One Bad Decision Read online

  The other man snorted. “Shoot first? That ain’t no fun.”

  Fifteen minutes into the second round with switched teams, the battle wasn’t going as well for Team Brownstone. James had been forced to be less aggressive. He wondered if every hint of movement he saw was a trap, just like the two shadows he saw on the back wall.

  He pulled out the last magical item he had, a small figurine—one of his so-called lightning simulators—and threw it against the wall. Blue-white arcs of energy shot from the source of impact and two screams echoed in the room.

  James frowned. He considered rushing over to grab a rifle simulator but decided he had a better idea. It was important for the men to not just focus on firearms or flashy magic, but the very real threat that could come up close.

  “Take that, motherfuckers,” Trey shouted from the second level.

  Glad he’s on my team this round.

  Trey blazed away at a group of pinned enemies trying to make their way up the ramp to take out Shorty and him.

  James took the opportunity to jog down the opposite side. He stopped and stepped into an alcove, his large frame barely fitting, and waited with his back against the wall.

  It was right there in the name: bounty hunter. Hunters required patience.

  Manuel crept around the corner and spotted James, hesitating for a moment, likely because he’d been on the other man’s team not all that long before. A mistake.

  James ripped the rifle simulator out of his hand and yanked the man forward. He spun Manuel around and slapped his meaty arm around the man’s neck, and his chokehold had the other man unconscious in seconds. He let him fall to the ground.

  “Yo, Manuel, what do you see?” TJ called from around the corner.

  They’ve gotten too used to hearing people scream or yell or even tell jokes once they’re on the ground. Don’t even always have screams in a real fight, especially when you’ve split up.

  James crept toward TJ but kept his back to the wall.

  “This ain’t funny, man,” TJ called. “What’s going on? We’re getting creamed over on the other side.”

  Three…two…one.

  James rushed around the corner and bowled into the very surprised TJ. The junior bounty hunter’s weapon flew out of his hand and skidded across the floor. He watched James, wide-eyed, clearly not sure what he should do. Seconds later, he lay on the ground unconscious just like Manuel, the victim of another chokehold.

  His attacker picked up TJ’s weapon and strode toward the ramp, where the men were still exchanging fire with the upper-level defenders.

  “Got to watch your sides,” James rumbled. He whipped up the rifle simulator and opened fire.

  Half the men turned to fire at him. The other half ran up the ramp.

  James winced as electricity jolted through him and winced again at another blast of energy.

  “Two hits,” James shouted and continued firing.

  The crossfire had the other side on the ground within fifteen seconds, twitching in pain.

  “That’s all of them, big man,” Trey shouted with a grin. He glanced to the side and frowned. “What the fuck happened to Manuel and TJ?”

  James shrugged. “I helped them take a little nap.”

  Maria stepped into the main entrance of the museum. No uniform, just casual wear. Four armed guards in red uniforms stood in the lobby, all with Tasers and pistols and crystal necklaces around their necks. Anti-magic deflectors, most likely.

  Something about them seemed off, though, but she’d only ever seen a few designs, so it wasn’t like she could claim extensive expertise.

  Maybe they are something else.

  After buying her ticket, she made her way down the hallway toward the Treasures of Oriceran Exhibit. Two more armed guards stood at a checkpoint with a table and a metal detector.

  Good thing I didn’t bring my gun.

  Maria queued behind several other people and waited as they were waved through. She stepped through the metal detector, but one of the guards held up his hand after she stepped out.

  “I’m sorry for the inconvenience, ma’am, but you’ve been selected for further security inspection.” He nodded toward a folding metal chair in front of the table. “Please sit there.”

  She thought about protesting, but the line of impatient visitors combined with the four different cameras in the hallway convinced her it would be a bad idea. Instead, she moved to the chair, sat, and crossed her arms.

  “What’s this about?” she asked the guard behind the table.

  “This won’t take long.” He held up a clear glass orb. “Please extend your palm.”

