She gritted her teeth. They should have been going after these guys with anti-magic bullets, but the damned brass had been bitching about budgets, and now her team was required to fill out paperwork to request anti-magic bullets before an operation. As if they’d always know exactly when they were going after a dangerous magic user.
You fucking bureaucrats got my men hurt today. I hope you’re happy.
Two of her men rushed to their downed teammate. Johnson lay several yards from the SUV that smashed into him, his head and leg bent at unnatural angles and a pool of blood forming beneath him. They pulled him behind the SUV. Several other officers rushed to take advantage of the cover.
The lieutenant gritted her teeth as she looked at the mostly clear anti-magic deflector around his neck. The artifacts were designed to absorb magic, not impacts from multi-ton vehicles.
Other AET officers crouched behind the vehicle near a wall and behind a huge garbage bin.
Their muzzles flashed like cameras as they fired, mixing with the blue stun bolts in an eerie display of dangerous beauty. The dead gangsters had the courtesy to not get back up, but the other three men refused to go down.
Mr. Air Blade had taken a couple of minor hits, even though most bullets changed direction right before hitting him or cleared him. The rune bearer had multiple bullet wounds. Only the wizard with the silver wand seemed unscratched, though heavy perspiration dotted his brow.
At least the fucker’s getting tired. We need to end this.
Weber, at the wall, sprinted toward the SUV. An invisible air blade slammed into him, and he cartwheeled through the air before slamming on the ground, his deflector now an inky black.
Maria rushed toward the sergeant, throwing her last flashbang toward the suspects. She kept her attention on her man as the bright flash lit the area. She hoisted the moaning Weber over her shoulder and ran toward the SUV.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
She was half-tempted to call the helicopters back for an extraction, but if they came in now, the enhanced threats would just blow them out of the sky.
Maria swapped in a new magazine and put more bullets into the rune wielder, who, despite having dozens of bullet wounds at this point, remained standing.
“McCallister,” she called through the radio. “Target the rune guy. Everyone concentrate on him.”
“Roger that.”
The echoing report of the sniper’s .50 cal going off was heard even over the other gunfire. The rune bearer stumbled back, a huge new hole in his head.
Something slammed into Maria’s leg, and she stumbled to the ground as pain spiked through her. She kept her arms wrapped around Weber and crawled behind the SUV, where a couple of other officers pulled her clear of the firing line.
The lieutenant hissed and sat up. A tire from the other SUV lay a few yards away. Their armor was helping them against the wizard tossing crap at them, but not enough.
Wonder why the fucker doesn’t lift the first SUV again?
Maria glanced at the debris littering the battlefield. The asshole had thrown a car at them and every random-ass thing he could, but he’d not thrown anything twice.
That a weakness of his magic? A long cool-down? Don’t know, but I have to pray that’s what’s happening.
She crawled over to Weber, ignoring the throbbing pain in her leg, and pulled off his helmet. Even though the sergeant was unconscious and blood trailed down his face from a forehead wound, he was still breathing.
Someone had already removed Johnson’s helmet. His eyes were wide open and staring at the sky, and it was obvious from his bent neck he hadn’t made it.
“Son of a bitch!” Maria punched the ground several times, the quick movement summoning new waves of pain from her leg.
The lieutenant pulled out an autoinjector containing a pain suppressant from a belt pouch, slammed into her neck, and pressed the button. She didn’t have time to be injured. She had enhanced threats to put down.
I’m sorry, Johnson. I won’t let those fuckers get away, no matter what.
Maria hissed as the needle shot into her neck, the cold flow of the drug tickling. She tossed the injector to the ground and forced herself to her feet.
She reloaded her rifle and flipped it to automatic, then rushed to the edge of the SUV. Another loud shot from McAllister sent the rune bearer to his knees. She didn’t understand how he was even moving with a hole in his head.
Mr. Air Blade returned fire, and the sniper rolled back behind the lip of the roof.
The lieutenant’s eyes widened as she saw something tumble from the roof to the ground. She snatched up her helmet and slammed it back on.
