02 - Bury The Past, But Shoot It First

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I Fear No Evil

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Shay goes off on some interesting retrievals, some alone ( The Gold Locket, the Vinama Figurine, the bowl that creates zombies) and one with Brownstone (Rod of Supay).There is a lot more violence in this one mostly with Brownstone concerning the destruction of the Harriken and the rescue of Nicole. Shay starts to want to use magic to her own advantage, and goes on a quest for a rare mineral, adamantine, so that a Gnome will make her unbreakable knives. Another Tomb Raider tries to kill her through Peyton, and Peyton acquires a pet. There is beginning to be some duplication between this series and The Unbelievable Mr. Brownstone, and still enough individuality in the character of Shay and her adventures as to be interesting in themselves.

The Rod of Supay

Chapter One, Two, Three, Four

As in introduction, Shay kills six members of the Demon Generals gang, the ones who had been assaulting the Pizza shop owner the last time she had been in his Olio Pizzeria. The gang had waited for her, and tried to assault her on this visit. It didn’t work, and now she was on her way to meet with Professor, Smite-Williams, and to meet James brownstone for the first time, the protector the professor had hired for her safety while completing the tasks he had set her. She hadn’t asked for any “protection”, and she didn’t trust anyone he might have hired. But the Professor told her that this was completely non-negotiable, and wouldn’t affect her fee in any way. The Red Warlock (Brujos Rojos were a formidable force to reckon with). The Professor continues with a history lesson on the Cartagena Codex, (now in Cartagena, Columbia) and the rod of Supay (makes zombies). Shay and Brownstone agree to work together to get the Rod.

Brownstone and Shay sit and talk, pass comments, try to get a feel for the other, as they will be spending a lot of time together. Both cynics, both not interested in the past, both think human kind of their day a bunch of dumb-asses.

Brownstone and Shay talk on the plane to Columbia. Shay has made some judgements about Brownstone- He was happy with not getting personal, he wouldn’t try to keep her on a leash (tell her not to do anything), laconic does not indicate idiocy, he was a bigger-picture man than she would have suspected, his seeming lack of being impressed by her looks was unusual. Gay? Was meticulous with his equipment. After two plane rides, and a jeep ride, they were now close enough to walk the several miles it might take to get to the site.

They got out of the jeep and hiked through the jungle, finally coming to stand in front of a crumbling stone archway and weathered stairs leading into inky darkness below. Torn small flags and the occasional discarded tool hinted at the last group of explorers. The tomb site lay atop a tall cliff with a river snaking past well below it. The site was inaccessible from that side because of the difficulty of scaling a cliff in the middle of dense jungle, but in an emergency, they could probably climb down and follow the river. Not underwater, and not a lot of climbing, both pluses. The tomb was relatively small, and had been excavated enough times that they didn’t have to worry about traps. As they proceeded, Shay began to hear a strange buzzing sound. Upon flashing a light around, they found bloody footprints on the floor in front of them, and a faint shimmer at the entrance to the next room. The shimmer vanished, and three men in scarlet robes winked into sight. Brownstone had dealt with them before, and knew that they liked to get close, to viciously cut. Shay shot on, and he flinched, was wounded, but had started to heal as they watched. “Something about soul proximity or some shit. “Overly complicated crap. All I know is that they are dangerous up close, but they are also weak up close. And if they are out cold, their magic is worthless.” Brownstone disabled two of them, but the third had cast a spell so that A bloody film now covered the warlock’s eyes, and they glowed with a soft crimson light. His newly-grown claws dripped with a dark liquid. Brownstone grabbed his arms, dislocated his shoulder, head-butted him, and he was down. Shay went to look for the Rod while Brownstone sat with the wizards. Upon finding the hidden wall, protected by a spell, Shay used the advice Blood freely given will reveal the sacred treasure. Shay grabbed her knife and sliced the tip of one of her fingers. The burial chamber rumbled, and Shay straightened, crossing her arms and waiting. The wall parted on the other side, revealing a small stone box and a faded wall painting of a dark-eyed man in a dark cloak wearing a round golden headpiece. Shay searched around the box for any indications of a trap, and pushed the lid off, releasing a cloud of dust. A curved bone rod lay inside. Swirling patterns and sigils that Shay didn’t recognize decorated the artifact. Fortunately, from everything she’d read, it didn’t activate without exposure to blood, so she put on gloves, and slipped the covered rod into her backpack.

