“Yeah, so much for relaxing.” Shay rubbed the back of her neck. “It sounded like a great idea at the time. But the more I think about it, the Brotherhood will be just as handicapped as we are.”
A feral grin appeared on James’ face. “Besides, I kind of like the idea of hunting them in the snow. It’s like I’m a fucking Yeti or something.”
“Wendigo,” Shay responded.
“’Wendigo?’” James echoed.
Shay nodded. “Cannibal spirit of the North. Yetis are more a Himalayan thing. Don’t know if Wendigos are real, but considering half the shit I’ve run into, I wouldn’t count them out.” She laughed. “Anyway, you’re looking forward to a blizzard so you can run around hunting people like a monster?”
“If I have to be in the cold and deal with snow, might as well have fun doing it.” James shrugged.
“Fine. Let’s go make you a Wendigo.” Shay shook a finger at him. “But no eating anyone. I have to kiss that mouth.”
James shrugged. “Don’t have any barbeque sauce with me anyway.”
12
The Jeep’s wipers swished back and forth, pushing the accumulating snow off to either side of the windshield. The snowfall had picked up in the last half hour, the dense flakes coating the highway. The wind tried to push the Jeep, but James’ steady hands kept his vehicle straight. The thick clouds choking the sky made it far darker than a person might expect for the afternoon.
James glanced in his rearview mirror and rearview camera at a trio of SUVs in the distance behind them. “You see what I see?”
Shay nodded. “Yeah. In the city they could at least pretend to not be following us, and even when we pulled out of Calgary, maybe they could be going the same way, but come on, we’ve switched to another highway, and we’re almost to the turnoff to an abandoned refinery in the middle of nowhere.” She rolled her eyes. “They could at least have been subtle. This does let us know one thing, though.”
“What’s that?”
She looked over her shoulder out the back window. “They aren’t Brotherhood. If they were and knew we were coming, they would have gone ahead to ambush us later rather than follow us.”
James grunted. “So, some other assholes? Canadian government?”
Shay shook her head. “Nah, it doesn’t make sense for them to follow you so closely. They were probably behind screwing with us at the airport, but if they wanted to keep screwing with you, it would have been then. They know your reputation.” She sighed. “Someone else, I’m betting. Maybe the terrorists you scared off had buddies already up here, and they called ahead and want a little payback.”
He accelerated despite the buffeting winds. “Not interested in random fuckers. Probably won’t even get paid for killing them. Nothing but a waste of ammo and time.”
“Sure, but if we ignore them and they follow us all the way to the refinery, we might end up having to deal with them behind us and the Brotherhood in front.” Shay shrugged. “There’s only the two of us. Sure, we’re badasses, but it helps not to hand the enemy an advantage.”
“Sounds like the Sun Tzu shit the guys are always spouting.” James frowned. “Shit, probably should take care of them sooner; less chance of the car getting damaged. Stupid fucking weak-ass insurance.”
She laughed. “Okay. Why not just pull off the road so we can get this shit taken care of?”
He tugged the wheel to the right. The vehicle shook as it left the smooth highway and entered the snow-covered field running alongside it. A dense stand of aspens bounded the field, but James stopped well before the tree line.
James reached under his jacket. “Might as well get this shit over with. He’s gonna annoy the fuck out of me until we get to the refinery, though.”
“Hey, it’s a small price to pay for what he gives you.” Shay nodded and pulled out her 9mm.
“You don’t have to listen to him in your head.” James removed the spacer beneath his amulet and hissed as pain shot from the point of contact with his chest, each tendril of the amulet spreading out underneath his skin, joining with his flesh and hardening it.
Initiation, Whispy sent.
James took several deep breaths as the amulet finished bonding to him.
The SUVs slowed as they closed on the Jeep, which might be evidence of possible trouble or maybe people concerned that James and Shay were having trouble. They would find out soon enough.
Engage and kill all enemies, the amulet ordered. Adapt and grow stronger. Achieve primary directive.