“McAllister, you all right?”
“I’m fine, Lieutenant. The bastard cut my rifle clean in half, though.”
The pain in her leg fell to a dull ache. She stepped over to the corner of the SUV to add more bullets to the rune bearer’s collection. Fifteen more seconds of sustained fire sent the man sprawling to the ground. The bastard finally stopped moving.
Maria narrowed her eyes, her heart thundering in her chest.
The telekinetic wizard flourished his wand, and the garbage bin some of her men had been using for shelter floated into the air. He grimaced and furrowed his brow. The officers all ran to the other side.
Running out of juice, huh, asshole?
“Concentrate on the wizard,” Maria barked. She aimed low to compensate for recoil and held down the trigger.
Bullet after bullet flew toward the man from several angles, each disappearing in an increasingly brighter flash. Blood sprayed from his back as several bullets pierced his defense and his chest. He collapsed to the ground, the garbage bin crashing down with a resounding thud at the same time.
The lieutenant kept her finger on the trigger even after no more bullets came out, her drug-fogged brain taking a few seconds to realize it was empty.
Mr. Air Blade glanced at his fallen partners, his face scrunching in hatred. He threw his arms to his sides and screamed. A cloud of dust swirled around him, spinning faster and faster.
Maria slapped her last magazine into her rifle, switched to burst, and opened fire. She emerged from her cover. An air blade smashed into the SUV. Metal showered over her, bouncing off her armor.
Every few seconds she fired a controlled burst at the man’s head, but her bullets, like everyone else’s, kept changing course at the last moment. She advanced on the man.
“Lieutenant, fall back,” someone called to her.
You killed one of my men, fucker. You don’t leave this place alive.
Mr. Air Blade turned toward her, his face a mask of hatred.
Her gazed dipped for a moment at what she thought was an odd movement. It was actually the opposite. The dust swirling around him covered him from toe to head and extended up another yard, but there was a narrow strip right near his feet where no dust flowed.
Maria dropped to her stomach as he clapped his hands together. The very top of her helmet sparked and shot off, and the blade sliced into a nearby wall. If she’d waited just a half-second more, she would have joined the ranks of the headless.
But the lieutenant hadn’t ducked to dodge. She’d hit the ground to aim better. It was time to avenge Johnson.
Maria aimed at his feet and squeezed off a burst. The man howled as bullets ripped into his foot and ankle and he fell to the ground, his dust devil disappearing. She flipped her gun back to auto.
Bullet and stun bolts rained down on him. The police didn’t stop firing until there wasn’t much recognizable left.
The lieutenant stood and yanked off her scalped helmet. She tossed it to the ground and limped over to the downed criminals. Her gun might be out of ammo, but she would bash in their damned skulls if she needed to. She dropped her rifle to the ground as she arrived at their bodies.
Nope. They were done. They wouldn’t kill anyone ever again, and she hoped they were going through in-processing in Hell right now.
Maria stood for a
few minutes just staring down at the bodies when someone called to her from behind.
“Lieutenant.”
She turned slowly. The painkiller had kept her in action, but it clouded her thoughts more than she would have liked.
“What is it?” Maria asked.
The rhythmic whir of helicopter blades filled the night sky, along with the quieter whine of drones.
Too fucking late.
The officer looked down. “Johnson’s dead. Lots of people are fucked up. Shelly’s messed up, but he’ll make it. Weber’s up, but dizzy; probably broke a few things. Matthews can’t feel anything below his waist. Got ambulances en route.”
Maria scrubbed a hand over her face. “When the paramedics get here, have them use the transport choppers if they need to.”
She took several deep breaths. She’d do what she needed to do to get healing potions or magic for them, cost be damned, but that wouldn’t do anything for Johnson or his family.
Her jaw tightened. She had one weapon left, and she intended to use it.
Congratulations, Brownstone, you’re going to get revenge for the AET.