Dante's

Chapter Five

At home, Shay reviews the events in her mind, feels she might be able to trust Brownstone to some extent. Meets with Peyton at Warehouse Two, now in the big leagues of jobs, so goes out to celebrate, at Dante’s. (See Locations, Dante's Restaurant)

Shay's Condo Abandoned

Chapter Six, Seven

Shay awakens to a house under attack a few doors down from her condo. Shay figured out it was a cartel raid. She’d had thought that the presence of such a juicy and obvious target would shield her own presence from attention. Hiding next to the blindingly bright target didn’t work out as well as I wanted. File that under failed experiments. Shay ran her camera programs, and her stomach knotted as several names popped up linked to the Nuevo Gulf Cartel. Five men from the stash-house leapt over her fence into her backyard, came to the house, and one of the cartel members jiggled her door handle. There is absolutely no fucking way I’m letting these assholes kill me in my kitchen. These panicky fools had tried a home invasion after running away from a failed raid. Five dead bodies and several bullet holes in the walls, later, convinced Shay she’d have to go to the Warehouse at least for the night. But first the place needed cleaning, so she called Purity solutions. (See Groups, Purity Solutions). Time to pack a few things and get out of here. It’s a good thing I had that two-story brownstone already lined up.

Shay finds Leeroy, the Harriken

Chapter Seven

Shay changed her mind, and went to Brownstone’s house. Maybe she could get to know him better. When she arrived and knocked on the door, there was no answer, so she went around the back, and found Leeroy, the dog, recently buried in the back yard. A cardboard cross was over the grave and on the cross were Japanese words, meaning Harriken, and the English word, Remember. Shay knew where Brownstone would be partying that night, and she thought she might be there too. Anyone in Los Angeles with an ounce of street knowledge knew the location of their headquarters. Killing some poor dog who didn’t have a chance was over the line. The kind of men who did that had no limits. The assholes had murdered a dog. It wasn’t like she could be assured that there was no photo of her standing beside her recent partner. The Harriken were thorough when they felt they had been disrespected. Self-preservation served as a nice excuse for Shay to help. It was time to get involved.

When Shay came to the address, she found two dead guards outside, and Brownstone inside. The front door more closely resembled a front hole. Brownstone had broken down a door using a man’s body. Restraint in the application of violence didn’t seem to be one of his virtues. A charnel house awaited Shay inside. Shay furrowed her brow and thought about every piece of evidence she’d seen so far. . Didn’t use anything but his hands, most likely. Brownstone had obviously used the walls for cover. Shay didn’t spot any throwing knives in the stair bodies. Had to change mags at least once in here. Brownstone took a hit. Not enough to take him down, obviously. Each upstairs room stood empty, except for one with one corpse, with a Katana. Shay went to the basement, the only room left. Probably some Harriken guy showed up with the AK, and Brownstone took him out and used his gun as the world’s bluntest lockpick. Brownstone hadn’t approached the headquarters with anything resembling stealth. Had never planned to. Outnumbered and outgunned, the bounty hunter had executed all his enemies while taking only a hit or two. All because these men had killed his dog.

Chapter Eight

Brownstone’s voice echoed from the other end of the basement. She heard one of the last survivors say, “I...apologize to the dog,” the Harriken wheezed. “Please spare me.” “His fucking name was Leeroy.” “I apologize to Leeroy,” the Harriken man said, now able to get his words out more steadily. “It was stupid of us to do what we did. It was wrong. We disrespected you. We disrespected Leeroy.” She’d seen enough. The bounty hunter obviously didn’t need her help, and he could finish up with the remaining Harriken man without her spying on him. She stepped around the corner and crept back up the stairs, waiting at her car for him to emerge. Brownstone had done what he needed to do to avenge his dog. Nothing more, nothing less. Shay helped him medicate his wound, and other injuries. “Getting shot hurts a lot more than getting the wound stitched up,” Brownstone muttered. When they were finished, Brownstone invited her to eat with him at Pork Gods, one of his favorite BBQ places. He was hungry.

