“Time to tell Shay.”
Peyton lifted his phone. His finger hovered over her coded name in his contact list: ASB queen. Ass-kicking snark bitch queen. It was too hard to fit pizza lover in there.
No. Shay was on a job and needed to concentrate, especially since it seemed like a milk run. Peyton might not be a former killer or current tomb raider, but he knew that something that looked too easy from the outside always had hidden complications.
He was the tech specialist, and he was the one who’d set up most of her current identity online. It was time to take some initiative and send the bastard on a wild goose chase.
Peyton cracked his knuckles. “Okay, tomb boy, time to show you my skills.”
This is dumb. Shay would wave her gun at me if she knew what I was doing.
Backpack over his shoulder, Peyton stepped off the escalator and took a right, which brought him to the baggage claim and rental car areas of Dane County Regional Airport. Hardly the place a person would expect to find an exotic tomb raider.
Few people were in the small airport that late morning.
Of all the places Peyton ever imagined himself visiting, Madison, Wisconsin, wasn’t high on the list. He took the fastest route possible and booked a supersonic flight to Chicago, driving up to Madison in a rental car.
He’d laid down enough electronic bread crumbs to convince Johann that Shay was interested in a fictional ancient Native American artifact buried under a Walmart in Madison. The plan wasn’t the greatest, but Peyton was fortunate that he’d traced Johann’s latest activity to Michigan. There was no way the man would be able to resist.
The electronic trail was enough. I didn’t have to come out here just to confirm his actual arrival. Since when do I do field work?
Peyton lacked any checked luggage and headed over to the rental car window to pick up the Hyundai Elantra he’d booked under a fake name.
Freedom.
The whole point of him taking a little jaunt to the Upper Midwest was to prove to Shay he wasn’t some chair drone who couldn’t get his hands dirty and to be of service to Shay. It helped that Johann wasn’t a hitman. He had no reason to be looking for someone like Peyton.
Even if she found out what he’d done, in the end, she would understand. She might be a bitch at times, but she can see the value in taking a risk to get something done.
A short exchange later, Peyton was driving away from the airport in a blue Elantra, whistling to himself and driving toward the Walmart.
He’d seeded specific times for Shay’s arrival and tomb raid, along with some tantalizing fake information that would have Johann convinced she was a Japanese woman. Peyton only wanted to get eyes on Johann to confirm the deception worked.
Once that was accomplished, he could leave and continue laying out similar false paths elsewhere for the rival tomb raider.
“This is easy. Not going to kill anyone. Not going to dig up some ancient dragon’s gold. Just going to look around for some German guy, and then I’ll go home. Easy as pie, and I’ll be back before Shay knows what’s up.” He just about had himself convinced.
Peyton looked down at his phone. Shay’s only contact with him in the last several hours was a brief text.
Car trouble. Will contact you again when I get to Moscow.
He’d made sure to bring his computer, so he could back her up if she needed quick hacking or research help, but he didn’t bother to inform her that he’d left not only the warehouse but the state.
She’ll probably pull a gun on me again when she gets back. But, if she didn’t kill me over the dead man’s switch, she’s not going to kill me over helping her out.
Dane County was a poor rival for Los Angeles County in size and population, and a quick half-hour brought him to the Walmart. He parked across the street in a bank’s parking lot and fished binoculars out of his backpack.
It was almost time for Shay’s alleged arrival at the Walmart. If Johann was any good, he would likely already be in position at the store.
Peyton searched from vehicle to vehicle for any sign of the rival tomb raider. No one matching the man’s description sat in the parking lot or emerged from the store.
He lowered his binoculars when something flashed in his rearview mirror. He looked up and his heart skipped a beat.
Johann Weiss sat in an Audi right behind him.
Okay, it worked. Be cool. He just had the same idea I did about surveillance. Time to get going.
Peyton swallowed and started the car. He slowly pulled out of the parking lot and looked in his rearview mirror. Johann was following him.
“Oh shit.”
The fake IDs Peyton prepared for the trip would stand up to an easy inspection, but not anything deep. He was not up for attracting the attention of the police. That meant a screaming car chase through downtown Madison was probably a bad idea.
“Okay, it might be a coincidence.”
Peyton turned down a side street at random. The Audi remained behind him.
“I should have brought a gun. A big gun. Or a long, pointy knife.”
He left town too fast to make arrangements to smuggle a gun aboard or even openly pack one in a checked baggage. He was only supposed to be doing some surveillance and didn’t worry about being able to defend himself.
Peyton sped up, not pushing much past the speed limit. The Audi matched his speed. More abrupt turns didn’t dislodge the car from right behind him. He wasn’t even trying to be subtle.
“Wait. I’m thinking about this the wrong way.” Peyton pulled into a parking lot of a McDonald’s and drummed his fingers on his steering wheel as the Audi parked a few spots down
