01 - Kill The Willing

This book takes place before Shay ever met Brownstone in the Unbelievable Mr. Brownstone Series. It encompasses her life from the time of her "death" as an paid killer, to her final development as a field archeologist, and her meeting with anticipated first meeting with Professor Smite-Williams, "Father O'Banion".

It includes the development of the relationship between her and Peyton, and the four retrievals they did before she got into the big-time: the Nazi Pins in the Lake, The Lost Dutchman's Gold, the Oriceran Stone, and the retrieval of the Golden Owl. When this book ends, she has yet to meet either Smite-Williams, or Brownstone.

Background and Introduction to Settings

Chapter One

Shay Carson, a hitman in her prior life, faked her death so that she could better start a newer, safer life as a field archeologist. But as she still maintains contacts with her old life, she noticed that an old friend Jefferson Peyton Coolidge, had a price on his head. He had been put out as a hit, so she came to contact him, and save his ass. He displays proper anxiety about her (She’s DEAD! He went to her funeral!), and believes her, as he had perhaps confided in a wrong contact. He had discovered some information that linked several members of Congress to a bunch of different organized crime groups. Mafia, Russian mob, Harriken, even a couple of problem Elves that might be involved with some shady Oriceran groups, and was planning to bank it for later use. He was the keeper of secrets for a lot of dangerous people. “The word is a lot of them think you’re about to leak that information.” She’d found evidence there might be more to the hit than worried gangsters, something more personal, but decided it’d be too much, too soon. Takes Peyton to her hotel, and disguises him, so she can fake his death. Thinks his family wants him dead, not his clients. Will take him back to LA, develop a new life for him.

Chapter Two

Peyton thinks he’s been kidnapped, she says he’s been rescued. Peyton has to get used to being dead and living in LA, at one of her warehouses. “I just don’t store anything important there. I have bigger plans. You’re going to take what I did and raise it to a whole new level. It’s why I saved your ass. The start of bigger things

“I have to live in a warehouse while you live in a condo?” “For now, if you’re going to stay safe and that means mostly out of sight. “if you stick your head up anytime soon, you will die.”

Shay explains what she does in her new life.

“Bottom line is I’m still breaking into the tomb raider business. I don’t have much of a rep, and I need to take care of that or it’s gonna be nothing but shit jobs for me. Right now, part of improving my rep is locating at least seven high-profile items.” She pulled a phone out of her pocket and tossed it to Peyton. “The list is on there. And keep the phone.”

“These are like finding marks when you were a hitman.”

“Exactly, but instead of people I plan to kill, these are items I plan to acquire. It’s my new gig, and I plan to be good at it. That may take some of your skills. You’re a gifted little bastard when it comes to finding that one piece of information that someone wanted hidden or everyone else forgot about but changes the game. It’ll help me get a better angle on jobs and potential dangers. I’m not a thief. I find old artifacts, particularly old magical items and recover them from places where people have forgotten about them… or buried them and then died. Since they’re dead, they don’t have any use for them.

“My business model is to research history and figure out how history’s been manipulated to hide Oriceran influence. Because where there’s Oriceran influence, there’s magic, and that means a lot of potential profit to be made. Once I figure out what might be a real artifact, I track down where it’s hidden, and then recover it. The key has been teaching myself to be an expert on history, the fake and the real. History gets rewritten by the winners, and now we know that a lot of history was crap to hide Oriceran and magic. You’re good at sorting crap from the truth.”

Peyton eyed her for a moment. “I’m good at researching information, not translating ancient scrolls or whatever.”

“I don’t need you to understand it, just find it. Information is information, and the more important the information is, the better hidden it’ll be. I didn’t save you because I’m a good person. I saved you because you have skills I need. That doesn’t mean we’re best friends all of a sudden. I’m trying to make a new life for myself, and I figured you helping me out would be a nice trade in exchange for saving your life.”

“Yeah, I get that. I also can help you with your business model. Refining it so that it’s beyond what you described.”

Shay shook her head. “You stick with figuring out where things are hidden and help with the necessary background information. Start with getting things set up here, and we’ll see about everything else.” And she went off to a meeting.

Chapter Three

Shay has tried to create a “normal” life for herself, and finds its enactment to be boring and inconsequential.

Bowling, the newest rock star, sex, men. So she lied about seeing her as she headed to the restroom someone, whom they then wanted to meet. The vapidity of her friends, if she could even call them that, struck her. She didn’t know why she couldn’t find someone who didn’t want to make her throat punch them.

