Tomb Raiding PHD

by Martha Carr

  Shay opened the second briefcase to inspect the jammers and AR goggles inside. Everything seemed fine. Other than a little dust on some of the guns, everything was as good as the day she’d bought it. It was a nice set of equipment for common situations.

  She eyed one of the pistols, then her three adamantine knives. Even if she left tomb raiding, it wouldn’t hurt to have a few hidden weapons located around her house. She’d been forced from her old place to the two-story brownstone because stupid cartel idiots had shown up in her backyard during a situation that had nothing to do with her.

  Sure, I’ll always need guns, but will I always need bug-out cash? I’ve got friends and James and shit now. Maybe there will be a time that I don’t need to worry about that kind of thing.

  Shay snickered and shook her head. Nope. She didn’t believe it. Her life would never get that boring. She wouldn’t allow it.

  Her phone chimed with a text from Peyton.

  The client has paid for the coin job.

  Good, Shay texted back.

  Also checked, no word from the Japanese guys pointing at you. They only mentioned that they ran into some trouble and had to abandon the dig.

  Also good.

  Okay, good night.

  Good night.

  Shay tossed the phone back onto her nightstand. Her current life was far different than when she was a killer. She had friends and arguably even family, but it was no less dangerous.

  “Oh, well. Might as well keep at it while I’m still breathing.”

  A couple of days later, Shay stepped out of her car into the bay at Warehouse Two, yawning.

  “I’m bored,” she announced.

  Even though it hadn’t been long since her last job, something tugged at the edge of mind, prodding her to do something more with her time. She was half-tempted to try to schedule some impromptu small-group discussions at the college regarding her last lecture.

  If I make too much noise at the university, they’ll figure shit out, though.

  Shay sighed.

  Peyton waved from the office. “You’re bored? It’s not exactly been weeks since your last job.”

  Shay shrugged and headed toward him. “Yeah, but I like to keep busy. You know me.”

  “Just saying, a little downtime isn’t always a bad thing, especially for someone as, uh…”

  “What?”

  “Let’s just say your default mood is very tense.”

  Shay snickered. Couldn’t argue with the truth.

  She glanced around. Lily hadn’t been by since the Switzerland job, nor had Shay heard from her. It was hard not to worry about the girl, given her unusual situation.

  I’m not her mom or sister or anyone more than a woman willing to help train her in exchange for help. I should remember that. Maybe it’ll make me less stressed.

  Counter thoughts pushed their way in right after. Between Alison and Lily, Shay had to accept she had more of a soft spot for teens than she’d ever realized or expected. She recognized her younger self in them, and despite the negative events that had already stained their lives, she hoped they could avoid the dark path she’d walked.

  No one should end up in their late twenties worried about whether their so-called friends would shoot them to death in their own kitchen. It was as sad as it was pathetic.

  Unlike Shay, Lily and Alison also had magical powers that could be exploited if they didn’t learn how to control them and defend themselves. Alison had the school to defend and train her, but Lily only had Shay to help her. Her friends might have her back, but in the end, they were all just lost kids.

  Peyton hunched over his keyboard, furiously clicking and typing with a frown on his face.

  “What’s wrong?” Shay asked. “Is your brother poking around?”

  Threatening Randy would at least give her something to do.

  “No, no. Nothing like that. I just was trying to find you work because I knew you were going to walk in and complain like you just did.”

  Shay laughed. “I’m that predictable?”

  “Sometimes. Anyway, I’ve been hitting the dark web pretty hard to turn up something useful.”

  Shay crossed her arms over her chest. “You’re telling me you can’t find any jobs?”

  Peyton shook his head. “Nope. I can find tons of jobs, but I don’t think they’re up to Aletheia’s standards. You’ve leveled up enough that it’d damage your brand if you took penny-ante crap.”

  “You sound like you’re my manager.”

  He shrugged. “Something like that.”

  “Okay, there, Mr. Coolidge, what jobs are you saying are beneath me?”

