Fight Fire With Fire
The Unbelievable Mr. Brownstone Book Seven
Michael Anderle
Fight Fire With Fire (this book) is a work of fiction.
All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Sometimes both.
Copyright © 2018 Michael Anderle
Cover by Andrew Dobell, www.creativeedgestudios.co.uk
Cover copyright © LMBPN Publishing
LMBPN Publishing supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.
The distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
LMBPN Publishing
PMB 196, 2540 South Maryland Pkwy
Las Vegas, NV 89109
First US edition, July 2018
The Oriceran Universe (and what happens within / characters / situations / worlds) are Copyright (c) 2017-18 by Martha Carr and LMBPN Publishing.
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Author Notes - Michael Anderle
Other Revelation of Oriceran Universe Books
Books by Michael Anderle
Connect with Michael Anderle
Fight Fire With Fire Team
Special Thanks
to Mike Ross
for BBQ Consulting
Jessie Rae’s BBQ - Las Vegas, NV
Thanks to the JIT Readers
John Ashmore
James Caplan
Mary Morris
Tim Bischoff
Peter Manis
Daniel Weigert
Paul Westman
Larry Omans
Micky Cocker
If I’ve missed anyone, please let me know!
Editor
Lynne Stiegler
To Family, Friends and
Those Who Love
to Read.
May We All Enjoy Grace
to Live the Life We Are
Called.
1
James’ phone chimed. He rolled over in bed to check it when Shay grabbed his arm.
“Don’t,” she commanded.
He arched a brow. “Don’t? What if it’s important?”
“Leave it. It’s a text, and I guarantee it’s not important. If some giant zombie was rampaging through downtown and they needed your help they would call, not text you.”
“But I’m already up. It doesn’t hurt to check.”
Shay laughed. “We’re both up, so we should have some fun instead. Even if I can’t walk straight after three days. Might as well chance not being able to move at all.” She grinned. “I’m more than willing to take the risk.”
James grunted. “Not complaining, but we can’t relax forever.”
“So boring.” The tomb raider rolled her eyes. “I can’t believe that a man who is an alien with a super-amulet can be this boring at times.”
James shrugged and grabbed the phone. It wasn’t a message about some rampaging level-five bounty or a giant zombie, but it was from an important employee, Trey.
Yo, James. You ignoring me now? ‘Sup with that? Other than that ‘Yeah, I’m alive’ shit you sent yesterday, you haven’t sent crap back. Is this because I said I needed a favor? That ain’t like you.
James texted back immediately.
Sorry. Just was distracted. If you need a favor, that’s not a big deal. Last time you needed a favor, I got some nice bounty money out of it and took down a nasty son of a bitch. Any money in this one?
Trey’s reply shot back a few seconds later.
I don’t need a favor anymore, but Nana just called me and she needs one. She says she wants to talk to you about some shit ASAP. Doubt there’s a lot of money in it. Nana’s tough, but she ain’t rich.
Okay. I’ll be by soon. Don’t want to piss her off and face her cane.
LOL. Yeah, right. Okay, thanks, James. I’ll talk to you later.
James sighed. “I’ve got some things I need to take care of.”
Shay sat up and laughed. “You know, the world won’t end if you take a week off.”
“It doesn’t have to end. It just has to get shittier.”
She groaned. “Is that what you’ve managed to do? Mindfuck yourself into believing that? It wasn’t all that long ago that the only thing you cared about was if someone had a bounty, and now you’re turning criminals into bounty hunters and adopting girls. You go for barbeque and you end up taking a guy down. I mean, shit, you probably pick up trash from the highway when I’m not around.”
James grunted. “I got a bounty for that douchebag in Las Vegas.”
Shay shook her head. “The point is, you were supposed to be there for barbeque, not work. Besides, isn’t that what the Brownstone Agency is about? Taking some of the load off your shoulders?”
“Yeah, but some loads are too heavy for others to carry.” He frowned.
“You’re a good man, James. Probably too good for me.” Shay gave him a sly wink.
James grunted and looked away. “Never too good for you. You’re too good for me.”
He threw the covers off and stood. As much as he’d like to dive back under the sheets for another day of sweaty exercise with Shay, if Trey’s grandmother needed a favor he had to help. If it were something the rookie bounty hunter could handle by himself, he wouldn’t have bothered James.
Shay hopped out of bed and sashayed naked toward the bathroom. “I never know when I might be heading out. I could be gone for a day or two weeks. Or I could get stuck in the Bermuda Triangle for a year. You sure?”