18
James frowned down at the blanket covering the bodies. He was wasting a perfectly good emergency blanket on some assholes who should have been left for crows and rats to eat.
You fuckers don’t deserve shit, but it wouldn’t be nice to poison innocent animals with your tainted-ass meat.
The amulet had dropped into near silence, but the joy it took in his anger and hatred came through even without any words.
You liked that, huh? Whatever. You’ll get plenty of killing before the night’s over.
His phone rang, and he put it to his ear without checking the caller ID.
“This is Brownstone,” he rumbled.
“James, this is Heather.”
He sighed and took a deep breath. He didn’t want to take out his anger on her.
“You got something for me?”
“Yeah, another van. They’re only about thirty minutes from you, in Beverly Hills.”
James frowned. “AET is closer, aren’t they? Maybe you should tell them.”
Heather sighed. “I was monitoring their communications, and from what I can tell they just got their asses handed to them. At least one cop is dead. Several wounded. They’re going to need some time to rally.”
The bounty hunter growled. “Lieutenant Hall?”
“She’s alive, just banged up.”
The amulet roused from its slumber.
Kill the enemy. Destroy the enemy.
James took a deep breath. “Did the assholes get away?”
“Nope, all dead on the scene.”
Lucky for them.
“Give me minute by minute tracking by text,” the bounty hunter offered, his voice so low he was practically infrasonic. “We’ll handle the Beverly Hills van.”
“Will do.” Heather ended the call.
James gestured toward the truck. “Time to hit another set of assholes. AET took a beating, so they need a few minutes to get back on their feet.”
Shay frowned. “What about the artifacts? The cops are still ten minutes away.”
“Then call them and tell them to hurry the fuck up. We’ve got to go nail the next van while we still know where the bastards are.” The bounty hunter stomped toward his truck. “These assholes aren’t just thieves. They’re also cop killers now.”
Shay blew out a breath and hurried after him.
James hopped in the truck and started the engine. He waited as Shay walked toward the vehicle, frowning as she spoke to the police.
She opened the door. “Okay. Thanks.” She hung up. “They’ve got drone coverage here at least, and they’ll be here soon. We’ve been given the okay to go after the next van.”
He pulled onto the road and picked up his phone to check Heather’s latest location text. “Beverly Hills, huh?”
His phone rang before he could set it down.
James grunted. “Alison? What the fuck?” He glanced at Shay. “You didn’t tell her about this shit, did you?”
Shay shook her head. “Nope.”
He sighed and answered the phone. “Hey, kid.”
“Hey, Dad,” she responded. “I’m totally sorry. I know I’m an awful daughter because I forgot to call you and let you know I got back to school safely.”
“No, no, it’s my fault. I should have called to check.” James winced, suddenly feeling like a bad dad.
“Hey, is Aunt Shay with you?”
“Yeah.” He glanced at the tomb raider.
Shay eyed him with curiosity.
“Can you put the phone on speaker?” Alison asked. “I want to talk to both of you.”
“Sure, kid.” James set it in the middle of his console and turned on the speakerphone. “What’s up?”
Alison took a deep breath. “So, you want to tell me what’s going on?”
He let an awkward chuckle. “What makes you think something’s going on?”
She can’t tell I’m lying over the phone, right?
Unknown, the amulet whispered back.
James frowned. He hadn’t meant to ask it.
“Because I was looking at the news online, and it’s all like, ‘The Scourge of Harriken teams up with the LAPD to take down dangerous magical museum thieves.’”
He groaned. “They have that kind of shit out already?”
Shay laughed.
Alison snorted. “Don’t think you’re off the hook, Aunt Shay.”
The tomb raider blinked. “Huh? What did I do?”
“Dad, are you wearing your amulet?”
James grunted. “Yeah.”
Alison sighed. “Look, I’ve got my pendant. Dad’s got his amulet. What do you have, Mom?”
“First of all, I’m not your…” Shay sighed. “Okay, I do have a few artifacts that can help, but I don’t need one normally. I’m careful. Your dad’s all about busting in doors and being direct. Sure, I like to get up close and personal when I have a heated discussion with someone, but I’m still a lot more careful than him.”