The Magical Knives

Chapter Nine

Shay arrives at her Warehouse shortly after dawn, and explains all the circumstances to Peyton. A confirmation message from Purity indicated her old place had been cleared out, and the utilities transferred to a fake name. Peyton also confirmed that there was nothing, at least electronically, linking Shay to the condo and the weapons were secure. Free and clear. It was like she’d never lived at the place. Never existed. After a workout in Warehouse One (See Locations: Shay’s Warehouses), she went back to Two to talk to Peyton, to “start taking advantage of some of your special skills.” During my little disagreement with the cartel, my favorite knife snapped. It got me thinking. Why does a knife have to break?” “Because everything breaks eventually.” “Not everything. We’re just used to it as a human civilization, but there are plenty of legends about unbreakable weapons out there, which means there must be magic that can accomplish it.” You want an unbreakable knife?”

“Yeah, a few knives that are always sharp, light-weight, and don’t break. If I’m gonna be playing with other people who are using magic, I need to start using it to my advantage, but in ways that I can easily control as a normal person. I’m not asking for Excalibur or the ability to cut through steel or anything. Just knives I can stab a cartel guy in the throat with and not worry about them breaking.” “ I know a Gnome. I basically found some pieces of information on dark magic on the dark web. This guy comes highly rated and should be perfect for what you’re asking. But it’s kind of hard to find his place.

Chapter Ten

Peyton said his shop was located in the mall, but he couldn’t give a more specific location than that. There was some sort of protective spell on it, and she saw nothing. No wavy air or sudden portal or a new storefront appearing out of thin air. She continued to circulate around the second floor looking for the shop, grateful the mall only had two floors. On her third loop, she saw it. There it was… a narrow door. A stylized cyan sign read, Prophecy Gaming and hung above the entrance. A short balding middle-aged man stood behind a counter, reading a book. Game of Nations. “I’m here to see a Gnome.” “No Gnome works here.” “No, he’s here. Tubal-Cain. I know he’s here.” (Tubal-Cain was the name of an ancient biblical blacksmith.) “I have a job for him. I can pay and he’s the guy I need.” The man nodded toward a door in the back of the shop. She turned around to ask the man a question but he was gone, replaced by a Gnome standing three feet tall and wearing a tidy dark suit and a fedora but no shoes on his large, bare feet. A red poppy on his bowler opened its petals and bared sharp little teeth, growling. The Gnome stared at her as his large, bulbous nose twitched. “I need something special. A certain kind of knives. I’m interested in three knives. They need to be lightweight, never need to be sharpened and will never break. “Can you do it?” “I can. But why should I?” “You have a shop and I can pay. Seems pretty basic.” Negotiation. He likes the barter as much as the sale. Okay, let’s go.” There has to be something I can get for you. I specialize in procuring things that are difficult to find. I can even retrieve items that are dangerous to find. We can work a trade if that’s what it’ll take.” “There are no natural sources of adamantine left on your planet. Bring me five pounds of adamantine metal. I’ll make your knives out of it, and I’ll keep the rest as my payment.” Motivation! He brought out a small box, and opened it. “Three powerful knives. They’ll serve you well enough for the moment, but their enchantment is limited.” “Why are you giving me something for nothing?” “If you bring me the adamantine, it’d be more than worth your while. Their quality will show you what you could have for the rest of your limited life, but when the enchantment is gone, they will disappear, and you’ll feel their loss, assuming you ever come back. I don’t care really either way, but on the small chance you can accomplish something useful, it’s in my best interest to motivate you. Do well enough, I might even throw in a bonus, something you’ll find useful.” “I’ll get you your metal.” “We’ll see.” The poppy let out a cackle and closed its petals.

Peyton's Leverage

Chapter Eleven

Shay investigates Peyton’s Dead Man’s Switch. There was no fucking way she was going to let anyone get away with having a dead man’s switch that could reveal her existence to the world. She found his networks, and also ways to disable them. She would do it. Shay has a date with her female friends to climb the Micheltorena Stairs (See Locations, Micheltorena Stairs. (See Groups, Shay's Girls Group).Relaxing, talking about boyfriends, etc.

