Shadow Of The Ring: An Urban Fantasy Action Adventure (The Unbelievable Mr. Brownstone Book 16) Read online

  The sin wasn’t trying and failing. The true sin was not seizing the opportunity when it presented itself.

  All those years running errands for those bastards and being their little lackey, and they never suspected I was paying attention. Never suspected I was waiting for a chance to take what I deserve.

  The gates to Oriceran are open, assholes. Regular people can become special with the right artifacts, which is why I’m here and you’re probably rat food.

  Lyle snickered quietly. He wondered how long the wizards had survived after he’d used the bone charm to force them to blow each other’s arms off with spells. For the first few weeks, he’d checked the news, but he hadn’t seen anything. If they were still alive, they hadn’t come looking, but he suspected they were rotting in the basement of the abandoned house where they had been trading illegally-imported artifacts.

  A visibly annoyed redheaded flight attendant waved him onto the plane. The first-class section was small, just four seats, and only one was filled.

  Lyle pressed the charm again. “You don’t need to see my ticket. I am in first-class. Sorry for the delay.”

  The woman’s pursed lips turned into a smile. “Of course, sir. Let’s get you seated and get you a drink.”

  The difference between a king and a commoner was how people treated a man, and Lyle was tired of being a commoner.

  What good is a king who doesn’t have any permanent servants? Let’s see what I can scare up in Los Angeles.

  Lyle headed toward one of the spacious first-class seats and made himself comfortable.

  A man across from him in an expensive-looking blue suit offered him a polite nod. “I hate red-eyes. I always think I’m going to be tired and nap, but I can never get to sleep.” He laughed. “I can’t complain too much. The company will pay for first class as long as I keep it under a certain amount, and I’m addicted to first class.”

  “Oh, I don’t mind late flights,” Lyle replied. “I kind of prefer them. Fewer people, and less crowded. It makes a lot of things easier.” He fastened his seatbelt. “You’re going to LA for business, then?”

  The man nodded. “Business conference on technomagic integration in supply chains. It’s boring stuff. Logistics magic, that kind of thing. To be honest, I was thinking about doing a little sightseeing.” He gave a sheepish smile. “Plus, there’s someone I want to meet. I’ve heard bad things happen to you if you bother him, but maybe I’ll get lucky.”

  “Who are you talking about?” Lyle leaned forward, interested. “Some big-name Hollywood actor?”

  “No, nothing like that. The Granite Ghost lives there. You know, James Brownstone? I’d love an autograph, but it’s not like I’m going to show up at his house. He’d probably throw me through a window.” The man’s expression implied that he might enjoy it.

  “You’re a Brownstone fan, huh?” Lyle looked the man up and down. “Don’t seem the type. I’ve seen the news about him, but I don’t really care much. I’m not into all that true crime stuff.”

  “To be honest, I used to not pay much attention, but after that stuff with the Council, I got kind of obsessed with all things Brownstone, and then all things bounty hunting.” The businessman chuckled nervously. “I particularly started getting into all these high-end bounty-hunters. It’s amazing, you know? Not just Brownstone, but all the class fives and sixes. There aren’t that many of them, so you can really get to know them if you study them. It’s like following sports for me.” His eyes widened, and his breath caught. “Ever hear of the Wu family? They used to be my favorites.” A sad look passed over his face.

  “Should I have?” Lyle shrugged, his face showing his utter lack of interest, but the other man didn’t notice.

  “Entire family of high-end bounty hunters; a multi-generational thing from way back in the day. Used to hunt demons and weird crap in China that was hiding in the shadows even when magic wasn’t back, and then their ancestors came over to America with all those guys who worked on the railroad. Anyway, the point is, they were involved in going after the Council. Terrible story. Almost all of them were killed when they took on the Council. Only two survived, two sisters. One of them quit bounty hunting and now works as a waitress, but the other one stayed in the family business. Her name’s May.”