Shay's Personal Routine

Chapter Four

Shay goes through a training work-out routine in Warehouse One (See Locations- Shay’s Warehouses). Extremely hard, physically. After showering and changing, she was back at Warehouse Two, to find that Peyton had gone though some of her crates, finding himself a pink flamingo sports shirt and a pair of pants. “It looks like some preschooler ate all his crayons and vomited all over your pants, and you didn’t bother to wash them.”

And then she tells Peyton how she collected on her own bounty money, by impersonating the lady who was supposed to have killed her, so she retired on her own bounty money, for having killed herself. And that’s why she had decided to change her life, so that she wouldn’t die, bleeding out in someone’s kitchen. And she had uses her killer’s body as her own, inside her burned house, using a little money so that the DNA matched.

Peyton starts trying to earn her trust by trying to improve her artifact alarm system ( “Spiders crawling the web and the dark web, mostly. They are looking for certain combinations of information.”)

The Nazi Pins

Chapter Five

Shay brings some hacking equipment to Two (quantum decrypter, and a router here that’ll let me interface with the signal receiving drone I’ve got outside.”) so that they could borrow a little microwave remote-sensing data from a satellite that happens to be going over an area I’m very interested in. Lake Toplitz,in Austria No gold. Most of the jobs I’m looking into involve things that are a little more portable. No one’s even sure there is gold there. The only thing we know for sure is that the Nazis sank lockboxes into the lake for a few different reasons. I want to find magical items. Some people believe they had the Spear of Longinus at the beginning of the war, and that’s why they were so successful at first. The higher-ups in the Nazi regime, especially Hitler, were really into occult and dark magic shit. They collected a lot of artifacts with alleged powers. Like they knew about Oriceran. I’ve found some information to suggest that there could be a magical artifact, an enchanted golden eagle pin that when activated with the right kind of magic can make a person super-persuasive. A few pictures in historical archives show Hitler wearing something like that. And not just any satellite. Needed one with the newer technology that can detect difference in density between water, wood and metals. The lake is a mile long, over 300 feet deep, and over a 1000-feet wide, and there’s always a chance someone else might be on their way. I need to really narrow down my search area. The scans should give me a better chance of figuring out where something interesting might actually be buried once I cross-reference it with my other info. And then the earthquake. The point is the earthquake may have unearthed shit that was buried too deeply for detection until now. Like I said, other people might have this information, so it’s time sensitive. I have to go. Now." And she left.

She first went to Warehouse Three, to outfit her expedition. (See Locations-Shay’s Warehouses), then to the airport (private plane), then a rental van, and she was in her work clothes (all black and a snug fit, with her long hair tied back). Little traffic on the road. She would stop in the village of Grundlsee for a bite to eat. She’d hidden everything dangerous beneath false panels, leaving nothing more than totally legal, if conspicuous equipment. The border guards took one look at the way she was dressed and immediately realized the implications of her cargo. Their only real response was to mock her as Fräulein Schatzjäger, Miss Treasure Hunter.She called Peyton – all still OK. If she died? “Then get my body, put it on a wooden raft, and give me a Viking funeral, along with some of the same kind of flowers from my first funeral.

Chapter Six

No traffic at the lake. Could pull close and unload. Shay surveyed the area with the drone, taking one last look around to make sure no one was nearby. She decided not to waste a lot of time. She sent the relay drone into the dense green water, followed by her main scouting drone. Had three possible spots t look.

The drone closed in on the first location three hundred feet down. The drone saw several large cracked open crates filled with empty beer bottles.

A twisted mass of rotted logs rested, layered one on top of each other at the second set of coordinates, inside of which were two rusted scuba tanks.

Shay started maneuvering the drone to the last of her three likely locations, another tangle of rotted logs. She piloted the drone through the maze to the lake bed. Four metal lockboxes lay half-embedded in the mud, two small, two large. The larger two were cracked open, the reflected gleam of the light on gold bars, even obvious through the AR goggles. Not an artifact but still gold, enough to make the trip profitable. The smaller boxes couldn’t fit gold bars, but they could fit a few pieces of magical pins. It was time to put on her diving gear and grab herself some treasure.

She swam down to the mass of logs, examined them tried a few pushes which cleared a narrow path down, decided to go into the mass. Shay swam over to the first of the smaller lock-boxes and tried to open it. She followed that lack of success with a quick bash from the handle of her knife to the rusted-out lock allowed her to pulled the top off.