  “For example, got a guy in Oregon who wants to hire a tomb raider for five thousand dollars to help him find some rare pottery shards.”

  Shay snickered. “Yeah, probably spend that much on supplies just to find his stupid shards.”

  Peyton clicked, then tapped the screen. “This guy is offering twenty-five thousand, but it involves you going into some remote part of the Amazon and he’s pretty much guaranteeing you’ll be attacked by monsters.”

  “Pass. If I have to fight monsters, I want at least a hundred thousand, if not a few hundred thousand.”

  “Exactly. Oh, this is a really funny one. A Japanese man is offering a thousand yen for someone to help him catch a tsuchinoko.”

  Shay furrowed her brow. “One of those snake cryptids?”

  Peyton nodded. “Yeah. I had to look it up, but that’s what they are.”

  “And a thousand yen is what like…ten bucks? Is he fucking kidding?”

  Peyton shrugged. “Don’t know. I mean, the offer was on a legit if shady dark web tomb-raider recruiting site. It’s not something you can find just by typing ‘Need tomb raider’ into a search engine. He did say he’d offer ten percent of gross profits on any money he made from the tsuchinoko, including—you’ll love this—merchandising rights.”

  “I think he’s about twenty years too late for people to be really impressed with a cryptid.” Shay shrugged. “He should ask Daisuke and Asahi for help. They probably could use a thousand yen about now.”

  Peyton smirked. “Very funny. You’re such a bitch sometimes.”

  “Funny bitch, though.” Shay sighed. “And that’s what we have available? Merchandise deals, pottery, and guys who want me to risk my life for less than the cost of the equipment for the job?”

  “Yeah, it’s all that kind of thing. Everything’s really quiet. Not the first time.” Peyton shrugged. “But nothing worth you getting out of bed for. That’s the problem with being such a high-end tomb raider.”

  “What about Smite-Williams? He’s got to have something interesting for me.” Shay rubbed the back of her neck, mild panic overshadowing her boredom.

  Peyton shook his head. “Haven’t heard a peep from him. Come on. It’s not a big deal to have a few days off. You’ve done it before. I don’t get why you care now.”

  Shay shook her head. “It’s kind of like parkour. I don’t like losing my momentum, and I have a lot of it built up.”

  “Something will turn up. In the meantime, go hang out with your friends or call your boyfriend. Eat some pizza and barbeque, or a barbeque pizza.” Peyton shrugged. “Have an actual life.”

  Shay snorted. “Right back at you.”

  Peyton pointed at his chest with a thumb. “I’ve got a life and a girlfriend, thank you very much.”

  His fashion sense, including the pastel jacket with shoulder pads, silk pants, and lack of socks reminded Shay of a very important question she needed to ask.

  “She’s agreed to go out with you again despite your habit of wearing…” Shay gestured toward his clothes, “well, shit like that?”

  Peyton rolled his eyes. “She appreciates my unique style, yes. It’s part of her being smart and nerdy-sexy. She can see past the petty confines of common society.”

  “’Nerdy-sexy?’ What the fuck does that mean?”

  “She works on computer simulations for
physics stuff, including the interface of regular physics and magic.”

  Shay nodded. “Okay, doesn’t sound like a bimbo. I’ll give you credit for having some taste, and not being scared off by a woman with a brain.”

  Peyton grinned. “And I’ll even admit she’s got a thing or two to teach me about programming.”

  “Does she now? Guess it’s a good thing your ego can handle a smart woman.”

  He laughed. “My boss is smart and has threatened to kill me several times. Kind of makes my girlfriend seem mild in comparison.”

  Shay winked. “Just consider it part of your man training.” She stepped out of the office. “Keep looking… Wait a second.”

  She took a few steps toward a table near the pizza oven. The bowl on the table had been scraped clean, but the red-stains around the rim and the sweet scent pointed to cherries.

  “For the love of all that is holy and sacred,” Shay began, taking another step toward the bowl, her stomach tightening, “please tell me you’re not making cherry pizza.” She gagged at the sacrilege.

