by Martha Carr
“Just tell me, did you leave any evidence behind?”
“Not a bit. It was just a few guards and they never saw me coming. They’re taking a nap. This was fun.”
“Kid, you may have really found your calling.”
Shay pushed into the main room of Warehouse Five, the lights above clicking on in succession. She passed through several shelves filled with random knick-knacks, most of which were of no value. Many were holdovers from when she’d first purchased the place, and she’d kept them to act as decoys for anyone who penetrated the warehouse.
A random warehouse invader might, for example, mistake a Franklin Mint Civil War Chess Set for a magical artifact, or commemorative plates from the 2028 election. She passed a stack of bright children’s books with stylized images of elves, dwarves, gnomes, and something that looked like a walking giant rat. A Willen, if she remembered correctly. She’d never actually seen one.
Shay checked the title. Our New Friends from Oriceran: A Kid’s Guide to our Magical Neighbors.
She snickered.
Friends? Even most humans aren’t friends of other humans.
Shay continued toward a wall in the back and ignored the other decoy items, including several shelves of translucent crystals and strange weathered brass contraptions she’d purchased from a local artist.
It wasn’t paranoia; it was practicality. The contents of Warehouses One through Three would be expensive to replace, but it’d at least be possible. The rare book collection of Warehouse Four and the artifacts stored in Warehouse Five could be lost forever if she weren’t careful. She hadn’t even told Peyton the locations of Warehouses Four and Five.
Peyton thought he was being clever and had narrowed down the possible locations of the high-value book and artifact warehouses, but the man had no clue where they really were, and as much as the tomb raider had come to trust him, that was how she intended to keep it. He was smart and resourceful, but he’d crack like an egg under torture.
People could say what they wanted, but sometimes security by obscurity was a good strategy.
Lily on the other hand, she was another story. If she wanted to, she could follow the trail a retrieved artifact left and find Warehouse Five. Still, the way she’d kept the hidden part of the Annex to herself and didn’t tell Peyton was impressive.
A non-descript wall stopped Shay’s movement, and she placed her palm on a hidden pad near the center. She hissed at the burn of the DNA scan, then leaned forward for the retinal one. A keypad popped up and she tapped in her passphrase.
The wall parted with a loud groan, revealing a large hidden chamber with floor-to-ceiling gray metal shelving on one side and dark wooden shelving on the other. One could never know how a magical artifact might react to its environment.
Nothing looked disturbed. If Lily had been there to take a look around, she was careful not to move anything.
A small case filled with the magical artifacts Shay had found at Alison’s house when she was helping clean it out sat near the entrance. The girl didn’t want them for now, so Shay was content to let them sit and gather dust. They weren’t hers to use, and she hadn’t even bothered doing much in the way of research on them.
A velvet-and-wood case containing a set of porcelain cups whose cracks had been repaired with gold rested on one of the wooden shelves. They were magical kintsugi cups that could filter poison from drinks. Not exactly something that was all that tactically useful, but she didn’t feel the need to sell them, either.
Her alien stone from Mexico lay comfortably in a small glass case near the cups.
Past the shelves, a rack for clothes stood next to a weapons rack. Shay lacked any current magical outfits, but a long, curved sword hung from the latter, a Masamune tachi. The enchanted blade was powerful enough to get through even Brownstone’s amulet-enhanced skin, though not small enough for easy concealment. She’d save it for when she knew she’d be going up against someone powerful and magical.
Someone like Yulia Solokova. Shay still owed the witch for Antarctica and for Lily’s father. She ground her teeth at the memory of her icy humiliation.
Whatever. We’ll both get our chance eventually.
Shay pulled the gnome’s orb from her pocket and laid it on a soft cushion. It’d be safe in her vault until she could return it. The gnome was out of town for a while. She hadn’t dared ask him where he might be going.
