“Yes, but the whole fucking point is that it’s not traceable to me. Otherwise I would have delivered it directly.”
“You’re being extra-cautious on this one,” Peyton said. “Why?”
“Let’s just say the occasional extra bit of caution leads to fewer blowbacks.”
Shay left out a mention of the possible survival of Snegurka. She wasn’t sure he’d handle the news well, but she couldn’t ignore that a powerful and very angry Ice Witch might be interested in tracking her ass down and freezing her in a solid block of ice. Whatever she could do to shield herself directly from exposure on this particular job was prudent.
Shay pulled into a parking lot, pointing her car away from traffic and left the engine running.
“Okay Peyton, there’s the contact. Maneuver the drone in.”
A suited man in glasses was visible on the camera feed. He was patiently waiting as the cargo drone lowered itself to the ground. The man reached out, and the drone’s cargo clamps released the small box it carried into his hands.
He gave a polite nod to the drone and turned to leave. He pulled out his phone and tapped something into it.
Shay blew out a breath. “Okay. Here’s the moment of truth.”
“What will you do if the client stiffs you?” Peyton asked.
Shay gave a dark chuckle. “I’ll track him down and make him understand that’s a lethal mistake.” An alert popped up on her phone, and she grinned. “Not gonna be an issue. I’m now a million dollars richer.”
“Do I get some sort of bonus pay?”
Shay laughed. “I’m not paying you anything right now.”
“Yeah, I think that’s called slavery. Not cool, Shay.”
“We should talk salary. Everybody deserves to get paid. How about I take you out for pizza and we talk about it? My treat. We need to celebrate anyway.”
“Fine. Just whatever we do, please don’t take me to Pasadena’s Best Pizza!”
Shay made a gagging sound. “I’m trying to celebrate, not torture you.”
The Spider pulled up outside of a place Shay liked but hadn’t been to in a while. Olio Pizzeria in Beverly Grove.
Peyton glanced around the area. “Hmmm…”
“What? This place has great pizza.” She poked him in the arm. “If you’ve been messing around with shit like Pasadena’s that proves you don’t know crap about picking good pizza.”
“No, it’s not that. I was wondering if this was near another one of our warehouses? I’m guessing you hit places close to your warehouses.”
Shay threw open her door. “Stop guessing, it’s safer for you that way. Get out and let’s go eat pizza.”
Peyton followed her inside the pizzeria. No customers sat in the dining room, and no waitress or waiter waited at the front to seat them.
“This is never good” Shay’s instincts kicked in and she looked for clues, motioning to the bar. She felt her muscles tense. “We’ll wait there.”
Peyton looked around, more interesting in finding a seat. “The wine any good here?”
“Yeah, it’s all right.” She looked out at the parking lot. Two more cars. Something is off.
They headed to the bar and took a seat.
Shay tapped her fingers impatiently against the counter. “Never seen this place so dead. There’s no way their quality went to shit that quickly…”
Someone cried out in pain in the back.
Shay narrowed her eyes. “Stay here. I’m gonna go check that out.” She slid off the barstool and moved toward the kitchen door.
On the other side, the owner was slumped over and holding his stomach over his stained red apron. Three gang members stood over him, their green bandanas and t-shirts and the skull tattoos on their faces identified them as part of the Demon Generals, a local Mexican street gang. Big ass bold for the middle of the day. From what she heard they weren’t that big of a threat in the neighborhood. Things keep changing all the time.
“Call the police…” The owner groaned, rolling onto his elbow.
The gang members turned and looked menacingly at Shay.
The largest of them gave her a feral grin. “Leave now, bitch, unless you want trouble.”
“Always with the bitch.” Shay sighed. “You see normally, other’s people shit isn’t my problem.”
“Good, we have no problem then. Get the fuck out of here.”
“That’s normally.”
“What the fuck are you saying?”
Shay shrugged, putting her hands on her hips. “It’s just I’m hungry and this place has good pizza, and you know, it’s hard to find good pizza. If you guys kill the owner, it’s gonna be an inconvenience for me. I’m asking you all nicely to go out the back door there and never come the fuck back.” She gave them her best bright smile even as her voice took on an icy edge.
The gang member laughed and waved his arm at her. “Get a load of this crazy perra.” His smile disappeared. “You think we won’t fuck you up, bitch? Just because you’re a chick?”
Shay cracked her knuckles. “I’ve got good news and bad news. The good news is my punch card is almost filled for a free slice and I don’t want anything getting in the way. I’m not gonna kill you. More good news, you’re leaving soon. Bad news is I’m willing to break a few bones to make my point.”
A thug rushed her swinging his fist, his fingers covered in heavy rings. Shay ducked to the side, jabbing the man in the base of his throat. She sent him flying back with a roundhouse kick while he was still gasping for air and holding his throat. He crashed into a stack of pizza trays.
His friends charged, but Shay danced around the men, easily avoiding their attempts to grab her. She leapt up, smashing her knee into the face of one man, swinging from an overhead pipe. Blood spurted from his nose and he stumbled back, groaning loudly.
Shay used the man’s falling body as a springboard to launch herself toward the other man. She slammed into him, wrapping her
