The Unbelievable Mr Brownstone Omnibus

by Michael Anderle

  Maria blinked, then grinned. The women shared a laugh.

  Senator Johnston smiled at the young man in a hoodie who sat across from him in his booth. He waited to speak until the man had pulled out a small coin and set in on the table.

  “We good?” he asked.

  The man nodded. “Yeah. No one can hear us.” He glanced to his side. “Good choice on the seating; no good visuals on our mouths. You don’t have any idea how refreshing it is to work with a proper professional again. Half these fools think we’re in a spy novel but want to shout from the rooftops that they’re doing something secret.”

  Senator Johnston chuckled. “Happy this old fart can impress you, son. Are you still going by Galahad these days, or do you have a new handle or nickname or whatever you call it?”

  “Galahad’s fine.” The hacker glanced over his shoulder. “So, let’s get down to business. Yeah, I already had a file on McNamara. I was keeping it in my back pocket in case I needed it.”

  “With all the scum in Congress, you must have a mighty big back pocket.”

  The hacker smirked. “You could say that.”

  The senator shot him another smile, picked up his cup of coffee, and took a sip. “I thought he was dirty. Men that strident are usually trying to hide how damned filthy they are.”

  Galahad snorted. “He isn’t even a good dirtbag. The asshole barely covers his tracks. Bribes all over the place. Hell, he’s taking bribes from opposing sides at times.”

  “That’s unfortunate.” Senator Johnston clucked his tongue. “You know what defines a good corrupt congressman?”

  “What?”

  “He stays bought when someone bribes him.”

  Galahad tapped his phone and spun it around to show the senator.

  The older man frowned. “That’s a highly classified matter, son. Why are you showing me this now?”

  “Just a sample of some of the info McNamara’s been selling on the dark web.”

  Senator Johnston sighed. “That’s just disappointing. Being greedy is bad enough, but selling out your country? Some things a patriot can’t forgive. Now I’m going to be forced to handle him in an unpleasant manner.”

  Galahad shrugged. “You would have anyway. I’ve traced at least one bribe to an account associated with the Council.”

  “Why am I not surprised?” The senator shook his head.

  The hacker took his phone back and put in his pocket. “How do you plan to handle him?”

  “I don’t want this leaking back to me.” Senator Johnston rubbed the back of his neck. “Too much sensitive crap going on right now, and I don’t have time for hearings and accusations. With the Senator Silvers incident, both her arrest and her death in jail, there’s a lot of people who want to pull the rug out from under this whole operation just for their own political gain. I’ve got a damned country to save, and unlike that asshole, I’m not willing to sell it out for a few extra dollars. This bastard needs to be taken care of, so let’s do a shell game here.”

  Galahad furrowed his brow. “Not following you, Senator.”

  “I have some people working for me right now. They’ve got hackers working for them, too. Very skilled. I’d like it if your information about our mutual friend made it to them. They can then decide how they want to handle it. They are very interested in not being told what to do by the government, so they might not even come to me with the information.”

  “Okay. Sure.” The hacker nodded. “I can set up a series of hints—breadcrumbs—that if they’re good enough, they’ll be able to follow until they find the information. I’ll also set some stuff up so I can get a good fingerprint of them. They might be helping you now, but they might sell you out later.”

  Senator Johnston chuckled. “Fine, son. That sounds like a good plan. Just don’t do anything to piss them off. Their bosses… Well, let’s just say we wouldn’t like how they’d handle the situation if they thought the government was coming after them..”

  Galahad blinked, obvious surprise on his face. “Your call.”

  The senator rubbed his hands together. “Always fun taking down a traitor.”

  20

  Peyton frowned and tilted his head. “What the hell is this?”

  Heather blinked. “Something wrong with the frame rate on my camera?”

  He shook his head and double-checked her video feed just in case. “No, no, no. It’s just that I was looking up some additional Council financial stuff, and I found a reference to an offshore account I hadn’t seen before. You know we’ve been so up their butts that I feel like I’m the IRS auditing them.”