The artifact had made her entrance and escape from Grayson’s mansion easy. Depending on some strange gnome to help her, or even Peyton or Lily, still sat a bit uneasily on her stomach, but the little adventure’s success proved why it was a good idea.
I might be good, but I know when to bring in help.
Shay blew out a breath. She’d taken care of one part of her new family in protecting Alison, and soon it’d be time to look into the girl’s soon-to-be adoptive father. She still had a lot of questions about Brownstone, including the nature of his amulet.
The tomb raider let out a quiet snicker. Between Brownstone and the weird alien crap, she was surrounded by mysteries that didn’t look profitable.
So much for my original life plan.
2
Shay was clicking away on the computer in the Warehouse Two office when Peyton rolled in, right on time. She had already dropped Lily off at Warehouse One for a workout to give her a chance to talk to Peyton, alone.
There were a few things he needed to be aware of, and it was as good a time as any to talk to him about them. She’d hoped Brownstone could stay out of trouble, but just in the days since her little adventure at Grayson’s house things had grown more complicated.
All of these distractions were keeping her from her commitments at the college. It had been well over a month since she’d stepped into her role as an adjunct professor and given a lecture.
No time at all to even research any history lessons that were thought to be myth and conveniently turned out to be magic. Her favorite topic.
Still… maybe she could at least squeeze in a stop at Warehouse Four and find a good book to read. She’d send a quick email while she was thinking of it and at least let them know she was alive. Little did they know that wasn’t a given.
“Good morning, Shay,” Peyton offered with a bright smile. As usual, his fashion sense remained eclectic at best. Today’s outfit included jeans and a T-shirt with a leather vest decorated with a Grateful Dead skull on the back and tall leather military boots laced up the front.
Shay stepped out of the office and leaned against the wall, her arms crossed. “I see you’re figuring out how to get to work on time and still make sure no one is following you. I don’t know if it’s your crazy random street algorithm, but whatever works.”
Peyton grinned. “Glad you approve.”
She gestured toward his clothes. “And…this is an interesting new look. I always pegged you more for an upscale hipster, rather than… Well, whatever the hell this is.”
Peyton scoffed. “You can’t put my style in a box or reduce it to mere labels. I’m a chameleon, and I can blend in anywhere if I want.” A thoughtful look passed over his face. “Maybe that should be my new alias.”
“Chameleon?”
“Yeah.”
Shay rolled her eyes. “Why don’t you focus on getting me a new job instead of worrying about nicknames and aliases?”
“Okay, Aletheia.”
“That’s not the same thing. I use the alias for safety, not to make some sort of statement about my fashion preferences.”
Peyton shrugged. “Just sayin’. You’ve got a cool alias based on the Greek Goddess of Truth, so a new name for me wouldn’t hurt.”
“Call yourself what you want. Doesn’t mean I’m gonna call you that.”
“Fair enough. You didn’t buy that Lily told us her real name, did you? That girl’s way too street smart to offer up a nugget of truth like that. Lily is her alias.”
“I take it you’ve been trying to find a trail online.”
“And t
here’s nothing. No school records, no social media. She’s a gray ghost. Oooh, that would be a good handle.”
“Let it go. She’ll tell us more when she’s ready. And about the gig…”
Peyton gave her a thumb’s up. “The Chameleon always does a thorough job.”
Shay groaned. “Whatever.” She rubbed the back of her neck and frowned. “There’s some shit you should know about. It doesn’t directly affect you, but it’s gonna affect me.”
“There’s a lot of shit I should know about. Is this about a job?”
The tomb raider shook her head. “Nope, it’s about Brownstone.”
“What about him?”
“I was poking around on some of the old dark web killer forums, that kind of thing.”
Peyton frowned. “Why?”
“To keep an eye out for people who might be trying to kill us.”
He waved a hand. “I’ve got all that stuff automated.”
Shay shook her head. “Algorithms can never replace people.”
Peyton’s eyes widened. “Wait. Are you saying someone’s coming for you? Shit. Or me?”
