Fuck, yeah,” James responded. “The Drow were bad enough, but at least I kind of understand how an elf thinks
.”
Shay sighed. “Exactly. All the evidence points to my little visitor being some sort of alien too. Not just an alien, but an alien watching your moves close enough to send her nanite assassin after you. The only thing I don’t get is why now?”
James furrowed his brow. “The amusement park?”
“Huh?”
He sighed and shrugged. “The fight was out in the open. It had to have been recorded, even if the government suppressed a lot of the stuff. I spent years hiding the amulet, or only using it when it was absolutely necessary. After Maria and her guys saw me in advanced mode and just chalked it up to being a fancy artifact, I stopped worrying so much. I kind of figured anyone from Earth or Oriceran who saw it would assume it was a magical artifact.”
“You’re right about that.” Shay laughed.
“What’s so funny?” James frowned.
She shrugged. “Don’t you get it? I thought I was being so open-minded and smart by figuring out and accepting you were an alien. All that time it was almost like a game to me. When I found alien artifacts, I thought of them the way I thought of other ancient artifacts, but I’d already found the evidence that pointed to other aliens already being here. Shit. We should have been thinking about it all the time. If there’s one non-Oriceran alien, there could be hundreds. Thousands. Fuck, millions, for all we know. It’s a big universe.” She threw up her arms. “Fuck our luck.”
“It’s not a big deal.”
Shay blinked. “How is it not a big deal?”
James grunted. “So someone wants to kill me. How is that new? Them not being from Earth or Oriceran doesn’t make it worse. They use fancier tech, but it’s all just the same deal: someone tries to fuck me up because they don’t like me.”
“You’re seriously not worried about some alien bitch with advanced technology?” Shay eyed him. “You sure the nanites didn’t get in your brain?”
James shrugged. “What’s alien even mean anymore? I’m pretty sure He Who Hunts wasn’t from Oriceran or Earth. Besides, this might be a good thing.”
Shay stared at him. “A good thing? How the fuck is some alien bitch hunting you a good thing?”
“If she’s following me close enough to send that thing here, then she knows shit like where I’m from.” James snorted. “And she’s not coming at me personally. If she’s an alien, she’s probably keeping a low profile, which means she’s not gonna blow up LA to get to me, and that makes this not as fucked-up as the shit with He Who Hunts. We can control her; pick our time and place for a battle. Maybe we arm up and go to the middle of the desert and wait for her to send more nanites.” He grinned. “I’ve already adapted to two of her special attacks.”
“Okay, I see where you’re coming from.” Shay nodded. “Still not sold on this being a good thing. Trust me, as a former professional killer, I know that a little patience goes a long way toward taking down a target.”
“It’s not just that. Whispy knows more than he’s telling me. Not sure if he’s purposely holding back or if he can’t tell me because that’s the way he was made or born.” James shrugged. “If this alien woman knows the truth about me, maybe we can get it out of her. The more times she comes at me, the more clues we’ll have to track her ass down.”
“You should understand this isn’t your usual pissy-criminal-trying-to-prove-how-badass-she-is situation.” Shay shook her head. “You should have heard her. She really thinks you’re a bad dude. A monster. To her, I think this is like some sort of holy crusade.”
James grunted. “Lots of people think I’m a monster on Earth, and probably Oriceran. Used to it. Fuck, maybe they’re even right, but I still don’t care.”
Shay laughed. “I’m glad someone can be blasé about this shit, because I’m worried.”
“You’re always worried.”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m not always worried.”
He shrugged. “Okay, you’re worried most of the time. Doesn’t matter. Now we know. She took her best shot to take me out, and she blew it. If she’s smart, she’ll stay hidden in her little alien bunker or spaceship.” James stood and shook out his arms. “Fucking Whispy. He’s helping me regenerate, but he’s not keeping my temperature up. It’s cold as a witch’s tit here.”
“Cold as a witch’s tit?” Shay chuckled. “Since when do you say that?”
“Something Trey said. I liked it.”
“You would.” Shay tilted her head and listened for a moment. “Hear that?”
“What?” James frowned and looked at the door. “I don’t hear anything.”
“Exactly.” Shay headed toward the door and opened it.
Light snow continued to float to the ground, but the harsh winds were gone. There was even a break in the clouds, with a few wonderful rays of warm sunlight coming through.
Shay stepped outside and smiled. “Huh. Wonder if this is just a lull in the storm or if we got lucky.”