  Lyle grabbed the entertainment tablet from the seat pocket in front of them. “Being a bounty hunter is a dangerous business. It’s not surprising that a lot of them die. This May Wu in Los Angeles, too?”

  “Nope. She lives in San Francisco right now. I read online she headed to LA to poke her nose into that Silver Ghost stuff, but Brownstone cleaned that up, so she’s probably back in San Fran.” The businessman snapped his fingers. “Did you know Brownstone’s daughter is going into the family business? She’s worked bounties. I read that the other day. It’s why I’ve been thinking about the Wu family a lot. Man, I hope they don’t end up like the Wu family. That would be depressing as hell.” He shook his head, concern all over his face. “But you’re right. Bounty hunting is dangerous.”

  Lyle pressed on the bone charm. “Let’s stop talking about this. I want you to grab that tablet and find the most brainless movie on it and watch it for the entire flight. If you finish it, you can watch it again until we land.”

  “Sure. Whatever you say.” The man smiled and collected his entertainment tablet. “Thanks for the talk.”

  Lyle turned away with a frown.

  Bounty hunters. They don’t matter. Bounty hunters aren’t going to come after me if there’s no bounty. I’ll have plenty of time to set up everything.

  It might be fun to play around with James Brownstone eventually, though.

  Lyle cracked a grin. Strength was meaningless when it came to dealing with him. He could control men’s minds.

  Chapter Two

  James crossed his arms and grunted as two new hires fell from the narrow rope bridge into the mud below with loud yelps.

  “Keep going!” Royce shouted at the men. “If you fall, pick your asses up and get through the obstacle course. If you want to work for James Brownstone, you have to prove that you’ve got what it takes, and that means never giving the fuck up, no matter what.” He pointed to the end of the obstacle where a sweat-soaked Alison stood drinking Gatorade. “A damned blind teenage girl is outperforming most of your asses. That should be fucking embarrassing. Now move your asses before I have to walk over there and kick you through the obstacle!”

  Alison waved at the men and held up her bottle. “Come and join us. It’s very refreshing.”

  The men groaned and hurried back to the cargo net leading up to the bridge. Other veteran bounty hunters, including some of Trey’s boys and the new hires who had come in after the amusement park incident, hurried along farther down the obstacle course, their muscle memory and fitness assisting them toward the end with ease.

  Everyone had trouble with the obstacle course at first, but it was hard to be put through the paces by Staff Sergeant Royce and Maria and not end up fit and flexible, given enough time. A low-level bounty could turn physical and dangerous in an instant, and every man and woman who wanted to work for the agency needed to be able to deal with that reality.

  No more Shorties, James thought to himself. I’m willing to take a chance on people, but I want to make damned sure they are as prepared as possible when I send them out on jobs.

  Maria frowned from beside Royce. “I’m sorry, James. I know you wanted to experiment a bit with expanding hiring, but maybe we should stick to recruiting from security and ex-police, that kind of thing. Pretty high level of attrition with these guys McCartney sent over. No offense. I’ve got nothing against the guy, but he’s a priest, not an expert on kicking ass. Well, non-demon ass.”

  James shook his head. “It’s fine. You and Royce will whip them into shape, but not everyone needs to be an ex-cop and shit. If they make it through your training, it’s fine. If they don’t, too fucking bad. I promised him I’d give them a shot, but I also made it clear
it’d be on them in the end to prove they were worth that shot.”

  Maria looked like she wanted to object again but nodded instead. She watched as one of the men near the end took on the optional salmon ladder. The contrast between the experienced bounty hunters at the peak of their physical fitness and the rookies was striking.

  James glanced between Maria and the men near the end.

  Even a lot of guys from AET couldn’t handle this course.

  At the beginning of the summer, Father McCartney had approached James after a sermon and pointed out that given how successful he’d been at turning Trey’s gang into law-abiding and useful citizens, he might consider giving certain other people a similar chance. In particular, he recommended a few members of his parish who’d been down on their luck and were now interested in turning their life around, along with some other people Father McCartney had encountered through his community outreach, not all of whom were members of the church. The priest had already prefiltered for the men and women he thought had the greatest chance of success.

