The Professor picked up his beer, letting out a sharp laugh. “Not much for small talk, I take it. Tomb raiders rarely like to talk. Too easy to let something slip. Very well, I’ve verified that you already recovered the treasure of Oak Island, the Golden Owl of Paris, and I’m pretty sure you pulled something valuable out of Lake Toplitz. You’ve been scoring some impressive wins.”
Shay blinked, resting her hands on the table. “You’re very well-informed.”
He grinned. “I hope someone writes that on my tombstone. My second choice is, the shell is here but the nut is gone.” He gulped down more beer, set his glass down and clapped his hands together. “Enough about the past. I care more about the future.” He looked up at her, locking eyes. “Well, I care about artifacts from the past, and the particular artifact I need you to collect.”
“Which is what?”
“The Rod of Supay.”
“As in the Incan God of Death and the Underworld? You play hard.”
“Ah, an educated woman, just as I expected. That’s delightful. Aye, the same.”
Shay nodded, taking her beer from the waiter. “And this is a magical artifact?”
“It is a rather nasty little magical artifact that I need to remove from circulation. It creates something that I think the average person would call a zombie.”
Shay winced. “Great.” A cool smile came over her face. “Don’t you think it’s a bad idea to give me all the gory details? You’re a lot more trusting than a lot of clients.”
The red-faced professor scoffed. “A successful job requires the gory details. As I said, I know a lot about you, Miss Carson. I know you get the job done, and I know when a client pays you, you treat him honorably enough. I don’t have time to play little games. I’ll pay you, you’ll bring me the artifact.” He shrugged. “It’s simple, and I imagine we both wouldn’t like what would happen if one of us made a move to screw over the other.”
Tension spread through Shay’s back and shoulders. His demeanor didn’t change, but his casual confidence filled her with unease, as if he didn’t care about death. Professor Smite-Williams, she suspected, was a lot more than an academic with a sideline in artifact dealing.
“Yeah,” Shay said, wrapping her hands around the cold glass. “It’s like you said. I deliver the artifact. I get the money. The terms?”
The Professor took a long drink off his glass, finishing off the beer. He exhaled, giving a hard tap to his chest with the side of his fist. “Five million for the successful return of the artifact.”
Her pulse raced at the mention of the huge payday. Real money.
“I have good information on the location of the rod. It’ll be simple in theory. Insertion, recovery, retrieval, payment.”
“If it’s so simple, why don’t you go get it?”
“I stay in my lane. It’s better that way.” He let out a low chuckle. “I need a professional to execute a simple plan because theory and execution are two separate things. First of all, the location of the artifact is under the control of some very unpleasant rebels.” The Professor hesitated… a question hanging in his mind. “It’s my understanding, Miss Carson that you’re good at dealing with angry men holding guns.”
“I can take care of myself in a fight.”
“Good. The second complication is there’s at least one other group interested in the Rod of Supay and they’ll soon be on their way to attempt to collect it.”
Shay nodded, the plan already forming in her head. “No problem. You understand that if necessary, they’ll be removed as contenders.”
“Oh, a foolish man who shoots at a beautiful woman deserves everything he gets, but I don’t think these men will shoot at you.”
She snorted. “Why’s that?”
“Because they prefer to use dark magic as a weapon. I presume you’ve heard of the Brujos Rojos.”
“The asshole Warlocks who kidnapped children from Happy Magic Land Amusement Park in Anaheim?”
“Among other things.”
Shay nodded, sipping her beer. “Yeah, I’ve heard of then, but I thought they were killed off.”
“Roaches can be quite resistant to pesticides.” Smite-Williams shrugged, pressing his lips into a thin line.
“You want me to go after an Incan death rod with a bunch of Warlocks on my ass? And you only pay five million?”
“You won’t be working alone.”
Shay bristled but waited to hear the rest.
“I’m hiring you because you have a combination of skills that fit well with some of my more dangerous desires, including this one. I can give you the most likely location of the Rod of Supay, but you’ll still need to use your skills as a field archaeologist to locate it, on site. I will provide a specialist as backup.”
“I work alone.” Shay considered passing on the job. First Peyton crowding her life, now this. But five million. She worked the muscles in her jaw, feeling herself slip further into a new game where she didn’t get to control all the rules.
“Not on this job.” The Professor lifted his eyebrows, wrinkling his forehead as he smiled. “There’s a man, a bounty hunter. Class six.”
Shay resisted the urge to whistle in genuine appreciation. Even if a class six bounty hunter was protecting her ass that didn’t mean she wanted to work with him. The last thing she needed was to be in close quarters with an asshole-big-shot-bounty-hunter, second guessing her tactics.
I’ve taken down worse. “I don’t care if he’s the toughest badass on the planet,” Shay said. “I like working by myself.”
“I hope you like taking home five million dollars more. Let me make this clear, Miss Carson.” The smile remained fixed on his face. “This is nonnegotiable. You’re not losing any money on the ride along. Take it for what it is. A gift of free protection.”
“People need protection from me.”
“Then the bounty hunter will be very bored, I imagine.”
Shay gritted her teeth. “If he tries anything stupid, he’ll regret it.”
“You will come up with a plan to execute. I think you’ll find this man avoids obvious