James followed her, staring at the sky. “Might have had something to do with the Brotherhood or the alien hunting me.”
Shay shivered, and not from the cold. “If she can control the weather, we’re fucked.”
“Nah, just bundle up.” James grinned.
His phone rang, and he pulled it out of his pocket with a faint grin. “The sat phones work once we got outside again? So it wasn’t an EMP. Killing the head of the Brotherhood did the trick. Or maybe killing the Wendigo did. Didn’t think to check after the fights.”
Shay shrugged. “The alien bitch made it sound like she was having trouble, too.” She pointed to his phone. “Answer it, already.”
James tapped to answer the call and activated the speakerphone. “Hey, Heather. We’re still alive, and we’ve killed everyone. There’s a break in the blizzard, too. Even the clouds are fucking scared of me today.”
Heather laughed. “I’m relieved to hear your voice. I suppose we shouldn’t have worried. No way Shay Carson and James Brownstone would be taken out by a cult.”
“Also killed a Wendigo, kind of.”
Heather didn’t respond for several seconds. “Wendigo? As in an abominable snowman?”
“Like I said, kind of.” James grunted.
Heather sighed. “Okay, then. Anyway, we’ve got some stuff to talk to you about, including someone poking around. Someone damned good. We’ve been trying to trace them back so we can counter-hack, but this might be a problem in the future, and I’m going to be upfront. We still have no clue who it might be.”
“Shay and I have a good idea who it is,” James replied. “Kind of.”
“What the hell?” Heather replied. “You knew about this already? Why didn’t you tell us someone was going to be hacking around looking for you?”
“We didn’t know about it before. We figured it out on this job.”
Heather groaned. “You’re confusing the hell out of me, James. What happened up there? I thought you were just killing some cultists and grabbing a magical urn.”
James looked at Shay. “It’s a long story. I think I’ll wait until we’re back in America to go through it. Short version is someone new wants to kill me, and they’ve got access to special toys to do it.”
Heather chuckled. “Isn’t that your normal, everyday life?”
He smirked. “Yeah, it is. We’ll wait to make sure the storm is clearing out and contact the Canadian government. You guys don’t have to worry about active support. We’re good here.”
“Okay, then. See you soon.”
James smiled. “Yeah. Can’t wait to get back to palm trees and fucking sunshine.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Kathy eyed the two huge palm trees in front of the empty black two-story commercial building. “Those are kind of cool, but I feel like if they fall for any reason, we’re going to have a very expensive repair on our hands and a lot of dead customers. Already going to need to renovate it to turn it into a bar as it is.” She rubbed her chin. “Just don’t know.”
Tyler laughed. “This is Vegas, Kathy.
It’s not like they get hurricanes. It’s also not like the trees will fall over the minute we buy the building.”
“They get nasty thunder and wind storms here.” Kathy shrugged. “And excuse me for wanting to be careful, considering I’m putting my money into this project. I figured a miser like you would want to be careful, too.”
“I’m not a miser. I’m a careful businessman who likes to minimize expenses.” Tyler crossed his arms and shook his head. “While we’re bitching about stuff, I’m still not sold on the name.”
Kathy smiled. “White Sun is cooler than Black Sun or Black Sun II. You want to be related but not suggest a simple copy.” She shook a finger. “Trust me on this.”
“Maybe.” Tyler sighed. “So much for my branding.”
She rolled her eyes. “It’s not like you were going to be able to franchise to a hundred cities or something. Your business model is only so scalable. You’re going to have to let go a little if you want to make more money. There’s only so much a single individual can do and control.”
“Maria said something similar.” Tyler shook his head, then chuckled. “White Sun…whatever. You’re putting up enough money that you should have some say.”
Kathy pivoted on the sidewalk and watched as cars flowed by. “Good access to the road, decent parking. Pretty close to the Strip. Not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, but at least it’s something. We’ll have to see what the other sites look like.” A coy smile took over her face. “It’s still weird to think about.”
“What is?” Tyler frowned.
She gestured to the building. “All this. It wasn’t all that long ago I was moving to LA from New York, and now I’m moving again.”
Tyler shrugged. “It wasn’t all that long ago that the Black Sun was a shitty hole in the wall. Times change.”
Kathy blinked.
He frowned. “What?”
“Nothing. Just weird to see you drop the cocky front.”
Vax Humana: An Urban Fantasy Action Adventure (The Unbelievable Mr. Brownstone Book 13) Page 17