“From what Peyton found out,” Shay explained, “all the artifacts stolen from the tunnels are being stored on the thirtieth floor.” She patted her back to make sure her pack was secure, then checked her junior partner’s.
We might be able to pull this off without having to even shoot anyone.
Shay snorted.
Yeah, right.
Lily frowned. “What?”
“Don’t worry about it, kid. Just me being cynical.”
Lily looked around and frowned. “Still confused about some of the plan. Why didn’t we just enter from the top?”
“It’ll be easier to go up and then go up a little more to escape than the opposite.” Shay blew out a breath. “Which means we’re gonna have to stick to the plan. Floor entry to make our way up to the thirtieth floor to find the artifacts.”
A savage smile appeared on Lily’s face. “As long as I get my father’s artifact back, I don’t care what we have to do.”
“We’ll get it, Lily. Just have to be smart about it. The guards on the lower levels are just rent-a-cops, but once we get to the thirtieth floor, we risk running into gangsters and Mafia. Luckily, there’s only a few there. That’ll make certain things simpler if we have to get rough.” She shot at a glance at the girl. “Seeing anything?”
Lily shook her head. “Nope.”
Shay grinned. “At least you’re not seeing us get shot. Peyton, what’s the camera and alarm situation?”
“I’ve got the camera feed to them looped now,” he reported through her earpiece. “Should have a good hour before anyone notices. All external alarms have been disabled. They’re all alone.”
“Guess it’s showtime.” Shay jogged across the street, Lily close behind. She slowed as she hit the sidewalk in front of the building and tossed Lily her magical lockpick. “Don’t lose that.”
“I won’t. You know this looks totally lame. It’s just a paperclip.”
Shay smirked. “It gets the job done. Now you do the same.”
Lily clenched and unclenched her hands a few times before jogging toward the massive glass entry doors.
The magical lockpick made quick work of the doors. Lily rushed inside and started running around and waving her hands. She shouted at the top of her lungs, although Shay couldn’t hear it through the closed doors. Thankfully, the girl had deactivated her microphone.
Just don’t get caught, kid, and this will be easy.
Lily disappeared from sight and Shay flattened herself against an outside wall, awaiting Peyton’s signal before making her entry. The timing on this might be tighter than she liked, but if the enemy was tipped off too soon, they might realize what they were targeting.
Her heart rate kicked up as the seconds ticked away. She’d still not gotten that used to joint operations with anyone but James, and he wasn’t the kind of man you had to worry about.
Did I just get Lily killed? Those might not be gang members or mobsters, but they do have guns, and they might be trigger-happy. Great reflexes can only do so much to save you from bullets.
“You need to move now,” Peyton’s voice crackled over the comm. “She’s got all the first-floor security guys on the opposite side of the building. They tried to call the police, but I blocked the call.”
Shay burst away from the wall toward the unlocked glass doors. She threw one open and rushed straight toward the elevator. Hiking up thirty flights of stairs and then taking on dozens of enforcers wasn’t a good strategy. It was time for a little laziness with the aid of technology.
She hit the UP button and waited, shifting from foot to foot and looking behind her. Painful seconds later, the elevator dinged, and the doors opened. The tomb raider stepped inside and pressed the button for the thirtieth floor.
“How are you doing, Lily?” Shay asked.
No response. Her stomach knotted. She could have just forgotten to turn her mic on.
“Lily? Turn your mic back on.”
“She’s fine,” Peyton reported. “She turned it back on, but there’s something wrong with the transmission. She’s shaken all the guards.”
Shay let out a sigh of relief. “Good.”
“Shit. Something’s wrong.”
“What do you mean, something’s wrong?” Shay gritted her teeth.
“I lost all the camera feeds. I think someone disabled all the cameras from inside the building. That means I don’t get the feed, but neither do they, even with the looping. Don’t worry, we’re still blocking their phone lines and the cell phone frequencies. If they aren’t using this frequency to transmit, they’re not talking to anyone.”
Shay stared at the floor number display as it ticked up. “They might be spooked by the intruder report. What was the last thing you saw?”
“A few gang members with tattoos, and a couple of guys in suits. Just a few of them.”
“No surprise there. Tío?”
“One sec.”
Shay pulled out her gun to give it a quick check and then reached inside to verify that her adamantine knives were in their sheaths. Tonight she anticipated rivers of blood if she ran into anyone.
Demon Generals and Russian Mafia weren’t like the thrill seekers of Hollingsworth. They were ruthless killers, but she’d show them what a real ruthless killer was like.
Huh. Guess it’s a good thing I don’t have any pets after all. Some asshole would probably end up killing my cat, and I’d have to go all James all over them and kill half of LA.
Shay smirked.
“Yeah,” Peyton finally responded. “I ran some quick facial recognition on the previous footage. Ninety-five-percent chance he’s one of the guys in the suits.”
“Good. I don’t like the idea of even a fragment of the Nuevo Gulf Cartel still being around. I’m not gonna go out of my way to find him, but if I run into him, I’ll say hi with a little lead.” Shay glared into the smooth, reflective metal of the closed elevator door.
The elevator abruptly