  “What’s this?” Maria frowned.

  Talk about extensive security. If she weren’t mistaken, the orb was some sort of truth detection artifact.

  “It’s just a kind of danger sensor,” the guard explained. “Don’t worry. It won’t hurt, but I’m afraid you can’t proceed any farther without this test.”

  She rolled her eyes and extended her palm. “Whatever.”

  The man set the orb in her palm. “Do you have any intention of damaging or stealing the artifacts in the exhibit, ma’am?”

  “What the hell?” She narrowed her eyes. “No.”

  He watched the orb for several seconds, his hand on the grip of his gun.

  Touchy.

  The orb didn’t change, and the man smiled. “I apologize for the inconvenience. You’re free to go, ma’am.”

  Maria tossed the orb back to him and stood with a snort. She made her way down the hall into another room with multiple guards wearing anti-magic deflectors. One of the guards had a holstered wand.

  A dozen cordoned-off display cases stood around the room, each containing a different artifact. A small plaque stood next to each, along with a button to activate the holographic guide.

  The lieutenant looked up and around. No large vents. No windows. There was no other door from what she could see, either.

  Maria walked over to the nearest artifact. She wasn’t an expert on alarm systems, but even she could spot the small strip around the display cases. An electronic fence, probably laser or infrared.

  She leaned toward the case, which contained a simple silver circlet. According to the plaque, it was the Circlet of the Lost Gnome King. She pressed the button.

  A translucent hologram of a smiling young woman appeared. “So many years of civilization combined with the myriad of sentient beings on Oriceran has rendered their history uniquely complex. This is even more true in the case of the alleged Lost Gnome King.

  “Some claim this legendary king ruled over a large number of gnomes prior to the Great War, but that as a result of dark Atlantean magic, the memory of this gnome kingdom was completely wiped out. Currently, other than a few cryptic notes on a figurine recovered from an area mostly destroyed in the war, there’s no actual evidence that this Lost Gnome King ever existed, leading some to suggest he was merely a symbol of gnomic resistance during the war.

  “None of the living gnomes, including those who lived through the war, report dealing with this particular gnome king, but oddly enough, some of the older gnomes have also not denied that he might exist. In addition, Oriceran scholars have verified that the circlet possesses magic related to memory manipulation. Please press the button again within ten seconds if you want to hear more.”

  Maria shook her head and walked toward the next case. The story she’d just heard was the kind of thing that made her wish the Oricerans had stayed on their own planet. The mere fact they could find people to ask about something that had happened thousands of years ago made her head hurt.

  How can we hope to keep up with these guys? If they were serious, they could probably conquer Earth. What good are nukes and missiles against teleporters and mind-wipers?

  The next artifact looked like a simple wooden bowl. Maria was just about to lean in to read the plaque when she jerked back and blinked.

  Shay Carson was reading the plaque, her finger to her lip,
her back to the lieutenant.

  “You’re about the last person I expected to see here,” Maria muttered. “I really hope you’re not here to do something we’ll both regret.”

  Still looking forward, the other woman shook her head. “If I were, Lieutenant, you wouldn’t have seen me, now would you?” Shay turned around and grinned. “And why can’t I come to the museum?”

  “I don’t know.” The cop shrugged. “Let’s just say your boyfriend doesn’t seem like the museum-going type.”

  Shay laughed. “Yeah, you’ve got me there. This would bore James to tears unless it was about Oriceran barbeque equipment.” She shrugged. “But I’m a little different. You haven’t checked into me at all?”

  “A little. I kind of figure sometimes ignorance is bliss.”

  “I lecture at UCLA on revised history and archaeology. History’s always been a passion of mine.” Shay shrugged.

  “That shit’s real?”

  “What, UCLA?”

  Maria rolled her eyes. “I mean, I didn’t actually think you taught.” She eyed the woman like she was a bear who had just recited a sonnet. “Seriously?”

