They already know where I am. Time to show I know where they are, too. I draw the Browning, take a bead on one of the sets of legs, and fire. It hits, exploding the guy’s tibia. He goes down screaming. Once he’s eye level to me I put another one in his head. He stops screaming pretty quick. The Browning feels like it’s laughing.

The rest of Werther’s men are on the move, scattering and looking for cover. I can still see Werther’s legs. He hasn’t moved. Yeah, I’m not falling for that one. He’s standing there because he doesn’t believe I can touch him. He’s probably right. The bullets might stop dead, turn to steam, or just change course and come after me.

“Was that the clean way or the messy way?” I yell. It occurs to me that the cops should be here by now. Of course, they won’t be, because Werther has either put some spells down to keep them away, or paid them off.

I can get out by jumping over to the land of the dead and popping out somewhere else. At this point I can do it in my sleep. I look around for ghosts, try to get an idea of what I’ll have to deal with when I cross over.

But there aren’t any. Much like freeway noise, there is no place in L.A. that is free of ghosts. Whether they’re Echoes, Haunts, or Wanderers, there’s always something. The only way to drive ghosts off is to throw something at them that scares them. Or eats them.

If Werther has driven off the ghosts and I pop over to the other side, I’ll run into whatever fucked up thing he left for me.

“It’s the unfortunate way,” he says. I feel the magic as he throws a spell. The remains of the Cadillac fly into the air like they’re being flipped by a hurricane.

His men step out from their own cover and open up, ugly machine guns barking bullets. My shield spell goes up, but I won’t be able to keep it there very long. With all the bullets it’s soaking up it’s all I can do to keep it running.

As his men are firing, Werther is slowly walking toward me. Now that I can see him, I remember him better. Looks to be in his mid-fifties, white hair slicked back, blue bespoke suit. I can feel the magic radiating off of him. This is one of those times I kinda wish I still had a god’s power to pull from. Once he gets to me it’s game over.

If I run, I’m dead. If I stay here, I’m dead. If I jump over to the other side, I’m dead. I think that about covers it?