“Kind of like dessert.” James smiled.
Shay grinned. “You’re really enjoying yourself, aren’t you? Not that I’m complaining, it’s a big difference between this and Canada.”
James nodded. “The Council was a big deal, and we paid a big price for it.” He looked down for a moment.
I made them pay, Shorty. I made all the fuckers pay.
He looked back up. “He Who Hunts went after a bunch of people in an amusement park, and the nanite shit was just annoying.” He grunted. “But this is straight ass-kicking. I don’t have to worry about anyone getting hurt who doesn’t have it coming, and even if I don’t kill every last motherfucker we run into, I don’t think they’ll end up in LA turning people into monsters underground.”
“Good point.” Shay started back down the hallway, her pace slower than before. “It’ll be nice to get the huge payday after this, but it’ll also be hard getting used to lower-paying jobs afterward.” She laughed. “Maybe Aletheia should stop getting out of bed for less than forty million dollars.”
James followed Shay, his larger strides making it easy to catch up. “Could start a tomb raiding agency. Kind of like those Hollingsworth guys. Carson Retrieval Specialists or the Carson Team.”
“Some of us are meant for that kind of thing, and some of us are meant to stay under the radar.” She snickered. “Helping train Lily is more than enough for me. Unless Alison wants to take up tomb raiding, although the few times I’ve asked her, she didn’t seem that interested.”
“Huh. Good point.” James rubbed his chin. “She’s halfway through her second year of school now. Graduation’s just a couple years off. Got to think about the future.”
Shay nodded. “Sure, she can do the bounty hunting with you for a while, but it might be nice for her to have a touch of normalcy. Go to a normal college for a few years.”
James grunted. “Like UCLA?”
“Sure, why not?” Shay frowned and froze. She tapped the other side of her goggles and pointed at the wall. “Another trap in there.”
He stepped in front of her. “Maybe I should just trip it and get it over with.”
“Huh? What the hell are you thinking, James?”
He patted his chest. “I’ve got potions, and if there’s gonna be a lot of fucking traps, might help to get Whispy trained on whatever the fuck they have.”
The amulet’s excitement filled James’ mind.
Achieve additional adaptation. Achieve primary directive.
Shay took a deep breath and nodded. She reached into a pouch and pulled out one of James’ healing potions. “Based on what we saw on the other guy, it’ll activate when you walk past the line. I’m not seeing any sort of trigger, so I’m guessing it’s magical.”
James walked forward, his gaze fixed on the wall. It flashed and hissed, and a glowing crystal shot out. He spun to take the hit on his left arm.
He hissed as the projectile embedded itself and pain blasted through his limb.
Yes, Whispy hissed in his mind. Adaptation in progress.
James reached up and yanked the now blood-soaked crystal out with a grunt. He gritted his teeth. “Yeah, that fucking hurt a little, but it didn’t end me.”
Shay offered him the potion. “Sometimes I wonder if you’re secretly a masochist.”
He looked down at his throbbing arm.
Can you heal that shit?
Regeneration in process, Whispy replied.
James waved off the potion. “It’ll be fine.” He rotated the arm. The ache was already slightly less. “A scratch.”
“You’re sure?” Shay stared at his arm, concern on her face. “Doesn’t look like a scratch to me.”
“Yeah.” James lowered his arm. Best he could tell it’d already stopped bleeding. “Doesn’t stop me from being annoyed with the fucking ancient Cambodians, even if I took the shot on purpose.”
Shay shook her head. “Magical crystal traps aren’t very Khmer. One thing I’ve learned by studying revised history is that even if a lot of legends and myths aren’t a hundred percent accurate, they are decent proxies for the types of magic associated with those cultures throughout their history.” She pointed to the crystal on the ground. “And nothing about that screams Khmer Empire era. Probably Oricerans.
