by Martha Carr
Fuck. If I don’t show him, he’ll know something’s up.
Shay turned the pad around. Two and four.
Randy narrowed his eyes. “What the fuck does that mean?”
“She got the first one. She can see the future, asshole.”
“But she didn’t get both, and I’m supposed to believe she can see far in the future? Give me a break.”
Shay handed the pen and pad to Lily. She walked over to Randy and pulled up the bottom of her mask, so he could better appreciate her vicious smile. “Short-term visions are harder than long-term visions,” she offered. She had no idea if that was true, so it wasn’t technically a lie. “But I can tell you something. The future has a way of coming true when people try to help it along.” She lifted her gun. “If you don’t stop chasing this ghost, by the time I’m done your suffering will be the thing of legend. And after I’ve had all my fun…” she pointed the gun at his crotch, and his eyes widened, “I’m still not gonna kill you. I’m gonna leave you broke and alone to rot away in the underbelly of society among all the people you were too smug to even look at before. Your money will be gone. Your influence will be gone. You’ll be nothing but a pile of flesh and bones waiting to die.”
The defiant fire faded from Randy’s eyes, and he swallowed. “What if I don’t believe you?”
“Pick another number.”
Shay nodded at Lily. Her hands were behind her back, her fist clenched around the pen and pad.
We both knew your powers can be annoying. Don’t worry, just pull it off. We’ve almost got him.
Randy nodded quickly. “Okay, one minute.”
Lily half-closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and then scribbled down another number.
Don’t make me kill you, Randy. I don’t want to have to kill you, if only because it’ll bring more attention to Peyton. But you’re going out of your way to force me.
Randy held up three fingers.
Lily turned the pad. Three.
The man frowned and stared at the pad for a long moment. Grim determination ate at the disbelief covering his face. “But the authorities don’t believe he’s dead.”
Shay shrugged. “They’ll give up soon enough. Now, the question is, will you?” She lifted the 9mm but didn’t point it at the man.
Randy nodded slowly. “Yes.”
“Good. Glad you can be reasonable. You going to stop poking around in the past?”
“Yeah. Yeah, I can do that.”
Shay smiled. “Then you’ll have a happy summer.”
They’d driven for about ten minutes before Lily spoke.
“I’m sorry.” She brushed a few strands of gray hair out of her eyes. “It’s not going to work, is it? He doesn’t believe anything because of the screwed-up divination.”
Shay shrugged. “Not sure, but I think two out of three isn’t bad. The combination of the implied threat with the possibility of ending up on the street will be enough to keep him quiet.”
“But what if it isn’t?”
“We’ll worry about that if it happens.”
I’ll show him a different future. One that ends a lot more abruptly and painfully.
Shay shot the worried-looking teen a smile. Ending this the old way might be her only choice, but Lily didn’t need to be involved in it. Maybe it was silly to worry about the girl’s innocence, but Shay knew all too well what a few teenage murders could do to a person.
“Well, we’re on the East Coast,” Shay commented. “Anything you want to see before we head back to LA? I need to get the rings back to the gnome by tomorrow night, but otherwise no time pressure.”
“It’s only a couple of hours to New York, right?”
“Yeah, what about it?”
“I want to see Central Park.” An eager gleam appeared in the elf’s gray eyes.
Shay sighed. “It’s not that cool. It’s just a big park.”
“Have you seen satellite photos of New York? It’s damned cool. Central Park is just this nice little rectangle of green in the middle of a massive maze of gray.”
“Fine. Central Park it is. But we’re gonna do it my way.”
Lila glanced at Shay. “Your way?”
Shay grinned. “Yeah, you’ll see.”
2
Dangerous. That was what wandering New York was for a woman like Shay.
I shouldn’t be hanging out in New York. I took out the Nuevo Gulf Cartel, but that doesn’t mean I’m safe. It’s not like I haven’t pissed off other people around here, even after I died.