  “Seriously.” Shay pointed to the bowl. “Bowl of the Winds. That thing, in powerful enough hands, could probably make a tornado.”

  “Shit. We’re letting them show magical WMDs?”

  Shay shook her head. “Nah. Here’s the funny part… It’s almost never been used that way, and it’s actually rather hard to pull off without a lot of specialized power and knowledge. Basically, you’d probably have to be powerful enough to do it without using the bowl.”

  Maria nodded. “What’s it actually for?”

  “It was created by an elven prince who wanted to make sure his wife always had a breeze for her garden. Interesting, huh?” Shay pointed to the first display. “I saw you looking at the Circlet of the Lost Gnome King.”

  Maria shook her head. “Do you believe all that crap about some guy having a kingdom that nobody remembers now?”

  “Sure. Given what’s happened with Earth history, I’m not even remotely surprised that they occasionally screwed up theirs as well.” Shay grinned. “That’s what makes history so exciting right now. We’re still digging into the truth.” She glanced down at her watch. “I was going to go grab a bite to eat. Want to join me? Your entrance ticket is good until the end of the day.”

  The cop gave one final glance around at the room. “Sure. I could get something.”

  Maria took another bite of her pasta as the other woman worked on a slice of pepperoni pizza.

  Shay frowned and shook her head. “You know what the problem with having a practically live-in pizza chef is?”

  “Huh? No.” Maria shrugged.

  “It spoils you.” Shay sighed and set the pizza back on her plate. “This just isn’t very good.”

  “Brownstone’s into pizza and barbeque?”

  Shay shook her head. “I’d love it if I could get James to start obsessing over pizza. Every time I talk to him about it, he blows me off by saying he still has to master barbeque. No, just a co-worker of mine who is good with pizza.”

  “A co-worker?” Maria laughed. “I don’t even want to know.”

  Shay folded her hands in front of her. “So what was the real reason you were at the museum?”

  “What, a cop can’t be interested in history?”

  “Sure they can, but I love history, and I lecture to people who love history, and I do jobs related to history. You don’t have the eyes of someone who loves history. You have the eyes of a cop who is looking for trouble.”

  Maria shrugged. “Okay, I’ll admit I was there to check out their security.”

  “Why? Someone targeting them?”

  The cop considered lying for a moment. She shook her head. “No known threats, but ten-thousand-year-old crowns and tornado bowls, or any of the other stuff in there, is the kind of thing I imagine people want to steal. I contacted the museum the other day about police assistance, and those assholes all but laughed me off.” She gritted her teeth and sighed. “I’ve got to admit, I’m annoyed. The security is nice. Not that I wanted them to have shit security, but I wanted to take the sanctimonious asshole head of security down a few pegs.”

  Shay snickered. “Maybe your wish can still come true, Lieutenant.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Their security was shit. Massive holes.”

  Maria frowned. “Armed guards with anti-magic deflectors all over the place. Cameras. That metal detector. Only one major entrance.”

  Shay shook her head. “The bulk of their network is in-house, but it’d be easy for a hacker to get into. Not only that, because it’s in-house, somebody could EMP it and knock out the cameras, and I suspect the alarm system as well.”

  “I assume they have some sort of fail-safe.”

  “Big deal. If it goes off, it doesn’t matter. The people will grab the artifacts and run before anyone gets there. Also, did you check out the cases?”

  “Yeah. Electronic fences.”

  Shay nodded. “Did you see any evidence in the ground of a rising cage? The ceiling was too high for a dropping cage.”

  Maria held up a hand. “Hold on a second. Here’s what we can do. I can do some quick paperwork to set you up as a consultant. Then I’ll grab my badge, and we’ll go back for an official inspection, and I can get your comments on the official record.”

  Shay stared at the cop, incredulity written all her face. “Wait. The police want to pay me money to advise them?”

  “This cop does. It won’t be a big deal. I’ve got all sorts of things set up for informants and the like. No one’s going to dig deep, if that’s what you want.”

