“Who’s the leader?” Shay demanded.
“This big asshole who goes by the name Tsuchigumo.”
“And where does he hang out?”
Johnny shrugged. “Don’t know. They are very tight-lipped about that shit.”
Shay snorted. The gangster had named himself after spider-like demons from Japanese myth, and given what she’d run into during her time in the country, they probably weren’t myth.
This asshole, though, is just some arrogant fuck, and I’m so going to end him.
“Okay, thanks. Your prize is that nice artifact and the fact I’m letting you walk out of here. I suggest you avoid being around the Phoenix Gang for the next few days. I have a feeling they’re about to suffer some lethal accidents.”
Shay sprinted forward, and the gangsters all scrambled backward with panic on their faces. The tomb raider didn’t attack them but instead ran and jumped, grabbing a low-hanging ladder on the side of the building. She leapt from the ladder to a ledge, then pushed off toward another ledge.
She quickly scaled the building and disappeared into the night. The slack-jawed gangsters stared up in wonder.
Chapter Eighteen
Shay took a few deep breaths as she loaded spare mags into her tactical harness. A quick call to Peyton had confirmed he was at Warehouse Two, not Warehouse Three, which would make concealing what she was about to do much easier. As far as he knew, Shay was following up on a few minor tasks for Tubal-Cain.
I told James the old Shay was dead, but here I am getting a bunch of weapons to go fuck up an entire gang.
She gritted her teeth. Killing someone in self-defense during a tomb raid was one thing, but she planned to track down men with the express purpose of murdering them.
Shay slammed a magazine into her 9mm and slipped it into a holster. She double-checked her adamantine knives, then several backup knives.
She reached up to check her auburn wig. The wig and contacts, along with a little putty to change her face, would be enough to keep people guessing. The triad members would obviously understand what the hell was going on, but they didn’t even know her name, and they were afraid of her and James already. After she killed the Phoenix Gang, they’d be even more scared.
James could probably handle the Phoenix Gang. After all, he’d destroyed a good chunk of the Harriken even when she wasn’t helping him. But his solution to dealing with an enemy group was to lay waste to everyone in sight, and it had a way of escalating until the situation was a clusterfuck.
Should I tell him? Does he have a right to know? The hit’s on him, not me, and here I am planning to go handle it without even letting James know.
Shay moved to a tray of grenades: sonic, fragmentation, and incendiary. She grabbed several frag grenades. Unlike with the triad, her plan didn’t involve survivors.
The problem with incendiary grenades was that their fires could spread to other buildings. She didn’t need to make trouble for non-gang members.
If the Phoenix Gang weren’t immediately stopped, everything would spiral out of control, just as it had with the Harriken. Sure, James could win against normal gangsters, but what would he do if a magical assassin showed up? The Collector had almost killed them both in Japan.
For that matter, if James didn’t know they were coming, he might not have a chance. His amulet protected him, but it wasn’t like he slept with the thing on. The man had already had his house blown up.
Shay picked up a submachine gun and inspected it before slinging it over her shoulder. Her 9mm pistol might not be enough.
Maybe an RPG if I have to knock on someone’s door the hard way?
The ex-killer-turned-tomb-raider took several deep breaths. Sometimes loving another person meant cleaning up problems they didn’t even know they had.
When she was out of the country and someone had used magic to pretend to be her, James had handled the problem.
I was annoyed when he tried to get Peyton to not tell me about the AET wanting me, but that was half his fault since I was helping him.
Shay sighed. If she handled the problem herself, there was no point in even telling him. There was no reason for James to worry about something in the past.
She picked up an RPG and blew out a breath. “Okay, Tsuchigumo, you’ve gotten the wrong woman’s attention.”
The thug smashed into the bottles behind the bar with a loud crash, several breaking open and spilling their contents all over the man and the floor. The man groaned and climbed to his feet.
Shay sneered. “I’d feel worse, but you’re the owner, and you’re a piece of shit.”
She hopped over the bar and slammed her fist into the man’s face. He flew backward and smacked against the bar, then moaned and slumped to the ground.
The man tried to go for a gun, but Shay smacked it out of his hand and had her 9mm pointed at his head a second later.
The temporarily-reborn killer narrowed her eyes. “I’m in a really shitty mood. You’re the fourth guy I’ve had to talk to today, and people keep trying to do what you did, which is feed me bullshit when I’ve got a really fucking simple question. Where the fuck does the Phoenix Gang hang out?”
The thug shook his head and spit blood at her feet. “I don’t even know who the fuck you are. Why should I help you out?”
Shay laughed. “Of course, you don’t know who the fuck I am. I’m new in town, but I’ve got business with the crew of washed-up losers.” She pointed her gun at his crotch. “Or I can leave you half a man.”
He winced and raised his hands. “Okay, okay. I’ll tell you. They’ve got this place in Florence. It’s a massage parlor that’s a front for whoring. The Happy Ending.”
Shay rolled her eyes. “Seriously?”
The thug shrugged. “I don’t work for them. They’ve just come by here a few
