“And you’re going to be looking for a new dentist after I’m done with you.” Trey continued to circle the man, his fists up. “You’re worse than a criminal because at least they admit what they are.”
Jared sneered. “You’re a self-righteous asshole. I’m going to enjoy hurting you.”
Distant sirens sounded.
“They’re coming, Jared,” Trey taunted. “And I’m still here to talk about how you’re a crazy sonofabitch.”
Jared growled and swung again. Trey didn’t block this time. Instead, he grabbed the man’s arm and slammed his forehead into the other man’s nose. The other bounty hunter hissed in pain, and Trey brought up his knee.
Enjoy this, motherfucker.
When Trey’s opponent doubled over in pain, the Brownstone bounty hunter smashed a fist into the side of his head. Trey continued to rain blows on him until Jared lay on the ground groaning, his face battered and the golden glow gone.
Jared’s ring flashed and then crumbled into dust.
Trey shook out his hands. “Fuck, never thought there would be a day I’d defend some mob-connected smuggler from another bounty hunter.”
The front door opened and Gino emerged, the boy holding his hand and a scared young woman standing behind him.
Trey took a deep breath. “The cops will be here soon, so we’ll just wait for them. You can go with them, along with my boy Jared here.”
Gino blinked as he looked at Trey and the other bounty hunter. “Thank you. I know you didn’t have to be cool about this to begin with, let alone stop that guy.”
“The Brownstone Agency is about taking down bounties, so you were going down. Let’s make that clear. But the Brownstone Agency is also about protecting people, and we ain’t good with hurting innocent kids.” Trey glared at Jared. “A bounty hunter who don’t care about who he hurts ain’t any better than the people he’s chasing for a living.” He lifted his head and squared his shoulders. “And when James Brownstone was getting hunted by every mother…” He glanced down at the child and cleared his throat. “Every hitman in LA, he made sure the police knew, and he walked away from people. That’s the example the big men sets.”
Two police cars screamed down the street and skidded to a halt in front of the house.
Trey grinned. “Time to go to jail, Jared.”
Chapter Fourteen
Lyle sighed as he looked at the groaning and bloodied people around him. Some had stopped moving.
That got a little out of hand, but it was still pretty fun for me. It wasn’t even like I had to make that many puppets for it to get crazy, either. Funny how that works.
All Lyle had wanted was to have a little fun at the busy corner store. Yes, he’d started a fight, and it’d spiraled out of control. The next thing he knew, he was in the middle of a riot.
He sighed and shook his head. The real lesson was something far more important.
I definitely need bodyguards. A couple of the guys almost hurt me, which wouldn’t have been all that fun. The puppets are supposed to entertain the audience, not hurt the audience.
Lyle sighed as he stepped out of the store, wiping the blood off his hands. A police officer approached him, his hand on his gun.
“Oh, I took too long,” Lyle muttered. “Of course you’re here.” He held up a hand. “You can’t blame me, you know. In truth, it wouldn’t have gotten out of hand if the potential wasn’t already there. I’m not going to say I’m a victim, but neither is anyone in there. Does that make sense?”
The cop frowned. “Sir, I’m going to need you to put your hands on your head for now and turn around until I stabilize and confirm the situation.”
“No.” Lyle shook his head. “Why should I? Because some people got hurt? You know what?” He shrugged. “Who cares? So a few people got hurt. You should just think of them as sacrifices. It’s better to have sacrifices early on when the new god values them more, not when everyone’s worshipping him. It’s like when there’s that new band you discovered before they went all mainstream and everyone claims to have always loved them. Be a true fan, man.” He snickered.
The cop frowned. “Okay, sir, I’m going to need you to get on the ground right now. You’re obviously under the influence or in shock, so I need you to work with me so you don’t get hurt. Do you understand me?”
“Work with you?” Lyle snorted. “You don’t get it, do you? Whatever.” He frowned. If he tried to touch his bone charm, he might get shot. He turned around and knelt, slowly moving his hand toward the charm.
