A maze of dull gray hallways confronted them on the other side of the door. She’d memorized their path, but could always grab the downloaded map off her phone if needed. Ten minutes of walking brought them to an elevator.
Shay tapped in the code for the Class-D magic vault and swiped her badge over the security pad. Lily stood with her back to her, keeping watch for anyone who might have gotten an idea to follow them.
The elevator chimed and rumbled down.
The job was so easy she felt like she should be whistling or humming. The elevator chimed again, and the doors opened into a darkened corridor lined with doors. They made their way halfway down to Vault 67-D.
A gray metal door blocked the entrance. A small computer screen sat to the side, and there was a keypad above the silver and black plaque identifying the door.
After Shay tapped in the code, the door buzzed and the bolt retracted. She spun the heavy metal wheel and pulled open the door. Metal shelves extended back about twenty feet, each holding black boxes with lids.
A blue orb winked into existence in front of them.
Shay held her breath and rubbed the medallion underneath her parka. If the artifact given to her by the client didn’t work, she might have to deal with some difficult magical security. The orb circled her for a few seconds before zooming to a stop right in front of the medallion. A second later, it vanished.
“Okay, I guess that’s that. Nice.”
“This is pretty easy money,” said Lily in a hushed voice.
“Yeah, that’s when you need to have your guard up the most. Stay close and let me know if you get a vision.”
The tomb raider and the gray elf went down the shelves until Shay finally located Box 34.
Shay smiled. She reached into her parka to pull out the medallion and waved it over the box. A series of glowing glyphs appeared and vanished just as quickly. She removed the top without any surprises. It was time to see what was inside.
“What the fuck?” she growled.
“What? What is it?” Lily looked over Shay’s shoulder into the box.
Empty. Completely empty.
Shay gritted her teeth. Had the client screwed up? Or Peyton?
Her gaze flicked to the nearby boxes. She had no idea if the medallion would grant her access to them, and searching blindly in a magical vault in a facility filled with people didn’t strike her as a good idea.
“Wait right here.”
Shay rushed into the hallway to look at the computer screen and tapped a few commands into the pad. Peyton had taught her a few useful commands, but she hadn’t thought they would be important. Turned out she was wrong.
The last few lines of the access log displayed.
“Damn it.”
According to the log, someone had been in there just minutes before Shay. She might have even passed them in the hallway.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
Shay ran back to where Lily was waiting and asked her, “Did you see anyone else?” as Lily shook her head. “Still no vision?”
“It doesn’t work in reverse. I never see the past.”
“We need to get out of here. Follow me.”
Shay closed the vault and they ran toward the elevator. It was too much of a coincidence. There was no fucking way someone had conveniently shown up to the magic vault minutes before her and not taken the beans.
She stood with her teeth gritted the entire way back up. Once clear of the elevator, she sprinted back toward the garage with Lily in tow, her head on a swivel. The kid had good tactical instincts. More than a few passing scientists eyed Shay like she’d gone crazy. Great way to mentor somebody. It is if you’re a tomb raider.
Shay burst into the garage and spotted the driver from earlier. The hood of his truck was up, and he was inspecting the engine.
The man looked over at her. “Doctor Calvers?”
“Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Got a question for you.”
“Oh, if it’s about this, don’t worry. Just a routine check.”
“No, I have a different question. Has anyone left the facility since we arrived?”
“Just Doctor Petrova. I think that was her name. I don’t know, I wasn’t her driver. She flew in yesterday.”
“Where is she?”
“She took a snowmobile out to inspect some monitoring station.” He shrugged.
Shay jogged toward a line of snowmobiles. “I need to talk to her ASAP. We’re gonna borrow one of them.”
“Oh, you working with her? You know where she is?”
“Yeah, we collaborate at times, and I know the station,” Shay lied. She nodded to the closed door. “Can you open that?”
“Sure, one sec.” The man pulled out a remote control. He pressed a button, and the massive doors rose, the hum and grinding of metal echoing in the garage.
The tomb raider laughed as she spotted the keys in the vehicle. She hadn’t even worried about it, but it made sense. Vehicle theft wasn’t high on the list of concerns in a place like this.
Shay mounted the vehicle as Lily got on the back, and started it, zooming out of the garage before the doors had risen all the way.
“So far, I’m not sure what I’ve added to this whole thing,” Lily yelled from the back.
“It’s a first run. No expectations.” Besides another kink in the mission.
A fresh trail lay right outside. The mysterious Doctor Petrova might be nothing but another scientist, but she was the only immediate lead the tomb raider had. If it didn’t pan out, she was going to have to figure out a different way.
The snowmobile tore through the snow as Lily hung on tight. After a few minutes, Shay realized she was heading right back toward the airport. Her doubts about Petrova being a scientist grew.
Some bitch took my damned magic beans. But who? Did the client set me up?
Shay ground her teeth together. A conspiracy was unlikely. It wasn’t like this was the first time she’d shown up on a tomb raid when someone else was poking around. She was only