The Gold Locket

Chapter Twelve

Peyton come up with a new job for her. On same level as Professor’s. Client’s name: Makar Kalinin. (See Characters, Makar Kalinin for the entire story.) Shay goes off to find a gold locket with a dried flower in it, for #3 million. Shay goes to Russia, a couple of hours away from Moscow, to an old ruined church, under an AKA Aletheia. The plan was simple. She’d follow the map to the church, find the locket, and then haul ass back to Moscow to hop a supersonic back to America. If any frogmen dared showed their ugly-ass faces, she’d let them experience the joys of modern Austrian-made firearms. It is kind of weird that they haven’t done anything about these ruins. There were some decent-sized towns nearby, and the local village is practically on top of this place. The vodyanoy might be preventing the villagers from doing much, but that was nothing a few Russian soldiers with rifles couldn’t accomplish. Coming to the church, she saw thirteen stone statues of bulbous-eyed frogman, vodyanoy, forming a perimeter around the collapsed and mostly plant-covered ruins of the church. The gray statues lacked any plants on them or any signs of weathering. It was as if they were carved yesterday. Shay got out of her car and crept toward the ruins, her gun out. The statues continued to be unimpressive if ugly, but a sensation of being watched lingered as the hair on the back of her neck stood on end and her shoulders tightened. Something’s not right. Just in and out. I can do this. Fuck Russian frogmen. I’ve faced a Russian Ice Witch.

The Vodyanoy

Chapter Thirteen

Shay approached the tangle of overgrown plants, rotted wood, and stone that marked the ruins of the church. No one bothered to shoot at her. Shay’s gaze swept the area as she stepped into the ruins. No traps. No bodies, frogman or human. No scoring or burns on the walls. The journal said the creatures couldn’t get closer to the church, and it was already abandoned. The suicides of the previous recovery teams weighed heavy on Shay’s mind. She wasn’t immune to magic, and she needed to make sure no one disabled her with a spell. Her follow-up research on the vodyanoy didn’t show much in the way of mind-control abilities, but they were associated with unexplained drownings. The general strategy involved dragging people under the water and holding them there. (See Creatures-Vodyanoy) Shay reached the back of the ruins and found a worn staircase leading into darkness. A fetid smell assaulted Shay’s nose as she made her way down the stairs and to the doorway where the rotted remnants of a wooden table lay on the ground. Shay gasped as she realized the room had once held books that the centuries had long since taken back. The bits and pieces were all that remained. To Shay’s surprise, a few wooden crates remained intact in the corner, and an irregular large opening in the wall led deeper underground. Too easy. If anyone could just walk in and grab this thing, Kalinin would have never gotten around to hiring me. There’s some trick somewhere, and I’m not seeing it coming. But why? The tunnel broke off into two smaller tunnels and Shay had to crouch to make it through them. Shay stopped and pointed her flashlight at the ground. Footprints. Boots from the look of it, not fresh but not from the seventeenth century either. The tunnel curved and led to a larger dug-out chamber. A skeleton lay against the wall, its arms crossed over its chest. The lack of clothing or any hint of flesh suggested it had been there for enough time to have been licked clean. All that remained was a golden locket that hung around its neck. The boot prints went all the way up to the skeleton. They could have recovered the necklace. she reached out and gently lifted the locket over the skull. She refused to believe the job would be so straight-forward. She had to be missing something. Shay gently opened the locket. There was no iris petal inside anymore, only a fine white dust. Shay wrapped the locket in a soft felt cloth, slipped it into a small tan leather bag, and stowed it in her backpack. By the time Shay emerged back into the surface ruins, she began to wonder if she was just damned lucky. Sometimes you get paid well just to be brave. As she emerged, she counted the statues. Only six there. Seven frogmen were now on the move. They attacked her, and she escaped into her SUV. Somehow she’d gone from a full tank of gas to being almost empty, her oil pressure was shit, and her engine was in dire need of immediate service. Several other problems afflicted the vehicle, but she couldn’t interpret the language or the symbols. Shay glanced into her rearview mirror, and bile rose in her throat. The vodyanoy corpses were all gone. “Let’s hope that means they disappear when they die.”

