by Martha Carr
A true sartorial master challenged existing fashion dogma, something his myopic critics would never understand. Besides, it was fun as hell to wear what he wanted without worrying about whether it matched or if it was currently “in.”
Lily reclined on the hood of a nearby dark-blue Toyota sedan with her hands behind her head. The vehicle projected more of a soccer-mom vibe than hipness, and Peyton wondered which of Shay’s fake identities was associated with it.
Maybe I’ll check the documents in the trunk later.
The hacker removed the safari hat and picked up a colorful knit hat covered with repeating patterns. It reminded him of something a person might see in rural Bolivia.
“Hmm, this one doesn’t go with this shirt, but maybe the jacket. Plus, I would pay serious money to see Shay wear this hat.”
Lily yawned. “You’re fooling yourself, you know.”
Peyton placed the hat in the rolling rack in front of him and frowned. “I’m well aware of what you and Shay think about my sense of fashion. The problem is neither of you gets that I don’t care. It’s not like you’re the first people to say something about it, and I’m not going to change. A true artist always suffers for his art.”
“I live in a tunnel. Fashion’s not something I care about.” The teen sat up. “So, yeah, not talking about that. Talking about your girlfriend.”
Peyton blinked. “Amber? What about her? Shay knows about her, and I know how to keep my mouth shut. If there were a problem, Shay would have already threatened to kill me over it by now. Subtlety is not part of her managerial style, even if she’s nicer to you than me at times because you’re younger.”
“Nothing to do with Shay.” Lily shrugged. “I might be younger than you, but I’m not stupid. I also know that girls don’t exactly like it when their boyfriends lie to them.”
“I’m not…lying to her, exactly. I’m just leaving out a few key details.” Discomfort colored his tone.
The teen hopped off the car and went into a headstand. “I’m sure she’ll totally agree with your logic once she finds out and not, you know, feel horribly betrayed.”
Peyton shook his head. “She doesn’t have to find out.”
Lily jumped to her feet and stared at Peyton. “Like, never find out?”
“Maybe. Why not?”
“And you think that’s even possible?”
Peyton picked up a red beret and set it on his head. “I was reading an article the other day about guys who worked for the CIA during the Cold War.”
Lily yawned. “I’m not interested in ancient history, Earth or Oriceran.”
Peyton adjusted his beret. “The point is, these people were secret agents, but a lot of them had families. They lied to their families. Some people didn’t figure out their spouses or parents were CIA until years later, or in some cases until after they died. Imagine loving someone and then finding out they weren’t who you thought? The point is, if they could do it, why not me?”
“So, because of a bunch of spies who hid stuff from people back in the Dark Ages, you’re going to keep lying to your girlfriend?” Lily rolled her eyes.
“When you say it like that, it makes it sound so shady.” Peyton grimaced.
“Just saying that shit has a way of coming out.” Lily charged a sports car and vaulted over it with three quick pushes.
Peyton shook his head. “But I’m good at keeping things to myself.”
The girl turned to face him. “Since when?”
“Since the first time Shay pulled a gun on me. Like I said, not a subtle management style.”
Lily snickered. “I can see how that might motivate you.” She frowned at a wall clock. “I should be getting home. Didn’t realize it was this late already.”
“Home? You mean those abandoned tunnels?”
“Yeah. What about them?”
Peyton removed the beret and set it back on the rack. “How can that be a home? It’s just…tunnels.”
Lily shook her head. “It’s so much more than that.”
“Roaches? Rats?”
“No. People.” She smiled. “That’s what home is to me. The people. My friends are my family. We’ve been through a lot together, and I could never leave them behind. Not totally.”
Peyton considered that. He wasn’t about to lecture anyone on family, considering his brother had tried to have him killed and his father might have known that would happen. At best, his mother and sister had looked the other way.
Man, is my family fucked up.
