by Martha Carr
“I’m surprised you tolerate breakfast pizza. Doesn’t seem very New York-style purity or whatever.”
Shay shrugged. “If someone’s upfront about what they’re doing I’m very tolerant. Little Dom’s has two pizzas a person of taste can reasonably consume for breakfast.” She held up a finger. “One is flatbread topped with smoked salmon, crescenza cheese, capers, and red onions.” She held up a second finger. “Or, if you prefer, you can try the one with egg, speck, and mozzarella. Like I said, they are both damn good, and I’ve had them both several times.”
“Okay, you’ve convinced me, and it doesn’t sound like I have much of a choice.”
“No, you don’t.”
“I think I’ll have the second one. What about you two?”
Shay furrowed her brow. “I’m more in a salmon mood.”
“Fish on a pizza? Yuck!”
Shay rolled her eyes. “What do you think anchovies are?”
“Well, I don’t like them either.”
“I’ve never had salmon. I’ll try it,” said Lily.
“You’re both crazy.”
“You need to expand your horizons, Peyton, especially if you want to become a true master of pizza and not just a wannabe.”
Peyton snorted. “Says the woman who called Chicago-style pizza an abomination and a lot worse.”
“Chicago has their own pizza? I have a lot left to learn.” She glanced over at Shay. “No, not going to that boujee school.”
Shay smirked. “Wasn’t bringing that up. Hey, Peyton, there’s expanding your horizons, and there’s evil. I’m not a monster.”
He chuckled.
They fell into silence until the waiter returned and they placed their orders.
The tomb raider waited until their server departed to speak again. “So, you tried to burn down the warehouse, poison Lily with your pizza, and you brought your cat to work. You’re lucky I’m not allergic.”
Peyton winced. He’d not even considered the possibility.
“Anything else happen while I was gone that I should know about? You join a boy band, too?”
“I’m okay at dancing but not that great at singing.” Peyton shook his head. “And nothing much, really. I’ve been trying to look into those symbols for you using a lot of heavy-duty image-matching algorithms, but I haven’t found anything yet.”
“Not a big deal.” Shay nodded slowly. She’d held back before because she wanted to see if he stumbled onto anything without being led there. But she decided it wouldn’t hurt to nudge him onto the right track.
She leaned forward and lowered her voice. “Poke around people interested in underworld alien shit. See what you can turn up for the symbols in that context.”
“Aliens? As in extraterrestrials, Oricerans, or visiting Mexican citizens?” asked Lily with a mouth full of pizza. “Whoa.”
“The first. Just see where that leads you.”
The researcher nodded, a hint of excitement in his eyes. “You found something pointing that way? You really think it’s that and not just people misinterpreting Oriceran stuff?”
“Maybe. Hard to say. Doesn’t hurt for you to check into it.” Shay picked up her coffee and took a sip. “Twenty years ago, most people were skeptical about magic being real. When the world is insane, insane explanations make a lot more sense.” She shrugged, setting down her coffee. “I find magic items for a living, and I’ve run into a lot of weird shit.”
“If this involves aliens, are you’re saying it was an alien demon you fought?” Peyton rubbed his temples. “That kind of hurts to think about.”
“I don’t know, could be. Or it could be nothing more than a crazy elf with delusions of grandeur. My…solution to the issue seemed to handle him okay.”
Peyton laughed. “You know, both of our lives used to be a lot simpler and safer. I never used to worry about things like demons, alien or otherwise.”
“Shit happens, then you die.” Shay shrugged. “And if you’re really lucky, you don’t come back as a skeleton or zombie.”
“Amen,” said Lily.
A man in a long trench coat bumped into a woman outside. Shay couldn’t make out what he was saying, but it seemed like he was apologizing. If she’d not been watching closely, she might have missed his hand sliding into the woman’s purse.
If Little Dom’s hadn’t been one of her favorite places Shay might have been impressed by the man’s pickpocketing skill, but his presence ruined what should have been an otherwise relaxing post-job victory meal.
“I have some ideas on how to improve some of our notification systems,” Peyton began. “Okay, Lily and I have some ideas. Also, if you take more time between jobs, I’ll have more time to improve things instead of having to concentrate on support and always playing catch-up.”
Shay gave him a distracted nod as she watched the pickpocket take another man’s wallet. She shot up. “You know what the problem with our world is?”
“Where did that come from? I was talking about notification systems and improving our IT resources. Is the problem with our world outdated electronic notification infrastructure?”
Lily gave him a nudge and nodded toward the door. She had noticed the same thing and kept looking back and forth between the pickpocket and the tomb raider, learning.
Shay locked her attention on the pickpocket as he entered the restaurant and made his way toward the bar. He nicked the wallet of a man at the bar while reaching over him with his other hand for a straw.
“The problem is that too many people don’t quit while they’re ahead,” Shay explained.
“Some people might say that about you.”
Shay snorted. “They’re probably right.” She grabbed her cup. “I’ll be right back. I’m going to get a refill.”
“You can’t wait?”
Lily shook her head, rolling her eyes. “How are you so good at what you do and so clueless about so many other things?”