Peyton's Escapade

Chapter Fourteen

Peyton finds another tomb raider (Johann Weiss) checking into Shay’s identity, and goes to Dane County Regional Airport, Madison Wisconsin, to check up on him, laying out fake paths for him to follow. The whole point of him taking a little jaunt to the Upper Midwest was to prove to Shay he wasn’t some chair drone who couldn’t get his hands dirty and to be of service to Shay. (Didn’t tell Shay about this.) Peyton picked up the blue Hyundai Elantra he’d booked. Just going to look around for some German guy at the Walmart, and then I’ll go home. Easy as pie. He’d made sure to bring his computer, so he could back her up if she needed quick hacking or research help. It was almost time for Shay’s alleged arrival at the Walmart. Johann Weiss sat in an Audi right behind him. Peyton drove off, and the Audi followed him, into a McDonald’s, where Peyton had decided to confront Weiss. The muscular, heavyset German tomb raider stepped out of his vehicle and walked around to the passenger’s side. “Why you following me, man?” “I know you’re following me and I should call the cops. Let them run your name and see if there are a bunch of warrants out on you.” “I think you’ll find that any crimes I’ve ever committed are unknown to the authorities.” “Whatever. You don’t know who you’re fucking with.” “You’re right about one thing, hosenscheisser. I don’t know who you are and I don’t care. I only care about one thing. The Goddess of Truth is mine.” Peyton saw his one chance and leaped forward, shoving his bony knee into the man’s crotch. Johann let out a loud groan and crumpled to the ground. Peyton throwing a small silver disc at the Audi, which exploded on contact. “Need to get out of this state, ASAP.” Peyton yanked out his phone and booked a seat on a flight. Soon, he’d be back on his way to L.A. In the airport, while waiting for his flight, Peyton had a woman fall onto him, probably drunk, and scratched him with one of her nails, then walked off. Peyton thought little of it.

Irina

Chapter Fifteen

Shay is able to drive back to the village, and finds no transportation out until the next morning, so goes to a coffee shop. A beautiful redhead stepped into the café, Irina, and the other patrons and the owner looked her way and tensed (See Irina). She sat next to Shay, and said she could help her. I do have a car I can give you, and I’m aware of your trouble with your rental vehicle.” Why do you want to help me?” “Because it’ll annoy certain people I don’t like.” Shay dipped her gaze for a moment. The woman’s dress remained dry, but water leaked from her hands, and a small pool was forming on the table. Further inspection of her legs and feet showed water under her as well. The woman was like a leaky faucet. “You the Queen of the Frogmen or something?” “Don’t ever compare me to those disgusting vodyanoy.” If it makes you feel any better, I took out a batch near the old church ruins.” “They’ve already healed. They can’t come into the village because they fear me, but if you leave in my vehicle, they can’t hunt you. And they’ll return in far greater numbers than you faced before.” Irina believes that Shay has a great destiny all of it, and wants to help her (See Characters-Irina) And she gave Shay a single key, nodding to a blue Marussia sitting outside. “Take the locket. They’ll wander away from the area once it’s gone.” Irina was using Shay to get rid of the frogmen. Shay got to Moscow, onto her flight, messaged Peyton. She messaged him several times, and he did not respond. She was beginning to be worried. When she returned to Two, she found him in his bed, his sheets and clothes sweat-soaked. He’d not even changed into pajamas. Vomit stained the bed and the floor, and the man looked as a green as a vodyanoy. “Shay…” he moaned. “I made a big mistake. Assassin… poisoned me. I think. Got me… outside of the Warehouse. Not compromised. Way far away.” Shay takes him to Dr. Chao, a personal contact, will be OK. Peyton tells her about the incidents, she is proud of his loyalty and inventiveness.

Osiris

Chapter Sixteen

Shay and Peyton go out to eat to celebrate another successful conclusion. Peyton goes for tacos, Shay for BBQ. Shay was pleased the Peyton had taken initiative, but Peyton was still eager, too green, and if he were going to survive, he needed to learn that bravery and loyalty weren’t enough, not by themselves at least. Peyton wants her to check out a potential apartment he’s looking at, to rent, away from Warehouse Two. A loft, in Manhattan Beach. ”The point is, you want this place, you get this place, but if you don’t get those security upgrades in, you’ll end up dead at the hands of a hitman. You do the paperwork, I’ll help you move some of your shit over. Welcome back to independent living, Peyton.” Peyton was in the apartment buy that evening, when something scratched at the door, a small orange tabby. The animal’s lack of collar and matted fur suggested a stray. The cat purred and rubbed against his hand. . “I need something to call you. How about Osiris?”