  James agreed to the plan, the only condition being that anyone who came to his agency looking for a job had to be accepted by his existing senior staff and go through their normal training for whatever position they were interested in. He was running a business, not a charity, and if they weren’t a net asset to the Brownstone Agency, they needed to go elsewhere. Father McCartney had no problem with that and had been sending people to the agency throughout the summer.

  While complete success eluded the priest’s and bounty hunter’s project, the results were positive overall. Charlyce had gotten a few new assistants upfront, which was helpful for dealing with the administrative requirements of expanding business in both LA and Vegas. There was even some talk of sending someone to Vegas as a full-time administrative assistant. More new hires now formed the core of a permanent custodial and maintenance staff.

  James liked not having to contract out. Every new person he added to the agency created additional risk, but having people from his neighborhood or who knew people he trusted helped keep more dangerous ones out. He still had Heather do a deep dive on every applicant, though, just to be sure. After having dealt with the insane alien hiring Shay to get at him, it wasn’t paranoia to double-check everyone’s background.

  Most of the remaining new hires were interested in being bounty hunters, convinced that the job was the path to easy money. Half had already washed out, but the handful who had survived more than a few days of Maria’s and Royce’s intense training had impressed James. Even the current day’s stragglers.

  James pointed at one of the men scrambling up the cargo net. Cuts and bruises covered the man’s hands, and his brow was furrowed in intense concentration. “That guy was delivering pizza part-time a month ago, and now look at him. Not fucking bad.”

  Maria shrugged. “He’s fallen five times on the course today.”

  James nodded. “He might fall a lot, but he’s now in better shape, and he still makes it through the course, even after falling. He’s improved a lot. I respect that shit, but I also trust you guys. Anyone you think can’t cut it, you let them go. If people are improving and might be useful on jobs after training, I want them, but if they’re gonna be a liability, I want them out the door.”

  “Don’t worry about it.” Royce shook his head. “In the Corps, I took all sorts of lazy-ass pieces of crap and turned them into real men and women I’d be proud to serve with in a warzone. A lot of people just need a good dose of discipline to reach their true potential.”

  “Sounds good.”

  “I’ll whip the survivors into shape as long as they continue to show up.” Royce gestured to two of the new hires who were closing in on the end of the course. “Ethan and Aiden are almost ready for a Vegas rotation. We’re still working out the details with Trey, though. They’ve done a couple of level-one jobs with the more experienced guys, and they were cool under pressure from what the other guys said. I’m impressed by how well they’ve done, for guys with no law enforcement or military background.”

  James nodded as he watched the men. From the minute he’d brought in Trey’s boys, he’d relied on Royce to handle the training. If the ex-drill instructor thought he could make something of a rookie, James had no reason to doubt him.

  Ethan and Aiden leapt off the final obstacle to the applause of the veterans and Alison. Lachlan and Isaiah handed them Gatorade bottles from an ice-filled cooler.

  I’ve come a long way from just checking shit on the app and seeing what’s up.

  Maria nodded, a pleased smile on her face. “I will say that despite my concerns about some of the newest recruits’ fitness, things are working out better than I thought overall, especially with cohesion. That was my biggest concern.”

  “Probably because you spent so many years as a cop,” James replied.

  “Sure, but that doesn’t make it any less of a real problem. I wasn’t sure how the security guards would mix in with Trey’s guys or any of the other new hires, but everyone seems to respect your original guys.” Maria chuckled. “You know what they’re calling them?”

  “What?” James asked.

  “Brownstone’s Original Guys. Sometimes they call them Council Veterans.” Maria nodded toward a few of Trey’s boys. “None of the OGs are being arrogant assholes.” She gave James a sidelong glance. “Keep this up, this city’s going to end up pretty damned safe. We’ll have to move somewhere else to find business.”

  “Maybe, but I doubt I’m ever leaving LA. Too annoying to learn where all the best barbeque places are in a new city.” James considered that for a few seconds. “And we’re already cleaning up Vegas, so no reason to move there.”

