10 - One Bad Decision

<< Alison Brownstone

The Unbelievable Mr Brownstone

Fatal Mistake >>

Shay goes to a museum and consults with the AET. Then, she doesn't come home on time. Brownstone goes on a rampage when he learns what happens. Using his contacts, Brownstone gets Tyler involved when he learns that Lt. Hall is in trouble. The criminals are powerful, and clever. It seems the hit on the Los Angeles Museum was planned far in advance. Well, planned or not, if you come into Brownstone's area and kidnap his woman, you have a problem. And that is just Shay. That doesn't include when James gets involved. The Professor is concerned that the heist is bigger than anyone realizes. Now he is hoping Brownstone and the missing Shay can help him recover the artifacts. Scroll back to the top, and click “Read for Free” or “Buy Now” and kick back for a fun, action-packed adventure that will have you yelling for the good guys and laughing at just how much Brownstone can infuriate Shay, especially with his fashion sense. And how thoroughly Shay mystifies Brownstone as she tries to uncover what makes him tick.

TUMB 10/01 Shorty and Alison go on what they thought would be an easy take-down, a Level Two witch (illegal distribution of controlled substances, including dust.). She wasn’t so easy, throwing a vial of poison at Shorty, then trying to escape out the back door, running into Trey and Brownstone. Throws grenade at Trey (ruining his suit), and runs again to the front, this time confronting Alison, (who blinds her with fireball flash), then punches her in stomach and head, finally subduing her. They search, remove all vials and potions, and Alison puts her to sleep, for transport to the Station by Lachlan and Russell. Brownstone, in discussion with Zoe, is advised to “up his game”, so his staff won’t get caught again. Magic has now been around for decades, and his business is weak in that area.

TUMB 10/02 Alison is returning to her school, after summer vacation. She has been practicing as a bounty hunter this summer, and Brownstone has been putting her earnings away for her, along with the money from the sale of her family’s house. When she graduates from Magic school, she shouldn’t have any problems. (Both Shay and James were rich by any normal standard, but if there were one thing he could give his daughter, it would be independence. The priests who had helped raise him had done that for him, and he only hoped he could do as well by Alison. If he managed only that, he would consider himself a halfway-decent father. Alison being independent also meant taking advantage of the things that played to her strengths. Just because he didn’t find magic simple and distrusted it didn’t mean she did,) Both Brownstone and Shay miss Alison, and Shay decides that if she’s going to stay around, she was going to have to share more, so she gave Brownstone the left side of her bathroom for his toothbrush and cup.

Maria Hall, AET, was checking the list of bounties published as being in her area. They were few and far between, as the “Hail the King” fight thing with Tyler had convinced them that other areas would be more friendly. Like keeping your own nuclear bomb on stand-by! She reads a notice, and immediately calls a meeting of her staff. “I’ve just been informed that the Los Angeles Museum of Natural History will tomorrow be opening a display of Oriceran magical artifacts as part of a short-term exhibit, and they have not called for extra protection for its contents. Her staff thought that as long as they weren’t requested, it wasn’t their problem. “Not our problem? We’re the police. Have some fucking pride in your uniform. If random assholes come into our town and commit a high-profile artifact theft right underneath our noses, we’ll be laughingstocks. Not to mention, if said assholes get their hands on a bunch of magical artifacts, who knows what kind of bullshit they might be able to pull off? “I’ll contact the museum later and see what help they need. Once we know that, we can better figure out how to deploy our resources.”

TUMB 10/3 THE EXHIBITION IS INVESTIGATED Maria Hall talks to Spencer Preston, Head of Security for the museum. The Museum had requested no additional security, and Maria wanted to verify the exhibition’s content. “From what I’ve read,” she offered “this is the largest collection of artifacts you’ve ever handled. I think it represents a unique danger and temptation for criminals.” “I can assure you that we have and will take all necessary precautions. We do not require police protection, and, not to be rude, we can’t risk untrained personnel bumbling around our expensive items.” And he hung up. Maria decided that she was going to stop by and see for herself just how good their security was.

