The Unbelievable Mr Brownstone Omnibus 3

by Michael Anderle

  “The Silver Ghost’s not real.” Johnny stood to sweep the room with his harsh glare. “She’s just an urban legend. Bullshit the cops probably made up last month, or even some other gangs trying to scare people out of LA. I’m not running from some fake legend of a vigilante.” He reached inside his jacket and pulled out his gun. “We have no business calling ourselves 25K if we run from fucking words.”

  Andy laughed. “She’s going to kill us all. She’s going to chop our heads off.”

  One of the other men pointed at Andy. “Someone fucked him up. You saying words did that shit, Johnny?”

  He snorted. “Some assholes musta ambushed him. It’s a trick. Probably mindfucked him with magic or an artifact. If this Silver Ghost was real and such a badass, why is she jumping guys in alleys when they aren’t expecting her? Plus, she’s supposed to be in LA and Vegas, the rumors say? What the fuck is up with that? What kind of monster vigilante commutes on the 15 back and forth?”

  “Brownstone does,” another man offered, his gaze averted.

  Johnny groaned. “Too many damned ghosts in LA. Silver Ghost. Granite Ghost.” He let off a stream of invectives in Cantonese. “Brownstone’s real. He’s on video. He goes to fucking barbeque competitions. Where’s the damned Silver Ghost, huh? All those phones and drones and no one’s got actual pictures of her?” He put his gun on a table, grabbed Andy, and pulled him up by his lapels. “Get your shit together, man. This is a trick.”

  “You don’t understand, Johnny.” Andy wiped tears away. “She’s coming. She only didn’t kill me because I was supposed to deliver a message.”

  Johnny released Andy and shoved him back. The wounded gangster fell on his ass.

  “What fucking message?” Johnny snarled.

  Andy stared at his leader. “She’s coming here in an hour for all of us. She said to get whatever weapons you want because she needs to test something. We can try to run, but if we do, she’ll track us down and kill us slowly. If we stand and fight, at least she’ll honor our bravery by killing us fast.”

  The room filled with shouted curses. Cacophony reigned.

  “Everyone shut the fuck up!” Johnny shouted.

  The men fell silent.

  The triad leader held up his gun again. “Ever since we let that dark-haired bitch push us around, we’ve had no balls. I don’t give a fuck that some wizard mindfucked Andy. We’re the fucking 25K Triad, and we’re not going to let anyone push us out of LA. We fought our way in, and we’ve expanded our operations despite everybody from street gangs to the Russian Mafia coming at us.” He snorted. “This bitch wants to test something? Fine. We’ll test something. Everyone arm up, and we’ll crack out the special toys. We’re going to kill whoever shows up and make a real ghost out of her.”

  The men all cheered, except Andy. He shook his head.

  “We’re all going to die.”

  Johnny gestured to Andy. “Get some bandages on him and Vicodin in him and throw him in a back room. We’ve got shit to do.”

  Johnny smiled at the glowing jian in his hand. He wasn’t much of a fan of swords. When he was a kid, he’d always preferred gangster films over wuxia. Magic might have returned to the world, but normal men like him could still get ahead through strength of will, bravery and a good gun.

  You won’t win, Silver Ghost. Not against me. I’m not running or surrendering to anyone anymore. That shit stops tonight.

  The gangsters stood around, double-checking their weapons. Most had handguns, shotguns, or rifles, but a few had enchanted blades like Johnny, and one man even held a thin lightning spear Johnny had been told was made out of dragon bone.

  “Listen up,” Johnny shouted. “We’re still pretty new to LA, which means it’s important we deliver a loud and clear message tonight. We’ll let everyone know that we’re going to keep expanding operations and that anyone who dares fuck with us dies. Generous in peace, ruthless in war.”

  The men raised their weapons and shouted.

  We’re not the same triad we were when we first came to LA. We’re better and stronger, and we’re going to prove it tonight to whatever bitch shows up.

  Johnny glanced at a clock on the wall. From what Andy told them, the Silver Ghost should have already arrived.

  “No matter what, we make sure that bitch dies here.”