Tell me what your primary directive is and maybe I can help get you there quicker.
Achieve primary directive by engaging and killing new enemies. Achieve maximum adaptation.
That’s how, not what.
Achieve primary directive by engaging and killing new enemies.
James grunted. “Fucking useless.”
“What?” Shay frowned.
“Whispy Doom’s stonewalling when I ask him questions. Not sure if he doesn’t know or if he’s just fucking with me.” James shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. I’ll find out eventually.” He threw open the door and stepped out. “Let’s handle this shit for now.”
Shay stepped out on the opposite side and flipped her hood over her head. “It’s not so cold. Not like Antarctica.”
James shrugged. With Whispy bonded, he barely noticed the temperature. He stood there, his arms at his sides, waiting for the SUVs to finish their approach. All three closed to within ten yards and pulled off the road in a line.
He walked away from the Jeep, leaving large footprints in the accumulated snow.
Let’s do this shit.
Shay reached into her pocket to pull out a ring and murmured an incantation. A faint golden glow surrounded her and reflected off the bright white snow on the ground.
The doors to the SUVs all flew open at the same time, and twelve men in white and gray camouflage leapt out of the vehicles. A half-dozen pointed stun rifles, the others regular assault rifles. The men wore belts with clipped grenades, frag and stun, along with holstered sidearms.
“Mercenaries,” James muttered. “This shit is annoying.”
Lack of additional useful adaptation anticipated. Kill enemies rapidly and proceed to current primary mission objective.
James snorted. Whispy had gotten steadily mouthier and wordier in recent months, but the amulet had never chastised him for not being fast to arrive at a job.
Don’t worry, this won’t take long. I think I liked you better when you just whispered and I couldn’t understand you. Now you’re just annoying.
Kill enemies.
Was gonna do that anyway.
Shay kept her 9mm pointed at the ground. James didn’t draw his weapon. If they were going to fight, he was going to go either Yeti or Wendigo on them.
James shook his head and sighed. “I don’t know who the fuck you are, but you’re obviously not the Brotherhood of Silence if you’re showing up with stun rifles. Gonna tell you right now that shit doesn’t work on me, and if you’re not the Brotherhood, I’ve got no reason to kill you. Walk the fuck away while you still can. The only reason I haven’t killed you already is that I have no fucking idea who you are.”
One of the men took a step forward, his boots sinking into the snow. “You should have never come to Canada, Brownstone.”
James snorted. “You sound American.”
“So what if I am?”
“Don’t care that much. Just means the Canadian rep for being friendly lasts a little longer, not counting that Customs asshole.” James shrugged. “It also means me being in Canada is none of your fucking business.”
The mercenary clucked his tongue. “We’ve been paid to make it our business.”
Shay continued to watch, stone-faced.
The mercenary chuckled, along with several of the others. “If you put your weapons down, turn around right now, and drop to your knees, we’ll put cuffs on and you won’t die right here in some piss-ant nowhere field in the middl
e of Alberta. Don’t worry, Brownstone, special cuffs, they’ll work even on you. Even if you’re tempted to escape, it won’t matter.”
James grunted. “And who the fuck are you that I should take that offer instead of snapping your neck and beating your buddies to death with your body?”
“The people who are going to fucking kill you otherwise, tough guy.” The man grinned. “I get paid either way, but I figure I can probably squeeze out a bonus if I take you alive. If you insist on dying, though, we can make that happen.”
A gust of wind coated them all with snow.
Shay snorted. “Are you really that stupid?”
“Who the fuck are you, bitch?” The mercenary glared at her.
James shook his head. “You really are a dumb asshole, aren’t you?”
Shay brushed snow out of her face. “You guys are lucky. We’re trying to show fucking restraint here, but you’re just begging us to kill you.” She pointed at the sky. “We’ve got somewhere to go, and the weather’s shitty. It’s been a really annoying trip, and we’ve only been here for a day. Just get back in your SUVs and drive the fuck away before you die.”
The man snorted. “Fuck this shit. Stun ‘em.”