Lily looked at the floor and sighed. “Especially since I lost my parents. I had my dad, but he got turned into the bounty hunters by Yulia Solokova.”
“The Ice Witch?”
Lily nodded. “Yeah. One and the same bitch.”
Peyton blew out a breath. “I knew you had some history, but I didn’t know about that. Is that why you’re interested in Shay training you? Revenge?”
“A little.” Lily shrugged. “That bitch has to pay for what she did to my father. If that freaks you out, keep in mind she’s screwed over a lot of people, not just me. I’ll be doing the world a favor.”
“No, you don’t get it. It’s not that I care if you kill the witch. It’s not like Shay hasn’t killed a lot of people since I started working with her, let alone before. It’s more about protecting you.”
Lily frowned. “Protecting me? That’s why I’m getting training.”
Peyton shook his head. “You’re alive, and that’s what counts. Risking your life to protect someone or even for a payday? That makes sense. Vengeance? No profit in it. It’s a pointless risk. It will fuck things up, and get you killed. Trust me, I know a little about revenge.”
Lily pulled out a small piece of metal out of her pocket. She ran her finger across it like it was a precious treasure.
“What’s that?”
“It was my father’s. An artifact. It helps me find things. She took it, and I took it back. It’s also a reminder that she took him from me.”
Peyton had just opened his mouth to say something when his phone chimed. “Hold that thought.” He pulled his phone out and frowned. “Huh. It’s the Professor, and he wants to meet with Shay. She’ll be happy for a big job.”
Lily slipped the artifact back into her pocket. “I’ve got to get back.”
“Be careful, and try not to piss off any gangsters on your way home.”
The girl waved and turned with a grin.
Shay pushed into the Leanan Sídhe, unsurprised by the dense crowd filling the Irish pub. Just another night at the popular watering hole. Something else surprised her, though.
She took a few more steps before stopping and blinking. Smite-Williams wasn’t sitting in the back.
Shit. I’m here ahead of him for once.
The tomb raider chuckled and maneuvered through the throng. She took a seat at a table in the back. A waitress walked over to her.
“What will it be?”
Shay was disappointed that the waitress couldn’t anticipate her drink order.
Guess The Great Treaty spoiled me.
“Porterhouse Red,” Shay answered.
“Right away.” The waitress smiled and headed toward the bar.
Shay settled in facing the front, something she couldn’t always accomplish when meeting with the Professor. Just as she got comfortable, the man stepped through the door, gliding through a crowd that parted for him.
The Professor plopped into a seat with a smile. The waitress arrived with Shay’s drink and a bottle of Irish Stout for the Professor.
Can’t be surprised that she knows what he wants. He all but lives here. Probably has a cot in the back.
“Keep them coming,” the Professor told the waitress. “It’s definitely a six-drink-minimum kind of night.”
She disappeared with a smile.
Shay didn’t even bother to talk for the first minute, just sipped her drink as Smite-Williams guzzled most of his.
He set his bottle down. “I’m glad y
ou could come on such short notice, Miz Carson. There’s something important I need you to recover sooner rather than later for me.”
Shay shrugged. “That’s what I do. What’s the job?”
“There’s a village in England…Ashmore. It’s come to my attention that a local legend talks about an actual artifact, a golden coffin that can raise the dead. It’s buried in an old stone crypt that the locals avoid, close to the village. It was also protected by powerful wards that have unfortunately faded with the passage of time, which now means the coffin is accessible.”
“A coffin that raises the dead? Sounds handy.”
The Professor shook his head. “No. It’s very dark magic, and the people raised by it become darker, more twisted. Not only that, but it requires a heavy price in the blood of the living and souls.” He frowned. “I’ve also become aware that the followers of a very nasty wizard have a keen interest in this coffin and will be coming for it soon, so you’ll need to make a move quickly.”
“Who is this wizard?”
“Michael Galbraith.”
Shay tossed the name around in her head for a few seconds. “I read that name recently. He’s been dead for, what, fifteen years now?”