“Given that we’re looking for an Atlantean crystal lance, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that magic crystals are shooting out. Probably old-school Atlantean magic. They took over this place, or maybe convinced the locals they were gods or something. Doesn’t matter. They obviously aren’t here anymore.”
High adaptation potential, Whispy noted.
Yeah, not like I run into a lot of Atlanteans, though. Don’t know how useful this shit will be, now that I think about it.
Maximum adaptation necessary for primary directive.
Whatever the fuck that is.
James chuckled. “If there’s gonna be a lot of this shit, I should just march out in front and take all the hits.”
Shay furrowed her brow. “It was one thing when we were in Warehouse Three training your amulet. I was careful.”
“You shot me, shocked me, and threw grenades at me.”
She shrugged. “I made sure not to shoot you in the head, though.”
“Who knows? Might even be able to come back from that.” James smiled.
She rolled her eyes. “We don’t know that, and I don’t want to try it.”
“I’ve been shot in the head before and survived.” He patted the side of his head.
“But you haven’t taken brain damage. I don’t want to have to get to know you again. The first time was fucking exhausting enough.”
James considered that for a few seconds before nodding. “Good point. Just keep pointing out traps, and I’ll try to take the hit in the arm or chest. If it’s the same kind of trap, it won’t matter. I’m already partially adapted to that shit. Next time, I bet it won’t do more than scratch me.”
Shay nodded. “Okay. I’ll admit it’s not a bad idea to train Whispy more on this shit, especially if we run into some weird Atlantean security guard later on.” She motioned forward. “But let’s move slow and steady. Not like we’re in a hurry. Even if Durand showed up, he obviously didn’t go farther in.” She shrugged. “For now, it looks like we’re in the lead in this race. Let’s go find ourselves a forty-million-dollar lance!”
Chapter Fourteen
Five more minutes brought them to a T-junction. James’ wound had sealed itself by the time they arrived.
Shay used her AR goggles to scan the area. “It could be either way. Nothing unusual I can detect in any of the different modes. I figure we go right, then come back left. Just be systematic.” She pointed at him. “Since you’re with me, we shouldn’t need to worry about mapping or marking my path. That memory is convenient for tomb raids.”
James nodded.
They proceeded down the hallway. Although the roof became noticeably lower, the stone hallways were smooth and covered with dust, but still intact. Shay located additional traps along the way.
The second one only gave James a minor cut and the third, a scratch.
The hallway split off again at another junction, several open chambers lining the corridors on either side. They took the right fork again.
James and Shay entered the first chamber and looked around. A few shattered pieces of pottery lay on the ground, but there was nothing else of interest.
“Do you think there used to be a lot of shit in here and people stole it?” he asked. “I mean, like old-school tomb raiders, kind of how like ancient thieves stole so much shit from the Pyramids.”
Shay shrugged. “Maybe. Thieves alive closer to the time this place was built might have known more about the kind of magic and traps in here and could avoid them, or maybe the entire complex was abandoned one day.” She knelt and eyed some of the pottery shards. “It’s times like this that tomb raiding gets a little closer to real archaeology. Slow and steady while we look for the big fi
nd.”
A thud echoed through the halls.
James spun toward the doorway, his gun at the ready.
Shay unslung her rifle and frowned. “Maybe the second-place crew decided to finally catch up. I was hoping if they were out there, they wouldn’t be so brave.”
Another thud echoed. It sounded like the noise was coming from farther down the hallway.
“Or they were ahead of us the entire time,” James muttered. He nodded toward the door. “Might as well clean this shit up, so the fuckers aren’t biting our asses later.”
“Agreed.”
They jogged into the hallway, weapons at the ready. They didn’t hear any more thuds, but near-constant scratching emanated from deeper in the darkness.
“Doesn’t sound like mercs,” James rumbled. “Sounds like an animal, maybe.”
Shay nodded. “Maybe some of those local creatures the government’s letting run free.”
Engage and kill new enemies, Whispy ordered. Moderate adaptation potential.
