“Let’s end this quick.” James pulled the trigger of his gun.
The brains of the Claws of Grendel’s Vengeance didn’t splatter all over the dirt and rock behind her. She just rubbed the side of her face. “That hurt.”
James grunted. “It wasn’t supposed to hurt. It was supposed to kill you.”
Sabine charged James, spinning and launching a kick at him. He squeezed off another shot as she connected with his chest, sending him flying twenty feet back. He slammed into a pile of steel girders and his pistol flew from his hand.
Shay ran to the side and squeezed off round after round, but her bullets didn’t hurt the assassin any more than James’ had.
James shook his head and pushed off from the metal, a little sore from the blow. “Nice hit.” He rolled over to grab his pistol and aimed with both hands.
That fucking despair bug was bulletproof except for the eyes.
Sabine brushed some dust off her shoulder and stalked toward James, a grin on her face like she was having the greatest time of her life. “You know how many souls I’ve had to take to become powerful enough to face someone like you? Oh, it’s been a while since I have faced a worthy enemy. Most men would have died from the punch, let alone hitting the metal.”
Shay emptied another clip into the woman, making more holes in her wardrobe but not drawing any blood. If it weren’t for a few twitches of Sabine’s face, James might have thought she didn’t feel the shots.
“You don’t get it, do you?” Sabine turned to smile at Shay. “You may have been at the top of your game, but I’m on a different level entirely. I’m much stronger than you might have heard when you were still on the job.”
Shay dropped her aim and fired a single round into the necklace. The bullet bounced off in a shower of sparks and for a split second a hint of white and blue peeked from behind the blackness in her eyes.
Nice, Shay. It’s my chance.
James rushed toward Sabine, aiming for her right eye. He squeezed off a shot.
“Fuck,” he muttered.
Sabine’s eyes remained black, with no sign of bruising let alone penetration. She wagged a finger. “I have to say, Mr. Brownstone, I’m a little disappointed. Taking a hit isn’t all that impressive when I think about it. I guess in the end you’re more legend than truth.”
James holstered his pistol and sprinted toward Sabine, slamming into her shoulder-first. The woman let out a soft grunt as she crashed into a pile of two by fours and again her true eyes revealed themselves for a split second.
“Brownstone,” Shay called, jogging over to him and reloading her gun. She kept her gaze on Sabine as the woman rose from the pile of wood, snickering.
“I will enjoy adding your souls to my collection,” the assassin informed them.
“When I shot the necklace,” Shay told him, her voice low. “I saw something in her eyes.”
“Same when I hit her,” James replied. “Maybe we can wear her down. Concentrate on trying to get the necklace, and I’m going to concen—”
The bounty hunter spun and wrapped Shay in his arms as a two by four slammed into his head and snapped in half.
“Nice reflexes,” Sabine called.
James released the wide-eyed Shay and turned to face the assassin again. “You’re not gonna kill me with a plank.”
“Good,” Sabine said. “I wouldn’t want this to be disappointing.”
Shay nodded to James, and he nodded back. At least they had something approaching a plan.
James rushed toward Sabine, spinning to the side at the last moment to avoid her punch. He slammed his elbow into her head and she staggered back with a grunt. They exchanged a series of quick punches, neither overcoming the defenses of the other.
His arms ached from her blows, and he suspected that without the amulet his bones would have shattered in seconds.
Shay let loose a round directly into the necklace, again summoning sparks and Sabine’s true eyes. James followed up with a punch that staggered the woman but didn’t send her flying like last time.
Sabine wiped some blood from her cracked lip. “The souls sing inside me, Brownstone. Sing for vengeance.”
“Vengeance?” James snarled. “You’re the messed-up bitch who killed those people.”
“We both deal in death, Brownstone. I just don’t let those deaths go to waste.”
“Spare me the lecture. I already had someone try mindfuck crap on this trip and I blew his brains out.” James grabbed a nearby two by four and smashed it over the woman’s head. Her quick kick in response blasted a jolt of pain through his chest.