Shay and Lily jogged their way across the stone Gapstow Bridge. The moonlight and the light from the surrounding buildings reflected off the water below. The relative quiet of the night along with the reflected light gave the whole walk a tranquil quality despite the tension lingering in Shay’s stomach.
“Your way is making me exercise?” Lily asked.
“Yep. That way I can justify this as training rather than just some pointless tourist crap.”
“I haven’t seen as much of the world as you.”
Shay grinned. “Train as a tomb raider and you will. First, though, you need to toughen up.”
A simple walk around Central Park might have been a waste of time, but a run would at least provide some exercise for the day. The junior tomb raider had come a long way, but she still lacked Shay’s sheer physicality. Her ridiculous reflexes wouldn’t help her if she collapsed from exhaustion. Sometimes the best way to win was simply to outlast your enemy.
“But since we’re here, it might be nice to see some of the tourist stuff.” Shay smiled at Lily. “It’s too bad it’s so late. We can’t visit the zoo.”
“They have a zoo in this park? That’s what I’m talking about. That’s how big it is.”
Shay shrugged. “I guess.”
They ran by a sleeping homeless man curled up on a bench. It was the sixth homeless person they’d passed in as many minutes.
Lily frowned when Shay glanced her way.
“Problem?” Shay asked.
The teen shook her head. “I’m fine.”
“You don’t look fine. What? Does seeing homeless here bother you because you’re homeless? Not everywhere has abandoned nuclear escape tunnels to live in.”
“I’m not homeless.”
Lily sped up.
Shay matched her speed. “You’re not?”
Lily shook her head. “Even when I’m not staying with you, I have a place to stay. I have a home and friends. That’s the difference.”
“Whatever works. It’s your life. I’m gonna teach you how to be a tomb raider, but you have to figure the rest of it out yourself.”
Conversation faded, and only the sound of their running shoes striking the rock, dirt, and asphalt cut through the night.
Lily hissed a few minutes later and shook her head. “We need to hurry. Now.”
“What’s wrong?”
“I had a vision. There’s some assholes. Big guys, maybe Mafia. They are going to kill a homeless man. They’re going to laugh about it and talk about how they think they’re doing good stuff.” Lily’s jaw clenched. “We don’t have much time.” Her pace quickened again.
The pair continued running along the asphalt path, sweat beading their foreheads. Lily’s gift might not always be reliable, but such a specific vision wasn’t in question.
Even with the influence of Alison and James, Shay was not interested in being a do-gooder, but that didn’t mean she was okay with random fuckers murdering some poor man for kicks. Not to mention, there was no way in hell Lily would ever trust her again if she tried to walk away.
There was no strong reason not to get involved. It wasn’t like Yulia was at the other end of the park waiting for her. A little nighttime workout might be fun. It’d also be a good opportunity to test Lily’s hand-to-hand training in a relatively controlled setting that wouldn’t involve witches or competing heavily-armed tomb raiders.
The density of homeless dropped. A few even hurried in the opposi
te direction.
We must be getting close.
Lily continued running ahead, taking long strides. Her face was set in grim determination.
Worried it could have as easily been one of your friends back home?
They arrived at the sprawling Terrace. The glow of the path’s lights illuminated the mustard-colored sandstone covering the entire area. In the center of the Terrace was a multi-tier fountain nestled in a plant-festooned stone-lined pond.
A cowering old man in a worn jacket, jeans, and boots knelt in front of the fountain. His face was covered with blood, and he held his arms over his head. Eight men in dark suits with slick-backed hair surrounded him.
One of the men delivered a vicious kick to the man’s stomach, and the victim cried out.
Oh shit. Well, I guess if we do this quick enough, it’s not like they’ll even have a chance to report me to someone who might recognize me. Plus, this is straight-up bullshit.
“Come on, guys,” Shay called. “Seriously? Beating up an old homeless man?”
One of them looked her way and snorted. “This ain’t your business, bitch.”