  Peyton laughed and walked toward the table. “Nope. I figure I’ve got this great stone oven, so why not do more with it than just cook pizza? It’ll teach me to handle the oven better.”

  “Do more? Like what, cremation?”

  “Ha-ha. Very funny. I mean like pies.”

  Shay eyed him. “I thought you were going to be the Pizza King?”

  “Well, the Pizza King also wants to earn the title ‘Pie Prince.’” Peyton shrugged. He snapped his fingers. “Oh, I forgot. We had an overnight guest. I found here her this morning when I came in to cook.”

  Shay stared at him, though inward relief swept over her now that she knew Lily was in the warehouse. “Came in to cook? Don’t you mean came in to find jobs?”

  Peyton ignored the question and the look. “I didn’t ask her much, but I think something might have happened. Something kind of rough.”

  “What are you talking about? Something happened with Lily?”

  “Yeah. She looks pretty worn out and, you know, dirty. I get that she hangs out in tunnels half the time, but she didn’t get that dirty in a few days.”

  Shay frowned. “Where is she now?”

  “Sleeping on a cot in the break room. One of the few times I’ve actually seen her sleeping. I wasn’t even sure Gray Elves slept.”

  “I’ll go talk to her. You keep looking for jobs.”

  Peyton gave a little salute and headed back into the office.

  The tomb raider marched down the hall to the breakroom. The Gray Elf lay on a cot with a thin blanket pulled up to her shoulders. Her face was covered with soot, and her hands were covered with scratches. Her jacket was draped over a nearby chair and had a few new holes that Shay didn’t remember being there the last time they’d seen one another.

  Shay pulled a chair in front of the cot and turned it backward. She sat down and rested her arms and chin on the back as she watched the slumbering girl.

  Lily moaned, and her eyes fluttered open. She let out a little yelp and jerked up.

  Shay chuckled. “Good morning to you too, Lily.”

  “I’m a…very light sleeper. You just surprised me, is all.”

  “I could say the same thing about you. Not like I mind you staying at the warehouse—hell, I prefer it—but why are you here? You didn’t tell me you’d be coming, and you seemed pretty damned adamant about not staying here the other day.”

  Lily sighed, and her shoulders slumped. “Because I can’t go back to the tunnels.”

  “Can’t go back? Why? I don’t understand everything about your little group, but it didn’t seem like they were about to exile you because you hang out with me. Harry wanted me to throw jobs his way, and he…uh… Well, they don’t seem like they’d turn their back on you easily.”

  “It’s not that, it’s… I’m being followed. I needed somewhere safe and secure. Someplace no one would ever think to look for me. Some place that even if someone from the tunnels got caught, they wouldn’t know where it is.”

  Shay frowned. “Followed? By Demon Generals?”

  Lily shook her head. “Nope. I wouldn’t be so worried if it was just some gang members. No, these guys…they’re with the 25K Group.”

  Shay stared at the girl for several seconds before responding. “The 25K Group? The fucking triad?”

  “Yeah.” Lily looked down and shrugged.

  Chinese organized crime had always had a strong influence on the West Coast, but had suffered in places like Los Angeles in recent decades because of the aggressive expansion of Oriceran criminal groups and hungry organizations like cartels and the Harriken. With the recent destruction of the Harriken and the Nuevo Gulf Cartel, however, opportunities had arisen for groups to expand their influence.

  Shay had heard rumors that the 25K Group was poking around in Los Angeles, even if they didn’t have a major foothold as compared to their strength in San Francisco and San Diego.

  “How the fuck did you get the triad after you?” Shay demanded.

  “I just…was doing my own tomb raid. I figured with all the training you’ve been putting me through and how I was able to knock down the thugs in New York, that I was ready to try something on my own. Something local that didn’t require Peyton and drones and studying ancient manuscripts.”

  Shay scrubbed a hand over her face. “Look, I might not have exactly trained at Tomb Raider Academy before I did my first job, but I had over a decade of experience with…related skills. This isn’t a job you can take lightly.”

