03 - Eye for an Eye

Series - The Unbelievable Mr Brownstone

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This entire Book concerns the problems and solutions incurred when a bounty is put on Browstone's head by the Harriken. The entire book is therefore laid out by Chapters, affording a sequential timeline.

Chapter One

Reminiscing with Father McCartney about earliest years when extreme thunderstorm alert warning was broadcast . Curtail travel until Monday. Driving home, when Shay calls, warns him that there’s a bounty on his hear for $500,000, maybe more, so be careful, and whatever will be happening will be happening soon. His reaction was, “Bring it, fuckers. I’m feeling pissy, and I’m bored.” Checked out his armament - of multiple pistols, magazines, knives for stabbing, knives for throwing, potions, his amulet necklace, and even a few jammers in case drones showed up. New gray coat good for concealment. A go-case sat in the back seat of his truck, containing even more weapons and fun treats for dishing out death and destruction. Had one errand to do then BBQ show time – new series of Barbecue Wars: The Next Generation. A few minutes later, a mercenary pulled in front of the house and launched two rockets at the house, front door, and burning house. House exploded (gas line), and the merc drove away, satisfied he had killed Brownstone.

Chapter Two

They’d blown up his house, his BBQ grill and his signed recipe books ! And his truck! Wood and metal debris were embedded in the hood and the passenger window, including a charred two-by-four. It looked like some giant shotgun had blasted his truck. When he started it, Check Engine light went on. James warns firefighters of explosives in basement, everyone drew back, and a few seconds later it all went up. Called the Professor for help, a place to stay. Shay called, checking in. Just back from out-of-country archaeological stint, and heard the news. Brownstone vowed vengeance, and Shay wants him to wait for her, so she can help. James asks that if anything happens to him, she would take care of Alison, and hung up.

Chapter Three

Harriken leader Jiro Ikeda plans on how to eliminate Brownstone. Had put bounty on his head, and now Sergeant Cartwright (Graystone Mercenaries) was here to collect it, acting arrogantly disrespectful. Called the Harriken full of “jumped-up Yakuza bull—”. Jiro pulled a sword out from beneath the desk and had the tip at Cartwright’s throat in a flash. ( “One cannot demand respect. One earns respect through actions and demonstrations of one’s willingness to pursue such actions.” Jiro dirtied himself by relying to such scum, but with the local forces depleted the Harriken needed any help they could find. He would remember this Cartwright’s arrogance for the future.) Cartwright demanded the bounty, the Harriken would not pay up without the body, or at least the head. Graystone leader, Colonel Graystone, had never dealt with a total wipe-out. We took the original job on without enough intel, and we lost forty men because of it. We need to be more careful this time.” “No, we’ll let Brownstone thin everyone out. Once he’s tired and off-balance, we’ll finish him.” Brownstone goes to Police station, talks to Mack, who doesn’t want LA turned into a war zone. Tell that to the Harriken. Brownstone warns the police –“ The last thing anyone, AET or otherwise, should be doing is getting between me and the fuckers who come after me unless they want to get hurt.”

Chapter Four

Shay was worried about Brownstone. He might be tough and have a lot of experience hunting criminals, but he’d probably gotten too used to them not working together. Shay had witnessed the vicious beauty of a criminal collective focused on a single goal too many times to underestimate the danger. From what she saw on the dark net , it was ten-to-one against Brownstone surviving more than a couple of weeks. Location of last sighting given. Brownstone took his truck in to be repaired. Probably over $10K to do it. Do it. Needed to go somewhere safe, at least for a couple of minutes so he could get his bearings and take care of a few important personal matters. Saw Oriceran Consulate. James had heard that despite locating the consulate in a rougher part of town, crime near the place was all but non-existent. The Oricerans weren’t offering much of a presence outside of the consulate, but the fact that they were there had scared off most normal criminals. It used to be that death was the worst thing that could happen to a criminal. These days, a man could end up a zombie or have his soul sucked out. In the end fear kept everyone in line, no matter what planet you were on. Maybe will go there. Calls Alison, checking in. Looking forward to visit next week-end (if he was still breathing). Walked away. Not considering Oriceran yet.

Chapter Five

Brownstone called Tyler (Dark Sun Bar) for information. Wants location of local Harriken base. Tyler initially refuses, but when is paid half up front, and other half on delivery of address, he sends address. Brownstone goes to car rental, chooses a Humvee, older model, as simple as possible, but with LOTS of insurance! Shay flying to LA, overhears lots of conspiracy talk about Oriceran taking over USA. Just hopes Brownstone lasts until she can get there. Absolute Zero, hit man, on a motorcycle, believes Brownstone’s only real power was spreading bullshit and having people buy into it. Brownstone him, turned off over an embankment, and drove towards an abandoned industrial complex. Zero got there, could not find Brownstone. Then saw old Humvee pull into an abandoned warehouse.

Chapter Six

Brownstone sends Zero tumbling, taunts him for coming after him. Ikeda, hacked into the LAPD’s drone system, watches it all, orders a hit man to go after Brownstone. A pawn, to tire him out more. Lieutenant Hall wants Brownstone to kill Zero, so they’ll have an absolute case of murder to put out an APB for his arrest. Wants to take Brownstone down.(See Character, Maria Hall). Disappointed he left without doing more damage, waving at LAPD drone as he leaves. Hall instructs, “ Just write it up. I’m sure I’ll have a list of crimes and infractions a mile long by the time this is over. We’ll wait until we have a rock-solid case to bring that bastard in.”