“That’s exactly why his followers want the coffin. To bring him back.”
“Makes sense.”
The Professor let out a little chuckle. “It might be worth bringing the lad in on this.”
Shay shook her head. “James has a visit with Alison. I only wasn’t going because I had a few things to research. I don’t want work getting in the way of his family shit. We both know he needs to work on his emotional intelligence or whatever the hell you want to call it.”
The silver-haired man looked at her with a faint smirk. “How wonderfully domestic. Very well. I only suggested that because of the unusual level of danger, but I’ve heard rumors that you’ve expanded your circle of associates, so perhaps one of them might be of assistance.”
Shay eyed the man for a moment. She was never sure how much he knew about her.
“I’ve got some new friends, yeah, but they don’t kick as much ass as James. What do you mean by an unusual level of danger?”
“The coffin is nasty and has the potential to create an undead army, but the forces protecting it are even worse—spectral beings summoned by rather powerful dark magic in the past.”
Shay frowned and picked up her drink. She took a sip and set the glass back down. “Ghosts?”
“Of a sort. It’s claimed they’re soldiers trapped between worlds who’ve been cursed to protect the coffin.” He finished his beer just in time for the waitress to deliver a new one. “So whatever you need to do to destroy them will be fine. You’d be doing them a favor and freeing them from a hellish existence. Oh, one minor problem. They’re invisible. Completely.”
Shay frowned. “What about if I try looking with tech? Can I pick them up on infrared?”
The Professor shook his head. “An associate of mine scouted the area with a drone. He could see nothing, regardless of how he looked. That didn’t stop the drone from being destroyed.”
The tomb raider sighed. “I hate invisible armies.”
“You’ve faced one before?”
“At least one, and I’ve fought more than a few things that can turn invisible. That’s why I asked about using something other than normal visible light.” She shrugged.
The Professor grinned. “Wonderful. It means you’re a genuine subject-matter expert.” He laughed. “How fortunate for me.”
“Glad you’re enjoying the idea. You said soldiers? So what are we talking? Invisible guys from World War I with machine guns? Angels of Mons?”
“Fortunately, no. It’d be quite the adventure fighting someone invisible who could shoot at you. These spectrals only use swords.”
Shay nodded. She could work with that. “And can they be taken out by guns?”
The Professor shook his head. “I highly doubt it.”
“You doubt it?” Shay frowned, definitely not liking the sound of that. “I need to know what I’m facing if I’m gonna have a chance of defeating them.”
“They’ve demonstrated invulnerability to rocket fire. My experience in the past suggests when you see that sort of thing it’s strong evidence that the creature or being in question is immune to conventional weapons.” He took another swig of beer. “But you have magical weapons at your disposal. That should be enough.”
“I don’t have a magical rocket launcher.”
The Professor shrugged. “Something for the future, perhaps. You’ll just have to get close and use your blades.”
“Easy for you to say.”
“You’re right, Miz Carson, it is. If I were a younger man, I’d be handling this myself.” The Professor shrugged. “Don’t worry too much. Even though you’ve had experience fighting invisible armies, I will note this one does provide one small advantage, and I’m sure you can turn that small advantage into a path to victory.”
“What’s that? Right now all I’m hearing is I’m going to have to try and carve through a bunch of invisible ghosts with swords.” Shay sighed.
The Professor tapped his earlobe. “You can hear them. Their bootfalls, the moans, their weapons. It’s quiet, but it’s there. You really have to listen, though, and anticipate where they are.”
Shay shook her head. “This sounds like bad news. Even if I made James come it’d be too dangerous. It’s not like he uses magical weapons. You’re telling me to go after a bunch of invisible soldiers I can’t see but maybe can hear, and who I can’t even soften up with grenades or explosives.”
“Is that really such an extreme request? You’ve taken on many dangerous creatures and beings before.”