Fuck. Did she just break my rib? How the fuck can that even be possible?
Sabine licked her lips. “The souls are stirring in response to your power. Yes. Yes.” She inhaled deeply. “I don’t think I’ve ever felt such power, but still you can’t win.” Another bullet struck her necklace. “You think shooting me will work? You’re starting to get annoying.” She rushed to a row of steel I-beams and grabbed one, spinning and throwing it toward Shay.
Fuck!
The tomb raider ducked to avoid taking four hundred pounds of steel to the face and fired several more rounds. That didn’t save her from the follow-up metal spike that nailed her in the left shoulder.
Shay hissed and stumbled backward.
“Shay!” James roared, his heart thundering.
How fucking dare you, Sabine.
The tomb raider didn’t fall, just let her left arm hang limply and glared at Sabine. “I’m gonna enjoy seeing you die, bitch.”
James gritted his teeth and launched himself at Sabine again, ignoring his pain as he launched punch after punch. The vibration of each blow jolted his cracked ribs but he kept up the attack, not wanting to give the assassin any chance to counter.
He managed to land a solid right hook to her face, and followed with a left and then a punch to her stomach. Sabine stumbled back, blood pouring from her nose.
“The way I remember Beowulf,” James informed her, “Grendel got his ass kicked and his mommy had to come and deal with the shit. Your mommy gonna come after me when I finish you, Collector?”
James pressed his attack, only to take a kick to his knee. He winced and stumbled back with his knee on fire. Sabine pummeled his body, then grabbed him by the throat and tossed him toward Shay.
The echo of more bullets rang over the construction site as Shay fired round after round into Sabine’s necklace.
James took shallow breaths because of the intense pain in his chest and pushed himself up. He wiped the blood from the side of his face and stared at his opponent.
Bruises and cuts marred Sabine’s body and face. Despite her smile, she was not unscathed.
Both James and Shay focused their attention on the assassin.
“The last few times you got in good hits or I hit the necklace her eyes stayed normal for longer,” Shay murmured.
James responded with a simple grunt. He might be beaten up, but they now had their chance.
“Discussing who will stay and who will run to save themselves?” Sabine called. “I’ll let you choose if you want.”
James ran toward her, trusting Shay. Her gun blasted behind him, narrowly missing him and striking Sabine. This time he didn’t try to punch the assassin but instead tackled her, knocking her into a nearby pile of girders. He grabbed her head and slammed it repeatedly into a steel girder.
The assassin let out a low growl and kicked the bounty hunter off her, hopping to her feet and wiping some blood out of her eyes and off her mouth. Another bullet struck her necklace.
“You two are stubborn,” Sabine remarked. Blood stains now covered her pale face like some sort of twisted mask. “And I apologize for my earlier insult, Mr. Brownstone. You do live up to your reputation.”
James charged again, but the woman sidestepped, striking his neck with her elbow and kneeing him in the stomach. She followed up with two punches that sent him into the treads of a bulldozer and leapt on the stu
nned man, ignoring several more shots from Shay and slamming fist after fist into his face.
Stars filled his vision as his head snapped back again and again to meet the metal of the bulldozer. Blood and pain blinded him.
“Brownstone!” Shay yelled. “They’re white for a second each time now.”
James grunted and threw up an arm to block Sabine’s punch. He launched his other fist into her head, knocking the small woman off him even though the blow to her face felt like punching steel.
“Give me a countdown, Shay,” the bounty hunter yelled. He grabbed a metal spike from the ground, ignoring the throbbing in his chest and head.
Sabine took several deep breaths. “You die, Brownstone.”
“Three…” Shay began.
James raised the spike and stepped forward.
“Two…”
The assassin raised her fists.
“One…”
James charged and Shay’s gun spat a bullet out, which struck the pendant. Sabine’s eyes turned white and the bounty hunter slammed the spike into the woman’s head.