Killing the men was low on the list of good ideas for multiple reasons, but it would be tricky to take them down without killing or seriously maiming them given their numbers. Unlike James, she couldn’t punch a man through a wall.
Maybe she could still get them to leave without a fight.
Shay shrugged. “I’m just saying eight badasses like you can do better. Find someone worth your time.”
“You don’t get it. Scum like him infest our streets, our parks, and nobody does anything about it. Well, I talked to my boys, and we all agreed that if we do a little cleaning, most of these roaches will go scurrying along.”
Lily ground her teeth and stepped forward, but stopped when Shay raised a hand.
I know you’re mad, but keep it cool. I can still get them to leave without a fight. I hope.
Shay snorted. Lily probably wanted to rip the men apart on general principles. There was nothing impressive about beating up people who were that much weaker than you, especially when you outnumbered them. The tomb raider only did it when people threatened her life.
She looked the men up and down. Everything about them screamed Mafia. “You Connected?”
The man sneered. “If you’re smart enough to know that, then you’re smart enough to mind your business. Now get the fuck out of here and let us finish what we started.”
Lily trembled with rage. “How could you beat up on some defenseless old man? You asses.”
The man kicked the homeless man again. The old man whimpered.
“Fuck this roach. You some bleeding heart, kid?” He narrowed his eyes. “You look freaky. I bet you’re Oriceran.”
“Screw you, asshole.”
The man laughed and pointed at her. “What? You some elf bitch? Look at this elf bitch, boys. You come to New York and smart off to us, bitch? This ain’t some tree city shit back on Oriceran. I don’t know what sort of whack-ass bullshit you do there, but this is America, and we clean up our messes.” He looked at Shay. “Why don’t you and your elf bitch run along before you get hurt? My patience is starting to run out.”
Shay sighed. So much for convincing the men to leave without trouble, but it was always nice to have a clear conscience before she beat the shit out of someone. She advanced slowly, and his hands twitched.
No knives. No guns. No grenades. I can’t leave a trail of bodies in New York, of all places, and certainly not in front of Lily, even if she wouldn’t mind so much this time. Didn’t expect so many guys, though.
The teen trailed behind her mentor.
“Time to put those reflexes and our sparring training to the test, and I guess it’ll be a good tactical exercise being outnumbered,” Shay commented. “Let’s just knock their asses out and get the hell out of here.”
The man snorted. “Get a load of this slut! She thinks she’s going to take us out.”
“No. I know we’re gonna take you out.”
All the men burst out in loud laughter. With their attention diverted from him, the homeless man started crawling away.
Good instincts. Get the fuck out of here, old man.
One of the other men noticed and frowned at the old man. “He’s leaving. We’re not done with you, fucker.”
Shay sighed and nodded to Lily. The tomb raider and her protégé rushed the mobsters, but the men didn’t react. Instead, they all smirked as if being attacked was the most hilarious thing that had happened to them in a while.
The smirks and smiles vanished seconds later. Shay delivered three quick punches in rapid succession. The first man’s nose crunched from her attention, and he doubled over after her stomach blow. She’d taken down much larger guys than him during sparring at the gym, let alone during jobs.
Lily might lack her mentor’s strength, but she snapped a solid kick into one of the mobsters’ knees. Shay wasn’t sure if the snap she heard was her imagination or real, but the man collapsed, screaming.
The six remaining mobsters stepped back, bringing up their fists with deep frowns on their faces. They hadn’t expected much resistance.
But they continued to underestimate Shay and Lily, or they would have gone for their guns.
I can work with this. We can finish these assholes off without giving anyone a reason to come sniffing on the other side of the country.
One of the men grunted and threw a punch. Shay ducked the attack and slammed her knee into his crotch, and he howled and fell.
Lily danced around the punches of her opponent. Punch after punch missed by an inch as she bobbed and weaved. Her reflexes served her well. She made a hummingbird look slow.