“No. I can’t. This stuff isn’t Turkish coffee,” said Shay. “It doesn’t have the same punch to keep me going.”
Shay marched to the bar and looked the opposite way. She bumped into the pickpocket.
The man grunted.
Shay let out a feigned embarrassed giggle and lowered her free hand inside his jacket.
“Sorry about that,” she offered. “I don’t even have an excuse unless I’m still drunk from last night. I should watch where I’m going.”
“No problem.” The pickpocket shrugged. “I wasn’t paying much attention myself.”
“You sure you’re okay? I could pay for your food or something if I ruined your morning. My therapist says I need to be spreading goodwill in the world, and I’d just be so hurt if I’d started a man’s day off on the wrong foot.”
He shook his head. “No. I’m fine. Seriously. No big deal. If that’s the worst thing that happens to me today, I’ll be pretty happy.”
Shay managed to slide the bar patron’s wallet out of the pickpocket’s jacket and stepped back. She tossed it behind the victim’s stool.
The pickpocket looked behind him and frowned.
“What’s that?” Shay stepped over to the stool and picked up the wallet. She handed it to the bar patron. “I think you dropped this, sir.”
The man at the bar took the wallet, his eyes wide. “Huh. Thanks. It’s good to know there are still people in this city looking out for each other.”
“No problem.” Shay spun back to the pickpocket and focused a cold stare on him. “I mean, losing your wallet at breakfast might ruin a person’s whole day, and I know what my therapist would say about that.” She let the feigned ditziness fade from her voice and the natural hard edge return.
The criminal swallowed and bolted toward the door. Shay was half-tempted to go after him and take him down, but she didn’t need police showing up and poking around her background. He barreled into a man on the way out.
“Hey, watch it, bro.” The man shoved the criminal.
The criminal didn’t even slow. He r
an around the man and threw open the doors to complete his escape.
Shay sauntered back to her table, snickering. “What were you saying about the notifications, Peyton?”
The researcher blinked several times and shook his head. “What the hell just happened? I saw it, but I don’t understand it. I thought you were getting coffee.” He pointed to her cup. “But you didn’t refill it.”
“I didn’t want a pickpocket thinking he could mess with one of my restaurants. It makes for a bad atmosphere. I made it clear he needed to leave.”
“Oh. I thought we were just going out for breakfast, not breakfast and a show.”
Shay shrugged. “I try to keep it interesting.”
“I’ll say.” The man chuckled. “Anyway, it’s just about better networking the computer systems to improve the notifications. I’m filtering a lot of them, but I want to set up a database so I can put categories on them and you can review them more easily. That way you don’t have to waste as much time sorting through the information. Or is that a stupid idea?”
“No, it’s not. It’s a good idea.” Shay shrugged. “You’ve been working with me long enough now that you know what I need. Check with me before you implement, but if you have a good idea toss it to me and I’ll let you know.”
Peyton might need to be kept in line every now and again, but it was stupid to pretend he wasn’t integral to her tomb raider operation. Anything he could do to cut down on the amount of bullshit she had to sort through would only improve her efficiency.
The man had become a useful part of her team, not just a tool or an investment. Even Lily was starting to grow on her as a part of their team.
Shay nodded. It was time. “Remember when I mentioned showing you a new warehouse?”
Peyton nodded. “Yeah. I just figured you’d get around to it when you were ready.”
“Wrong angle. It’s more about when you were ready.”
“I think I am.”
Shay chuckled. “Of course you’d say that.”
“Well, how do I prove I’m ready?”
“You already have. Let’s eat breakfast and go check it out.”
“Does any of this include me?” asked Lily.
“You’re the fave child. I thought that went without saying,” said Peyton.
21
“Talk about anticlimactic,” Peyton grumbled. He shook his head and gestured at the racks and shelves of equipment. “Did you hit your head in Turkey? I come to Warehouse Three all the time. I figured out where this place was without you even telling me, remember? I’ve even shown this to Lily while you were out of town. Don’t reach for your gun. You okayed it, remember?”
Shay smirked. Sometimes it felt nice to take an arrogant person down a peg or two.
“Sure, but do you know about the Annex?”
Peyton blinked. “What Annex?”
Shay laughed. “I’m kind of surprised you haven’t figured it out already. There’s an entire other building connected to this one.”
Shay noticed Lily smile. She had already found it. Damn, maybe that girl would surpass her faster than she thought. And smart enough to keep it to herself. No way she gained entry.
“What? That? I’ve looked through the surveillance footage. It’s just empty space. That’s your big secret? I figured you just kept the space because it’s already connected to the building and you can’t risk renting it out.”
“Follow me.” Shay walked toward a spot of wall near the corner. “Come and be amazed by what I can still pull over on you.”
“What a wonderful wall you’ve discovered. It’s so…wall-like and gray.”
Shay winked. “Sometimes, the best place to hide something is in plain sight, you know.”
“Which is why you forced me to live hidden in a warehouse for so long.”
“Sometimes it’s the best place. It’s not always the best place.”
She placed her palm in the middle of the wall and hissed at the faint burning sensation of the hidden DNA reader. A small panel opened to reveal a retinal scanner and a keypad. She leaned forward as it scanned her eye and she entered the code.