  A loud thump sounded from a back hallway, and the men all turned that way.

  Johnny snorted. “See? If that’s the best she’s got, this won’t take long.” He flicked his wrist at a group standing near the entrance to the hallway. “Go kill her, and leave the body there. We’ll take it somewhere else to dump it and clean up right away.”

  A half-dozen men charged into the hallway, weapons at the ready, both men with guns and a few swordsmen.

  Loud gunshots echoed through the hallway. A few seconds later, so did screams.

  “What the fuck?” Johnny frowned, his heart pounding. He nodded to the man holding the lightning spear. “Hide behind the bar. Surprise her ass when she least expects it.”

  The spearman rushed toward the bar and vaulted over it, his face pale.

  Fuck. I should have taken the damned spear.

  Another scream came from the hallway. The headless body of one of the gangsters flew through the door and crashed into a table. His arm, still clutching a sword, came next.

  Several men’s eyes widened, and they trembled.

  “Don’t let her freak you out,” Johnny shouted, bile rising in the back of his throat. “Just be pissed that some bitch thought she could come in here and run off the 25K!”

  “’Thought,’” came a cold but feminine voice from around the corner, “implies I won’t be successful, and you can’t be foolish enough to believe that after what you’ve just seen.”

  Johnny saw the glint before she turned the corner revealing herself, a lithe female form covered from head to toe in silver skin. Given how closely the silver followed the smooth curves and contours of her body, he wouldn’t have been surprised if it was her actual skin except for her featureless face. No eyes, no mouth, nothing; only a blank, smooth, reflective surface.

  “What the fuck?” Johnny narrowed his eyes. “You some sort of Oriceran robot?”

  The Silver Ghost stopped. Her fingers and forearm flowed like liquid and morphed into a long, flat double-edged blade.

  “Neither,” she replied. “I applaud your bravery. Standing firm in the face of certain death is to be respected, even if it is parasites doing it.”

  Johnny snorted. “Parasites? We’re businessmen. We provide services to people, and we don’t mess with no one who doesn’t have it coming.”

  “Businessmen? You prey on the weak through force.” The Silver Ghost pointed her blade arm at him. “That is why your life is forfeit. All your lives are forfeit.”

  “Fuck you.” Johnny pointed at her with the jian. “Kill this Ori bitch.”

  The roar of dozens of guns going off simultaneously deafened Johnny. The Silver Ghost jerked with each hit, and Johnny’s grin grew.

  You’re nothing when you don’t surprise people, are you, bitch? Shouldn’t have gotten so damned cocky.

  The gangsters kept flinging bullets, kicking up dust, wood, and drywall with the bullets not striking the Silver Ghost.

  Triumph swelled in Johnny with each hit, but after ten seconds, his grin faded and a frown replaced it. The Ghost was obviously taking hits, but there was no blood on the walls or floor. He didn’t care if it was red, green, silver, pink, or whatever color, but he doubted they could kill someone who wasn’t bleeding.

  “Just die already,” he muttered.

  The sustained fire forced the Ghost against a wall, various shallow dark idents in her body, but she didn’t collapse, and she refused to bleed.

  “Stop firing!” Johnny shouted. “Stop fucking firing!”

  Shots continued for a few seconds before trickling off.

  The Silver Ghost tilted her head, but it was hard to interpret her body language without a
face. “Thank you.”

  Johnny frowned. “Thank you? Huh?”

  “I was confident I’d be able to stand up to that level of attack, but I hadn’t actually tested it.” The Silver Ghost took a few steps forward. Silver liquid flowed from the edges of the indents, sealing them. “This calibration and testing session has been very useful. Extremely so.”

  “If you have them, put in your anti-magic bullets,” Johnny ordered. He shook his head. “I was hoping not to have to use those, but congrats—you pushed us to this, Ghost. You should be proud, you crazy bitch. I’m going to have to justify this shit later to my bosses.”

  A few men ejected their magazines and loaded new ones, but the Silver Ghost advanced without apparent concern, her movements slow and deliberate. Even elegant in a way.

  “Kill her!” Johnny shouted.