Sabine’s eyes widened as the metal pierced her skull and she stumbled backward, blinking. “Not...possible.”
“It helps to have friends,” James told her, holding his ribs. “But you’re a bitch, so you don’t have any.”
The assassin collapsed, her astonished expression frozen on her face as she stopped breathing. Her obsidian necklace exploded in a shower of orange-blue sparks.
James hissed and fell to his knees. He could only hope that the souls the woman had collected were now free.
Shay limped over to him, holding her wounded shoulder. She took a deep breath, pulled out the spike, and downed her healing potion seconds later.
“Fuck,” the tomb raider muttered. “That wasn’t fun.”
“Can you drive back to the hotel?” James asked, forcing himself to his feet despite the pain. “I left my healing potions there.”
“Are you shitting me now?”
“Nope. Didn’t think she’d be so tough.”
Shay scrubbed a hand over her face as the wound on her shoulder started knitting itself closed. “She could have killed you, even with the amulet. Maybe...you know, you should have thought about the wish.”
James shook his head. “Not my wish. I’d rather live without stealing it and give it to Alison. For now, let’s get back to the hotel so I can take the potion.”
“You can use one of mine.”
“No, they... Normal potions don’t work on me.”
Shay’s eyes narrowed. “I see.” She nodded as if she’d figured something out. “Bring your fucking potion when we raid the Harriken, idiot.”
James snorted. “Sure thing, Mom.” He nodded toward the dead Sabine. “I guess I should clean up the body with the Professor’s toy.”
“Yeah, and make it quick. I’m surprised the cops aren’t already here.”
James stared at Sabine for a few seconds. “Some assassin, huh?”
Shay shook her head. “She wasn’t an assassin. She was a killer.”
22
The next afternoon James patted himself down, checking his loadout. His pistols, knives, grenades, and potions were all present. He didn’t want to repeat his mistake with Sabine, and could only assume there would be a few artifact-wielding enforcers in the Harriken headquarters.
Shay checked her weapon’s magazine. “Not that I think it’s a problem, but just to check—you sure about ignoring the third bounty?”
“Yeah. He’s not as bad as the despair bug or the serial killer. He’s a piece of shit, but I’m about to lay out a lot of those. I just want to get this over with and get back to America. I want some Jessie Rae’s.”
A light knock came from the door and their hands went to their pistols. James nodded at Shay as she moved closer to the door and she edged up on it, not standing directly in front until she was right next to it.
She leaned over to peek through the peephole. “Looks like a cop,” she mouthed.
Yeah, I figured they might show up eventually.
James holstered his weapon and slipped on his gray coat. “Let him in.”
The tomb raider frowned, holstered her own weapon, and opened the door.
A handsome middle-aged Japanese man in a dark suit entered. A few stripes of white ran through his dark hair.
He stepped inside and gave them a shallow bow. “Mr. Brownstone, do you have a moment?” His gaze cut to Shay with a faint question.
James shrugged. “Who are you?”
“Detective Sakamoto,” the man replied. “I was asked to come by and speak with you about your plans. Let me first say that on behalf of the Japanese people, I would like to thank you for your defeat of the despair bug and handling the issue with the serial killer. We’re very impressed with your efficiency.”
“Thanks.”
Guessing a big ‘but’ is coming.
Detective Sakamoto gave a thin smile. “But please note there is no organizational bounty on the Harriken.”
Yeah.
“Yeah, a cop told me that when I arrived.”
Shay and James exchanged glances.
The detective shrugged. “However, I’ve also been informed there are some emergency gas line repairs that have to be performed in parts of Azabu. Very important repairs required immediately.”
“Really? That’s, uh, interesting.” James resisted laughing. Azabu was where the Harriken headquarters were located.
“Because of this,” the detective continued, “as of this morning, police are redirecting traffic from that area, and will for the entirety of this week. We’re concerned about...gas explosions harming civilians, though it’d be...useful if the work were finished earlier so we could send the police elsewhere.”