“Nope, not yet.”
“Then what?”
“They are coming for Brownstone.”
Peyton let out a sigh of relief. “Oh. That’s no big deal.”
“No big deal?”
“Come on, Shay. That guy is like a black hole for trouble. I wouldn’t be surprised if some country ends up declaring war on him at the rate he’s going, and he conquers it and renames it ‘Brownstoneland.’”
Shay barked a laugh. “Shit. You’re right, and, yeah, more trouble. The Harriken didn’t get the message from his last slaughter-fest. They’re bringing in help.”
“But they already did with that bounty.”
“Nope, this time they’re putting out enough money to get platinum-grade killers, not random assholes off the street. That means major trouble is probably coming his way.”
Peyton looked her up and down with a curious glint in his eye. “And you’re going to help him?”
“Yeah, probably.” She shrugged. “No big deal. He’s pretty convenient to have around.”
“I don’t get why you don’t want to admit you’re into the guy. If I batted for the other team, I’d be into the guy. He’s a total badass. He’s the emperor of all badasses.”
Peyton withered under Shay’s glare.
“The point is, keep an eye out. I’m guessing this is going to end with me killing a bunch of people.”
“You? Not Brownstone?”
“That too, but he’s a bounty hunter, not a former killer. I think like a hitman, and that’s not all.”
Peyton shook his head and stepped into the office to sit at the desk, tossing one of Lily’s new t-shirts toward a pile of her clothes. “Is there some other international criminal gang sending guys after him?”
“Not yet, but that’s not the thing I’m worried about.”
“What then?”
Shay hesitated, caught in a rare moment of self-doubt about whether she should be discussing Brownstone’s background with Peyton.
“I had a chat with James,” she continued after a moment. “Look, the thing is, the guy’s too badass not to be magical, and he’s got some sort of artifact that makes him even more badass.”
“So? That’s not a big deal. You’ve got artifacts too.” Peyton rolled his eyes. “Even though you hide them all from me in Warehouse Five.”
Shay smirked. “We all have our secrets. Except for you, of course.”
“Even from the guy who regularly helps save your life? I would if I could figure out how to keep them.”
“Especially from the guy who helps save my life.” She uncrossed her arms. “And it’s not just about artifacts. He’s kind of strange looking, and he doesn’t even remember where he’s from. He just remembers being in the jungle somewhere else and then suddenly in Los Angeles.”
Peyton’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”
“It sounds to me like he gated from some jungle on Oriceran to Earth when he was a little kid.”
“Brownstone’s Oriceran? But he would have been over here before all that came out.”
Shay shrugged. “So? Oricerans were over here before we knew about them. Lily’s ancestors, for one. All over the place doing all sorts of shit—mowing their lawns, bowling, working at Wendy’s. Whatever.”
“Bowling?” Peyton gave her a skeptical look. “Working at Wendy’s?”
“They’re just examples. The point is, they’ve always been here, so they’ve always been able to send people here—like probably Brownstone.”
Peyton shook his head. “He might just be a guy whose parents were on a local wizard’s good side.”
“Maybe. Anyway, I’m going to research his amulet and see what it turns up. At this point, verifying he’s from Oriceran would be less weird than finding out that I grabbed a weird alien stone from some possessed elf.”
“You want me to look into Brownstone?”
Shay shook her head. “You stick to the alien shit, I’ll handle the Oriceran stuff. There’s too much weirdness on either side for one person. And Peyton…”
“Don’t tell Lily. Not hard to figure out. You normally keep a pretty good eye on that teenager and you left her alone in a warehouse. By now, if you had any secrets in that one, she’s found them.”
“This whistling while you work isn’t so bad,” Peyton mumbled to himself after finishing a whistled ditty.
Working for Shay had started out as indentured servitude even if she did give him a very slim cut of the profits. Shay was good about rewarding effort.
