The tomb raider continued to follow the tracks. The dark vehicle and white-clad rider appeared in the distance, but she was closing slowly on them—too slowly. They’d likely hit the airport before she arrived at this rate.
Shay took a deep breath and tried to stop her heart from pounding. She could still salvage this mess. Whoever had grabbed the seeds couldn’t just hop on a plane and take off, which meant she still had hours to get the beans from them—by violence if necessary.
The radar tower of the airstrip rose in the distance. The snowmobile ahead suddenly stopped, and Shay frowned. She continued driving toward the person and cut the throttle as she closed, stopping when there was still a good ten yards between them.
The person dismounted. Their thick parka and goggles blocked their face.
“Doctor Petrova?” Shay called. She wasn’t going to gun down some random scientist without proof the woman had stolen her beans.
“Ah, that explains it.” The response was female, cold, and Russian-accented. If the woman was a fake, at least she was Russian. Something about the voice was familiar, though.
“Explains what?”
The other woman pulled up her goggles. A familiar face, Yulia Solokova—Snegurka the Ice Witch. A jagged scar ran across her left cheek, likely a memento of Shay’s last encounter with the woman.
“Huh, you’re not dead.” Shay unzipped her parka. She was going to need her gun. She could feel Lily’s arms tense.
“No. I’m not.” A blue crystal wand dropped from her parka’s sleeve into her right hand. “It’s funny that we should run into each other like this. Very funny.”
“I’m guessing you took my beans.”
“They aren’t yours, now, are they? And you brought a playmate. Who is that with you?” The Ice Witch tried to get a better look but Shay was blocking her line of sight to Lily. Save that surprise for just a moment.
Shay shrugged her left shoulder. Her right hand rested on her pistol. “You could hand them over. We don’t have to do this. It’s nothing personal, you know. Just the job.”
“I could say the same, Aletheia.”
The tomb raider narrowed her eyes.
Yulia nodded. “Yes, maybe I know not who you truly are, but I know what you are, tomb raider.” She ran the tip of her wand over her scar. “I don’t even begrudge you this. It was an important lesson in overconfidence.”
“Why are you even here?”
“To get the beans, of course.”
“You’re a mercenary guard, though. Who the fuck are you guarding?”
Yulia smiled. “I’m many things.” She laughed. “But this is pointless. Don’t you realize the situation you’re in?”
“What situation? It’s not like I’m unarmed.”
“No, I wouldn’t imagine you’d be that short-sighted, but you really think you’re going to take down an Ice Witch in the middle of the land of snow and ice?” The witch sighed. “Foolish.” She snapped her wand up and shouted something in Russian. Six blue stones shot from the ice in front of the wand. A blue hexagonal pattern appeared.
Lily suddenly lurched forward and yelled, “Duck,” in Shay’s ear.
Shay and Lily dropped behind the snowmobile. Shay knew how this show ended. Lily’s vision kicked in to save them from the ice spear that hit where Shay had stood. Shay opened up with her pistol, but each bullet fell to the ground encased in ice.
“Damn it.”
Preparation meant different things to different people. Shay assumed that being prepared for the milk-run job would involve just bringing her gun and her knives. Now she wished she had a few grenades or a pit to blow the witch into like she had on Oak Island.
Still, she had brought Lily.
Have to close on her. If my knives can win against that possessed elf, they can help me against Yulia.
An icy arm rose from the snow right beside Shay and smacked her, sending her sprawling but not before Lily got off a shot of her own, grazing the Ice Witch. A look of recognition came over the Ice Witch’s face followed by a sneer.
“This is going to be more fun than I thought. Two birds, one icicle.”
Shay rolled to her side. A thick wall of ice shot in front of her. She fired, but her bullet didn’t penetrate. Three other walls shot up encasing her. A good jump would get her over the top, but there was no way she could accomplish it without the Ice Witch blasting her.
“Fuck.” Shay glared at the Ice Witch through the ice keeping her gaze fixed on her. Less chance the Witch would notice that Lily had seen it all coming and was in position. The teenager fired off another shot, the bullet passing through the Ice Witch’s thigh.
She let out a surprised yelp and spun around, her wand in the air, an icicle already on it way at Lily. Lily neatly slid underneath it but not before a rising wall of ice knocked her in the head, her body slamming against a second wall, leaving her unconscious on the ground.
Shay beat her fists against the ice wall, leaving spidery cracks down the sides.
Yulia stepped forward, smiling, but her breathing was ragged, and her hand was pressed against her thigh. She flourished her wand. “As I said, you have no chance. You were lucky in Canada, but here the entire land is my plaything. You were doomed the minute you decided to follow me.” She turned toward her snowmobile, glancing over at Lily and raising her wand.
Shay yelled out quickly, doing her best to taunt the Ice Witch and draw her attention. “Aren’t you going to finish me off? I’ll be honest—it’s not like I’d spare you in the same situation.”
“No, you will live for now. Continue to live in your humiliation, Aletheia, knowing that you’ve been defeated and failed your client.” The witch snickered. “Vengeance is pointless if the other person doesn’t suffer first. But don’t worry, I’m not going to make this easy. After you’ve suffered enough, then and