Vinama Figurine

Chapter Seventeen

The Professor approaches Shay with another job. “Are you familiar with the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple in India?” (See Locations-Sree Temple for explanation of the job). They agree.

Chapter Eighteen

Shay went to the temple, and prepared for her entrance through the pond, and underwater tunnels. Shay found a small grove of trees near a corner of the rectangular pond, and slipped on a diving mask and headlamp before connecting a small water-tight bag to her belt. The bag contained the key things she’d need once she was out of the water. Inside were a gun, a few magazines, the temporary knives from Tubal-Cain, a folded up tactical harness, her phone, her smartwatch, the flute, and some boots. She bit down on a tankless rebreather, and entered the pond. Five minutes passed when her hand pushed into the wall. It was if the wall swallowed her hand. A quick exploration with both hands revealed a circular tunnel behind the apparent wall. Technology, clever lighting, or magic ? Her navigation through the mazelike tunnels brought her to her destination. A gilded golden door covered with an elaborate carving of Vishnu. Inside piles of gold, golden idols, and jewels littered the low-ceilinged chambers. Inside the cavernous stone chamber, piles of gold, golden idols, and jewels littered the low-ceilinged chambers. Shay blew on the flute, and waves of vertigo overwhelmed her, resulting in the statue of Vishnu resting atop the serpent sat in the corner inside the chamber. Suddenly, a barefoot Indian man in a thin dark robe stepped around a corner, frowning. He was really a snake, a naga, a cobra, disguised in human form. Shay fought it, beheaded it, and went back down the tunnel.

Alison

Chapter Nineteen

Shay back at home, reviewing what had happened while she was gone. Brownstone calls, asking for her help in watching Alison (at his place) while he hunted up a safe place for her. Shay agreed, but Brownstone owes her a favor! Shay goes to his house, meets Alison, and takes her to her own place. Brownstone’s house too OCD. They’d get in trouble there! Alison explains her special talent to Shay, seeing the energy of souls. Shay better understands how she is changing.

Shay, Personal

Chapter Twenty

Shay volunteers to help Brownstone take down the Harriken. Brownstone refuses to allow her to help him unless she proves she has the skills, so she tells him of her past, as a killer, and how that had developed, starting at fifteen. “I was a killer; cold-blooded, methodical and efficient, but not an assassin. Assassins are pussies who can't be bothered to get blood on themselves. They shoot from a distance. I wanted the people I killed to know that I was the one taking their life, to know I had the power. One night it caught up with me—what I’d become. So I walked out of my house as it went up in flames and left my old city and life behind. . I’m like you—I think some people deserve to die. Now I just want to make sure I’m only killing people like that.” Brownstone took her along with him.

The Harriken and Nicole

Chapter Twenty-One, Twenty-Two,Twenty-Three

Brownstone takes her to his warehouse, to get gear for the foray, including his necklace. She watched him put it on, and watched it sink into his neck, wondering what the hell he was. They proceed to Belmont House, the Harriken base. The two of them suit up, and head out to say hello, and good-bye. Shay and Brownstone fight their way through floors of men, p and down flights of Harriken, and into the basement, where they rescue Nicole, Alison’s mother, a Drow Princess, who gives, as her dying gesture, the heritage of the Drow wish, for brownstone to pass on to Alison when she was ready. Nicole then goes out to take HER vengeance on the Harriken. She drifts upward, in a black mist, at her ending. (Please read the Chapters for the details.)

Walt

Chapter Twenty-Four

On the way home, they had stopped by Alison’s house, and killed her Father, who had sold both Nicole and Alison to the Harriken. When they got to Shay’s house, they told Alison everything, and she found Brownstone’s to be brighter than ever. Alison was pleased that Brownstone had taken care of her dad, as well.