The stun rifles buzzed, the blue bolts zipping across the snow-covered field toward Shay and James. Four bolts slammed into James.
He grunted and stumbled back, his muscles twitching.
Near maximum adaptation against existing attack achieved. Kill targets and proceed to current primary mission objective.
Two bolts hit Shay. The golden field around her brightened, and she didn’t flinch.
She whipped up her 9mm and took three quick shots. The heads of three men exploded, splattering blood all over the white snow.
James didn’t grab his gun. He charged with a growl. The remaining nine men snapped their rifles toward him and opened fire, a cloud of blue bolts and bullets ripping into his coat. The attacks stung but didn’t pierce his skin.
It only took him seconds to reach the closest man. He yanked the rifle out of his hand and cracked the weapon across the mercenary’s head, producing an audible crunch. When he let go, the weapon was embedded in the man’s skull.
The remaining men intensified their attacks, switching the assault rifles to full auto. Their rifles spat a stream of bullets toward James. They bounced off, crushed and ineffective. The stun rifle holders dropped the non-lethal weapons to the ground and pulled out sidearms. They opened fire and added to the bullet storm, but accomplished nothing except the further shredding of James’ ugly gray parka.
Fuck. I should have brought more than the one parka. This shit means I’ll have to stay bonded to Whispy.
Whispy radiated irritation. Kill enemies. Near maximum adaptation against existing attack achieved. Adaptational usefulness limited.
Not having fun? I thought you loved it when I killed people.
Adaptational usefulness limited. Further adaptation necessary to achieve primary directive.
You used to be cooler when you didn’t try to boss me around.
James grinned. He yanked out a throwing knife and launched it into the head of another man. A second thrown knife killed the man beside him.
The mercenaries backed up, more anger than fear on their faces. Two more men screamed as Shay put rounds into them.
The enemy sprinted back and took cover behind one of the SUVs.
Shay laughed. “You stupid dumbasses should have waited and taken us on in a building, or even at the refinery. Now you’ve got nowhere to hide. Did you assholes even do any research? Did you think a few rifles were going to take down James Brownstone? Fuck, you can’t even take me down with that shit anymore.”
Two frag grenades arced through the air toward Shay. “Better.”
She jumped backward as the grenades exploded, her golden aura glowing even brighter. The force knocked her to the ground.
James leapt onto the hood of the SUV and yanked out his .45. The men in the front opened fire again and backed away slowly. Their bullets bounced off the bounty hunter and landed in the thin layer of snow on the hood.
He took careful aim at a man’s head and pulled the trigger, and a follow-up shot finished off another mercenary.
One of the two remaining men charged Brownstone, a frag grenade in hand. “Fuck you, Brownstone. If I’m going down, you’re going down with me, you sonofabitch.”
James ignored the man to put three rounds into the chest of the other mercenary.
The charging man’s eyes gleamed with malice as he crashed into James. The grenade exploded, and the blast shredded what remained of James’ coat and shirt, revealing the hardened skin underneath and leaving a few lacerations. Full armor might have stopped it completely, but he wasn’t pissed enough to even bother asking for it.
Shit, that actually hurt a little. Will that regenerate?
Regeneration in progress. Avoid additional damage during regeneration period.
James wiped the mercenary’s blood off his face and turned around. Shay was already up, an annoyed look on her face.
She pointed at him. “You’re covered in that guy’s blood and guts. You do kind of have a killer Yeti-slash-Wendigo thing going on after all.”
Proceed to current primary mission objective, Whispy demanded. Regeneration will continue.
Keep your pants on.
Illogical request of enhancement symbiont.
Enhancement symbiont? That’s what you call yourself? And it was a joke.
Refrain from non-tactical requests for maximum tactical efficiency.
James chuckled and shook his head. Fuck you. You’ve been riding my mind for years, and now you’re pissed because I’m actually thinking at you? You don’t call the shots.
Link error acknowledged.
What the fuck does that mean?
