“Like what?”
“Like the fact that a homeless former junkie’s main concern seems to be getting justice for a little girl she doesn’t even know. We wouldn’t be on this if she wasn’t involved, which means she’s trying to be a better person. That’s more than I can say for most people.”
Trey sighed. “I’m not gonna lie, James. She’s family, which means I want to give her a shot, but I also get that my family ain’t the most impressive bunch outside of Nana.”
“Okay, here’s how it’s gonna work. This isn’t ‘three strikes and you’re out’ for her. It’s one strike, but if I didn’t trust your judgment I wouldn’t have you working for me, and I wouldn’t risk my rep on you. So it’s your call. Is she our administrative assistant?”
“So, do you think we need one? I mean if you don’t, I can take it. She won’t want charity. I’m already gonna give her a place to live, but that’s a family matter.”
“The only reason we haven’t fucked up already is that we don’t have all your boys hitting the streets for bounties yet. This shit’s gonna get complicated. We don’t want everybody going after the same guy and that kind of crap, and I don’t want to handle it. Do you want to handle it?”
“Hell, no.” Trey grinned. “Okay, hiring an administrative assistant sounds good, and I think we should do it.”
James shrugged. “Besides, it’s either her, someone we don’t know, or Shay.”
Trey laughed. He hadn’t talked with James’ woman much, but he knew two things. First, she could beat down his entire gang just as well as her man, and second, James didn’t need her busting his balls at the Brownstone Agency.
“I’ll test her out while we’re working here in Las Vegas. We’ll pull out of the Aria and hit some Airbnb for a week. I’ll see if she can help hold down the fort while we’re working here.”
James shook Trey’s hand. “Sounds good, now let’s get back in there.”
Maria gritted her teeth as she surveyed the burned-out stalls and scorched police cars. The bodies had already been removed, but she’d seen the twelve dead civilians when she arrived. This was the exact reason she’d joined AET: to protect people from the kinds of monsters who’d massacre random people going about their day.
And the bitch had gotten away. That was what burned the most.
Sergeant Weber walked up to her. “They’re adjusting her bounty to dead or alive. That should get some guys coming, maybe even Br—”
“Don’t fucking say his name.” Maria glared at a burned stall. “We can’t wait around for him to come and blow up half the city on the off-chance he’ll take Tessa Vansant with him. No, we’re the damned AET, so we need to handle this. Otherwise, why are we even around?”
Sergeant Weber looked at the ground.
Maria’s phone rang. “What?” she snapped without even looking at the caller.
“Your products are ready.”
It took her a few seconds to recognize Dannec’s voice.
She blinked. “That quickly?”
“When you know the right people things often happen quickly, Lieutenant. And I’m the right people.”
“Fine, but I’m in the middle of something.”
Dannec sighed. “Yes, I saw. Very unfortunate. All the more reason for you to pick these up quickly.”
“How about in a couple hours?”
“Reasonable enough. Just give me a call.”
“Okay.” Maria ended the call.
Sergeant Weber looked at her. “Who was that?”
“Just something I’m looking into. Don’t worry about it.”
A few hours later and out of uniform, Maria knocked on the elf’s door. Dannec opened it with a smile and gestured her inside.
An ornate wooden chest banded in silver sat in the middle of his living room. She hadn’t seen it the last time she’d been in the apartment.
Maria closed the door behind her. “Thanks for getting this handled so quickly. You were right, we have a witch to take down.”
The elf patted the chest. “I have everything you need, but there’s just the matter of payment.”
The AET lieutenant pulled out her phone. “Just give me an account number for your business.”
Dannec shook his head and sighed. “We need to be more circumspect about this, don’t you think? It’s not exactly like I’m a licensed business, Lieutenant.”
“Fuck.” Maria looked down at the ground, frowning.
The elf was right. She’d never gone so far off the reservation as to need a non-official payment channel. She knew a few tricks to redirect the money, but not enough. Maybe some sort of cryptocurrency might work.