  Maria tried to keep the eagerness out of her voice. She so wanted to go back and shove a report up Spencer Preston’s ass, but that didn’t change her desire to make sure no one robbed the museum under her watch.

  Shay blew out a breath and shrugged. “Why the hell not?”

  “How about we meet back here at 4:30? They aren’t closing until 6:00 tonight.”

  “Fine by me.” Shay pulled out her phone. “Just need to text Brownstone that I’m gonna help you with something.”

  5

  Outside the tactical room, every sweat-soaked member of the Brownstone Agency was peeling off their jumpsuits. After the first two “magical” battles, they’d fought a few other battles to test new strategies.

  James decided choking people out wasn’t the best for morale or quick rematches, so he had abandoned that tactic and moved to a focused strategy of ambushing men and killing them with their own weapons. It illustrated the same point about situational awareness without risk of him seriously injuring one of his men by accident.

  Trey hung up his jumpsuit and wiped his brow with his sleeve. “Man, I’m fucking tired, and it’s not even nighttime yet. I haven’t been this tired in a long time.” He shook his head at Shorty. “I don’t know who has got it worse, us left behind who have to clean up that shit tomorrow because of all the glass, or you poor bastards going to Vegas.”

  Shorty shrugged. “I like knocking heads in Vegas. A different flavor of scumbag, you know what I’m saying? It gets boring always beating down the local assholes.”

  Everyone laughed.

  Manuel looked at the gathered men. “Why don’t we make the team coming back from Vegas do the cleaning?”

  “That’s kind of a jerk move.” Trey shrugged. “’Course it wouldn’t hurt to ask them to help us clean up.”

  James finished pulling off his suit. “Oh, that reminds me, Trey. They coming back with my barbeque?”

  Trey snorted. “You redefine one-track mind, big man.” He laughed. “We’re talking about cleaning and bounty hunting, and all you care about is that you get some God Sauce and ribs.”

  “Now that we’re gonna be competing, we need to constantly test the competition. And if you want to be number one, you have to see what the top dogs are already doing.” James shrugged. “Pl
us, this barbeque shit counts as marketing, so we get to write it off. It’s smart business.”

  The other bounty hunter shook his head, a wry smile on his face. “Okay, I’ll send them a text to let them know about the barbeque emergency.”

  James grabbed his phone from the locker and looked down at his messages. He frowned once he spotted the text from Shay.

  Ran into Lt. Hall at the museum. Going to help her with a little something. Won’t be home until late

  “Hall?” James rumbled. “What the fuck is Shay doing with the AET?”

  Trey looked at him. “Problem?”

  “I don’t know. Shay’s out with Lieutenant Hall doing…hell if I know. I get that Hall doesn’t want to throw my ass into an ultra-max anymore, but I also know she was just as pissed as Shay about the Lars Hansen shit.” James shook his head. “Whatever this shit is, it can’t be good for my continued health.”

  Trey grinned. “Nah, you’re overthinking it, big man. The hens got to cluck when the rooster’s away, you know what I’m saying? The trick is, the rooster needs to take advantage of that shit, too.

  “How?”

  “If your woman’s busy, we should call up Mack and get together to start planning shit for Saturday.”

  James nodded. “Good idea.”

  He stared at his phone, still wondering why his under-the-radar tomb raider and ex-killer girlfriend would be hanging around with an LAPD AET officer on purpose.

  Hope this shit doesn’t blow up in my face.

  Tyler cradled his phone between his cheek and shoulder as he polished the bar. “Really? That many? But nothing about any fives?”

  “Yeah,” the informant on the other end offered. “That’s all the level fours I know are coming to town in the next couple of weeks. I haven’t heard shit about any fives, but I don’t know if I’d tell you anyway. I’m taking a big risk by telling you all this as it is.”

  “Risk? What the hell are you talking about? Have I ever fucked you over?” Tyler scoffed. “Even once?”