Loud grinding filled the room as the wall slid open to reveal a hallway.
Peyton blinked several times. “What the hell? What about the door in the lobby?”
“If you had opened it, you would have found it’s been filled with cement. I really expected you to try, you know.”
Peyton sighed. “I just figured that with the surveillance footage there wasn’t a point. I never figured you’d try so hard to trick me. Besides, Lily might rat me out to get back at me.”
“That’s not the way retribution works,” said Lily, peering into the hallway.
“You already found this hallway, didn’t you.” Shay watched Lily try to feign surprise. Okay, lying was not a strength. Good thing to know.
“What? You knew and didn’t tell me? I thought we had a pact?” Peyton asked, anguished.
“This seemed beyond the scope of our pact.”
“How did you get in there?”
“Weird magic, I told you. Comes in handy at the oddest times.”
“You’re going to have to show me some time,” said Shay.
“We’ll make a trade,” said Lily.
“My tricks had nothing to do with you, Peyton. I set up all this before I ever thought of saving your skinny ass.”
“But why didn’t you tell me about it earlier?”
Shay shrugged. “It was a test, especially after your little stunts earlier tracking down warehouses, I was curious to see if you could find out about it yourself. The surveillance footage is bullshit, obviously.”
Peyton shook his head. “I can’t believe this has been here the entire time and I didn’t even know about it. I’m both embarrassed and impressed.”
“I still have a few secrets, Peyton. Don’t underestimate me just because you’ve managed to get a few over on me.”
He laughed. “I respect and fear you, but I never underestimate you.”
“I just respect you,” said Lily.
Shay gestured to the hallway and entered. Buzzing lights clicked on with each step she took.
Peyton hurried after her. “Why do I half-suspect I’ll find Narnia at the other end?”
“What’s Narnia?” asked Lily. “Don’t mention the school again, just help me out.”
“I have a book for you later. And Peyton, I had some Turkish Delight when I was in Turkey. I wasn’t that impressed.”
“What kind of candy would you sell your family out for?”
Shay snickered. “We both have shitty families. It’s not like we need candy to sell them out.”
They reached the end of the hallway where another set of DNA and retinal scanners, along with a keypad, awaited.
After the requisite security ritual the door slid open and bright lights flooded the space, revealing row after row of wigs, clothing, and accessories. Dozens of cars filled half the room, ranging from a rusty station wagon to a bright yellow Lamborghini.
Shay pointed to an elevator across the room. “There’s a second floor, too. No cars up there, though.”
“Can I have a car?” Lily stood there with her mouth half open.
“You’re not even old enough to drive.”
“Hasn’t stopped me yet.”
“The Warehouse Three Annex is your closet and garage all in one?” Peyton surveyed the warehouse, awestruck.
“That’s one way to look at it.” Shay pointed to a computer in a small office near the hall. “Have a database in there with a catalog of everything. It’s all carefully arranged—the clothing or cars needed for any identity. Not only do I have the individual pieces stored, but each car has the stuff needed for a couple weeks in a given identity. Documents, account numbers—that sort of thing.”
Peyton shook his head. “Why do you even have all this?”
“I used to have a warehouse like this in New York for my old job.”
“I get why you ne
eded that. It’s not like you announced who you were when you killed people.”
Shay shook her head. “You, more than anyone else, know how everything we do leaves a trace somewhere. If you’re not actively trying to avoid it, you’ll end up with a trail that leads back to you.”
“But you never got caught. You faked your death.”
“Yeah, and that worked because of how careful I was. Don’t you get it? As far as the cops know, Shay Carson never killed anyone. Some other person did. In fact, different people did, and this is how I maintained that. Different appearances, documents, identities, cars. Whatever I needed.” She started walking down one of the rows. “There are two ways to handle trails. One way is to try not to leave one. The second is to leave a false trail. Or ten false trails.”
Peyton wandered after her and whistled. “This is like gangster’s Halloween.” He put on an impressive velvet broad-brimmed hat with a feather. “I think I’d take on jobs all the time just to try out the different outfits.”
Lily slid on oversized Jackie-O style sunglasses and a large floppy hat.
Shay chuckled. “It’s not for fun. I don’t wear or use any of this shit unless it’s for the fake identity. If I have any reason to think an identity’s been compromised I burn it.”
“How do you burn an identity?”
“Same way as before. I destroy everything associated with it.”
Peyton swallowed. “Everything?”
“Don’t worry, I’m not gonna kill you anytime soon.”
“I’m not worried about me.” He pointed to the Lamborghini. “I’m worried about that beautiful thing. You wouldn’t destroy the car.”
“I got rid of more than a few sports cars during my years as a killer.” Shay let the word slip out before she knew it and quickly looked at Lily.
Lily took off the hat and moved on to a rack of dresses.
“I already told her about your old profession. It was less of a big reveal than you would imagine.” Peyton groaned. “How many cars? That’s just…wrong.”
She almost laughed at the idea of him being more offended by her destruction of sports cars than her murdering people. They were a regular Addams Family. “Cars can always be replaced. They’re just things, in the end.”