Dannec smiled. “Might I offer a suggestion?”
“What?”
“I don’t deal with him directly, but I know of more than a few people who trade goods and services with James Brownstone. He’s more than experienced at offering…indirect payments. I’m sure you could route some sort of bonuses to his account that wouldn’t attract too much attention, and he could then make sure I receive appropriate payment.”
Maria’s mind jumped first to the chance of grabbing Brownstone on some sort of money laundering charge before realizing the utter absurdity of trying to prove it while she was trying to circumvent the system herself.
Working with the Devil? I hope Tyler never hears about this. Hell, I’ll go drink in his bar and tell him my sorrows. Maybe he has a better idea.
“I’ll figure something out, but I need this shit.”
“Fine.” The elf stared at her for a moment as if he could read her thoughts. “I trust you, Lieutenant. I know you’re good for it.”
“You do?”
“Let’s just say I trust you’ll realize that double-crossing me isn’t a good idea for either of us. Plus, it won’t do me much good if the ones I’m selling my product to die before they can pay me because I didn’t trust them.” Dannec ran his hand along the silver band and uttered something in a language she didn’t understand. The chest’s lid clicked as if a lock inside had opened.
“A passphrase,” Dannec explained. He threw open the lid.
“What the fuck?”
Even though she was staring right into it, it was hard to wrap her mind around the fact that a ladder extended into the chest. From what she could see, it looked a good eighteen or so feet wide and ten feet deep, even if it only looked about a couple feet long and a foot high on the outside.
Dannec stepped onto the ladder and climbed into the chest. From the bottom, he waved Maria in. She hesitated for a moment before following. There were several small tables inside which contained a variety of artifacts. Anti-magic deflector necklaces sat on one in a pile. The shape of the crystals was different than it had been on the deflectors they’d purchased before, but they otherwise didn’t look that different.
The elf nodded at the table. “As you can see, Lieutenant, I have everything you need.”
“Yeah, you do, and you’re going to get a lot of money from me soon.”
“And a favor.”
“Yeah, a favor.” Maria shook her head. “Why do I feel like I might be making a mistake?”
“There are no mistakes in life, Lieutenant, only underexploited opportunities.”
18
Trey yawned and stretched and hopped out of bed. He grabbed a robe from the floor and lightly slapped his face. “Shit, didn’t mean to sleep so long.”
It’d been a busy few days, and he’d ended up more tired than he’d realized. Between his aunt, bounties, and James, it was hard not to be exhausted.
Whining wouldn’t change anything, though. James wasn’t going to wait around and do nothing, so Trey couldn’t either. Every bounty Trey pulled off the streets meant money and enhanced the rep of the Brownstone Agency. No man could complain about earning more money.
Got to show my aunt the kind of man I am now.
Before leaving the bedroom of the Airbnb rental, Trey grabbed his phone. He could eat and look for possible bounties a
t the same time. There were a few things in the fridge they’d picked up, but he’d need a decent meal if he were going to function that day.
“Hey, Auntie Charlyce, did you want to go somewhere for breakfast?” he called. “Or did you want an hour or two?”
His stomach rumbled as he waited for her response.
“Auntie Charlyce? You hear me?”
Trey frowned and walked over to her room. The door was open.
He peeked inside. Her room was empty.
There were only two bathrooms in the rental, the en-suite connected to his bedroom and a larger main bathroom. He walked to the other bathroom. The door was open, and his aunt wasn’t there.
Where the fuck is she? I don’t have time for hide and seek.
“Shit.” Trey took a few deep breaths and checked every other room in the one-story house. Unless his aunt had suddenly learned invisibility magic, she was gone, and she hadn’t left a note.
Damn it! I thought she was legit about changing, but maybe she couldn’t handle it. Maybe the idea that she’d actually have to work pushed her back onto the street.
Trey stared down at his phone and pondered calling her.