The bounty hunter grunted. “No, not sure, but guess I’ll just have to suck it up and hope you don’t get stuck in the Bermuda Triangle.”
“Remember, most of those saints you admire so much died grizzly deaths.” Shay pulled her toothbrush out of her crystal skull holder and started brushing her teeth. “Just sayin,’” she mumbled.
“We all end up dead. Only thing that matters is what we do in-between.” James shrugged and grabbed a shirt, pants, and belt from his closet.
He allowed himself a small smile as he watched Shay brush her teeth. She was right about how he used to be, but he had changed. Life meant something now that he had someone to share it with, and a daughter to protect.
Shay didn’t speak again until she’d finished brushing her teeth aggressively. No wonder they were so white. She slipped her toothbrush back into its holder just as James came into the bathroom to brush his teeth.
“You’re not pissed, are you?”
Shay gave him a little bump with her hip and snickered. “Nope. I can’t help it if I’m a Brownstone junkie. It’s a good thing
that you’re forcing me to stop. If I spend too much more time with you, I might end up too sore to do my next job. You’re saving me from myself. My hero.” She offered him a seductive smile. “Still…how about at least joining me for a little shower? I need a little help getting soaped up. And you—you smell.”
James lifted an arm and sniffed. “Would you look at that, I do smell.” He grinned. “Wouldn’t want to smell all day.”
“That would be terrible.” Shay winked and crooked her finger as she stepped into the shower.
Queen Laena stared out the window at the waves crashing on the beach below. Earth might be a primitive planet filled with murderous barbarians, but it did have its charms. Not that she wanted to ever live there. She didn’t care what strange rumors swirled about the fate of Oriceran. She refused to abandon her world until it was less than a cinder.
Nothing but cowards and weakness on a planet filled with magic. Our people will not flee to Earth to beg for scraps from the humans. We are strong.
She’d visited Earth so many times as of late, but each time she’d failed to return to Oriceran with what her people truly needed if they were going to have a future.
The queen folded her hands behind her back as she continued to look outside. “Tell me you have something useful. I dislike having to stay on Earth longer than necessary.” She sniffed disdainfully.
Three Drow stood behind Laena, three of her most loyal and competent servants. Widowmaker had also been one of her trusted servants, yet Widowmaker had failed her. It was fortunate that the human authorities hadn’t thought to probe deeper into the body using magic.
The leader of the three, Zavan, cleared his throat. “Every time we try to trace the princess something blocks us. We suspect multiple spells. Powerful magic.”
“More powerful than the Drow?”
Zavan lowered his eyes. “In this case, yes, my Queen.”
Laena let out a labored sigh. Ignoring a strong foe wouldn’t accomplish anything but the loss of more Drow. “Then whoever has her knows of her potential,” she concluded. “But I would know if they’d already used the wish, so they are waiting, for some reason.”
Zavan frowned. “What possible reason?”
The queen lifted her chin. “It doesn’t matter. They have stolen the legacy of our people. I don’t care if they are Earthlings or Oricerans; they will be made to pay with their lives.” The queen shook her head. “These locals and their Oriceran enablers have made things unnecessarily difficult. I can’t stay and personally manage the search. I have duties.” She narrowed her eyes. “As does the Princess of the Shadow Forged.”
“Of course, my Queen,” Zavan ceded. “Widowmaker had her talents, but her appetites easily distracted her. That won’t be a problem for us.”
Laena spun and marched toward the door. “Locate the princess. Don’t cause too much trouble until then, but once you find her, I don’t care what you have to do as long as you return her to Oriceran. Once I have her there, I’ll have fewer restrictions on what I can do to ensure the power of our people.”
She threw open the door and stalked out of the room with her head held high.
Zavan winced as his queen slammed the door. He glanced at his partners, Kaella and Reyal. The two Drow women were powerful, intelligent, and focused, unlike Widowmaker. His group wouldn’t fail.
“We need to locate the girl before the queen decides we’re incompetent.”
Kaella crossed her arms. “Obviously. But our scrying magic keeps failing, and we don’t understand this Los Angeles well enough to know who to talk to. The damned Light Elves have infested this area, and they are watching us.”
Reyal, the shorter of the two woman, snorted. “We shouldn’t go begging for help from others. We should maintain our pride.” She took a deep breath and slowly let it out, her brow furrowed in anger. “The previous princess shamed her people.” Her lip curled. “To take up with a human? Pathetic. I only regret she didn’t live long enough to be punished by the queen.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Zavan replied. “Once we recover the current princess, the queen will make her understand she is a Drow and not a human. She can’t be blamed for the deceptions of her mother.”
