“You mean, don’t tell him about the t-e-e-n-a-g-e-r.”
“I can spell you idiot.”
Shay could hear Lily through the phone.
“Well, you never know if there’s school in underground sewer tunnels.”
“Nuclear escape tunnel, asshole.”
“Shay, I can tell him without mentioning certain details.”
“I’ll handle it…and Peyton? Good job.”
“No problem. Talk to you later.” He disconnected.
Shay sighed. She’d give the bounty hunter a call and then get back to work. He was a big boy who could take care of himself. The man had already killed hundreds of Harriken, after all.
A true killer thought and acted differently. They were way more dangerous. She should know. She used to be one.
She dialed the bounty hunter to deliver the bad news.
Stupid, Brownstone being so cocky. I don’t think he gets that a load of hurt’s coming for him. He should be a little more worried.
The male ego was an impressive thing, both fragile and powerful at the same time. Brownstone seemed to relish the idea someone would be sending hitmen after him.
Shay had thought she’d all but talked herself out of giving a damn, but now she was forced to admit a little concern had crept in.
It wasn’t her problem. She was halfway across the world, and the Professor needed her to be Shay the Tomb Raider, not Shay the Brownstone Babysitter.
She tried to keep reminding herself that the bounty hunter might not have any reason to worry. The man could take a direct shotgun blast with the help of his magical amulet. That meant the average hitman going after him didn’t have a chance.
The issue was the not-so-average hitmen. Witches, wizards, and other creatures might be able to pierce his defenses.
Shay shook her head. She needed to concentrate on the job at hand. Once she finished in Japan, she might consider offering Brownstone help if he wanted it. Maybe.
She frowned at something up ahead and pulled her car to the side of the dirt road.
Fucking perfect. Just what my day needed.
Two black SUVs with tinted windows were parked farther up. Someone had already beat her to the site. A look to her side had her groaning for a different reason.
She liked a good workout, but not in the middle of a job. A massive series of stone steps led up a steep hill to the temple site, flanked by dense trees on both sides. She’d seen the stairs in the satellite image but seeing them in person drove home just how many she would have to climb to get to the summit.
Huh. Gotta respect all the guys who carried up the shit they needed to build the place.
She didn’t spot the torii, the traditional crossbeam Shinto gate, at the top of the stairs.
That surprised her, because she’d examined satellite photos of the area. Although much of the temple structure had caved in, the gate had still been standing in satellite images taken only a few days prior. Maybe the SUV boys’d had something to do with that.
The tomb raider wasn’t about to hike all the way up the stairs to be ambushed.
It was time for a little drone survey. If the other tomb raiders spotted it and shot it down, at least she’d know where they were.
Before deploying the drone, she headed over to the SUVs and peered inside each. The tinting was light enough that she could tell both were empty.
Shay headed back to her car and pulled out the drone. She placed the machine on the ground, then activated her control app on her phone along with the surveillance feed.
The drone whirred and rose into the sky. She kept it close to the tree line as it followed the path of the hill and stairs. Even if the other tomb raiders spotted the machine, it was better than her stumbling into them and taking some bullets.
She saw debris on the stairs as the drone rose. Pieces of scorched wood. Rocks. Some metal.
“What the fuck?”
Shay stared at the feed, not sure what she was seeing at first when the drone reached the top of the hill. There should have been the remains of an old Shinto temple, but instead, there was only a large crater.
She increased the drone’s altitude. The scorched remains of the base of the torii still stood at the top of the stairs. The wood on the stairs appeared to be pieces that had been blown from the structure.
The massive crater spread across most of the clearing that had once marked the temple area. Trees around the area had been knocked over and were also scorched as if some massive bomb had blasted the area.
Shay sighed and fished out her phone. Under most circumstances she’d never think about contacting a client in the middle of the raid, but this wasn’t most situations and Smite-Williams wasn’t most clients.
“Tell me the good news,” the Professor answered, his voice slurred. It was hard to understand him over the weak connection.
“The other guys got here first, and it’s obvious that they didn’t bring a special bag.”
“Oh…I see. One moment.” The slur in his voice vanished.
Shay continued to stare at the drone feed, marveling at the thoroughness of the destruction. Not a single scrap of the temple remained.
The Professor cleared his throat on the other end. “My information suggests you can still find it.”
“I’m telling you it’s gone. This place is a crater.”
“No, it’s just released some…energy.” The Professor chuckled. “Unfortunately, my information also suggests it’s likely no longer in Japan, but I can’t tell you where it is now.”
“You can’t, or you won’t?”
“I can’t. I want the item in question, so if I had more information I’d give it to you. The fact that it’s already had a little incident will make it harder to track for some time, but fortunately, it also makes it less dangerous and useless for some time. This may be something we have to put on a backburner for a while unless you can find some other clues.”
“Uh, that’s less than helpful.”
“Aye, but you’re a professional,