Tiamat

Chapter Twenty-Five

Shay went to Alison’s home, and took everything she thought Alison might want, including some potentially magical artifacts that were in a safe. Back with Brownstone, they discussed what might be the best for Alison’s future, and decided on placing her in the School of Necessary Magic, where she would learn of her potentials, and how best to control and manage them. Peyton calls with a new job offer, but Shay would have to leave that night. Time-sensitive. She gets back to Warehouse Three, and found that he had packed her gear already. No killing. Just a trip to the Great Serpent Mound, an over 1300-foot effigy mound built by the Native American Fort Ancient culture. There’s a recently discovered cavern, sort of magical spell wearing off is the theory. “Archaeologists recovered an artifact inside recently, as in yesterday. They’ve not publicized it yet, and they don’t want to move it until they understand it better, because they’ve done some tests and know it’s magic. They’ve not even mentioned discovering the cave to the general public. The whole area has been sealed off.” “Our boy wants me to grab this artifact then?” “Nope. He wants you to destroy it, and he won’t say why, but he will pay a million for confirmed destruction of the artifact. All you need to do is smash it up and grab a handful of the pieces as proof of the artifact. He’ll pay out based on that.”” “I thought so too, and I checked into it.” A picture of a tall humanoid skeleton with double rows of teeth, elongated jaw, and long claws was on the screen. “This skeleton is eight feet tall.” “This was found in the same chamber as the artifact.” Peyton swiped again and revealed a picture of a worn clay bowl covered with glyphs. “This is the artifact.” “What about these glyphs?” . “That’s where things get interesting. They resemble ancient Akkadian cuneiform.” “As in ancient Mesopotamia? That’s a long way and time from the Native culture that built the mound.” . Really old version too, we’re talking pre-third millennium BC.” Translation? “Darkness swallows. Tiamat. New souls. New flesh.” He shrugged. “That’s all I got, and there are lots of words missing between each of those phrases.” The client’s trying to hide his identity, but he’s bad news, Shay. Major ties to dark magic underworld. I’ve been able to sniff out that much.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

Shay gets going, and appears at the cave site, thinking it’s too easy. No one was even guarding the cave entrance. They had a few cameras set up, but they wouldn’t last a minute against her once she closed on them. The lame gates they’d set up along the approaching roads were easy enough to drive around, and she’d not spotted any cops. It was like they were depending on their pathetic closure announcement to keep people away. Security by obscurity meant no security at all. Her feed died. LOST CONNECTION TO DRONE ALPHA FOUR. Shay narrowed her eyes. She flipped up her goggles and tapped away at the control app. She couldn’t ping the drone at all, but her phone signal was still as strong, which meant no jamming. Someone had taken her drone out. Shay checked her knives and gun then stepped out of the truck. . She didn’t have to win some epic fight. She didn’t even need to recover the artifact. All she needed to do was smash the thing. They were out there and watching. They had no reason to destroy her drone otherwise. The recently uncovered cave was about another 200 yards away, near the center of the mound where it twisted up in a near-U pattern. She tapped a button to switch to infrared mode. She spun back around. Four human IR signatures lit up her display like Christmas lights. Four shots rang out, and four bodies were down. Shay kept on with her efforts, her recent experiences having taught her that just because something went down didn’t mean it’d stay down. She made her way inside, finding the skeleton and the bowl in a small cave. Shay let out a long sigh. Even if the bowl was some sort of evil chaos-demon summoning artifact, the idea of destroying history made her stomach churn. Shay shot the bowl to destroy it. She grabbed several handfuls of the shards from different places on the ground and slipped them into her pouch. Shay made her way into the cave entrance and pulled out a couple of grenades. Her stomach tightened, and she made a mental note to consider avoiding any job that required her to destroy historical evidence. Shay checked again to make sure the four she had shot were still down. The four men she’d shot before still lay exactly where she left, but dozens of heat signatures were making their way through the woods toward the cave. Several of them towered over the others, their bodies too broad and their limbs too long to be human. Shay sprinted toward the woods. She opened up with her gun and emptied her clip into the charging men. she continued her charge back toward her rental truck. She switched back to IR mode and chanced a look behind her. A solid mass of heat signatures moved together now. Shay threw open the truck and jumped inside, yanking off her AR goggles with one hand while starting the vehicle with another. The engine roared to life, and she threw the vehicle into reverse before spinning around. It’d be a short distance over the grass and back to the main road. Her job was to take out the artifact. Which she had done.