“Oh, yeah, so careful that right now you’re running around with Dad going after a bunch of guys who stole magic artifacts from a museum. According to the news, some are basically WMDs.”
Shay rubbed the back of her neck. “That’s kind of misleading. It’s more about, you know…” She sighed. “Whatever. You are one tricky teenaged girl, Alison.”
“Love you, too,” the girl chirped back.
James shook his head. They needed to get the conversation off the topic of chaos in Los Angeles.
“You got to school okay?” he asked. “No problems? No top-hat-wearing ferrets trying to pick your pockets or anything?”
Alison laughed. “The kind of Oricerans who can afford fancy clothes don’t need to pick people’s pockets, and yeah, everything went fine. Sure, I mean, there were travel delays, but, you know, that’s just travel.”
James smirked. He didn’t need magic to know when someone was holding something back from him. If he hadn’t spent a summer training Alison he might have demanded to know what she was hiding, but he decided that he didn’t need the stress at the moment. It’d probably just involve him having to go throw some flirty boy off a magic train.
Shay smiled. “You excited to be back?”
“It’s weird,” Alison replied. “I’m happy to see my friends and teachers again, but I got used to living with you in LA and hanging out with the guys and everything.” She laughed. “It’s really low-stress hanging out at Camp Brownstone because all those guys are even more afraid to make a move on me than anyone at the school.”
James grinned, far too satisfied with himself.
Shay rolled her eyes. “It’s a good thing you’re back at school and free of the overprotective influence of one James Brownstone.”
Alison laughed.
Maria stood near the back of an ambulance. Her leg ached, the painkiller already starting to wear off.
She shook her head and pointed to a stretcher with an occupied body bag. “I lost a man. I won’t fucking take it easy until everyone involved with this little museum gang is brought in or taken out.”
The paramedic sighed and nodded. “You look a little pale. You sure you don’t need a painkiller?”
Maria snorted. “I need my mind clear right now.” She pointed to the officer. “You worry about him.” She made her way to another ambulance.
Weber lay in the back, his head wrapped in bandages.
“You still remember who the hell you are?” the lieutenant asked.
“Yeah. They’ve got to run some neurological tests to be sure, but I think I made it out okay. But, shit, Johnson. And, hell, Matthews. I overheard one of the paramedics mentioning potential permanent paralysis.”
Maria took several deep breaths. Magic had returned to the world, but it remained the same shitty place. Shittier, even.
It didn’t seem fair. The US should be filled with witches healing people in hospitals and dragons flying kids to school, but mostly what she saw were rich assholes getting richer and criminals using magic to become deadly threats.
Earth still lumbered along like magic was indistinguishable from technology.
We don’t have a fucking clue. Twenty years, and we’re still acting like nothing changed. But everything changed.
Weber sighed. “Look, Lieutenant, everyone who joins AET knows the score. It’s not like it’s easy, but at least we took those guys down with us. Imagine if some patrol cops had run into them. They would have been dead in seconds.”
“Yeah.” Maria nodded. “I’m sure that’ll help Johnson’s family feel better. I don’t care who I have to throw at them now, though. All these assholes are going down.”
Weber chuckled and then winced. “Guess it’s too early for me to be laughing, but you’re really talking about throwing Brownstone at them?”
“Yeah. I also just heard a few minutes ago that the small team I sent to support the Major Crimes and Vice raid did okay. No injuries. We got all those artifacts, but I think we’ve lost the element of surprise. Brownstone and Shay wasted the two guys they ran into. I was worried I might have to justify him killing them with paperwork since they aren’t bounties yet, but after all this shit, I don’t think anyone’s going to care if these museum guys end up dead.” She nodded. “These guys are a clear and present danger to the public, and I won’t let them get away, no matter what I have to do. So, yeah, time for Brownstone to do what he does best.”
The Unbelievable Mr Brownstone Omnibus Page 72