Her eyes widened as she peered into a small pouch filled with diamonds. She carefully picked it up, gently slipping it into her mesh bag, then turned her attention to the other lock-box. A few strikes from the knife took out another rusted lock.

Several golden eagle pins sat inside the box, no hint of tarnish or damage on them. The magical pin had to be among them. As Shay reached down a jolt of electricity shot through her hand. She winced and yanked her hand back. The top of the lock box glowed a luminescent red. Runes burned themselves into the lid with no obvious source of heat. Shay’s eyes widened behind her mask as she recognized the symbols as Futhark, an old Germanic runic script. A bright orange pulse suddenly shot from the box. Shay reflexively threw up her arms, shielding her head. A trap! The trap started an earthquake somehow. Perfect! I’m 300 feet down about to be buried alive. She reached down again, but an invisible force and another jolt of electricity stopped her. Shay knew she couldn’t stay down there with an earthquake moving the logs, so she started to swim upwards. Her mesh bag of diamonds caught on one of the logs, and she was forced to cut the mesh away, but saving the diamonds. She made it out. “I still think I’m gonna avoid any underwater jobs for a while.”

A Look into the Past

Chapter Seven

For a few hours before her flight home from Munich, Shay stopped in a street café for coffee and a sandwich. As she was sitting there quietly, A man in a dark suit with close-cropped blond hair stepped in, adjusting his tie as he surveyed the café, a tense expression on his face. A faint bulk disrupted the lines of his suit, both a fashion crime and an indication he was wearing a shoulder holster. Shay thought he had come for her, but, upon watching, found that he had come for another old man in the café. She followed them, curiosity being the factor., as well as the fact that she liked killings. When she looked again, the old man wasn’t limping, but was all but jogging away from the hit-man. The old man pulled a sword from his cane, and a gun from his pocket. Regular people don’t carry around swords hidden in canes. That old man was another hit-man past his prime… just like Natalie. Just like I would have been if I stayed in the job. And she left. She had a flight to catch.

Chapter Eight

This last expedition confirmed in Shay’s mind that she knew what she was doing. She was the real damned deal and now could claim the successful location of two magical artifacts. Shay and Peyton go out for thin-crust pizza (the only kind Shay will allow) to celebrate. Peyton gets to talking about his family, and the disadvantages of being wealthy. Shay related facts about her family, a few, and they ended with a toast in Mountain Dew: To all of us who got fucked over by our families, may we control our destinies from here on out.”

The New Business

Chapter Nine

Shay’s new business barely profitable. Peyton an asset? She had known she needed him, but didn’t like giving up complete independence in the business. Maintaining five different warehouses and all her equipment wasn’t cheap. The various casual bribes she had to throw around for everything from keeping her warehouses secure from local scum to ensuring certain powerful people didn’t look her way, even accidentally were eating into the profits, too. Running out of money wasn’t an immediate concern. her previous career had left her with a generous savings. Some of it was hidden in various accounts throughout the world, while enough to start all over again was in a vault in the most secure warehouse. Decides to ask Peyton for business help.

The Lost Dutchman Gold

Chapter Ten

Shay asks Peyton’s advice on ways to improve business performances. Peyton wants to hit dark web forums, cross-checked with other info. Wants to investigate who might be interested (future owner), rather than who has already expressed an interest. Wants to mix in normal quests, as well as magical ones. Normal quests might pay the bills. Already has a client he wants her to interview.

Greg Abbot, current legal owner of the Lost Dutchman Mine, except that he can’t find it. Descendant of the original Peraltas. Has already funded other expeditions, failed. Many men have died, looking. Adolph Ruth, killed after allegedly finding a map to mine. Others killed, and not found. Curse involved? Will put $25,000 retainer up front,+ $250,000 if she finds mine, plus 4 bars of gold with legal mark on them, from mine, plus bonus, if more found. Shay bargains. $250,000 + 5% of any recovered gold, or $1 million if she finds the mine. OK.

Chapter Eleven

Peyton having second thoughts about Lost Dutchman Mine deal. But Shay makes the decisions, and her gut says this one OK. Going after the gold, not the mine. Should be in Baja California Sur. Remembered old books, old info.

Peyton worried, as that is Neuvo Gulf Cartel country, the one that wanted her dead, before. She was excited, perhaps because some of her own knowledge would help solve this case. Shay went to Warehouse Four, to do her research.

