Where there was nothing before, now the air near the edge of mesa glowed with a faint lavender.
At least she’d confirmed the portal’s location. That left one possible solution for getting through it—one she didn’t like at all.
“Fuck, this is stupid.”
Shay moved closer to the edge, still gripping her hook. She sighed. Just because she had to risk her life by throwing herself off the edge of the mesa didn’t mean she had to be a complete fucking idiot about it. Well, no more of an idiot than anyone who jumped from hundreds of feet up.
The cave was watching, or so the translation said. The question remained how much the damned cave understood what it saw.
“Okay, attempt number two.”
She leapt off the edge and resisted the urge to close her eyes. A few seconds later, a cocoon of warm and humid darkness surrounded her. The darkness gave way to flickering torchlight, and she landed with a thud against hard-packed earth.
“Damn it!”
Shay winced and rubbed her butt before looking around.
The cave was so large she could barely see the other side and torches circled the walls. Stone pillars stretching to the ceiling filled the chamber, several inscribed with the Seal of Solomon.
The shadow coyotes didn’t seem like the kind of creature or spirit that would be summoned with that kind of magical symbol, but Shay was a tomb raider, not a witch.
She reloaded her gun and stepped toward the glinting pile of turquoise and gold lying in the center of the chamber. She frowned as she looked at the treasure.
Her target, the Ring of de Niza, wasn’t anywhere obvious. Digging through a pile of gold and turquoise would be far less fun than it sounded, especially when her enemies were close.
Something buzzed behind her and Shay spun, her gun raised.
A huge coyote appeared after a bright lavender flash ten feet above the ground and the snarling beast landed on all fours. Two more arrived a few seconds later and they all charged, growling.
Shay cleared her magazine into their bodies and reloaded as the animals disappeared into smoke.
Her breathing ragged, she stood rigidly, her gun pointed at the entrance. She waited for a couple of minutes, heart thumping, but no other coyotes arrived.
They know where I am. Shit. Need to hurry this crap up.
Shay’s immediate worry disappeared with a dark snicker. It didn’t matter in the end. She wouldn’t be able to escape the cave without the ring anyway.
“Guess it’s time to start pawing my way through some treasure.”
Finding the ring didn’t take as long as Shay expected, but it still took longer than she wanted. The simple turquoise ring with a silver band didn’t look like much, but it would net her two million dollars when she handed it to the client.
Shay took a deep breath. She’d committed the activation phrase to memory and practiced. An easy task usually, but not so simple when it was in an archaic language.
She slipped on the ring.
“Let this ring bind this spot to the next under the watchful gaze of Raphael,” she chanted in Old Castilian.
A wave of heat shot through Shay’s body, followed by a chill to her very bones. She collapsed to her knees and closed her eyes, and after a long moment, a familiar warmth encompassed her.
Shay opened her eyes. She was back in the center of the mesa, but a pale man in a safari hat standing a few yards away kept her from sighing in relief. His fingers grasped a thin onyx wand, and a faint black energy field hovered in front of him.
He smiled. “Excellent. I didn’t want to risk going in, but the fact you’re here shows that you’ve found it.”
Glad she hadn’t holstered her gun, Shay fired at him, but the bullets burst into smoke as they hit the energy field. She kept pulling the trigger until her gun clicked empty.
The man coughed. “It’s rather smoky, don’t you think?”
“Fuck you, asshole.”
“I wish to applaud your bravery, Aletheia.”
Shay chuckled to herself. At least the asshole only knew her alias. “So, you’re Coyote Boy?”
The man tapped his wand against his forehead. “Something I learned a long time ago. Sometimes it’s easier to draw from the patterns already inherent to an area.”
“They weren’t so tough. Just took a few bullets.”
“True, but they kept you busy.” He shrugged. “And now I’m here.”
“Why didn’t the defensive spell on the mesa force you to jump down there?”
The man grinned. “Who says I didn’t? You’d be surprised at the kind of tricks I can pull off with my magic.” He shrugged. “Now, I’m not an unreasonable man. I’ve no desire to kill a woman as beautiful and resourceful as you.”
Shay snorted. “Could have fooled me. Your damn coyotes have been hounding me since Sedona.”
“They have, but you survived, didn’t you? You’ve proven you’re worthy of being spared, and I’m willing to grant clemency in this case.”
“How nice of you.”
The man opened his free hand and gestured. “Give me the ring, and you walk away. You can’t even appreciate the true power of that ring. It’s worthless to someone like you.”
“Actually, it’s worth two million dollars.”
He laughed. “Ah, of course. After all, you do this for love of money.”
“Something like that, but I doubt you want this ring to help save orphans or some shit.”
“That’s true.” The man’s smile vanished. “Hand it over, or you die here in the middle of the desert and no one will ever find your body. You’ll serve no other purpose than feeding scavengers.”
“I’ve got another suggestion.”
“What’s that?”
Shay charged as she reached for one of her knives. He laughed. She slashed with her knife, but her attack was stopped cold as if she’d smashed the weapon into a brick wall.
The man arched a brow. “It didn’t disintegrate. Interesting. Apparently, you do keep a few magic toys around after all. Alas, not enough, tomb raider.”
“They’re specially made, asshole.”
The tomb raider backed away, her knife still up. Her adamantine knives might be able to withstand