“This is deep shit, and I don’t walk into deathtraps.”
The Professor eyed her, faint surprise on his face. “A day for the record books, Shay Carson showing fear.”
“Caution isn’t the same thing as fear.” The tomb raider snorted. “And I don’t have a dick, so you can’t shame me into throwing my life away to prove how big it is.”
The Professor guffawed at that. “I will keep that in mind, but let me stress that time is of the essence, and I have few other contacts with your combination of skill and resourcefulness. If the unpleasant wizard I mentioned before is raised from the dead, Miz Carson, it’ll cause a lot of complications—the kinds of complications that involve thousands of people dying in horrible ways before he’s finished off again.”
Shay narrowed her eyes. “And why isn’t Correk handling this? This sounds like something he should give a shit about.”
“Oh, I can assure you it is, but he’s also unavailable for far less domestic reasons than James. He’s a busy elf, and this coffin is but one of many things that threatens the world at the moment.”
“It’s not like this coffin’s the only thing in the world that can raise the dead. Maybe you should worry more about the cult than the coffin. Kill them off and no dark wizard, right?”
The Professor finished his drink and nodded. “I’m quite concerned with the cult, but it’ll take time to gather the resources and people needed to finish them off. I won’t bore you with the details, but because of the spells used to kill the wizard to begin with, this coffin is actually one of the few ways to bring him back.” He tilted his head. “Oh, and I’m willing to pay three times as much as for your last job for me. Consider it a combination of hazard pay and an expediting fee.”
“Can’t use money if I’m dead.” Shay shrugged.
“Which is why I’m willing to pay so much.” The waitress arrived with a new bottle even though Shay hadn’t even seen Smite-Williams look her way. He picked up the bottle with a broad smile. “Come, Miz Carson. You can help save lives and make a lot of money.”
Three times? Damn. That’s a lot of money, and the Professor wouldn’t give me a job that was a suicide run, if only because he knows James would rip him apart.
Shay sighed. “Fine. I’ll do it
.”
15
Shay stared at her weapons rack in Warehouse Five. The Masamune tachi was an obvious choice to fight sword-wielding ghosts. The blade might be her only way of defeating the enemy. Going after them with knives played to their reach advantage.
She’d collected a decent number of artifacts, but she still lacked in quality gear for all occasions.
Need to start doing raids just to pick up gear. Always giving away the good stuff. It’s like I’m half-afraid to store too many artifacts here.
She let out a long sigh. Poison-filtering cups and magical lockpicks wouldn’t help her defeat an invisible army of spectral swordsmen, and from what the Professor had told her, she wouldn’t be able to rely on technology to detect the enemy. That wasn’t exactly a minor hurdle.
Shay needed a different solution, some way to track the enemy. She had the weapon. She just needed the eyes.
Maybe, just maybe…
She sucked in a breath. Lily’s divination could help her pinpoint the enemy. If it were working well, it’d be trivial for the tomb raider to cut down the invisible swordsmen, and neither of them would be in real jeopardy. If her powers failed, though, Shay would be responsible for the girl being in unnecessary danger. Then again, unnecessary danger was practically the definition of what it meant to be a tomb raider.
Shay shook her head. Lily was her best bet, and if the Professor wasn’t blowing smoke up her ass, she didn’t have time to fool around trying to figure out the best way to handle the invisible guardians.
“Okay, this is probably a terrible idea, but it’s the best one I have.”
She whipped out her phone and called Peyton.
“What’s up?” the hacker answered.
“I need you to get gear ready for me. Two sets, and get me two tickets on a supersonic to England, along with a rental vehicle that has reasonable cargo capacity. I need to go to a village called Ashmore.”
Peyton chuckled. “England, again? Got more demon poultry to take out? Its cousin challenge you to do a duel?”
“Nah, something more basic. This time it’s against an invisible army of swordsmen for control of a magic resurrection coffin.”