Dutchman Retrieval

Chapter Twelve

Shay in Baja Sur in a Land Rover. . Her plan was to locate the cache, then use a small cargo drone to transport all the gold, bar by bar, back to the Land Rover. After a simple drive back to town, she could unload the gold into the private plane she’d chartered and get the hell out of Mexico before any cartel assholes had a clue anyone had ever been in the area. She’d read the Nuevo Gulf Cartel was close to being pushed out of the area by another cartel. There was one statement she had found in an old reference that gave her concern. All those who seek the gold of the Peralta family should know that greed blinds a man to the truth. The phrase had been scrawled on an old map of the area. Shay had no idea if it was a simple moral observation or a riddle about the treasure meant to warn off seekers or help them find it.

Two plumes of dust following her. Avoiding being linked to a single dead body was easy, almost trivial. Trying to avoid attention when you left dozens of bodies in your wake, not so much. Minimizing deaths would be to her benefit both in the short and long term. The area offered plenty of places for good cover if she wanted to hide. But any good hunter didn’t give up on the hunt just because they lost sight of the prey for a few seconds. She would need to both conceal herself and give her pursuers another rabbit to chase. She found an overhang for the Land Rover, and covered it with a camouflage tarp. Would be hard to find.

Two white Escalades barreled toward her general direction, stopped, talked, continued. Shay pulled a drone out of the Rover, sent it into air, set off two flares, crashed drone. One of the cars went toward the drone’s crash.

Shay proceeded 100 miles further. The terrain had become impassable even for her four-wheel-drive vehicle, meaning the last leg of her journey involved a combination of climbing and hiking. No convenient mountain path presented itself as she closed in on the coordinates. Now that she was farther up the mountains, the cacti had given way to sparse shrubs and bushes. She wasn’t seeing much life of any kind, other than the occasional lizard scuttling away from her or a buzzard circling in the distance. (Or four of them?) No convenient mountain path presented itself as she closed in on the coordinates. Now that she was farther up the mountains, the cacti had given way to sparse shrubs and bushes. She wasn’t seeing much life of any kind, other than the occasional lizard scuttling away from her or a buzzard circling in the distance. Shay finally reached a sheer cliff leading to a deep canyon. A small ledge protruded from the cliff wall about one hundred feet down. She looked up at the rock face easily picking out small handholds and picturing the direction she would need to take.

Retrieval, continued

Chapter Thirteen

Shay descended to the ledge, and saw a small, narrow entrance, covered by a shimmering field, fading from opaque to translucent. Shay enters the cave, and is greeted by a lack of electrical usage. Also, a black animal seems to be rushing at her, screaming. Just a cloud of bats exiting the cave. Shay pulled out a smaller flashlight, made just for such occasions, as it ran on stored energy that wasn’t affected by the dampeners but provided a dimmer light. Shay pushed, spelunking further into the hillside, bringing her to a wider underground chamber. Several long, vertical, tight narrow cracks led farther into the cave, but no human, not even a child, could fit into them. She suspected the bats were making good use of them. Shay moved the flashlight back and forth to illuminate different parts of the chamber. The strong beam of light revealed four rotting wooden chests. She marched over to the nearest chest and set down her backpack, pulling out a pair of lined gloves. No electrical shocks this time. She tapped on the lid as the wood crumbled into small, jagged pieces. A stronger push moved the entire lid off the chest. The bars of gold inside gleamed in the light of her flashlight. She picked up a single gold bar, enjoying the heft of the valuable metal, and flipped it over, looking for the miner’s mark Abbot had sent in an email. A circle containing a stylized P set in a bull over the shining sun sat embedded in the back of the bar.

Quick removal of the other chest lids revealed more gold, and near the fourth chest, Shay’s breath caught as she spotted words clumsily carved into the rock wall above and behind the chest. The survivors believed the massacre of the Peralta family was a sign from God. A curse on the gold and the Apache that hunted them down were his instrument. The survivors hid the gold to protect people from the curse and used a spell to hide the entrance. Ancient Witch, I thank you for the spell that kept this hidden till I could get here...”

After loading the gold into the Land Rover, and driving into town, Shay saw that she was being followed by a black Cadillac. Shay slowed the vehicle and turned into a small dirt lot, waiting. The Cadillac pulled into the lot and slowed to a stop. All four doors opened, and three very large Mexican men in dark suits and sun glasses, stepped out, along with one tall, hulking woman. All of them wore holsters on their belt and were carrying automatic weapons. Shay chose her moment, then threw a small sonic grenade into the middle of the bunch. She then shot the four, smashed their phones with the butt of her gun and removed the SD cards, ensuring the destruction of any surveillance photos. She carefully picked up any shell casings and the remains of the grenade leaving no evidence that might somehow tie back to her and left the bodies for the vultures and the cartel to find. She had a plane to catch.