So that’s how they want to play it—plausible deniability? Let the violent foreigner take out the thugs. Shit. Overly complicated, but it works for me. I’m not in it for the money this time.
James exchanged glances with Shay and she shrugged.
The bounty hunter cleared his throat. “What if someone was to go to Azabu and, you know, speed up the process of fixing the gas leak. What would you say to that?”
The detective nodded. “I think anyone who could do that would find that quiet appreciation sometimes works better than public praise. Now, the local police have to concentrate on keeping civilians away from any potential explosions and they aren’t going to interfere with a public works specialist in the performance of his duty.”
James grinned. “That’s me. I’m a great public works specialist, and I was thinking I should go check on that gas leak right away.”
Detective Sakamoto bowed. “We would appreciate that, and I’ll also note that it will be easier for people evaluating the damage after the fact if certain people weren’t around to draw attention to themselves.” Without another word, the detective stepped out of the hotel room and closed the door.
Shay whistled. “So no help, but no interference. Wonder what changed their minds?”
“Probably me taking out that serial killer without blowing up half of Kabukichō. Or maybe they figure if this all goes south it’ll be easy to pin the blame on the crazy foreigner. Don’t give a shit, really. It means we have the go-ahead to take out those Harriken bastards and no one will get caught in the crossfire.”
“It also means the Harriken know we’re coming. I mean, they aren’t idiots. If the cops are keeping people away from their building, they have to know you’re coming.”
“Yeah, but they don’t know when. Might as well hit them before they get too entrenched.”
“I agree.” Shay stared at his chest. “Are you wearing it?”
James shook his head. “I...don’t need it. I think I’ll be okay.”
“Are you fucking kidding me? You used it last time you took on the Harriken. This isn’t the time to be stubborn, Brownstone.”
“I’m sure I could have done fine without it.”
James shrugged
. Even he didn’t really believe what he was saying. If he’d not had the amulet during the last Harriken raid he probably wouldn’t have made it halfway up the building.
Shay frowned. “If you hadn’t worn that thing when you took on Sabine you’d be dead now. I don’t get it. It freaks you out just because it whispers or whatever? Get over it and stop being such a bitch.”
James grunted. “It changes me. Gives me powers. Sabine’s necklace collected souls. How the fuck do I know I’m not doing that? For all I know, it’s demonic.”
“Is that what that priest at your church is putting in your head?”
James narrowed his eyes, thinking for a moment she was talking about Father Thomas. Then realized she must be talking about Father McCartney.
“It’s just something I’ve been thinking about,” James mumbled.
Shay heaved a great sigh. “I wanted to wait a little longer while I researched things, but I think it’s time I told you my theory. It’s got nothing to do with demons.”
Trey rubbed his hands together as he sat in the driver’s seat of his F-350, which was parked down the street from Brownstone’s apartment. He loved the truck. He accepted he’d never be a badass motherfucker like James Brownstone, but at least he had the same truck now. That had to mean something.
Got to think like motherfucking Brownstone. He ain’t scared of no 5-0. They are his bitches. I need to make them my bitches.
The gang leader spared a glance at Sergeant Mack, who sat in the passenger seat with a shotgun in his lap.
Two dark vans cruised down the street and Trey whistled.
“See, I knew them bitches would be showing up. Told you my boys heard the right shit.”
“Thanks for letting me know, Trey.”
Trey snorted. “Shit, motherfucker. This ain’t for you, Mr. Po Po. It’s for Mr. Brownstone. That motherfucker knows about respect being a two-way street.”
The vans screeched to a halt and the doors flew open. Several Demon Generals hopped out of the vans.
“When that bitch-ass gets back from Japan,” shouted one of the gang members. “I want him to wet his pants about how he ain’t got no shit.”
Sergeant Mack lifted a walkie-talkie to his mouth. “All units go. All units go.” He threw open the door and hopped out, shotgun at the ready. “LAPD! On the ground!”
Bring The Pain_An Urban Fantasy Action Adventure Page 17