  “So what’s the deal?”

  “An account number with a crypto bank,” Peyton replied. “They’ve got it concealed to make it look like it’s just some Andercarr corporate delivery contract stuff, but I recognized the signature. Someone’s been moving a lot of Bitcoin and Trollcoin around, it looks like.”

  “Do you have an address?”

  Peyton nodded. He clicked a few times to send her the information. “Let’s chase this thing down.”

  Several hours later, Peyton wiped the sweat from his brow. “Any luck?”

  Heather sighed and shook her head. “Same thing. I could follow it from the crypto bank through the secondary payment processor, then back to the phone and then to the IP address, but it ends up in some ridiculously secure DoD server. I can’t find a way in that won’t get us tagged. Shit. Am I just missing something obvious?”

  Peyton sighed. “Nope. I’ve hacked DoD servers, but this one’s just too locked down. If we press, we’re going to tip them off.”

  “What the heck do we do, then?”

  Peyton pulled out his phone. “We can’t access it remotely, so somebody’s going to need to get in there physically. At least we know where it is, even if we can’t get to it.”

  Heather frowned. “What good does that do?”

  “I know people who are good at breaking into places.” He winked and dialed Shay.

  “What’s up?” she answered on the first ring.

  Peyton cleared his throat. “We found some information on a senator who might be connected to the Council. He isn’t involved with the task force, but he might be trouble. The problem is that the final proof is on a server we can’t access remotely without getting tagged, but we know the data is there. Like physically, even down to the room. Maybe you could go do your thing and get it, then we check it out, and you know, conveniently leak it to the media or something to take care of him.” He sighed. “And before you think about just saying, ‘Why don’t I kill him?’ remember this guy’s a United States senator.”

  Shay laughed. “I wasn’t planning on killing him. Well, not yet. Hell, I didn’t even kill the guy who helped fuck with Alison’s adoption. Okay, you and Heather leave it alone. Send me the location information, and I’ll get it handled.”

  “Without killing a senator?” Peyton verified.

  “Yes. I’ve still got a few people I can ask for favors. Non-murder favors, too.”

  The Professor chugged his latest pint in one mighty gulp. The crowd at the Leanan Sídhe was surprisingly subdued. It was like the entire bar could sense his mood despite the smile on his face.

  I’m not nearly drunk enough to be saving the world yet again. I thought I’d be able to retire by now. She had the right idea about this.

  He slapped his cheeks. Brooding didn’t suit him. It was like he was turning into James.

  The Professor chuckled at the thought and looked down at his ready second mug of beer. When he looked up, Correk was standing in front of him.

  “A good evening to you, my old friend,” the Professor offered.

  The elf smiled and took a seat. “You said it was urgent, so I’m here.”

  “Aye. Council-related business. The hacking team working for James needs some information on a Department of Defense server. They can’t access it remotely, so they need someone to go and connect this transmitter to the computer.” He reached into his p
ocket and set a tiny black square in front of him. “More importantly, they need it to happen without anyone knowing right away. Maybe with more time, Miz Carson might be able to do it, but they’re very close to honing in on the Council base. I’d rather them not be distracted from that. I thought someone with a magical touch might have a better chance.”

  Correk sighed and shrugged. “I could do it, but if they start looking around and suspect magic, they’ll get the PDA involved. I’ve crossed paths with them enough that if they examine the relevant area, they’ll recognize my magical signature. That’ll draw a lot of attention to me, and make my job a lot harder in the future. You know how uneasy my relationships with most governments on Earth are at times, let alone the American one.”

  The Professor chuckled and took a sip. “Aye, of course. Is there someone else you can use?”

  A broad smile covered the elf’s face.

  Why do I have a bad feeling about this?

  “How about someone who is smart, small, but large when he needs to be, and sneaky?” Correk grinned. “Now, if I can get him to do this and not moon the cameras, we’ll be golden.”