Someone knocked on his door.
Trey’s gaze darted to his room. He’d left his guns there.
“Nah, I shouldn’t be that paranoid. I haven’t taken down anyone who’s gonna go through the trouble to track my ass down, at least not until they get out of prison.” He headed to the door and opened it, expecting some asshole trying to get him to switch pest-control services.
The joke was on them. It wasn’t even his house.
His aunt stood on the other side with a small bag of donuts and a drink carrier holding two cups of coffee.
Trey blinked, confusion swallowing his surprise. His aunt stepped past him and headed into the dining room to deposit the goodies on the table.
“Where you been?” Trey inquired.
“I wanted to check on Dina so I took a bus to the CPS office, but they wouldn’t let me see her.”
Trey shrugged. “Not a big surprise. You’re not a relative. To them, you’re just some homeless woman.”
“Yeah, I guess so. When I was getting off the bus I saw a donut place, so I figured I’d grab a few.” She laughed. “I used up the last little bit of money I had, so I need a new job. I’m ready to clock in on time.”
“Good to hear.” Trey and his aunt sat at the dining room table. He brought up the bounty hunting app and spun the phone so she could see it. “This is what we go off most of the time. There’s a city-specific app for LA, too.”
Aunt Charlyce laughed. “It’s like you’re shopping online for criminals.”
“Pretty much. I’m a level-three bounty hunter because I’ve brought in at least one level-three bounty. I’m licensed and insured and all that, but if I get my ass killed by a level five our insurance company might not pay out.”
“Those are magical folks, mostly, aren’t they?”
“Some terrorist leaders and cartel types can get a little higher, but yeah. You go above three, it’s almost always some guy with magic. The specific rules depend on the place issuing the bounty, so it varies from state to state.” He snorted. “Politicians got to even make stopping criminals hard.”
His aunt clucked her tongue. “You shouldn’t be going after strange magical folks anyway.”
“Not yet anyway.” Trey grinned. “Who knows about the future? For now, though, I’m trying to focus mostly on level one and two guys. I can handle those fools easy. A lot of low-level guys aren’t even that dangerous. They have bounties on them because of their crimes and they’re good at hiding, but they aren’t that dangerous. But if a guy’s level two, it usually means the asshole at least knows his way around a gun or knife. Not always, though.”
He picked up his coffee and opened the donut box to grab a maple bar. His aunt snatched a donut of her own. Neither spoke for a few moments as they nibbled on their food and sipped their coffees.
Aunt Charlyce finished her donut and sighed. “This job of yours is dangerous, but at the same time, I can’t help but be proud of you. You’re making money, and helping keep the cities safer.”
“Thanks.” He watched her for a moment. “There’s just one thing I still need to ask you about before we go find some asshole to drag into the police.”
“What?”
“Do you want me to tell Nana you’re back? I didn’t want to say anything to her until I knew for sure.”
Aunt Charlyce stared down at her hands and shook her head. “Not yet, Trey. Maybe when I know we’ve got this.”
“Fair enough. For now, I’m just happy to have more family. Now, let’s go shopping for a criminal.”
James stared into the mirror, trying to resist the urge to slam his fist into it. He’d thought Peyton sending him to Tim meant he’d find Red Eyes in one night. The plan was to end the threat in one quick fight. Everyone would be safer, and Dina’s father would have been avenged.
No other bodies had been found since the dead bounty hunter, but that provided little comfort. Red Eyes was speeding up and expanding his targets overall. The fact that he’d killed Lance proved that. The bastard could have run, but he hadn’t.
Even worse, a class-four bounty hunter was better equipped to take on a threat like Red Eyes than your average cop. If James didn’t stop the killer soon, the bastard would grow cocky and start picking off people left and right. The streets of Las Vegas would run with blood.
“Fucking asshole,” he rumbled. “Why don’t you just come out and fight? Why all the hide and seek? You know I’m gonna kick your ass. Is that it?”