I’m tired of this. I have all this power, and I’m still treated disrespectfully. That shit ends today.
Lyle pressed on his charm. “Turn around and fire randomly at the cars in the parking lot.”
The police officer spun and started unloading his gun. Car windows shattered and alarms wailed as he blasted away.
Lyle stood and laughed. “Keep firing.”
The police officer ran out of bullets. “I need more ammo.”
“Don’t reload,” Lyle commanded. “Stand there while I stun you.” He walked over to the officer and yanked the stun rod off his belt, then slammed it into the man’s neck and discharged it.
The other man collapsed with a groan, twitching.
“I’m tired of hiding,” Lyle shouted. “I shouldn’t have to fear anyone.” He sneered. “No one. Don’t you people understand who I am? Don’t you understand how I was chosen? I was nothing, and now I’m everything.”
He stuck his hands in his pocket and started whistling If I Only Had a Brain as he walked away.
Lieutenant Weber frowned as he read the incident report on his computer. “Do you realize what this means?” He looked over his shoulder.
McMahon stood behind him, his arms crossed. “This shouldn’t be so bad. If what the cop reported was true, the guy has some sort of mind-control magic. He’s probably not bulletproof, though, so we can use a few of the anti-magic deflectors to take his ass down. Remember that time Hall told us how she took down that witch who used fear magic? She said the deflector worked really well in that situation.”
Lieutenant Weber shook his head. “I was looking over some of the stuff sent by the FBI and PDA earlier.” He clicked his mouse and brought up an image from a traffic drone. He pointed at a Porsche sitting in front of Sarkazian’s house. “They’ve identified that car as leaving Sarkazian’s place minutes before the explosion. They’ve got several shots of the driver in different places, algorithmic face match at ninety-five percent. He switched vehicles a few times. He also had a briefcase when he entered Sarkazian’s house, but he didn’t have it when he left, so that was probably the crystals.”
“Who is he?” McMahon leaned forward to peer at the image on the screen.
“Lyle Lassom. Low-level scum bag, mostly freelance, from the Providence area.” Lieutenant Weber pointed at the image. “He was just a normal guy, or at least he was until a few weeks ago. Turns out he was photographed near two wizards who were being investigated by the PDA for selling dangerous Oriceran artifacts. They were found dead a few weeks ago. It looked like they’d killed each other in some sort of deal gone bad, but the follow-up investigation found evidence that they’d been preparing to sell this bone mind-control charm.”
McMahon snorted. “So Lassom grabs it and decides he wants to be the kingpin, not the stooge?”
“That’s what I’m thinking. The FBI is now looking into a pattern of unusual occurrences across the country starting from several weeks ago. Lassom’s good at using his power, but he’s not always great about covering his tracks when he’s on the move.”
McMahon shrugged. “The play’s the same. Suit up, find him, and depend on the deflectors. If this power is from some artifact, all we need to do is get it off him, right?”
“That sounds simple, but I’m not so sure.” Lieutenant Weber brought up another video. “This is security camera footage from the store brawl.” He clicked Play.
Lyle stood in the center of a chaotic m
ass of fighters with a huge smirk. People lay on the ground all around, as others punched, kicked, or kneed one another. He stepped forward with a glassy-eyed old woman walking right in front of him. He laughed and put his hand on his chest before saying something. The old woman walked over to a bleeding man on the ground and stomped on his neck.
A few seconds later, she pulled out a contact Taser and jammed it into his ribs. The man thrashed on the ground as Lyle threw his head back and cackled.
McMahon’s face twisted in disgust. “Lassom’s the poster boy for ‘power corrupts.’”