Way ahead of you, Coach.
James waited for the inevitable rebuke from the amulet, but it didn’t come. He grinned.
Getting used to it there, huh, Coach Whispy Doom?
Importance of tactical efficiency exceeds all other considerations.
James snorted. Figure it’s easier than bitching at me, huh?
Link error acknowledged.
The bounty hunter decided to let it drop. The amulet had complained about link errors before, but he would never give a clear answer on what that meant. As long as Whispy was providing defense against the upcoming enemy, that would be enough.
The scratching grew louder as Shay and James headed down the hall, passing several rooms, most empty but a few with rubble. A long stone table flanked by two stone benches covered in a thick layer of dark dust was the first interesting sight in any of the rooms.
As Shay and James ventured farther down the dark hall, there were no more doors on the sides. Their lights revealed a wide opening to a much larger chamber at the end, though. Several barbed-tentacled forms slithered in the distance, the beams from their headlamps and wrist lights reflecting off angular crystalline surfaces.
“Yeah, definitely not mercs.” James grunted. “Unless they’re weird-ass Oricerans who took a wrong turn.”
Shay grinned. “Travel the world, see new things, meet new people, kill new creatures. I love my life.”
James chuckled and nodded as he jogged ahead. “Not gonna try to get hit, but maybe all those traps were the same kind of magic those things use.”
“Here’s hoping.” Shay advanced behind him.
They reached the opening to the chamber, which gave them a better view of their foes. A mass of white crystalline slender-bodied creatures slithered over the floor, each over four feet in length. Glowing blue circles, possibly eyes, covered most of their bodies, and seven tentacles were attached to each creature. Some tentacles trailed behind them, but most of the beasts were using three or four to crawl.
Piles of the dull, cracked bodies of the creatures covered the ground several deep. None of the corpses displayed any of the glowing circles, and most were missing tentacles. The room must have contained hundreds of bodies and dozens of their active brethren.
James nodded toward the piles. “Think those are dead or just asleep?”
“Not a cryptozoologist, but I’m guessing those are dead.” Shay laughed. “Hope so, or this is gonna be an interesting next few minutes.”
James grunted. “I’ve fought worse.”
Whispy urged him to battle.
“Not sure how tough they are yet.” Shay shrugged. “Crystal squids. That’s different, even for me.”
James frowned. “They only have seven tentacles, though. That’s not the right number for a squid.”
Shay snorted. “It’s easier to call them crystal squids than make something new up.”
“Good point. Wonder if they’re nanoforms?” He narrowed his eyes.
Can you tell, Whispy?
Direct sampling required to verify. Engage and kill enemy.
Shay tapped her AR goggles a few times, her lips pursed. “Thermal readings match the background, but getting something interesting in the UV range—all sorts of different patterns.” She shrugged. “Not that I know what a nanoform should look like in different spectra.”
“The Wendigo blended in heat-wise, too. Maybe that means something.” James kept his gun trained on the nearest squid. “Or maybe it means shit.”
A couple more squids wriggled out of a hole in the corner of the roof. James focused his light there. The squids didn’t react, but he frowned.
“The hole is round,” he declared.
Shay shrugged. “So? That’s not a stunning rarity in the world of holes.”
He shook his head. “Perfectly round. I think it was created on purpose—like artificially by the Atlanteans or the humans, not the squids.”
“No doors in this place…you notice that?” Shay muttered. “If these things were here to begin with, whoever was here, human or otherwise, had to have a way to control them. Maybe that’s why they’re not attacking. Maybe they need some sort of activation code or spell.”
Three more emerged from a hole on the opposite side of the room.
Kill the enemy, Whispy chanted. Kill the enemy.
Doesn’t seem like they are the enemy. Not gonna fuck up someone’s pets just because they aren’t around. You’ve seen what I do to people who hurt my pets.
James shrugged. “Might as well get out of here. They aren’t attacking.”