Peyton, The Adamantine

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Upon returning to Two, she noticed that Peyton had started dismantling the walls, and was also thinking of getting a car, as he would now have to travel to work. He also wants to go back to his home-town, to visit his dad’ grave, have some closure. “How you gonna bury the hatchet with a dead man? You gonna bring along a necromancer?” “I want to visit his grave. It’s a perfect time. My family’s out of the country. There’s zero risk.” “You want to go visit that grave? You’re gonna end up in a grave, you fucking idiot. You go with me to NYC so I can visit my father’s grave.” “Why would I do that?” “Because I know where you can get some adamantine.” “You son of a bitch. You found some, and you’ve been holding out of me.” Rage mixed with respect. The more Peyton learned how to set up leverage to protect himself, the longer he’d last if anything ever happened to Shay. “You’re a fucking idiot, but whatever, you have a deal.” Peyton wanted to make peace with himself, and to bury a picture of him and his dad at the grave. So they went there. She didn’t care about going six feet down, just far enough that they could hide Peyton’s picture. Peyton and Shay go after the adamantine. Larry Patino wants $100 million for it. Shay and Peyton want to steal it from him. They were to meet in a local shop where Patino was supposed to deliver the metal. On the outside, it looked like any other jeweler in New York, but the place served as neutral ground for the local criminals. The key to the operation would be hitting the target hard and fast. If they lingered, NYPD might show up, SWAT or even an Anti-Enhanced Threat team, and then she’d be screwed. As Shay approached the delivery Lexus, a drone landed on top of it, and the car stopped. No energy. The doors to the car flew open and Patino, a stocky, balding man rushed out, a suitcase handcuffed to his wrist. Three large men in suits emerged from the car, guns drawn. Shay whipped her pistol out of her float print handbag and put a round into each of the guards. Shay demanded the suitcase. The handcuffs around his wrist clicked open, and Shay snatched the suitcase away and sprinted toward her next target at a subway station. The plan hadn’t anticipated so many reinforcements, but she wasn’t worried. She grinned. The roar of the oncoming express train brought a grin to Shay’s face. She dropped her gun for a moment and grabbed her last few surprises in her handbag and tossed them toward the men. A loud bang echoed as her flash-bang went off. She followed up with two smoke grenades a moment later and ran not for the train, but for a door farther into the station. She arrived at a utility access door. An electronic lock denied her entry, but she swiped a small, thin black card, a universal decoder, and it clicked open. Shay slipped into the door, ignoring the shouts, screams, and thick smoke wafting around the subway station. She ran down a narrow hallway and hit a stairwell before pulling out her phone. “Let’s just hope your map is accurate.”

The Gnome

Chapter Twenty-Eight

A few days later, Shay grinned at Tubal-Cain as she set the open case containing the gray bars of adamantine on the table in his back room. “Impressive and unexpected.” I can make your knives. They will be well-balanced, almost impossible to break through normal means. They will stay sharp without needing your help and they will be light-weight. But, as I said before, they will cut only what you expect them to cut.” “This is your bonus, Miss Carson. Information. Grayson doesn’t know it was a Drow, you see. They have a more practical target, something they understand, a human who might be using magical artifacts. They think it was the bounty hunter. They’ve started looking around for ways to increase their power against magic and are talking to some dangerous sorts of people. Very dangerous. I can’t say when they’ll come for James Brownstone, but when they do, they’ll bring powerful magic with them.”

When she got back to Two, there was a new communications system in effect, which Peyton had created and installed while she was gone. Oh, and if you’re wondering why I didn’t just send you a text, I wanted to test the new system. It has applications other than sending messages. Shay hadn’t planned on a few road bumps, including Peyton, Brownstone, and Alison, but she’d dealt with the situations and not ended up dead or exposed, which was all that mattered. She smiled at the thought of all her new friends. “Fuck. I don’t just have a life plan. I think I actually have a life.” She burst out laughing as a smile spread across her face.