“Yes.” Lieutenant Weber paused the video. “If you read the PDA report on this charm, it’s ridiculously powerful. It’s not any subtle hypnosis stuff. You can make a person do whatever you want. Just like Lassom made that old lady stomp and Taser that guy or that fifteen-year-veteran of the force open fire at random. We were lucky he didn’t hit anyone.” He nodded toward his screen. “The PDA thinks those dead wizards were controlled by Lassom, too. Apparently the bone charm leaves a particular magical signature when it’s used on a victim, and they found residual amounts of that where they found the wizards.”
McMahon frowned. “So, we have a guy who can make anyone do anything, and he doesn’t give two shits about innocent people. If we go after him, he’ll probably use human shields.”
“Exactly. Between the FBI, PDA, and local evidence, I’m going to try to get an emergency level-five bounty posted. I’m nervous about that, though.”
“Why?”
Lieutenant Weber sighed. “I just called Maria, and she told me Brownstone’s out of town for a few days.”
“He’s not the only high-end bounty hunter,” McMahon replied. “And we shouldn’t depend on him anyway. Do we know where Lassom is right now? If we play it smart, we can surprise him and win.”
“We’ve got no eyes on him. He switched cars again, and after the thing at the store, he was obviously trying a lot harder to avoid cameras.” The lieutenant stared at Lassom’s frozen image. “But you’re right. We can’t wait around for Brownstone or any other bounty hunter to do our job. We need to take this asshole down and fast. It might take a couple of days to get the bounty going, but if we can catch him in the meantime, fine.”
Chapter Fifteen
James pulled the truck up to the small guardhouse. The tiny dull-green building lay about ten yards from the twenty-foot-tall metal fence blocking further progress. The dirt road they’d been following disappeared past the fence, grass and bushes on the side. A gate was part of the fence, and it had various complicated runes and other symbols painted all over it.
“Do they have a fence around the entire forest?” James asked. “That looks like a lot of effort to seal off one place.”
Shay nodded. “Yeah. It’s not just a fence, and those runes on it aren’t just for show. It’s got a bunch of special wards and other magic on it. They had a lot more trouble than I realized right after the gates opened, but the magic we have now helps keep the shit contained. Fortunately for them, this forest is relatively small.”
“Can’t shit just fly out?”
Shay shook her head. “Not the way they’ve got the spells set up. They extend into the air, even though the walls don’t.” She shrugged. “It’s kind of funny. This is actually one of the more sophisticated magically sealed areas on Earth, but not a lot of people have heard about it, even though this used to be a major tourist attraction before the gates opened.”
“Everyone’s got magical shit around them these days.” James frowned and looked at the guard house.
Are those assholes gonna come over here or not?
Two bored-looking Romanian soldiers stood inside the guardhouse, watching their phones. One of them finally looked up, and he slung his rifle over his shoulder and stepped outside to head to the truck. He sighed the entire way over as if having to move was a great imposition on him.
“Just show him the QR code,” Shay told James as she handed her phone to him. “The Professor said all this shit should already be set up. I’m really hoping we don’t have to try to talk our way in if this doesn’t work.”
James rolled down the window and held out the phone.
The soldier stopped and stared down at the phone with a frown. He pulled out his own phone and ran it over the code. His phone chimed, and a message popped up.
The soldier looked up after reading the message. “It says you are Americans?” he asked, his English heavily accented but understandable. “You speak English, right?”
“Yeah,” James rumbled. “What about it?”
“I wanted to make sure you understand what I’m about to say.” The soldier narrowed his eyes. “Let me make this clear, American. Our orders say we are to let you through, but we will not go in there after you, no matter what happens, until you’re ready to leave. And once you leave, we’re not letting you back in.”
“Understood.”
The soldier shook his head. “Do you really understand? Most who go in there die or are injured. We’re here to keep watch on this entrance, but if people are stupid enough to go inside, they get what they deserve.”
“We love you, too,” Shay called from the passenger’s seat. “Stirring speech.”