  The guns roared again, the Silver Ghost again jerking with the impacts, but this time she continued moving forward.

  What the fuck? Those anti-magic bullets should be tearing her up, but I don’t even see any holes in her body.

  Johnny gripped his sword tightly. Maybe she had some sort of magic that protected her from bullets but wouldn’t work against hand-to-hand weapons? He’d heard about that kind of thing.

  The Silver Ghost’s languid pace switched to a quick sprint forward. She sliced off the head of a man before leaping toward another and impaling him. Her victim coughed up blood, his face a mask of pain and surprise.

  No fucking way. This shit isn’t happening. I’m not seeing this.

  She pulled the blade out and kicked the body toward two nearby gangsters. A man near the hallway door dropped his gun and tried to leave.

  The Silver Ghost raised her non-blade arm. Golden circles of light pulsed from the back to the front and discharged as a bright bolt of energy that struck the fleeing man. The attack burned a gaping hole in his back and he fell to the ground, the stench of his burning flesh filling the air.

  Johnny watched, mouth agape, his hold slackening on his sword, as the Silver Ghost darted from man to man, stabbing and slicing. Quick energy blasts killed men on the periphery.

  A brave few continued to fire, but they weren’t hurting her.

  The spearman popped up, spotted the carnage, and ducked back down.

  “What are you?” Johnny whispered. His blade clattered to the ground and he stumbled forward, his stomach lurching as he took in all the dead men littering the restaurant.

  “A blade,” the Silver Ghost replied, and kicked a few chairs aside. “A blade of justice. A blade of vengeance. A blade who will never forget those who died at the hands of monsters.” She pointed her other arm toward the bar and fired an energy blast. It blasted through the wood, leaving a smoking hole, and the enforcer cowering behind it couldn’t even get out a scream before he died, his spear never getting its chance to be used. “I would have left the rest of you parasites to the local authorities, but as I said, I needed additional testing and calibration.”

  Johnny fell to his knees and shook his head. “I don’t get this. We provide services. We don’t fuck over people unless they come at us or they disrespect us. We’re not like the Harriken. We don’t even traffic.”

  “Oppression and tyranny offer many excuses and evil hides behind many faces. But that’s all they are in the end—excuses and disguises.” Her head turned. “Ah, I was wondering where you were. This saves me the trouble of tracking you down later.”

  Johnny looked over his shoulder. Andy stood a few feet behind him, his coat and shirt off and his body covered in bandages. His face twisted in rage, and his eyes bulged. He held the jian aloft.

  “I’m going to kill you,” Andy screamed. “I’m going to show Johnny what kind of man I am. I’m going to redeem myself.” He raised the sword and charged the Silver Ghost.

  She didn’t move, just allowed the gangster to close on her. Once he was a yard away, she lunged forward. Her blade pierced his heart and pushed out his back.

  Andy coughed up blood and tried to swing the jian, but she caught his wrist with her other hand. She slowly tightened her grip, the crack and snap of each bone audible. The wounded man coughed up more blood and his head lolled forward, his eyes rolling up in the back of his head as he died.

  The Silver Ghost removed her blade and let the body drop to the floor. She stepped toward Johnny. “Anything you want to say? Perhaps beg for your life some more? You might persuade me, but I doubt it. I’ve already learned a lot about you and your friends.”

  Johnny forced a grin and spat in her face, or at least where a face would be. “You know what? Fuck you. I might have got a little spooked earlier, but real 25K Triad doesn’t beg. You may think you’re the baddest bitch in LA, but you’ll get yours. You’re not even like that dark-haired bitch. She was tough, but you’re a monster, and monsters always have other monsters swallow them in the end. Just ask the Eyes. Oh, you can’t, because Brownstone fucking killed him.”

  “Brownstone?” The Silver Ghost chuckled. “Yes, Brownstone. Let me worry about him.” The Silver Ghost raised her blade. “I applaud you for not fleeing. A commander who leaves his men is the worst sort of coward.”

  Johnny closed his eyes. “Just do it.”

  “Very well.”

  The pain lasted only the briefest of seconds as she separated his head from his body.

