“Thanks for the assist.”
Irina smiled, brushing her hair off her shoulder. “You’re welcome. Someday come back and visit.”
“I’m gonna have to go with a hard no for that request.”
The trip back to Moscow proceeded without any strange encounters, supernatural or otherwise. Once Shay checked in for her flight and made it past security, she called Peyton to check in.
After several rings, the call went to voice mail.
“Huh. He must be in the bathroom.”
Shay sent him a text.
Found the perfect jewelry. Made a new friend. Won’t be bringing her with me. Tell you about it when I get back. Boarding my flight soon.
Shay yawned as she stepped off the jetway into the boarding area. Exhaustion had seeped into every cell in her body, but it was still early evening L.A. time, which meant her helpful hacker would still be awake.
Peyton had never responded to her text, which was unlike him. But he could be obsessing over a programming task and forgot about the outside world.
Or out apartment hunting while I’m away.
Shay tried calling him. Again, it went to voice mail. She frowned, the slightest prick of concern settling into her chest.
Why the fuck aren’t you answering? I’m not your girlfriend. I’m the woman who holds your life in her hands.
She checked the security systems on all the warehouses from her phone. Everything was all green.
Shay started looking at the feed from each Warehouse Two camera. She spotted Peyton underneath the covers in his bed.
Taking a nap this early? He must have stayed awake all night to support me. Doesn’t mean I won’t bust his balls about it.
“Time to go check in.”
“Hey, Peyton,” Shay yelled as she entered the cubicle maze.
Even if he was asleep, he almost always woke up when she drove into the warehouse. It was hard to sleep through a massive metal door opening and closing and a sports car driving in.
Shay arrived at the man’s bedside.
Peyton lay there, 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.
His eyes fluttered open. “Shay…” he moaned. “I made a big mistake.”
Shay blinked. “I hope you didn’t eat that chicken I told you to throw out.”
“Assassin… poisoned me. I think.”
Shay forced down every retort or angry question that wanted to bubble up. Instead, she needed to confirm one thing before she could focus on him.
“Has the warehouse been compromised?”
Peyton managed to shake his head. “No. Got me… outside of the warehouse. Way far away.”
“Fuck.” Shay hurried over to the bed and lifted the sick researcher, draping his arm over her shoulder. “We need to get you some help. I reserve the right to kill you myself some day.”
“Hospital?”
“Fuck no. They get their hands on your DNA, it’ll raise questions we don’t want to answer. It’s time for you to meet Dr. Chao.”
“He’ll live,” said Dr. Chao, almost sounding disappointed. The balding Chinese-American man moved over to a sink to wash his hands after disposing of his thin blue gloves. “I’ve managed to neutralize the poison, but you’re lucky you brought him in when you did. Fast-acting shit. Nasty.”
“Can I talk to him?”
The doctor shrugged. “Sure. He’s awake, if weak. Don’t have him do anything strenuous for a while.”
Shay chuckled. “Normally, he doesn’t.” She pulled out her phone and brought up a custom app, giving it a few taps. “Your payment is on the way.”
“He can stay the night if you need, but for now, I’m going to sleep.” Dr. Chao gave her a tired smile and pushed through the door linking his make-shift clinic room to a hallway in the rest of his house.
Shay went and sat on the edge of Peyton’s bed. “Spill it. How the fuck did you end up on death’s door when you should have just been chilling in the warehouse?”
“I did something that paid off till it didn’t.”
“Be more specific.”
Peyton let out a groan quickly followed by a gassy belch. “I found out another tomb raider was close to tracking you down through your online identity. I messed with him, put him off the track.”
“When did it stop paying off?”
“Part of it involved me confirming directly that they’d taken the bait.”
Shay narrowed her eyes. “And what does confirming directly mean, exactly?”
“It means I flew to Madison to gets eyes on the mark. A rival tomb raider, Johann Weiss.”
“Are you fucking kidding me? Johann Weiss isn’t a guy you wanted to fuck with. He’s not as ruthless as me, but he’s damned close.” Shay groaned and rubbed a hand over her face. “That was stupid. So, what, Weiss spotted you and poisoned you?”
“Nope. I kneed him in the balls when I confronted him.” Peyton belched again. “EMPed his car so he couldn’t follow me and headed straight back to the airport. He didn’t come after me.”
Shay arched a brow. She didn’t know Peyton had it in him. “Nice moves.”
“Yeah, but he had someone at the airport, a chick faking being drunk. She scratched me with one of her nails. I didn’t think anything about it until I got back and started throwing up. By the time I knew I needed help, I could barely think.” Peyton shut his eyes and took in a deep breath. “If this is the part where you pull your gun and threaten me, let’s do it quick. I’m fading.”
“Nope. You already almost died. You get the point. That was a newbie move going there by yourself, but you had the right instincts. You were watching my back, and I appreciate it. Next time just lay the trail down and leave the ass-kicking to me, okay?”
Peyton groaned. “Yeah, no problem.”
“We still have to deal with the aftermath, though. Now he knows you’re linked to Aletheia.” Shay sighed. “I don’t want to kill Weiss if I can avoid it.”
“You don’t have to. He doesn’t know I’m linked to anyone.”
Shay furrowed her