  “I know, I know.” Lily groaned and laid back on the cot. “I just figured that between my divination and my reflexes, it’d be easy. Kind of like in Switzerland—just grab and run. That was the plan, anyway.”

  “Okay, let’s take a step back. I need to know a few details for context.” Shay took a deep breath. “What did you try to take? What did you tomb raid? And how did it end up involving the triad?”

  Lily sat back up. “We hear a lot of things on the street, and I heard that some scumbags had this artifact, some magic incense that makes people happy. They’d looted some old guy’s house after he died. It’s not even supposed to be a big deal, just something worth a couple thousand.”

  “Some old guy just happened to have magic happy incense? That sounds mighty convenient.”

  “He wasn’t just ‘some old guy.’ He was a big deal in the local Chinese community. A Taoist alchemist.”

  “Oh, that makes more sense.”

  Lily nodded. “I figured taking an artifact from a thief wouldn’t be a big deal, you know? I didn’t want to get anyone else involved, so I found out where the thief was staying and broke into his hotel room to grab the artifact. But I timed it wrong, and he spotted me. I got away with the incense, but now they are looking for me.”

  “Where’s the incense now?”

  Lily closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I don’t know. I lost it when I was getting away. It fell, and it wasn’t like I had time to search the area with gangsters looking for me.”

  Shay sighed and rubbed the back of her neck. “Look, I’m not gonna lie and say I’ve never grabbed an artifact from someone living, but I usually do it only if I have a good reason. That’s the difference between being a tomb raider and a basic thief. If you steal from dead people, they don’t come after you.” She shrugged. “Well, they don’t come after you as much, anyway, and they tend to be less mobile. But if you go after the living, it guarantees someone’s going to be out there and pissed. They’ll be looking for you, and hoping to put a bullet in you.”

  “Yeah, I know. I know. I screwed up. I get that, which is why I’m here.” Lily shrugged.

  “That also still doesn’t answer the question of why you thought it’d be smart to take something from someone affiliated with a triad. Risk-reward is another big part of the tomb raider calculations.”

  Lily took a deep breath. “I…didn’t check into him enough. I’d heard he was a bad guy and figured
I didn’t have a lot of time, so I made the move without getting all the details. After he spotted me and I found out he was with the 25K Group, I came here.”

  Shay held up a finger. “You don’t go into the field on a mission without good info. Hell, I demonstrated that shit to you in Switzerland. There’s a lot more to tomb raiding than outrunning someone. Good information can be the difference between a paycheck and being dead.”

  Lily averted her eyes and sighed.

  Shay shook her head. “Okay. I’m gonna have Peyton do some research on the local 25K Group presence. The good news is that the 25K Group’s got almost no one in Los Angeles right now, from what I know. They’ve been poking around because of the power vacuum left by the disappearance of the Harriken and the Nuevo Gulf Cartel, so we’re talking a small number of triad members in LA. If we get really lucky this wasn’t an official triad job, and they might not have even called it in. That means we’re talking a small number of people we have to deal with.”

  “And if they did call it in?”

  Shay placed a hand on Lily’s shoulder. “We’ll figure this out, Lily. Sure, you fucked up, but we all have at one point. I’m not gonna let some triad fucks get you. I promise you that, as long as you promise me you won’t try this shit again until I tell you that you’re ready.”

  Lily nodded. “I promise.”

  The tomb raider nodded. This was half her fault. She’d obviously not done enough to make sure Lily understood the fundamentals and risks of tomb raiding.

  I hope this doesn’t end with me having to kill hundreds of triad members. Of course, that might make for a fun date with James.

  Shay couldn’t help but snicker.

  8

  A few hours later, Shay sighed as Lily cartwheeled around the warehouse, occasionally jumping off the wall and tucking into rolls. Sometimes it seemed like the girl had more nervous energy than she knew what to do with. Maybe it had something to do with her ability to see the future and her reflexes.