The bounty hunter’s heart thundered, and he half-considered looking up some level-three bounties so he could work off some of his frustration.
“Fucking Red Eyes.”
James took several deep breaths and marched over to his phone, which was on the nightstand. He needed something to ground him. He picked up the phone and called Alison.
The phone kept ringing and he glanced at the time.
Shit, it’s still early morning. She’s probably in magical broom-making class or some shit.
“Hey, Dad,” she answered.
James let out a grunt by way of a response.
Alison laughed. “Very articulate.”
“Just wanted to check on you.”
“Why?”
“Uh, ‘cause you’re my daughter?” James sighed. Hearing her voice slowed his heart rate, and she wasn’t close enough to sense his reasons for calling.
Wonder what color embarrassment is?
Alison laughed. “Yeah, overprotective much? I’m sorry, Dad. I’d love to talk, but I’m between classes, so I don’t have a lot of time. You can call me later if you want.”
“Nah, that’s okay. Just checking in, is all.”
“Okay, talk to you later. Love you.”
“Love you.”
The teen ended the call.
James took a few deep breaths. The call had centered him, and now he could go back to thinking about the best way to track down Red Eyes.
He’d been thinking the question over for a few minutes when his phone chimed with a text from Alison.
I’m fine, Dad. Nothing is going on here that you need to worry about. Don’t bring work home. And if someone annoys me, I’ll just put my size-six Alison Brownstones up their ass. Love, Me.
James chuckled. “Don’t bring work home, huh?” He glanced around the hotel room. “Not at home, but I guess you can tell even when I’m thousands of miles away.”
Calling his daughter, legal or otherwise, might have been a good way to calm his fiery blood, but it didn’t inspire any new ideas for tracking the killer. He did know another woman who knew more than a few things about tracking people and beating them down.
James blasted off a text to Shay and waited. He had no idea with the time zones if she’d even be awake, but it was worth a shot. His phone rang a couple of minutes later.
“H
ey, Shay.”
“Having some trouble, huh? What’s the problem? The minute I leave the country you fall to pieces and sob until I return?
James snorted. “Normally, I wouldn’t give a shit about it taking a day or two to find the fucker, but this guy needs to go down before he hurts more innocent people.”
“You’re missing the obvious.”
“Huh? How do you know? You’re not even here.”
Shay scoffed. “Magical support, Oh Mighty Bounty Hunter.”
“I don’t need magic to kill this guy. I just need to be there to pound his fucking head into the ground until he stops moving.”
“You bitched to me about not being able to find him in your text. That’s what I’m talking about. Get some sort of magical tracking help. I doubt this asshole has a bunch of anti-tracking magic on him.”
“I shouldn’t use shit I don’t understand. It’s bad to get reliant on that kind of crap.”
Shay barked out a harsh laugh. “Are you fucking serious? For fuck’s sake, you’ve got nothing now, so what will you lose if you try? The worst that will happen is you get nothing, or, you know, maybe you actually track down the fucker so you can do what you’re aching to do. Or you can sit there and whine about how you don’t like magic. Your choice.”
James grumbled under his breath. “Well, maybe I’ll look into it. Not saying I’ll use it, but you’ve got a point. It’s not like I’ve got anything to lose.”
“Glad to see you can buy a clue every now and again.”
He took a deep breath. “Thanks. Everything okay with you?”
Shay snickered. “Nothing I can’t handle, but I do have some stuff I have to take care of soon.”
“It’s fine. I think I should call around and see if I can find someone to help me out with some magic. Even if it’s gonna end up being fucking complicated, you’re right—I should use it.”
“Life’s not simple, James. At some point, you’re just gonna have to accept that.”
He grunted. “Don’t I know it.”
“Don’t die, or if you do die, make sure it’s not some cheap way. Talk to you later.”
When Angels Cry: An Urban Fantasy Action Adventure (The Unbelievable Mr. Brownstone Book 6) Page 14