James woke up, wondering if his amulet ever needed to sleep. According to Shay, the government was tracking alien artifacts and other evidence of non-Oriceran intelligent species through Project Ragnarok and Project Nephilim. And he went to brush his teeth on his side of Shay’s bathroom. He and Shay sit and talk. Over their breakfast sandwiches, about James’ need to up the Agency’s awareness/knowledge of magic artifacts to use. OK, but Shay wants to see the Museum’s new exhibit of artifacts, as it’s good to know what’s floating around out there in case it ever leaves legal hands. James can’t come with her, as he’s got to help in the tactical room at the Agency. “I want the guys to start training for magical confrontations. I bought a few things from Zoe, and the Professor gave me some shit he had lying around.” “Just be careful!” James introduces them to some “live magical potions”, like what might be used against them during a capture. If they hit him three times, with rifles or other shots, he’s “dead.

TUMB 10/04 Trey and Lachlan “killed “ him. Good job! Maria visits the Museum, senses security not as it should be. Sees Shay there, surprised to find that she’s a teacher at UCLA of Archeological history, and knows lots about the artifacts. They go out for lunch. Shay agrees their security is massively lacking, and Maria hires her as a consultant to show her the holes in their security.

TUMB 10/5 Brownstone has been training the team on how to defend themselves by “killing” them with their own weapons, teaching them a lot in the process. A team is returning from Vegas the next day (hopefully with some Jessie Ray’s God sauce for him), and Shay texts him that she’ll be home late, helping Hall at the Museum. Tyler is also trying to upgrade his “information” business, to include information on magical Events. Kathy asks him to get her a keg of Guiness, and he thinks about how lucky he is to have her as a bartender, as she knows enough to start her own business, if she wished.

TUMB 10/6 RESULTS OF SHAY'S INVESTIGATION Shay points out the lack of drones and cameras outside. Not a 360 degree coverage. Also, roof coverage is minimal. How does she know this? “Theoretical insufficiency based on my academic review of tomb raids.” Problem number two. Note they only have internal armed protection. There’s also no bulletproof booth or anything from which a security guard can return fire. Guns won’t mean shit if someone comes in and lays them out with a gun or just blows them up.” She gestured towards the security guards. “Those anti-magic deflectors are fakes. They’re trying to intimidate mages into being scared, but one quick spell will verify the truth.” Shay tapped on the glass of the door. “This isn’t bulletproof, and it’s also not truck-proof. If the bad guys knew where to search, they could ram through here and charge straight to the artifacts in under a minute. LAPD will scramble fast, but they aren’t going to get here in a couple of minutes.” In the room with the artifacts, she mentions that this isn’t a real choke point, especially since it’s got no line of sight on most of the lobby. That means the bad guys enter armed, rush to the wall, spin around, fire, and they’ve killed the guards.” She gestured at the ceiling. “I don’t see any grates that might come down, so once the bad guys waste the arrogant-ass security in the front, they can stroll in here like nothing.” Sure, nice natural light, but what good does it do to set up their internal checkpoint when any fool could take out those windows? No bars. Maybe bulletproof, but that doesn’t mean they can take an RPG, a rocket, or a fireball.” They continued surveying the remainder of the museum, Maria taking notes all of the while. They stayed later than closing, were allowed to, and were caught by a sleep magic spell that had been put on the exhibition.

TUMB 10/7 Mack and Brownstone talk about the Turf and Surf BBQ Championship in Del Mar, about Heather as a good tenant, and about how doing anything worth while is hard work. Shay awakens cuffed and tied, and kidnapped., as is Maria. She told Maria that she saw the guard go down, knew what was coming, and had wanted to keep them safe. Shay had a plan, and told Maria about it. Brownstone, at home with no Shay yet, turned on the TV and heard about the theft at the museum. He knew that he would need to find Shay, took his keys, and left.

TUMB 10/8 THE NEWS Brownstone goes to Tyler’s bar, the Black sun, and enlists his help in going after the girls. Brownstone calls Peyton, puts him onto finding Shay. Peyton discovers that there’s a six minute slice in the camera feeds, and that Shay and Maria are missing, with their guns and badge at the police station. The cops are afraid they’ll find a body soon, and are on edge. Logan talks to a scarred dwarf, Tak, who asked him if he had gotten the items. Yes, plus four guards and two women. Tak told him to keep the women, they might be valuable. Do what he wished with the guards. But NO LOOSE ENDS!

