Two of the men yelled and charged Shay at the same time. She smirked until she saw the man’s hand reaching behind him.
Shit. Do I go for my gun?
Shay spun to avoid the first man, but her hesitation allowed the other man to flip his butterfly knife into a ready position.
A third mobster circled her. Apparently, they all sensed she was the greater threat. Lily was still doing a good job of dodging and returned a quick jab or two against the huge thug. He grunted with each hit, but she hadn’t managed to land a strike anywhere that might take him down.
Shay stepped back to avoid the swipe of the knife, still unsure if she should pull out one of her weapons. Two of the men rushed her from the other side. A palm strike to the first one’s throat sent him to the ground gasping, and she followed with an elbow toward the other, but the man blocked it with his arm.
His friend used the opening to rush forward, and he slashed at Shay. She hissed as the knife made contact. Blood dripped from her side.
The tomb raider gritted her teeth, resisting the urge to end everything in a hail of gunfire. Her side throbbed.
Fucker.
Lily peppered her opponent with quick strikes. He stumbled, and his movements slowed. She was wearing him down.
Got to finish this shit up.
“Fuck this,” one of Shay’s attackers yelled, and he went for his gun.
Shay ignored the other two men and leapt, bringing up her knee. The would-be gunman’s head snapped back, and he collapsed to the ground. His gun clattered against the sandstone paving.
A hard yank on Shay’s arm brought her around. One of the thugs had gotten his hand on her.
His knife friend charged, holding the blade low. Shay slammed her elbow into her captor’s face several times until he dropped his arm and grabbed his blood-gushing nose. She leapt to the side, and the knife fighter threw his blade.
Shay hissed in pain as the blade embedded itself in her shoulder.
This is what I get for not just killing all these assholes.
Lily landed a nice solid kick in her enemy’s stomach, and he groaned and fell to his knees. The three punches that followed knocked him to the ground.
Shay’s two wounds ached. She took a quick step toward the knife guy and throat-punched him before he grabbed his gun. She shoved the falling man into his friend.
They stumbled together, which gave the tomb raider the time she needed to finish her approach. A roundhouse kick knocked out the first man, and a few quick jabs had the other on the ground moaning.
Shay stomped toward the only man in close to fighting shape. He knelt on the ground, blood still gushing from his nose. She slammed a fist into his face to knock him out.
Some of the enemies lay unconscious, and some were awake but groaning. The homeless man they’d been beating before had long since run.
Lily looked at Shay with concern. “You okay?” She shook out her fists, wincing. “Sorry I couldn’t help much.”
“You did well, especially given your size. A lot of girls your size couldn’t take out a normal man, let alone a thug like Goliath over there.” Shay sucked in a deep breath. “I didn’t want to have to kill anyone, so we did well, all things considered.” Her wounds weren’t deep, but they weren’t scratches either. “I’ll live, and we’ve made our point. Let’s get the hell out of here.”
They jogged away from the beat-down mobsters. Shay glanced over her shoulder and barely resisted a laugh at a sudden realization.
You lucky assholes. I’m the kinder, gentler Shay. And damn, you wouldn’t have liked what James would have done to you.
“I think that’s enough sightseeing for one day, Lily. Let’s hop in the car so I can get some bandages on. Then let’s get the fuck back to Hartford, and fly the hell back to L.A.”
Shay eyed the ten-foot diameter pipe that led off into the darkness. LA’s underground nuclear escape tunnels were a relic from a time when the local government laughably thought they could provide a path to the mountains for people to evade a nuclear holocaust. The decades had passed and the worries about nuclear annihilation had given way to worries about magic, but no one had ever bothered to seal the tunnels.
The tomb raider had already returned the borrowed magic rings to Tubal-Cain. Now, she just needed to drop off Lily with her friends, even if the idea made her uneasy. She wished Lily would decide she’d rather live in a warehouse than some creepy-ass tunnels, but the girl had insisted on returning to her friends.
What am I even thinking? Lily was doing fine before she ever met me, and the more she’s around me, the greater the chance I’m gonna have to explain to James why I’ve kept her a secret.
But every girl has a few secrets, right? And better than anyone, I can understand not wanting to leave behind friends who actually have your back.
“Every time I’m in here I feel like some killer clown-monster is gonna jump me,” Shay grumbled, desperate to focus her mind on something else.
Lily laughed from in front of her. “Who knows? Maybe one will, but I bet you could take him.”
“Maybe. I’ve tangled with a lot of weird shit since becoming a tomb raider.” Shay shrugged. “Good place for your friends to hide. I’m guessing even AET wouldn’t want to wander around in here for too long. You could hide a whole vodyanoy army down here.”
“Vodyanoy?”
“Creepy frog guys.”
“And you’ve run into these things?”
Shay nodded. “Yeah. Russia’s a fun place. I’ve made a lot of interesting friends and enemies there.”
The deeper they traveled, the darker it got. Shay used her wrist light to cut through the gloom.
Lily led the way through the forks and other junctions as they continued deeper into the tunnel system. The girl hummed quietly to herself, and Shay didn’t say much. The