  The Professor groaned and scrubbed his face with his hand. “Just keep him away from the Cheetos.”

  “Give a man a slice of pizza, and he’ll eat for a day,” Peyton declared solemnly. “Teach a man to cook pizza, and he’ll eat for life.”

  Heather snorted. “Unless he doesn’t have the money for the ingredients. Bad analogy.”

  “You’re just jealous that I’m the Pizza King.”

  “I don’t even like pizza that much.”

  Peyton gasped. “Blasphemy. Lèse-majesté.”

  Heather rolled her eyes and opened her mouth, then frowned and looked down at her computer. Peyton looked at his second screen. An alert had popped up.

  “It’s data being transmitted through the proxy chain,” he commented. “Wait, from the transmitter? That was quick.”

  Heather laughed. “Yeah, I thought that would take a few days to pull off.”

  Peyton clicked on the data dump file and started skimming through it. Heather did the same on her end.

  A few minutes passed before Peyton broke the silence. “Woah.”

  Heather blinked several times. “Damn. This guy is dirty even by the standards of a congressman. Maybe Shay should kill him.”

  Peyton shook his head. “I’ve got a better idea. Let’s make some mid-level reporter’s day.”

  Heather laughed. “What you mean?”

  “I’m just saying, it’s time for us to mail a little anonymous dirt to a reporter and then the FBI. The reporter will start pressuring the FBI right away, and they’ll move. We’ve got all the evidence in a nice little package. Senator McNamara’s arrested in a day or two tops, and whatever shit he’s doing for the Council stops.”

  The other hacker eyed Peyton through the camera. “You’ve got a ruthless streak, don’t you?”

  He grinned. “Shay’s rubbing off on me.”

  21

  Crazak tilted his head as he examined the sprawling gated complex in Amsterdam through a scrying window. “Even with the raids on some of the energy nodes, we still have sufficient reserves to move forward with the backup plan. I suggest we do so.”

  Yilin frowned and put her hand down on the table. A thin sheet of ice spread several inches from her fingers. “The receivers haven’t been fully calibrated. And what of all the energy we’ve sent to this facility? The energy flow is stronger in this part of America than it’ll be in Amsterdam. We all agreed this place in Wyoming would be the superior location for our headquarters because of that. How can we change now? It’d be a tremendous waste.”

  The elf snorted. “They’ve been hitting our safe houses and nodes one by one. It’s only a matter of time before they find this place and assault it. The government’s dogs are more persistent than we anticipated, but they’ve struck nowhere but the United States, so their reach is obviously limited. Relocating to Amsterdam is a less elegant solution than we prefer, I agree, but it’s not worth further losses. We must think long-term.”

  Ferrao folded his hands in front of him on the other side of the table. “I agree.” He frowned and looked around. “Where is He Who Hunts?”

  Crazak shook his head. “I’ve not seen him for days. His minions are still proceeding with their orders, and he’s reinforced many of the transmission sigils in Asia. I’ve contacted him, and he’s informed me that he’s ‘harvesting in preparation for the move.’”

  Yilin frowned. “You’re sure he isn’t abandoning us?”

  “If he is, he’ll learn what true fear is, but if he were to do such a thing, there would be no reason for him to continue to reinforce the sigils.” Crazak smiled. “I suggest we move within the week. We should make preparations to retune the receivers in Amsterdam. Do either of you have any objections?”

  The gnome and the frostling shook their heads.

  Crazak nodded. “Good. He Who Hunts didn’t see fit to be present, so he forfeits his vote. We shall retreat to Amsterdam to rebuild our strength, and then we shall return to punish the forces in the United States that dared oppose us. They will learn that they were merely fortunate before.”

  He lifted his hand and squeezed it into a fist.

  James was about to cut into a steak when his phone buzzed with a text from Dannec. He picked it up.

  I have their location.

  Coordinates appeared.

  Something’s fluctuating though. Whatever you’re going to do, you should do it fast.