Proceed to current primary mission objective. Find new enemies. Kill new enemies. Achieve maximum adaptation.
James didn’t have time to argue with the petulant amulet, although he had a feeling Whispy had let something important slip. The amulet liked to give him orders and always seemed frustrated when the bounty hunter didn’t do exactly what he was told.
That wasn’t how this was supposed to work, was it, Whispy Doom?
Proceed to current primary mission objective. Find new enemies. Kill new enemies.
James grunted and marched through the snow to Shay. “You okay?”
She nodded. “Wasted more of the charge on my ring than I would have wanted, but I didn’t get hurt. You?”
“A few scratches, but it’ll heal.” He nodded over his shoulder. “Clueless.” He gestured to his shredded shirt and pants. “Glad I brought some extra clothes.”
Shay pulled her ring off and her glow faded. She walked over to the nearest body, her boots crunching in the snow, and searched through the corpse’s pocket until she found a phone.
She held it up. “Peyton or Heather can check this shit out later and figure out who these fools were.”
James nodded slowly, wondering if he should tell Shay what he’d just figured out about the amulet, but decided against it. Despite the hassle at the airport and the delay, kicking a little ass had perked him up.
Shay is right. Sometimes you do just need to get it out of your system. We can worry about mouthy control-freak amulet briefings later.
The snow swirled around them, the harsh wind heaping the snow into drifts.
James headed toward the Jeep. “Let’s get going before the storm gets worse. We’re closer to the refinery than a city now anyway.”
Time to go for that primary mission objective.
13
Trey strolled into the seedy bar. Thick smoke choked the air, along with a heady mixture of BO and fetid breath.
Damn. Haven’t any of these guys ever heard of a shower or brushing their teeth?
The bounty hunter wrinkled his nose, taking pride in the fact that even when he had been a criminal, he hadn’t let himself go like the men fillin
g the room.
He didn’t spot a single woman in the place, not even a waitress; just dangerous men, many with scars, and a few with bandanas or tattoos marking them as members of local gangs. He shook his head.
Damn. Makes the Black Sun seem like the classiest joint in the country. Have to tell Tyler that the next time I see him.
Trey laughed at the thought. He’d been a gangbanger not all that long ago, but now the lifestyle seemed like a pathetic dead end. It was hard to believe he’d ever thought he could focus so much on short-term violence. Even if his current lifestyle wasn’t exactly full of pacifism, James, Staff Sergeant Royce, and others offered a vision for the future besides controlling some small slice of turf and dying young.
Have I really changed or have I just joined a tougher gang with a tougher gang leader? Don’t matter much. Suppose what I’m about to do when I find this sonofabitch ain’t that different from what I was doing before, but respect is respect.
Trey had visited more than a few dives and spent the day touring the darker parts of Las Vegas in pursuit of the thief. A few answers pointed him toward his current unpleasant environment.
Deafening rock music blasted from the speakers as Trey maneuvered through the room toward a table in the back. A wrinkled old man wearing an ill-fitting suit and sporting a bad bronze spray tan sat there. The man took a long drag from his cigarette as the bounty hunter closed on him.
“Hey,” Trey began, “You Anthony? ‘Cause you look like him.”
The man blew the smoke in Trey’s face. “Maybe. Who the fuck are you, and why should I care?”
Won’t do me no good to knock his ass out even if he is a little bitch.
Trey coughed and waved the smoke out of his face. “Someone’s looking for information, and I checked around and heard you might be able to help me with said information.”
“And how can I help you?”
“I heard you’re a man who likes to pay for shit people find,” Trey replied.
“Lots of people help lots of other people. And lots of people hear lots of things.” Anthony stubbed his cigarette out in a glass ashtray. “And, yeah, maybe I pay for a few things here and there when people happen to find them and bring them to me.” He smirked. “You think I don’t know who you are, Trey Garfield? You and your Brownstone buddies are walking around swinging your dicks like you own the town. Half of fucking Vegas knows who you are.”
The Unbelievable Mr Brownstone Omnibus 3 Page 10