First mention of the Professor

Chapter Fourteen

After a good sleep, shower and breakfast, she receives a call from Greg Abbot. The cash was transferred, and he had a deal to talk to her about.

He has seen her as an investment into the future. He believes she is new at retrievals, and that she will definitely make a name for herself in the field. He wants to help her do so, as he has many connections to higher-end people and opportunities. She is a natural with skills others just talk about. He can make it all happen faster, and in return, she might do small jobs for him, here and there. He wants her to meet Father O’Banion, a connection who deals in retrieving magical artifacts, and is always wanting to meet people who can deal with special circumstances. As Shay thinks that magical artifacts translates to money, she agrees to meet with the Father.

Shay receives another visit, from an acquaintance she knows from sparring. Bella invites her to go out with her and a bunch of girls, dancing. Shay accepts.

Chapter Fifteen

Shay goes to Warehouse Two, sits with Peyton, clues him in with what’s going on. Peyton has set up his office with multiple screens, more computer stuff, non-traceable, new credit card. As she’s dressing to go out, Peyton calls her about a new job right up her alley. Will talk with her next day. Met with Bella, Kara, and Janelle at the Club (unnamed), and liked them right away. Club defined too busy, too loud, and crowded, and Shay liked it all immensely. Dancing with abandon, without worrying about the night ending in her strangling someone, or shooting them, or drowning a target in a toilet was giving her the feeling of a glorious release.

Peyton's Activities

Chapter Sixteen

As Peyton wants to develop into Shay's business more, he tells her of the ways in which he can help her. He's a specialist on magical history, and can help her find the good artifacts, even how to use magic in her assignments.

He has upgraded the office, and can help more on the research ends of things. Doing background checks on potential clients was an easy thing he could do. (Has also been hacking his families computers, and feels it was his brother that had put the hit out on him).

Went to check his research spiders, and found that he had attracted the attention of a monster hacker, who had already bypassed half of his false trasils and cut-outs. When the hacker was only two connections away, Peyton led him off, but was so upset that feared if Shay found out he had almost led someone to her, she WOULD kill him!

He was so upset that he went out for food, pizza, at Pasadena’s Best Pizza. Tasted like cardboard, and made him throw it all up. Maybe finding good pizza was, also, an art.

The Next Retrieval - the Oriceran Stone

Chapter Seventeen

Meeting Greg Abbot at A.J.’s Kitchen. Reasonable food, and far enough away from everything. Greg describes a client, $1 million on the table for delivery. “You’ll have to really want this one. There are some complications that make this a lot more difficult than the Dutchman gold. There are some rough characters interested in the same job. They’re working for a rival client and they are closing in. If you take the job, you’re going to have to deal with them. It’s not a question of if...” “I want the job. More importantly I want the million dollars,” Shay said in a low voice. “The job’s kind of a requirement for that.” . He pulled out a small piece of paper and slid it across the table to Shay.

“That’s the client’s contact info. Since you’re going to take the job, I’ll try and do what I can on my end to encourage him to hire you.” Shay puts Peyton on the case, to investigate the client, contact him online and exchange information that can’t be traced back to her. Make sure there’s a secure distance from me and tie it to my new tomb raider rep. Pizza Girl OK for an alias? Or what about Aletheia, Greek Goddess of Truth? She likes that one better.

Hired by the next morning, tells Peyton the short version. There’s an island off the coast of Nova Scotia called Oak Island. 1795, saw lights, movement there. Found circular hole cut into wall, no treasures. Many years later, a stone was found 90’ down, with symbols on it in a long-lost Oriceran language. Many people have dug in the “Money Pit”, rumors, have found nothing, and have obliterated the original site. Client wants second stone that should be there.

“I’ve confirmed there is another group on the move, and they’ve brought along some nasty help. A bunch of thugs calling themselves mercs.” “A little hired help doesn’t bother me. If I kill someone like that, at least I’m not gonna end up with half a country on my ass.”