The soldier snorted and nodded toward the gate. “We don’t allow vehicles in. There’s too much of a risk that the creatures might somehow use it to escape. You can move up to the gate and unload whatever gear or weapons you’ve brought with you, but it’s not too late for you to turn around. You’re just going to waste your life in there. Why don’t you go back home, Cowboy? Go enjoy your beer and baseball.”
Shay laughed. “You have no idea who he is, do you?”
The soldier shrugged. “The pass just says to let one American man and woman through with weapons and explosives.” He frowned at James. “Why? Are you famous? Have you had a show?”
“I’m James Brownstone.” He shrugged.
The soldier stared at him for a few seconds, then blinked. He pulled up his phone and tapped away, panic on his face. An article in Romanian about James appeared, or at least he assumed it was about him since his frowning face was at the top.
“No, no, no.” The soldier shook his head, his face a mask of panic. “You can’t burn it down. They’ve told us that. If you burn it down, the evil will spread. The magic can only contain it so well.”
“Huh?” James blinked and looked over at Shay. “What are you talking about? Burn what down?”
“The forest, I’m guessing.” Shay laughed. “He thinks you’re going to burn it down.”
The soldier pointed at James. “That’s what he does. He blows things up. The Scourge of Harriken.”
“Not all that often. Mostly I punch and shoot things.” James shrugged. “Or slice them up or blast right through them. I don’t actually blow shit up all that often.” He started counting the number of areas he’d blown up in the last year on his fingers. He lowered his hand when the number ticked higher than he’d have liked.
Okay, so maybe I blow shit up more often than I think.
The soldier gritted his teeth and looked back at his partner as if he was deciding if he wanted to attempt to stop the Scourge of Harriken from taking on the most accursed forest in Romania. He took a deep breath and gestured toward the gate, some of the panic ebbing from his face. “The same rules apply. Stop your vehicle in front of the gate and get your equipment.” He muttered something under his breath in his native language as he headed toward the gate. James didn’t need to know Romanian to understand that the man was cursing.
James pulled forward. “Do I really blow shit up that often? I mean, I do it more than some random asshole in an office, but I’m a class-six bounty hunter.”
“’Often’ is subjective,” Shay responded. “You don’t blow up most of your bounties. That’s got to mean something.”
“I’ve never burned down a forest.”
“There’s always a first time. Had you blown up a hospital before that fight with the s
hepherd?”
“It was already closed and abandoned. That shit shouldn’t count.” James grunted as he stopped the truck in front of the gate. He killed the engine and hopped out to go to the back. The nervous soldier unlocked the gate and pulled it open. He yanked out his magazine and slipped in a red-painted one.
“Anti-magic bullets?” Shay asked.
The soldier gave a curt nod and focused on the forest on the other side of the open gate, his rifle at the ready. His partner emerged from the guardhouse, anti-magic bullets now loaded into his weapon, and advanced on the gate.
James glanced at the rifle as he opened the tailgate of the truck. Considering there were many guardhouses spread along the wall, even in areas without roads, the Romanian government was putting out a lot of money to ensure their soldiers at least had a chance against anything that might boil out of the forest.
James and Shay spent the next few minutes loading up. Standard guns and ammo, anti-magic and normal, a few frag grenades, and knives magic and normal. Shay took her tachi as well as her defensive pendant and ring. They slipped on canteens and backpacks that contained more ammo and several MREs. They had no idea how long they might be in the forest, and neither wanted to eat anything from a place tainted with such wild magic.
One of James’ ugly gray coats served as an additional ammo reservoir. Shay filled her pouches with different single-use artifacts of various types, unsure what might be useful given they still weren’t sure what all they would face.
Shay closed the back of the truck and headed toward the gate with James at her side. He reached up and felt for the amulet underneath his shirt. He hadn’t bonded Whispy yet, not wanting to listen to the amulet until he absolutely had to.
Shadow Of The Ring: An Urban Fantasy Action Adventure (The Unbelievable Mr. Brownstone Book 16) Page 12