But directing his talent toward helping the tomb raider had pushed him into areas he’d never imagined.
Areas such as Project Nephilim, whose files proved that not only did the government know about non-Oriceran extra-terrestrials, they’d recovered their artifacts.
“If you’ve got a little stone with an alien language, you’ve probably got an alien ship stowed somewhere. I just know it.”
Peyton’s fingers flew across the keyboard. He’d been stopped early when he’d hacked the Department of Defense systems and recovered the initial records on the alien research project, but that didn’t mean the government was guarding everything as competently. Now that he knew what he was looking for, it was far easier to snoop around the net.
A window popped up on his screen.
“Now Homeland Security, huh? Let’s see what you’ve got for me.” A document popped up. “What the hell?” He rushed out of the office.
The door to the Fiat was open, and Shay was halfway in.
“Wait,” Peyton shouted.
Shay stood and eyed him. “I don’t really have time to wait around for pizza experiments if that’s what this is about. I’ve got to pick up Lily and get her back here and then go talk to someone at the university about the symbols on Brownstone’s necklace.”
Peyton chuckled. “Although my pizza experiments redefine the glory of what could be called pizza, this isn’t about that.”
“What then?”
“I was poking around, and I just found out we have some competition.”
Shay shrugged. “We’ve got a lot of competition. Tomb raiding’s not exactly a forgiving business.”
Peyton shook his head. “I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about on the alien stuff.”
“Oh, don’t worry about it. If you found something, I’m sure it’s just that Correk guy looking into it on the other end for his Elf Mafia buddies or whoever.” She frowned. “That reminds me, I need to check into that guy more.”
“I don’t think Correk would go to the Professor to hire you, then go to the government to hire an outside contractor.”
Shay frowned. “Outside contractor?”
“Yeah. I haven’t found a lot of details, just that the Department of Homeland Security is paying a ‘retrieval specialist’ a shit-ton of money to look into any artifacts related to Project Nephilim.
Departments of Energy and Defense are kicking in, too.”
“An outside contractor versus creepy government guys?” She frowned. “It smells like they hired a tomb raider.”
Peyton sighed. “That’s what I was thinking. Maybe all this stuff isn’t worth looking into. There might be too much heat.”
“Bullshit. First, I want to know the truth about all this crap. We’re on the edge of verifying historical information that is considered fringe if not laughable in the academic community. Second, there’s money to be made, just like with the Lake Michigan stone.”
“You plan to sell the stuff if you find it?”
“Maybe. Got to find it first. With this Brownstone assassin-and-Harriken shit I don’t want to take off too soon, but at least we can do background checks. What about the retrieval specialist? Any info? Name?”
Peyton shook his head. “Not yet. The only thing I’ve found is the payment information.”
Shay slipped into her car. “Keep at it then. And, just to be clear, I also still want you to find me a good job. The way Brownstone rolls, this latest Harriken shit won’t last longer than a week or two.”
Shay pulled out of the parking lot and onto the street. Her meeting with Professor Armstrong at the university only reinforced a startling truth that was threading her Brownstone and alien research together.
The symbols on Brownstone’s amulet didn’t match the symbols on the alien stones, but she could no longer ignore the obvious. Brownstone’s amulet was of non-Oriceran extraterrestrial origin.
She took a deep breath as she turned onto the highway. Several puzzle pieces were falling into place. Brownstone had gated from another world, except it wasn’t Oriceran. Some aspects of his background now made more sense. He’d told her that he’d been tested, including magically, and it had been confirmed that he wasn’t from Oriceran.
But you can only find what you’re testing for, and no one would even think to test if he’s alien. And if his amulet changes his DNA somehow, they might not have been able to figure it out that way.
Shay frowned. The only thing she couldn’t determine was if that meant Brownstone’s amulet had any relationship to the alien stones. She found it hard to believe there were two lost alien worlds that most people didn’t know about.