Retrieval of the Stone

Chapter Eighteen

Shay goes to the island, starts to explore area, finds that Alpha Explorers Treasure Hunting Company has already setup, and has started their process. Alpha Explorers had a professional level of ruthlessness. More than a few treasure hunters and tomb raiders had ended up dead when sniffing around Alpha Explorers sites. Her focus was on their muscle, six mercenaries, many of them veteran special forces operators out of South Africa. An online rumor was circulating that an elderly Witch was working with them, as well. Once she closed on the site, she could easily deploy jammers, but that required her to first get close enough and avoid getting shot. The minute the jammers went on, the competition would know she was there. Need to be ready for that moment. Shay’s intel was on point locating the site. Her major problem was going to be securing the site.

Alpha Explorers didn’t appear to be digging in the existing pit hole, but instead had started their own sloping tunnel nearby. The hole was massive, easily ten feet in diameter, and the large cable running down the tunnel suggested they brought serious equipment with them. The cables connected to a massive array of batteries sitting in the back of a large military-style flatbed truck. After thirty seconds, the awful grinding yowl halted. They had discovered Shay, and the mercs were approaching. Shay switched on her jammers, and ran closed to the buildings. Shots were fired towards where she had been.

An important fact of human battlefield psychology Shay learned from her time as a hitman was that most people make the obvious mistake of assuming their tactics, strategies, and beliefs will be reflected by their enemies. Commanders in battle situations tended to assume their enemies have similar sized forces, if not more. After all, it only makes sense for someone to attack six men using six men. It would make the mercenaries cautious, and as she finished them off, she could all but depend on them to panic and overestimate the level of opposition. This was progressing nicely, until, after killing the mercs, Shay met Yulia Solokova. Sometimes you go by Snegurka or the Snow Maiden.” An ice-witch. Shay fought her, and found that she might be actually losing this one, until the grenades made a difference. The ice witch disappeared, and Shay, after re-loading went down into the hole.

Stone, continued

Chapter Nineteen

As Shay progresses down into the hole, the water becomes deeper, the mud heavier. Found evidence of prior excavation efforts, including side tunnels with ascending shafts, inactive robot diggers, other side tunnels. It looked like hobbled-together giant ants had pushed their way into the Money Pit. Whatever the Alpha Explorers had done, it must have punched a hole to a tunnel leading to the ocean surrounding the island, or tremors had shifted the soil, allowing the same result. Shay goes down the main shaft she thinks the Explorers are in. She reaches the level, and finds no one there. Wrong tunnel? Wrong shaft? A faint greenish glow suffused a mound of dirt at the end of the tunnel. She stood there in the tunnel, staring down at the glowing dirt, trying to decide the best course of action. The sound of the steady trickle of water convinced her she had one choice. Trust her gut and take a chance.

Shay pulled a small trowel off a loop connected to her backpack and started digging.

Several layers down she uncovered a small stone adorned with Oriceran symbols. The stone was a matte silver sitting in a glowing dome of light that prevented any dirt from touching it. Shay reached over snatching the stone from the field. Nothing happened. The stone felt warm to the touch, but not impressively alien or magical otherwise. She pulled out a soft cotton cloth from her backpack, wrapped the stone, and tucked it in a mesh pocket inside the backpack. “Time to get the hell out of here.” And she did, climbing the shafts as the Explorers blew up the tunnels under her, letting in more water. Shay gets to the surface. Gets to her boat, and motors away from the island, leaving only dead and dying, and water filling the tunnels.

Back Home Again

Chapter Twenty

Because she couldn’t bring Peyton to Warehouse Five, she had to bring the artifact to Warehouse Two, to Peyton, who was going to be very useful evaluating the true worth of potential artifacts. First things first, she needed to know what the hell she’d found on Oak Island. “I want to know what this is before I sell it off to the client. I need to know if it’s too dangerous to be sending out into the world.” “ They’re like little time capsules, really. I mean, they obviously have some magic to survive undamaged throughout the years, but they don’t do anything other than, you know… hold words. You seriously need to donate this to a museum. The few others that have been found are all in private hands.” “We have a client, and he’s going to pay for it. Just because I lie to a few people about being a UCLA archaeologist doesn’t mean I act like one.” She pointed to her chest. “I do this for the money. Got it?”

Shay put off the delivery till the next afternoon, by drone. “It’s shielded. It’ll save it from low-level EMP, and if it gets any frequency interruptions, it’s programmed to fly back to the safe point I programmed into it. An easy hand-off. If someone does try to take the cargo, you’ll sweep in and take them out, right?” Shay left out a mention of the possible survival of Snegurka. She couldn’t ignore that a powerful and very angry Ice Witch might be interested in tracking her ass down and freezing her in a solid block of ice. The drone reached the delivery point, allowed the pick-up person to take the package, and $1 million was deposited to Shay’s account. Peyton wanted to talk salary, and Shay offered to take him out to lunch, her treat.

