“Is that really such an extreme request? You’ve taken on many dangerous creatures and beings before.”
“This is deep shit, and I don’t walk into deathtraps.”
The Professor eyed her, faint surprise on his face. “A day for the record books, Shay Carson showing fear.”
“Caution isn’t the same thing as fear.” The tomb raider snorted. “And I don’t have a dick, so you can’t shame me into throwing my life away to prove how big it is.”
The Professor guffawed at that. “I will keep that in mind, but let me stress that time is of the essence, and I have few other contacts with your combination of skill and resourcefulness. If the unpleasant wizard I mentioned before is raised from the dead, Miz Carson, it’ll cause a lot of complications—the kinds of complications that involve thousands of people dying in horrible ways before he’s finished off again.”
Shay narrowed her eyes. “And why isn’t Correk handling this? This sounds like something he should give a shit about.”
“Oh, I can assure you it is, but he’s also unavailable for far less domestic reasons than James. He’s a busy elf, and this coffin is but one of many things that threatens the world at the moment.”
“It’s not like this coffin’s the only thing in the world that can raise the dead. Maybe you should worry more about the cult than the coffin. Kill them off and no dark wizard, right?”
The Professor finished his drink and nodded. “I’m quite concerned with the cult, but it’ll take time to gather the resources and people needed to finish them off. I won’t bore you with the details, but because of the spells used to kill the wizard to begin with, this coffin is actually one of the few ways to bring him back.” He tilted his head. “Oh, and I’m willing to pay three times as much as for your last job for me. Consider it a combination of hazard pay and an expediting fee.”
“Can’t use money if I’m dead.” Shay shrugged.
“Which is why I’m willing to pay so much.” The waitress arrived with a new bottle even though Shay hadn’t even seen Smite-Williams look her way. He picked up the bottle with a broad smile. “Come, Miz Carson. You can help save lives and make a lot of money.”
Three times? Damn. That’s a lot of money, and the Professor wouldn’t give me a job that was a suicide run, if only because he knows James would rip him apart.
Shay sighed. “Fine. I’ll do it.”
Chapter Fifteen
Shay stared at her weapons rack in Warehouse Five. The Masamune tachi was an obvious choice to fight sword-wielding ghosts. The blade might be her only way of defeating the enemy. Going after them with knives played to their reach advantage.
She’d collected a decent number of artifacts, but she still lacked in quality gear for all occasions.
Need to start doing raids just to pick up gear. Always giving away the good stuff. It’s like I’m half-afraid to store too many artifacts here.
She let out a long sigh. Poison-filtering cups and magical lockpicks wouldn’t help her defeat an invisible army of spectral swordsmen, and from what the Professor had told her, she wouldn’t be able to rely on technology to detect the enemy. That wasn’t exactly a minor hurdle.
Shay needed a different solution, some way to track the enemy. She had the weapon. She just needed the eyes.
Maybe, just maybe…
She sucked in a breath. Lily’s divination could help her pinpoint the enemy. If it were working well, it’d be trivial for the tomb raider to cut down the invisible swordsmen, and neither of them would be in real jeopardy. If her powers failed, though, Shay would be responsible for the girl being in unnecessary danger. Then again, unnecessary danger was practically the definition of what it meant to be a tomb raider.
Shay shook her head. Lily was her best bet, and if the Professor wasn’t blowing smoke up her ass, she didn’t have time to fool around trying to figure out the best way to handle the invisible guardians.
“Okay, this is probably a terrible idea, but it’s the best one I have.”
She whipped out her phone and called Peyton.
“What’s up?” the hacker answered.
“I need you to get gear ready for me. Two sets, and get me two tickets on a supersonic to England, along with a rental vehicle that has reasonable cargo capacity. I need to go to a village called Ashmore.”
Peyton chuckled. “England, again? Got more demon poultry to take out? Its cousin challenge you to do a duel?”
“Nah, something more basic. This time it’s against an invisible army of swordsmen for control of a magic resurrection coffin.”
“Well, as long as it’s something normal and not overpowered chickens.” Peyton chuckled. “Two sets, though? Lily coming?”
“That’s the plan. She there right now? If so, let her know I need to talk with her.”
“Nope. She went back to the tunnels.”
“Okay, thanks. I’ll stop by there. Talk to you later.”
Shay hung up and grimaced. She didn’t have time to wander through subterranean Los Angeles to find the teen, but maybe she’d get lucky.
She tried to dial the girl, but after several rings, the call went to voicemail. That didn’t surprise Shay. Tunnels deep under the ground had proven to not have cell phone coverage.
I hope she’s somewhere near the entrance and not in the middle of some maze fighting a minotaur. We don’t have time to mess around.
“This is a bad idea,” Shay muttered as she stepped into the huge pipe. She had a pretty good notion of how to navigate to where Harry had performed his bird calls, but a pretty good notion wasn’t the same thing as certainty.
Her wrist light cut through the darkness as she pushed deeper into the tunnels, looking for any sign of movement, two-legged or otherwise.
Funny how this place puts me more on edge than the damned cursed ancient tombs I’ve actually raided. Those