TUMB 10/9 THE HOSTAGES Shay and Maria are taken to a storage room, where the guards are also being kept. They plan to escape, given the right circumstances. If Shay can take out one of the thieves, she’ll have a weapon, and they might have a chance. Brownstone called the Professor, to see if he might have an artifact that could be used to track the theft materials. Yes, he did, so Brownstone and Tyler went to the Leanan Sídhe to pick it up. Cross of St. Anthony will be able to track one of the artifacts, the Crown of the Gnome King. But will get warmer the closer you get to it- burning “warm”. Got a call from Peyton. Has drone footage of a bunch of vans going north on the I-10. Tyler gets a call that vans were seen heading towards Korea town. The cross gets warmer as they get closer, so warm that Tyler has to use his handkerchief to protect his hand. Might even blow up when they get there!

TUMB 10/10 The thieves come to the storage room, asking who they were. The guards told the truth, both women lied. The guards checked to see if they were valuable, and could find no information. They left the room, as one of the artifacts was acting funny. It was getting hot enough to burn its box and melt its packing bubbles. They tell Tak, and he tells them to leave IMMEDIATELY as it is being tracked, and they are very close. Logan tells one of the men to kill everyone in the room, and he goes to do so. The warehouse door opens, and each van goes in a different direction.

TUMBV 10/11 Shay kills the guard as he comes in, and she and Maria meet Brownstone and Tyler in the empty warehouse. Tyler called Dannec to come and release the magic cuffs for the girls. The rest of the gang was gone, and Brownstone had promised the Professor he would find the rest of the artifacts, so his work was cut out for him. They all left, leaving Maria there with the guards, and cops, and the empty warehouse.

TUMB 10/12 Maria holds a meeting with the AET team and Spencer, who blamed her for everything. All the fault of the LAPD. If they had not stuck their noses in, it never would have happened! Next morning, Shay and Brownstone talk strategy, and call the Professor for information on the artifacts, as several of them have already hit the black market. The Professor has nothing else to help them, as counter-spells have already been cast, so Brownstone will get Heather into the job. Correk calls Yev, to relate that Brownstone must get full cooperation from the consulate, including protection if he desires. Yev will do that, although unwillingly. But as it is the command of the Fixer-

TUMB 10/13 Tyler, at his bar, is re-thinking his associations with Brownstone, and Kathy puts him straight. Who runs when they come up against him? Maria comes in, in uniform, to thank him for his part in rescuing her. They agree that they like each other, ad she, also agreed that she would like to see more of him, literally, soon.

TUMB 10/14 THE THIEVES Tak, the elf, met with the Council, who had ordered the theft. The four vans were being cared for – generic artifacts sold for more funding, the artwork artifacts, the research artifacts, And the ones for your vault. Four clients, four vans. All still in order. Heather gets working on Brownstones request, to find the vans, and where they were going. In the tunnel, the van with artifacts and a wizard caused a pile-up so that no one could get in or out of it, allowing them time to transfer what they needed with no interference.

TUMB 10/15 As traffic slowly began to move, they pulled the van to the side, unloaded the four carrying bags, ran to the SUV, popped them into the trunk, and got in, leaving the locked van at the side of the road. Brownstone is following one of the vans, in the Crenshaw area, and, as he draws close, the wizard in the van transforms into a killer beast. Doug and Trevor try to kill James and Shay, but Brownstone beats Trevor physically, and Shay beats Doug magically, so the job gets done.

TUMB 10/16 ON THE TRAILTyler has managed to track down one of the Artifact sales, to and by whom, and where. He sent the info to Maria. Neutrality stops at the edge of his parking lot. They kidnapped Maria, so he’ll take sides. Maria attacks the transaction point, killing all of th mobsters, but not touching the magic-protected ones. Many shots fired, no damage to the thieves. Then, one of their wizards floated one of their SUVs into the air.

TUMB 10/17 Maria and the AET team fight the group. They annihilate the gangsters almost immediately, and take the wizards only through continued force and luck. Maria noticed that his feet weren’t protected, so she shot him there, distracting him enough from the magic that some bullets g ot through. Several of her men had been killed, many wounded, and she vowed that Brownstone would have help from the AET in getting his revenge.

TUMB 10/18 Heather calls, and tells Brownstone the third van is nearby, in Beverly Hills, that AET just almost lost, and will need time to re-group, and that he and Shay were the closest. Alison calls to wish them luck, as the news back East had told of the museum robbery, et al. Brownstone and Shay tell her OK, and go after another van in Beverly Hills, as they had already identified it and begun to follow it.