Olio Pizzeria in Beverly Grove was her target, and when Shay walked in, it felt wrong. No customers, no staff.

She heard a cry from the back, and decided to go and check it out. Found the owner being assaulted by three members of a Mexican street gang, the Demon Generals. Shay convinced them they should leave, which they did, and she and Peyton had all of the pizza they wanted.

Chapter Twenty-One

Shay was at Warehouse Two, reading about the missing Explorers, when Peyton came in, a black look on his face. His dad had died, and Peyton needed to go back to Connecticut to his funeral. You can’t go to that funeral. You’re dead. Your siblings still have people on the lookout for you. If anything, with your dad dying, they’ll be on hyper alert to make sure you don’t pop up out of nowhere to peel away part of the fortune.” You were a rich boy ignoring the game you were playing with a dangerous crowd. “Telling yourself bullshit doesn’t make it any less bullshit. The only reason you’re not dead is because I saved your life, and now you just want to throw it away. If you leave, this place will be empty an hour after you get on the plane, and I’ll have a different phone number. Do what you want.” Thank God I never showed him any other Warehouses. Shay goes to Steel Gloves to fight off her upset. Does so, and drives the Hollywood Hills for an hour, missing Peyton all of the time, heading for Warehouse Two, to start to move things.

The Golden Owl

Chapter Twenty Two

Shay finds Peyton still at Warehouse Two when she gets there, argumentative, and pissed. . I’ll make your day and admit you were right. I’m not ready to deal with him, otherwise I would have left.”

Speaking as someone who has been dead longer than you, it’s not so bad once you get used to it. It’s useful in its own way.” “Useful? How the hell is being dead useful?” “Most people have to carry around their baggage with them forever, but once you’re dead, you can let it all go, reinvent yourself, and do it the right way this time. Come up with a new version of yourself. You have to accept that your old life is over as if it never existed. You’re never stepping back into that identity. If you’re willing, I can help you figure out the new Peyton. Hell, I’m doing it myself.” “I’m glad you stayed, Peyton.” “I know. Everybody needs a sidekick and these days a troll is hard to come by.

Shay was spending more time at Warehouse Two. No client to handle, spending more time with Peyton, pouring over historical research. Annoyed because Greg had not called with a meeting time with Smite-Williams.” Peyton spoke up. “What if I told you that I have a job to distract you, complete with a fifty thousand euro down-payment, and a hundred and fifty thousand euro final payout? The job is in Paris. Forty years back, a businessman named Francois Martine had his mountain chalet robbed by a high-end cat burglar. A real expert. French police even suspected magic was involved because there were no clues other than a missing owl, solid gold owl. “The client is Martine’s daughter, Elaine. She says the owl has been in her family for generations. There’s a bonus if we don’t press for details.” , And this is where it gets really weird.” Not that long after the theft, rumors popped up on the net. Someone claiming to be the thief said he had the owl and left eleven clues to its whereabouts with five in a cipher that no one’s been able to figure out.” (See Characters - Elaine Martine) for riddle clues)

“Elaine has additional information she recently came into that might narrow it down more.” “She already did after she sent the fifty-k non-refundable deposit.” “It’s our new company policy. Only way to do it. Makes the client have some skin in the game. That way, Elaine won’t hire six different hunters to up her chances. All or nothing kind of deal.”

“What’s got her motivated enough to part with that much money?”

“The key that will allow the ciphers to be broken. She’s passed along the five clues in decoded form.” “Don’t know. Didn’t ask. She didn’t tell. Look, from what I can tell this shit is straightforward. No one else is currently seeking the owl, so all we have to do is crunch through some clues.” “My business model is all about retrieving magic artifacts. Can’t back out because one of them belongs in a horror film.” “I should go get some equipment ready, get a plan outlined. Send me the information on the clues that you’ve already gathered, along with the other client communications. I can study it all on the plane.”

Peyton pushed, with a suggestion, that Shay allow him access to her other warehouses, so he could do a lot of the stuff for her. Shay stopped in her tracks and pivoted, placing her hands on his shoulders and squeezing enough to cause a little pain. “You don’t have the skill set to know what is needed and you don’t need to know those places yet. We’re becoming friends and coworkers but don’t forget who I am. Company meeting over.” Shay’s voice was calm and slow.