  Maria chuckled.

  Every man or woman I hire means fewer bounties on the street. Never going to be bounty-free in a place like LA, but that doesn’t mean we can’t try for it. Fewer criminals mean less trouble for the cops.

  “If you can breathe, that means you can get oxygen,” Royce shouted at the stragglers. “Which means you can still move.” He cleared his throat and turned to James, his angry demeanor vanishing in an instant. “Everything’s been great with the anti-magic training, but every time we do another round, it reminds me that we need more magical firepower. Victoria’s helpful, but she sticks to Vegas, and Zoe might be living with Trey, but she’s just a supplier. Your priest friend have any stray down-on-their luck wizards or witches he can send our way? I can’t say I’m an expert on training magical types, but I can at least make sure they’re physically fit.”

  James grunted. “No, he doesn’t know anyone like that. For now, I’ll just keep the guys in anti-magic deflectors and anti-magic bullets. If we need something more serious, then that’s something me, Trey, or Victoria will handle.”

  Cheers arose from the gathered bounty hunters and trainees as the last two stragglers finished. They collapsed to their knees a few feet later. James, Maria, and Royce walked toward the group.

  “What a sorry-ass display,” Royce offered, shaking his head. He was back in full DI mode. He nodded at Alison. “A blind teenager is better at this shit than half of you, and the only thing she has to worry about day-to-day is making sure her boyfriend doesn’t get caught by her dad.”

  Alison rolled her eyes.

  Everyone laughed except James.

  What the hell? Is Tanner taking that damned train to town and sneaking into her room or some shit? Wait. Fuck, Royce is just joking.

  Ever since Alison had admitted she had a boyfriend, James had resisted the urge to track the boy down and have a loud and threatening one-way talk with him. The struggle was worse on some days.

  “Be fair, Staff Sergeant,” Lachlan called from near the coolers. “Alison’s gone on bounties. She ain’t no rookie like these bitches. You can’t compare them.”

  Alison grinned and shrugged, her cheeks reddening.

  Royce crossed his arms. “So now the blind teenage girl isn’t just better at obstacles, she’s also better
at doing the actual job. That makes everyone look worse, not better.”

  The OGs all laughed. Ethan and Aiden did as well. The two stragglers forced themselves to their feet, lifted their chins and squared their shoulders. The push had had its intended effect.

  Royce gave them an approving nod. “We train your body on the course, but the body is just a shell. The mind and soul animate it. Most people don’t fail because their bodies have given up on them. They fail because they’ve given up on their bodies. We will continue to push you until you can push yourself past any limits you thought you had. At the end of the day, the only person you have to do better than each day is yourself. Do I make myself clear?”

  “Yes, Staff Sergeant!” everyone called in unison.

  “Everyone hydrate and rest up for fifteen. We’re going out on a run after that.”

  Several groans broke out, but this time, none came from the stragglers.

  James was barely listening to Royce and the trainees as he focused on Alison.

  Shit. I barely know anything about her boyfriend. Maybe I should learn more. That little bastard gets to spend more time around my daughter than I do these days.

  He grunted. Shay had told him that he needed to give Alison a little space to learn how to handle herself in a relationship. He was willing to do that, even though the fact that she’d admitted to having a boyfriend proved how quickly she was growing up.

  It wasn’t like he needed to protect her from tragedy. Alison understood pain. Tragedy and pain had brought them together, but he was her father now, and he wanted to make sure she didn’t have to deal with unnecessary emotional garbage while she was learning to control her powers.

  Besides, if that Tanner punk broke her heart, James had an easy solution, which mostly involved punting the boy from a cliff into the nearest ocean. He was a wizard. He would survive. Probably.

  James surveyed the trainees with a hungry grin. “Tomorrow, it’s time for some more everyone versus Brownstone family tactical training. Being fit is just the first fucking step. The next step is knowing how to master moving and shooting while dealing with a real threat.”