  4

  Weber took a few deep breaths as he stepped into the briefing room, the gathered men and women of AET already sitting behind the tables. This would be his first brief as a newly-promoted lieutenant, and he didn’t want to screw it up.

  Maria left some big boots to fill, but I can do this.

  The murmuring and crosstalk died down when he came in. The cool gazes of his fellow officers focused on him, waiting.

  He headed over to the podium and stood behind it, placing his hands on the sides. “Sorry to bring you all in so suddenly, but word’s come down from on high about a new priority. Our top deployment priority, in fact. I wanted to bring everyone up to speed in person so you can ask any questions you might have.”

  Everyone stared at him, their faces set in grim determination. They probably already knew what he was about to say.

  Good, that should make this easier.

  Weber took a deep breath. “Three hours ago, based on some eyewitness reports, the vigilante known as the Silver Ghost slaughtered almost all known members of the 25K Triad currently in LA at Kowloon, their restaurant. There are a handful of members who weren’t present at the incident site, but from what we’ve heard, those men have already fled LA and are probably on their way to San Francisco. Initial witness statements suggest that the 25K men knew she was coming, and judging by the quantity and type of weapons found on site, along with the huge pile of bullets and bullet casings, and including several magical artifacts, they put up a good fight.”

  Murmurs broke out, and Weber waited a few seconds for the room to quiet.

  He frowned. “The successful apprehension of the Silver Ghost is now the top priority of the entire LAPD, and a wide variety of resources and assets are being tasked for this mission, including surveillance drones, and, well, us. The mayor and the chief want her captured ASAP, and they figure the AET will have to be the one to bring her in or take her down if she refuses to come in. Since no police officers have had contact with her, we can’t be sure how she’ll react to police commands.”

  Sergeant McMahon, who sat at one of the front tables, shook his head. “Look, the 25K weren’t as bad as, say, the Harriken were, but they weren’t exactly a bunch of choir boys, either. I know we have to do our job, but I don’t get why the brass are so concerned about some crazy Oriceran chick cleaning up a little. She’s probably some fresh-out-of-the portal type who doesn’t get our laws. Once someone explains it to her, she’ll calm down. We devote a bunch of resources to this one woman, and we’ll end up with trouble elsewhere.”

  Several other officers nodded their agreement.

  Weber cleared his throat. “
This is pure vigilantism, and you don’t have to be Maria to think it might have a bad effect on the city. The chief is worried that things are already spiraling out of control. Before, the Ghost was taking out a target or two here and there, but killing dozens of men threatens to, in the chief’s words, ‘destabilize everything.’ She’s upped her game in a big way, and there’s no reason to think she won’t escalate even more.”

  Jacobs frowned. “But violent crime’s been going down steadily this year. I get that this messes with our stats, but things are still under control. The brass should change their diapers and calm down. One Oriceran vigilante-woman isn’t going to cause riots all across the city.”

  Weber shrugged. “Maybe, but we need to be real about the reasons for crime decreasing. AET and the rest of the LAPD have been doing a good job, but we all know the reason high-level violent crime is down is that everyone’s afraid of getting James Brownstone’s attention. Just when thugs think it’s okay to stir up shit, he throws those robbers through a pet store window and then everyone remembers what they’re risking. Criminals know that if they keep a low profile and don’t make noise, they probably won’t have to deal with Brownstone, but the Silver Ghost is changing the equation. She’s making it seem like no matter what you do, she’ll come after you and kill you, even if you don’t have much of a rep.”

  “Why not send Brownstone?”

  “There’s no current bounty, so he’s not going to move on her, and the chief doesn’t want a bounty issued on her if we can bring her in ourselves.”

  A cop in the middle frowned and shook her head. “This 25K thing isn’t half as bad as crap like the Council attack or that witch at the farmer’s market. Hell, what about Brownstone killing the Harriken? The LAPD set up a security perimeter for him when he went in the one time. And Hall might have had a hard-on for going after him, but in the end, she started working for him, and our captain and the chief both have made it clear they don’t want us messing much with him. So why do they care so much about the Silver Ghost?”