“Okay,” Shay whispered. “Any visions?”
Lily shook her head.
“Can you trace the coin?”
The girl lifted her divining rods, and they turned slightly. She let out a sigh of relief and nodded. It’s still way off. I think about a hundred yards.”
Shay grinned. “Close enough. Here’s what we’re gonna do now. First, Peyton’s gonna buzz them with the drone to get their attention. Be really obnoxious about it.”
“Sounds fun,” Peyton commented. “I can do obnoxious.”
“Don’t I know it,” Shay and Lily muttered simultaneously.
Shay chuckled. “Anyway, after that, I’m gonna get the rest of their attention. Lots of noise and nonsense, but not a lot of shooting unless they want it. Lily, you go straight to the coin, dig it up, and run back to the SUV.”
“But what if you need me to back you up? What if they try to hurt you?”
Shay snorted. “I’ve taken on way more guys than this by myself. We’re not gangsters looking to prove shit. We’re tomb raiders. The artifact is everything. You concentrate on that, and you let me worry about the rest of these assholes.”
Lily nodded.
“Okay, you stay here until I tell you to go. You ready, Peyton?”
“Yeah, I’m ready.”
“Wait for my signal.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Shay snorted. “Don’t call me that again, or I’ll pull a gun on you when I get back.”
She used the cover of the pines to make her way closer to the other team’s vehicles. She was surprised that their guards didn’t seem to be doing much to monitor the perimeter.
Should have hired better guys.
“Anything?” shouted Daisuke in English.
“No,” replied his partner.
The other men shouted their negative results.
Good. At the rate they’re going it’d take a while for them to hit the location based on what Lily said. Just need to lead them away.
Shay wouldn’t hold back if the men tried to kill her or Lily, but gunning down a half-dozen men might be a harsh lesson for the teenage elf. Unlike Shay, she hadn’t transitioned from professional killer to tomb raider. Maybe the girl wanted to be a different kind of tomb raider. Maybe she even needed to be.
She’ll have to learn to defend herself, but wanting to waste Yulia isn’t the same thing as me taking down people left and right because they’re in my way.
“Okay, Peyton, get their attention.”
The distant buzz grew louder and closer as the small drone zoomed toward the area. The men looked up, and the two guards lifted their rifles.
“We’ve got company,” one of the guards shouted. He squeezed off a burst, only narrowly missing the drone.
“Geeze,” Peyton shouted through the earpiece. “These guys are trigger-happy.”
With the attention of the men diverted, Shay took her chance to rush closer. She stood on the other side of the vehicles just behind the guards. The loud report of their rifles rang in her ears as they tried to take down the juking drone.
Nice flying, Peyton.
Shay reached into her harness and pulled out a small dart gun. Previously, she hadn’t worried much about taking people alive, but Lily’s continued presence on missions reminded her that on some occasions it might help.
It also never hurt to test-drive different equipment. Since some of her personal investigations pitted her against the government, it’d also occurred to Shay that at some point she might have to break into a government facility, and murdering large numbers of federal agents and soldiers wouldn’t be the best way to keep her freedom or her life. Trying non-lethal alternatives on her tomb raids would help hone her techniques.
The tomb raider lifted the dart gun and edged around the corner of the vehicle. With two quick hisses, the gun fired its sedative-filled missiles. As she ducked back behind the SUV, the guards grunted and batted at their necks.
“What the fuck?” one of the guards yelled. “I’ve got a dart in my neck. We’ve got a sniper…in…the…woods.”
He collapsed face-first to the ground. His partner joined him a few seconds later.
Shay holstered the dart gun, then pulled out a five-franc coin and waved it above her head. It wasn’t like any of the men could tell what it was from yards away.
“Looking for this little piece of history, boys?” she shouted.
“Get the coin,” Daisuke screamed.
Shay smirked. She wished they were in a city so she could lead the men on a little parkour-fueled chase, but the alpine forest would have to do. She spun and sprinted away, the remaining four men right behind her. None went for their weapons, but from what Peyton had said they didn’t have any.
You guys are lucky I’m not a little more ruthless, or you’d all be dead now.
The men continue to shout and chase her. Shay headed in the opposite direction of her vehicle. After thirty yards or so, she had to slow down because the men were falling behind.
You guys need to do more cardio.
Shay let them gain a yard every once in a while as she continued leading them away from Lily.
After a few minutes, Lily’s voice crackled in her ear. “I’ve got it, and I’m on my way back to the SUV.”
“Great, Lily.” Shay let out a loud cackle.
The wrong coordinates thing was annoying as shit, but this is kind of fun now.
No longer worried about them following her, she cut a hard turn and picked up the pace. The yells of the men grew distant, and soon she’d lost them.
“Do you have eyes on them, Peyton?”
“They are kind of wandering around in different directions looking for you.”
Shay chuckled. She hurried back to their SUVs and tossed the franc coin on the hood of one—a little tip for their help narrowing down the location.
Sweating from the exertion, she ran back to her vehicle. Lily was already in the passenger seat, staring at a worn gold coin.
Shay threw open the driver-side door and hopped in. “You’re sure that’s it?”
Lily bobbed her head. “If it’s not the coin, then it’s another magic coin. She patted a rusty metal box on her lap. “And it was the one in