Chapter Seven

Brownstone hungry, so orders BBQ from Phillip’s Bar-B-Que, to be picked up, as didn’t want to hang around for innocent people to get killed. Recognized by owner, on phone. “I’ll want a picture of you for our celebrity wall, whenever you’ve done kicking ass in the name of truth, barbecue, and the American way.” Saw another bounty hunter, on a motorcycle, approaching him. Swerved, knocked the biker down, the gun out of his hand, and kept going. Had BBQ to pick up. Cyclist had broken bones, wasn’t going anywhere but the hospital. As he laid there, an LAPD drone came over his head, notifying him of his arrest.

Chapter Eight

Another hit man drove up on the first hit man in the warehouse, and slit his throat. Congratulations, Brownstone. (Hall). There’s now officially someone else out there that’s pissed me off more than you have today. Will call Delroy Washington, in the anti-gang task force, as Esteban, another hit man, will be going after Brownstone. This is the exact kind of crap they’ve been worried about. Possible gang warfare. Brownstone picks up BBQ, talks about picture on wall. Owner wants Nadina on wall, too. They used to be regulars on the same barbecue forum. He knew her from before she was on the show (Barbecue Wars).” “What the hell do I care if an elf is cooking barbecue? It’s changed a lot over the years, even on Earth. If we can’t agree on what true barbecue is even in this country, we don’t have a right to say that some elf can’t do true barbecue. For all we know, they are closer to the true spirit of barbecue.” Calls Shay, asks her to go to Alison rather than coming to him. Just make sure she’s OK.

Chapter Nine

Brownstone, sitting eating his BBQ, wondered how long it would take for the drones and hitmen to find him again. Ten minutes later he noticed some guy in a flashy red late-model Chevy Silverado . A couple of more minutes later, a drone. Hall and Washington now working together. Hall, still going after Brownstone said, “I figured out where he was going, and I’ve already called the locals and told them to not risk engagement. We’ll wait for our chance to take Brownstone down, assuming he doesn’t blow up half the county first.” “He hasn’t done too much damage so far,” Delroy reminded her. “At least, not as much as I would have predicted. We’ve got to give him credit for doing his best to draw his attackers away from civilians.” “I don’t have to give him any credit. If he wasn’t so flashy and arrogant we wouldn’t have this problem now.” As Brownstone needed gas for the Humvee, he had to find a place with little traffic, so he could have a few safe minutes free to service the car. Would also jam the drones overhead, so the LAPD and their hacked system would not tell other hit men where he was. “We’ll just add the reckless driving to our punch list of citation.” Hall sighed. “I’m guessing that by the time this is over, major car accidents will be the least of our worries.”

Chapter Ten

Tyler needs to make money from Brownstone’s activities, so starts a betting pool on when he will go down. Shay gets call from Brownstone, decides to honor his request, to go to Virginia, to Alison. Esteban decides to use Isabella, his sniper rifle, to kill Brownstone, not his knife.

Chapter Eleven

11 Mack calls Brownstone to warn him about the surveillance on him. “There are a lot of eyes on you right now in the department, especially the gang guys and AET. The point is, those eyes are on you because they’re waiting for you to fuck up, not because they are going to come in and save your ass if things get too hot. I think any decent cop wants less trouble, not more, so telling somebody about how to avoid trouble is the right move, regardless of the source. There’s a hot location ahead of you,” the cop said. “At least three suspects are set up in a parking lot right next to an exit. I think they’re waiting for you to get close, and they are going to nail you together, with automatic weapons. And one of them is an elf. The general party line seems to be that as long as any of these assholes are only focused on you we shouldn’t risk going after them and spreading the trouble.” “In other words, the cops are letting a bunch of hitmen wander free because they think either I’ll do their jobs for them or the hitmen will take care of me.” Mack gave him directions on routes that would help him avoid the set-up. The ambush is set. Kayla Malone, with armor-piercing rifle to take out the car. Dmitri with the magical strength-enhancing gloves, and Vex, the elf, with sight which told him that Brownstone was not coming their way. Had detoured. All three take off, to find him. Esteban watches the three take off. Will watch the encounter, use the information in his pursuit and the eventual destruction of Brownstone. Shay calls Brownstone, tells him she’s on her way to Virginia, to be with Alison. James could now concentrate completely on delivering beat-down after beat-down to all the assholes coming after him, secure in the knowledge that Alison would be taken care of one way or another.

Chapter Twelve

Trey and the gang decide to clean up Brownstone’s house, give back anything they might find of value. He’s got their back, so they’ll show him the respect due, and help out as they can. Gets a call from Laguna Beach HOAs. Please don’t go in their direction, as they don’t want their homes and property values destroyed. The three cars catch up to him, so he pulls off and takes a stand. Kayla uses the rifle, nicks him on the cheek. He shoots the elf, and Dmitri comes at him with the strength-enhancing gloves. Enhances legs, too, for close fighting. Brownstone beginning to think he might need the necklace. Dmitri comes in for the kill.

Chapter Thirteen

Brownstone lures him into close fighting, knifes him in the throat, killing him. Cops come, arrest Kayla. Give him warning that more are on the way. Mack goes into Operations room, reams out Washington and Hall for not supporting James in any way – harassing the Harriken, using AET drones, etc., to cause them trouble. They agree. Esteban had watched the fight, and fired a tracker into the Humvee while the others were busy. Would now be able to find Brownstone whenever he wanted, at his own convenience. Brownstone wanted a break, and a chance to eat more BBQ. At least that was undamaged! Time to rest!

Chapter Fourteen

Brownstone decides to make a final stand at Coto de Caza, a private gated community with LOTS of empty, private land in back of it, so civilians wouldn’t get killed. If he could get rid of the private hunters, he could go after the Harriken. Called the Professor, asked for some favors. Esteban called off the hunt for the night. Too many things in Brownstone’s favor. Would get to him tomorrow. Brownstone called Alison, got Shay. School pooh-poohed dangers, but let her stay. Alison OK. Tyler making LOTS of money on the Brownstone odds.