Two of the men yelled and charged Shay at the same time. She smirked until she saw the man’s hand reaching behind him.
Shit. Do I go for my gun?
Shay spun to avoid the first man, but her hesitation allowed the other man to flip his butterfly knife into a ready position.
A third mobster circled her. Apparently, they all sensed she was the greater threat. Lily was still doing a good job of dodging and returned a quick jab or two against the huge thug. He grunted with each hit, but she hadn’t managed to land a strike anywhere that might take him down.
Shay stepped back to avoid the swipe of the knife, still unsure if she should pull out one of her weapons. Two of the men rushed her from the other side. A palm strike to the first one’s throat sent him to the ground gasping, and she followed with an elbow toward the other, but the man blocked it with his arm.
His friend used the opening to rush forward, and he slashed at Shay. She hissed as the knife made contact. Blood dripped from her side.
The tomb raider gritted her teeth, resisting the urge to end everything in a hail of gunfire. Her side throbbed.
Fucker.
Lily peppered her opponent with quick strikes. He stumbled, and his movements slowed. She was wearing him down.
Got to finish this shit up.
“Fuck this,” one of Shay’s attackers yelled, and he went for his gun.
Shay ignored the other two men and leapt, bringing up her knee. The would-be gunman’s head snapped back, and he collapsed to the ground. His gun clattered against the sandstone paving.
A hard yank on Shay’s arm brought her around. One of the thugs had gotten his hand on her.
His knife friend charged, holding the blade low. Shay slammed her elbow into her captor’s face several times until he dropped his arm and grabbed his blood-gushing nose. She leapt to the side, and the knife fighter threw his blade.
Shay hissed in pain as the blade embedded itself in her shoulder.
This is what I get for not just killing all these assholes.
Lily landed a nice solid kick in her enemy’s stomach, and he groaned and fell to his knees. The three punches that followed knocked him to the ground.
Shay’s two wounds ached. She took a quick step toward the knife guy and throat-punched
him before he grabbed his gun. She shoved the falling man into his friend.
They stumbled together, which gave the tomb raider the time she needed to finish her approach. A roundhouse kick knocked out the first man, and a few quick jabs had the other on the ground moaning.
Shay stomped toward the only man in close to fighting shape. He knelt on the ground, blood still gushing from his nose. She slammed a fist into his face to knock him out.
Some of the enemies lay unconscious, and some were awake but groaning. The homeless man they’d been beating before had long since run.
Lily looked at Shay with concern. “You okay?” She shook out her fists, wincing. “Sorry I couldn’t help much.”
“You did well, especially given your size. A lot of girls your size couldn’t take out a normal man, let alone a thug like Goliath over there.” Shay sucked in a deep breath. “I didn’t want to have to kill anyone, so we did well, all things considered.” Her wounds weren’t deep, but they weren’t scratches either. “I’ll live, and we’ve made our point. Let’s get the hell out of here.”
They jogged away from the beat-down mobsters. Shay glanced over her shoulder and barely resisted a laugh at a sudden realization.
You lucky assholes. I’m the kinder, gentler Shay. And damn, you wouldn’t have liked what James would have done to you.
“I think that’s enough sightseeing for one day, Lily. Let’s hop in the car so I can get some bandages on. Then let’s get the fuck back to Hartford, and fly the hell back to L.A.”
Shay eyed the ten-foot diameter pipe that led off into the darkness. LA’s underground nuclear escape tunnels were a relic from a time when the local government laughably thought they could provide a path to the mountains for people to evade a nuclear holocaust. The decades had passed and the worries about nuclear annihilation had given way to worries about magic, but no one had ever bothered to seal the tunnels.
The tomb raider had already returned the borrowed magic rings to Tubal-Cain. Now, she just needed to drop off Lily with her friends, even if the idea made her uneasy. She wished Lily would decide she’d rather live in a warehouse than some creepy-ass tunnels, but the girl had insisted on returning to her friends.