TUMB 10/19 THE FIRST VAN The van they are following goes through Beverly hills, turns into a parking garage. They follow, and got out of their James’ truck. As they did, seventeen men got out of the van, all with guns or wands. They fought, shay and James going after the lesser humans, until there were only the three wizards, and Shay and Brownstone. After Brownstone had taken a hit, and his amulet had adapted, and the wizards had threatened, Alison with slow death, it said, KILL! Sufficient power!

TUMB 10/20 Whispy Doom had outdone himself, protecting James’ body with scaled armor, and adding a spiked hand and arm to his ability. He also had the ability to go through magic defense walls, and to change his weapon from a spike to a knife. He went through everything they had to offer, and killed them all, suffering a deep burn on his right upper thigh, and other scratches and bruises. Heather and Peyton find van in Mar Vista, reported to the police by a crazy little old lady. They use satellites to circle in on it, report it to Brownstone, Shay calls Maria, and they all go to Mar Vista.

TUMB 10/21 THE SECOND VAN Shay and Brownstone take off for Mar Vista. Correk checks with the Professor to find out what has been recovered, as many of the artifacts become more powerful with the sacrifice of blood, lives, even souls. Whomever planned this knew what they wanted, and planned in such a way as to have succeeded in anywhere but Los Angeles. Maria is thankful that Brownstone was as he was, and that he would be able to take down the murderers. She even thinks she’ll be able to get the Department to cover all of the insurance losses o the cars in the parking garage.

TUMB 10/22 Logan and his men intended to win this fight, as he wanted to show Tak what kind of a fighter/leader he was. All of his men might not be wizards, but with the artifacts he had collected, they would be able to fight like ones. Logan donned two gauntlets, one gold, one silver, that would enhance his abilities, causing pain and destruction. His men were all armed with their own protections. He also slipped on two crystal rings, one of which would protect him from magic, the other from conventional forces.

The AET team disembarked and everyone ran to the cargo helicopter to pull off some of the additional gear, including a couple of railguns and rocket launchers. With their thick black armor and helmets with red goggles, they looked more like angry robots arming for an uprising than police. Maria nodded, satisfied. It was time to kick ass. Tactical drones bearing rockets circled overhead. This situation had turned into a war zone, and she intended to win. She turned back to her target, a large and allegedly abandoned warehouse. Their tactical drones had already taken out the surveillance drones the criminals had up, but the enemy might have magical surveillance methods. Police cars and vans pulled in, and officers hurried out as more and more arrived. Maria ignored them. The chief had already delivered the orders. AET would go in with the support of Brownstone. The other officers would maintain the perimeter and provide general outside fire support. Maria gave them one chance to surrender, and when she was answered with a bullet, she ordered an attack. They launched a rocket at the front door of the warehouse.

TUMB 10/23 Brownstone and Shay decide to flank the operation, and head for a side door. They run into wizards and thugs, and kill off both. They run into other wizards and thugs, and kill them, too. The AET finally had to retreat, leaving Brownstone and Shay. Logan received the message, Delivered, so it was time to end it all with his victory. All of this had kept the police busy while the artifacts had been delivered.

TUMB 10/24 PARTIAL RESULTSBrownstone goes in to finish Logan Smith all by himself. He had disabled Shay, so that her legs wouldn’t work, and she couldn’t help him. The amulet made him strong enough that he could take everything that Logan threw at him, and come up on him and rip his head off with his bare hands. Shay brought him back to sanity. Maria talked to her as Brownstone was recovering, discussing that it was all of the threats to shay and Alison that had taken him over the edge. No one, still, knew of his amulet, and the powers it gave him. The Council came for Tak, melting his head from his shoulders. The Professor was still somewhat unhappy with the results of the attacks, as not all of the artifacts had been recovered They’d recovered ninety percent, but several of those that concerned Correk hadn’t been found. Now, with all the thieves dead, there wasn’t anyone to question. He took a long draw from his beer. “Whoever is behind this took a hell of a bloody nose. Good enough for now. No point in bothering the lad and Miz Carson to go looking for something that’s long gone. I’ll enjoy my half-loaf.”

TUMB 10/25 At the Del Mar BBQ event. Many people approach, many people snack, many people, well versed in many things, judge. Brownstone Agency came away, even though first-timers, with Second place silver, and will be looking for Gold next time.

And who knows what the lady in the scarf, and her friends, came for?