“Yeah.” Shay shrugged. “If they’re just going to sit here and have a squid party, might as well leave them alone.”
They backed out of the room and returned to the hall. The scuttling intensified, but after a few seconds it stopped entirely, an eerie silence descending over the chamber.
Glowing blue patterns played across the creatures’ skin.
“What the fuck are they doing?” James raised his gun.
A harsh, dissonant cry rose from all the monsters at once, but they remained stationary.
“Hell if I know.” Shay frowned. “I’m guessing it’s not gonna be good for us.”
Another cry sounded from the squids.
Kill the enemy, Whispy demanded.
Shay sighed and slapped a hand to her forehead. “Of course. It’s not like they had computers and networking back then.”
James grunted. “Meaning what?”
She raised her rifle. “I’m guessing they’re waiting for some sort of command phrase.”
James grunted. “Like what?”
“See any seven-hundred-year-old Cambodians or Atlanteans around to ask?” Shay shrugged. “For all we know it could be, ‘Kiss my ass.’”
Three staccato cries erupted from the squids, and they surged forward.
“Looks like Whispy’s gonna get what he wanted,” James muttered.
He opened fire, and Shay joined him. The first few squids twitched and rolled to a halt, blue fluid leaking from the bullet wounds. James wasn’t sure if it was blood, but it was easier to think of it that way.
Whispy’s excitement died down as the pair continued taking the creatures out. Soon a pile of motionless crystal squids lay in front of them.
Not enough for you, Whispy?
Minimum adaptation potential.
Shay switched to burst fire and emptied her magazine. Some of the squids climbed the walls and ceiling, forming a writhing mass of crystalline tentacles crawling toward James and Shay. Other monsters charged through their fallen brethren as she reloaded, knocking the bodies aside without apparent concern or fear.
Not that James could tell if a crystal squid was afraid.
He stood his ground and continued to fire until his weapon ran dry. Shay’s gun roared to life again, downing the few monsters closing on them in the narrow hallway. A burst perforated a squid on the ceiling and its body pinned another, allowing for an easy follow-up shot.
>
Two charging squids, both rushing along the walls, met their end as James put two bullets into one and Shay blasted the other.
A third enemy leapt from the wall and stabbed at James with a barbed tentacle, a cerulean glow surrounding it. It ripped through his coat and shirt, but the attack only scratched him. He shoved his gun into the body and fired three times. The squid collapsed with a soft thud.
James grunted. “Yeah, I’m adapted to these fuckers.”
Shay swept her gaze back and forth looking for more movement, her breath ragged. “Shit. There were a lot more than we saw moving in the room.”
“They might have been hiding under the bodies.” James reloaded with a frown. “And who knows how many are in the tunnels connected to those holes?”
The squid bodies all pulsed with a bright blue light. James squinted and backed up. The monsters started twitching and thrashing.
“What the fuck?”
“Damn it,” Shay muttered. “We can’t run. They’d just keep up.”
Two of the squids near the back crawled out of the pile.
“Not running from fucking squids, even if they are magical.” James grunted and removed a grenade from his belt. “Eat this,” he shouted and hurled the grenade toward the pile.
Shay and James rushed backward. The grenade exploded, splattering blue blood all over the walls and mangling several of the squids, their tentacles and chunks all over.
That didn’t help. The detached tentacles twitched and inched back toward the bodies.
Whispy’s excitement rose again.
Engage enemy at close range for maximum adaptation. Kill enemy.
James grunted and holstered his gun. It wasn’t a half-bad idea. The problem with bullets was that they penetrated too well.
He held out his hand. “Give me your sword. If I chop these fuckers up enough, I bet they’ll stop regenerating, and maybe it’ll help to use a magic sword.”
“You sure?”
One Epic Ring: An Urban Fantasy Action Adventure (The Unbelievable Mr. Brownstone Book 14) Page 12