“James Brownstone,” Kaella announced. “He’s still our best lead. We also know he’s not as dangerous as everyone claims. One of us could kill the man, let alone three of us.”
Zavan arched a brow. “Why do you say that? Have you heard something?”
“He didn’t kill Widowmaker. The humans did.” She sneered. “From what they’ve said, they were told that she would be there. It was a trap.”
“So?”
Kaella flung her arms up. “So this means James Brownstone is a coward, afraid to face a Drow in direct battle.”
Reyal shook her head. “But he wouldn’t have even known she was a Drow—or that she was hunting him.”
Kaella refused to be swayed. “Who else then? He was her target. Somehow he figured it out and ran from battle. It means he’s too afraid to face a powerful foe in battle.”
Zavan rubbed his chin. “Perhaps, but we can’t be so sure. If he was the one who trapped Widowmaker, it would mean he’s smarter than we’ve heard.”
The three exchanged a glance and burst out laughing.
Zavan calmed down, his laughter subsiding into a few lingering chuckles. “No. He got lucky, or he has some powerful friends. We will continue to focus on him, and we will make him lead us to the princess, wherever he’s hiding her.”
“And what if he resists us?”
His pleasant smile disappeared, replaced by a vicious grin. “Then he will experience the true wrath of the Drow.”
Maria stepped out of her car and hoisted her laden backpack onto her shoulder. Her mood was dark as she made her way to the rusty metal stairs leading to the second floor of the apartment building. She marched toward Dannec’s place, wondering if the door would even be there this time. With the elf’s magic, she could never be sure.
Why does magic have to be so damn annoying?
Not only was the door there, but it opened as she stepped up to it. Dannec stood on the other side with an amused look on his face.
Okay, at least that’s not annoying.
“Good afternoon, Lieutenant.”
The AET officer’s head jerked from side to side. “Don’t use my title out here,” she barked.
Dannec dismissed her concerns with a wave. “Don’t worry. That you’re coming to my place signals the kind of person you are to anyone who lives here.”
She frowned, not sure she liked the implications of that. “So? A lot of people might enjoy taking out a cop. A lot of magical people might particularly like to take out an AET officer.”
“Perhaps, but none would be so unwise to attempt that when you’re my guest.” Dannec gestured inside. “Please come in.”
Maria stepped inside the apartment, eyeing the tables covered with artifacts as she followed Dannec. The extra-dimensional chest was either absent or hidden with magic; she couldn’t be sure.
“First of all,” she began, “let me thank you for your help. Without the deflectors you provided, we would have suffered some serious injuries. That murderer we took down was a psychotic bitch.”
Dannec made a face. “I watched part of the video on the internet. She was using dark and infernal magic. It’s a good thing you killed her before she hurt other people. Her kind burn out quickly, but they are capable of great harm.”
“‘Burn out?’”
Dannec nodded. “Magic isn’t so different from human science, Lieutenant. Everything has a cost; a price. It uses a person as much as they use it. Killing blindly for the sake of killing is dangerous to the person doing it.” He shrugged. “Maybe she was doing it as a sacrifice to the creatures she used, but from what I read about the slaughter before your confrontation, she appeared to just enjoy killing.” He sneered. “Even Rhazdon rarely killed without a purpose.”
Maria didn’t know much about th
e Atlantean version of Hitler, but she got the point. “I’m working on the payment. Tyler’s finishing setting up his business so I can pay through it.”
“You mean funnel money through it.” Dannec chuckled.
Maria’s neck tensed and her stomach tightened. She’d pushed a lot of the implications of her work with Dannec out of her mind, especially given the results. However, the elf was right. She might have saved cop and civilian lives, but she was so over the line at this point that she might as well be in Alaska.
Doesn’t matter. Eventually, I might go down, but in the meantime, I don’t care. Not if it means I can protect cops and save people from overpowered magical assholes who want to slaughter them in the streets.
Maria squared her shoulders and tilted her chin up. “The point is that I can push a lot of money through Tyler.”
“I’m satisfied with how things are progressing, and I don’t feel any guilt, Lieutenant. Whatever you might believe about me and where I get my items, the fact is all I’ve done with you so far is help you stop a monster.”
Maria chuckled darkly. “And I’m sure Robert Johnson figured all he’d done was acquire really great guitar-playing skills.”
Dannec furrowed his brow. “Who?”
“He’s a famous American musician. Legend says he sold his soul to the Devil at a crossroads for guitar-playing skill.”
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