Peyton stared at her. “Your gut? That’s why you’re hacking a satellite right now?”
“Not just any satellite. Needed one with the newer technology that can detect difference in density between water, wood and metals.” Shay looked up at Peyton. “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.”
DECRYPTION 100% COMPLETE.
Peyton opened his mouth to speak, but Shay cut him off with a raised hand and concentrated on quickly downloading the image feed. Silence reigned for thirty seconds.
FREQUENCY CHANGED. LINK LOST.
“Damn. They caught on quicker than I planned.” Shay blew out a breath. “Okay, I think I still got what I need.” She pinched and tapped on the screen to magnify some of the images. “There’s a lot of shit in the lake from previous expeditions. They were looking for the gold, but I’ve got a rundown of where they were all looking, so I can exclude them if they came up dry.”
“If it was just about using a satellite to image the lake, why hasn’t anyone done it before?”
“You already mentioned why. It was what tripped the alert.”
Peyton’s face scrunched up in concentration for a moment. The answer came to him as his eyes widened. “The earthquake?”
“Give the boy yet another gold star.”
“That’s getting really fucking annoying, you know.”
Shay smirked. “The earthquake shifted the sediment and sunken logs at the bottom of the lake, which affected the density of the bottom of the lake layers. The particulars aren’t that important. The point is the earthquake may have unearthed shit that was buried too deeply for detection until now.” The tomb raider nodded slowly. “Lots of good possibilities, but I have to make my move immediately.”
Peyton frowned, shifting his weight making the flamingos look as if they were walking across his pants. “You’re going to fly all the way to Germany on that little bit of information?”
“Austria.”
“Huh?”
“Lake Toplitz is in Austria.”
Peyton threw his hands in the air. “Okay, you’re going to fly all the way to Austria and go diving in some deep lake based off a few blobs in some satellite images and your gut?”
Shay leaned over one of the computers, typing. “Yeah, sounds about right. Well, and a shit load of background research I’ve done. Did you think I wouldn’t do my homework? Why the big protest?”
“Look, there’s a much better business model…”
“I don’t have time to debate this right now. Like I said, other people might have this information, so it’s time sensitive. I have to go. Now.” Shay spun on her Manolo heel and hurried toward the Spider.
“You should just listen to me. This is stupid, Shay.”
“Says the guy who was going to get his head blown off without my help.” She raised her hand and waved without turning around.
Peyton groaned as he called after her across the wide-open warehouse. “I’m only telling you it doesn’t have to be so hard. You don’t have to jet across the world on a few satellite images and hunches. You can work smarter, not harder.”
Shay opened up her car door and slid into the driver’s seat. “You’re good at getting information online. That doesn’t mean shit about tomb raiding. Yeah, research’s a big part of it, but so are instincts. I’m the professional here, not you.” She slammed the door and started up her car.
Don’t get killed while I’m gone, Man-Boy.
Shay’s first stop wasn’t the airport, but Warehouse Three. She pulled the car inside and waited as the metal loading door closed. She stepped out of the sports car and eyed the far less impressive brown van that sat parked near the door. As much as she loved her Spider, it couldn’t exactly hold a lot, and she still needed to get a decent amount of equipment to the airport.
Shay walked toward metal shelves lining the wall, eyeing the high-pressure SCUBA gear and thought over what else she would need.
Submersible drones. Definitely need a couple.
The woman stood with one hip cocked to the side, her muscular legs exposed in the short skirt, standing easily in the tall high heeled shoes. Her mind was focused on the details as she ran her hands along the yard-long finned craft. She’d need one to act as a signal relay, and one for her initial scouting. Despite what Peyton seemed to think, it wasn’t like she planned to jump in the lake without taking a few precautions.
More than a few divers had gone missing throughout the decades searching the lake. Some of them buried forever under the constantly shifting and dangerous logs. For all she knew, there could also be some sort of creature in there that was awakened as magic returned in the world. She didn’t want to have an underwater fight with some angry lake monster hungering for human flesh.
What else do I need? Waterproof-augmented reality goggles.
“Shit,” Shay muttered, picking up some goggles. She sighed and shook her head. Great AR goggles, just not waterproof, meaning all their scanning functionality would amount to exactly jack and shit except at the surface of the lake.
She didn’t have time to get new equipment. I gotta go with what I have. Any delay might end up with any decent treasure gone by the time she arrived.
I’ll just have to get something better when I get back. I can still scout with the drones before I hit the lake.
Shay marched over to another shelf and grabbed an amphibious needlegun and a box of magazines. She loved the weapon, even if she didn’t have much occasion to use it. Something about the flechette ammo amused her. It was like a semi-automatic gun spewing little metal arrows. Classy in a way her other guns weren’t.
I knew I