  The bounty hunter grunted and took a bite of his steak. He texted back.

  Thanks. We’ll handle it ASAP.

  James put the coordinates into a map app. They took him to mountains east of Devil’s Tower in Wyoming. When he checked the satellite images, there was nothing but normal mountains there.

  Government contacts scrubbing the data, or magical cloaking? Fuck it. Need to move on this. Maybe after I score our transportation, I can get Dannec to help with recon.

  He dialed Senator Johnston.

  “Hello, son,” the senator answered. “Tell me you’ve got good news.”

  “It’s time to end this shit,” James rumbled. “I just need you to help me get my team from LA to Wyoming.”

  The senator chuckled. “That’s the easy part. The hard part will be facing them.”

  “Don’t worry. I’ll handle that.”

  Shay yawned and glanced around the interior of the massive Air Force plane. The rumble made it hard to hear much of the chatter from the others in the plane. It was the largest team she’d ever worked with. Besides James and Maria, the dozens of men who formed the rank and file of the Brownstone Agency filled the seats. It was a damned army.

  James’ words from weeks ago floated to the top of her mind.

  This isn’t going to be a tomb raid anyway. This is fucking war.

  Maria took a deep breath in the seat next to Shay.

  “Don’t like flying?” Shay asked.

  “No, it’s not that. Just…” She shrugged. “I lost a man to these bastards the last time. It’s fucking me up. I don’t know if you’d call it PTSD or just anger.”

  “Nothing wrong with wanting a little revenge for your man.” Shay looked forward. James sat in the front row, a frown on his face and earbuds in. Even he looked a little pale.

  My poor ass-kicking baby.

  She wasn’t surprised. The man hated flying, even in service of a nice righteous beatdown.

  Shay shook her head. “This isn’t like that. This is like the final time we faced those museum bastards. We had James on our side then, and now we don’t just have James, we have a whole army of bounty hunters too. Way more guys than you had when you lost your man.”

  Maria nodded. “It’s why I took the leave of absence. I had to be here. I want to be able to go back to his widow and look her straight in the eye and tell her, ‘The people who were ultimately responsible for this have faced justice.’ Then she can have cl
osure, and he can rest in peace.” She scrubbed a hand over her face. “Hell, I can sleep in peace.”

  Shay patted her shoulder. “If there’s one thing James and I are good at, it’s kicking ass. We’ll get your revenge.”

  “I hope so, and… What the hell is he doing?”

  Shay looked to the front. James had stood and pulled out his earbuds. He walked to the front of the cabin and stood in the center aisle.

  “Listen up,” he shouted. His booming voice defeated the rumble of the plane.

  Everyone’s heads snapped forward. The men sleeping shot awake.

  James grunted and surveyed the room. “We’ve got about twenty minutes until we land in Ellsworth. A little reminder in case any of you people weren’t paying attention before. From there, they’re taking us by VTOL insertion craft toward the site but outside the Council shield. The government’s going to man the perimeter, and PDA witches and wizards are gonna do some shit so there won’t be any portals. Unless we take out the Council, the shields they put around the base will stop any direct missile attacks or any shit like that. So this is going to be brutal, direct, in-their-face shit.” He slammed his fist into his palm. “This isn’t dead or alive. This is just dead. This is war, and we’re gonna annihilate these assholes.”

  The bounty hunters raised their fists in the air and cheered.

  Shay arched a brow.

  Damn, James is really pumping these guys up.

  “You’ve been training with Staff Sergeant Royce,” James continued. “You’ve gotten used to shooting at weird shit. Make no mistake, this isn’t gonna be like any bounty you’ve ever faced. Don’t take anyone or anything you see there lightly, or you might get killed.”

  “Or get shot in your balls,” Shorty shouted.

  Everyone burst into laughter.

  James chuckled. “Or get shot in your balls.” He tapped on his phone, and a moment later the large screen at the front of the passenger cabin came to life and displayed an image of a sprawling and rugged complex of buildings in the mountains.