Peyton didn’t stop, showing her the picture of Warehouse ?Three on his phone, with its address. He had found it.

Peyton continued, forcing her continually to either kill him or listen to him more. He told her he was rigged with a dead-man’s switch, that would broadcast information to sources if he didn’t check in. “You need to decide if you can work with someone you can respect instead of something you can control. The way I see it, if you really want a different life than being a hired killer till the day your consequences catch up with you…” Peyton dug his fingernails into the palm of his hand, determined not to let the fear show on his face. “Then you have to make a different choice today. You trust me not to fuck up and lead a mercenary back here or sell you out and I’ll keep your secrets and help both of us get rich.”

There is a third option, she said. As they continued “jousting”, Shay was deciding what choice she had – a tomb raider or a killer? She chose tomb raider, and Peyton got to live for another day.

Golden Owl Retrieval

Chapter Twenty-Three

Shay was in Paris, sitting in the café indicated by the first clue, looking for the relevant locations mentioned. (See Locations - IFNE 01/misc for full details)

Saw the Louvre pyramid (mind) the oldest restaurant (body) the oldest Church (soul), forming a triangle, at whose center was an old mansion, which served as a living museum during the day. Shay entered the building late that night, unlocking the electronic locks by phone, searching the building from top to bottom, finding nothing out of place. Was she searching for the owl or for another clue? In the wine cellar, with thermal glasses, fond a hidden door, passageway to hidden room whose walls were made from skulls and femurs. Two tunnels branched. Shay too one, and after awhile decided it was the wrong one. Went back to the other, which led into a room. A high stone column decorated with a cross sat in the center of a chamber. A stone bowl sat atop the flat-topped column at about chest level. Thick lamp oil filled the bowl. Shay set the oil afire, and a giant wall of flame appeared, cutting the room into two halves. She decided that testing her faith meant going through the flames, so she did, finding the golden owl sitting in the now empty bowl where the oil had bee. And the flames had not even been hot. She had not even felt them ! She picked up the golden owl, and left.

Back Home

Chapter Twenty Four

Peyton was in Warehouse Three, learning Shay’s filing system, and complaining about its inefficiency the whole time. The golden owl was sitting with them, keeping company, allowing them to wonder about what its magic was. Shay realizes that they need a few magical contacts to consult for them. . Include someone who could help me out of a jam if I do end up with some weird magical injury. . I’m not looking for a field Witch or anything, just someone I can go to on occasion and drop some money in exchange for services.

Talked about him missing his family. “That’s gonna have to be something you learn to live with, Peyton. People like us… we all have places that don’t heal entirely. We just get used to the occasional stab of pain and keep going.

When Shay had gotten into bed that evening, the phone rang. It was Greg Abbot, telling Shay the Father O’Banion had wanted to meet with her the next evening at the Leanan Sídhe at 7 PM. She agreed to be there.

The Professor

'Chapter Twenty-Five

Shay dress to meet with the Professor in narrow black pants and a pale cream-colored silk shirt. She draped a long gold necklace around her neck and looked in a mirror as she put on a deep red lipstick. The pub was only 15 minutes from Warehouse One. Shay did a quick mirror check looking for tails or suspicious drones as she turned a corner, one hand pulling on the wheel. She let out a quiet chuckle. Changing careers from professional killer to tomb raider wasn’t earning her fewer enemies. Even before her first tomb raid, she understood how dangerous her new job would be, but it still struck her as ironic that she was routinely killing more people than she did when she was accepting contracts.

Shay arrived at the pub, surprised by the number of people there. More people meant more possible problems. She was surprised that the Professor had chosen this place. I all but live here, and the owner is a man that… let’s just say I trust him with my life, and appropriate arrangements have been made. As long as we talk in this booth, it won’t be an issue.” Pleasantries were exchanged, and Shay was surprised that the Professor knew her last name. Of course, I do. Don’t worry, Mister Abbot didn’t pass it along. He kept your details out of it, per his usual and I respect that. Require it even. Doesn’t mean I don’t do my own research. I’m very good at collecting information, and I don’t work with people if I don’t know their names and faces. It keeps everyone more honest. He wants her to get the Rod of Supay for him. Tells her she will be working with James Brownstone, a level 6 bounty hunter. She will deal with the artifact, Brownstone will deal with the Brujos Rojos, et al. Shay takes the job.

When Shay arrives at Warehouse Two the next day, there are already requests for her services – business is starting to get good!