Southwest Days (Semiautomatic Sorceress Book 2) by Kal Aaron (best book recommendations TXT) 📕

“You were very specific in your wording there,” she said.

“Was I?” Samuel looked perplexed. “Aren’t I always? Specificity leads to more efficient communication.”

Lyssa grinned. “You said there was no information about rogues operating in this general region who specialized in the kind of sorcery necessary. The way you said it implies there have been rogues who have operated in the area, but what area do you mean? The SW US? Arizona? Southern Arizona or Cochise County? Help me out here with the complete truth.”

Samuel replied, “There were some unpleasant rogues who afflicted the area in the nineteenth century. They were mostly petty men who specialized in murdering Shadows for entertainment rather than anyone with grand visions of creature-breeding and the necessary accompanying skills. All their recorded efforts involved straightforward applications of their abilities in their murders.”

“And are any of these lovable guys still around?” Lyssa asked.

“No.” Samuel’s expression turned stern. “An Eclipse eliminated them using a gunfight as a cover. There was concern that if the rogues continued, their actions would expose the Society. There was no one seriously arguing for going public at that time.”

Pieces of information flowed together in Lyssa’s mind, making connections. A gunfight. Arizona. The nineteenth century.

Lyssa narrowed her eyes. “Wait a second. There were rogue Sorcerers killing people in Cochise County who were eliminated using a gunfight?” Her breath caught. “You mean the OK Corral, don’t you?”

“Yes,” Samuel replied in a clipped tone. His nostrils flared.

She smiled. It wasn’t often that she got one over on him in a conversation.

“How the hell did I not know that involved Sorcerers?” Lyssa asked. “Shouldn’t that be something you’re passing along to Illuminated in the US, especially those of us operating in this part of the country?”

She didn’t claim a grand knowledge of every incident in the Society’s history, but it was rare she heard something that was genuinely shocking. Despite what the Shadows thought, Sorcerers didn’t loom behind every incident in the past.

Samuel frowned. “The Earps were useful tools to cover our mistakes at the time, but thanks to Wyatt, what should have disappeared into history as a minor footnote ended up becoming a cultural touchstone. Our involvement on both sides was something kept quiet until recently even among the Illuminated because of the politics involved.”

“What politics?”

Although Lyssa didn’t care about Society politics, she didn’t like not knowing things. She was doubtful the current incident had anything to do with the shootout, but she needed to make sure there was no hidden connection to the mine.

“It’s not important,” Samuel said. “The dead Sorcerers had connections to certain others with political clout. That led to consternation over the Eclipse.”

Lyssa snorted. “Corruption is evergreen.”

“With M-Day leading to more revelations, we’re having to carefully manage how we reveal certain incidents,” Samuel said. “For now, I’d prefer if you didn’t share that information with anyone else. It’s not relevant to this case. The people involved are all long since dead, including the Eclipse who killed the rogues. If I had any reason to believe it was connected to this case, I would have told you.”

Lyssa leaned back on the couch. She doubted a Sorcerer playing cowboy had stuck eggs in the mine a hundred years before. Samuel could be annoying, but she believed him. He cared more about the Society’s current image than the distant past.

“Okay.” Lyssa nodded. “So it’s not a leftover problem, and you don’t have any info about anyone traveling the area recently who might be a suspect. I’m not going to shoot someone just because they’re suspicious, but we can’t just waste a few monsters, throw up our hands, and say we’re done. What about people with related essences who might have traveled through the area?”

Samuel shook his head. “Few of our kind have a reason to go to such a place. There are numerous Illuminated with relevant essences who could have created the creatures, but we’re not about to harass them without evidence of wrongdoing. It’s possible, albeit unlikely, that a shard is behind this incident, which makes it even more difficult to pinpoint a likely individual suspect.”

“There’s a trail here,” Lyssa replied. “We just have to follow it. I’m hoping if we find the rogue, that will make it easier to ensure the mine is safe. Otherwise, I can go through there four more times and not be a hundred percent sure. There can always be another hidden chamber waiting to spew out more monsters. And I don’t think we want to send the military down there if we can avoid it.”

Samuel nodded. “We agree on that, but how do you propose to find the rogue?”

“By following up on the most obvious question.” Lyssa pulled her phone out of her pocket. “I’m guessing you don’t watch a lot of internet videos, do you?”

“Of course not.” Samuel scoffed. “I don’t have time for pointless diversions, and I dislike the internet. Phones and television were bad enough. The Shadows invent newer and more sophisticated ways for pointless diversion.”

“While cleaning all the nastiness from the monsters off me last night, I did some preliminary research by watching the videos made by the victims on their channel. I thought it might provide insight.”

Samuel’s eyes glazed over like Lyssa was speaking an ancient lost dialect. Sometimes he was such a fossil.

“Here’s the deal.” Lyssa tossed her phone on the couch. “Lots of people, especially young people, star in do-it-yourself shows. They might be educational, or funny, or stupid. These two guys specialized in the stupid variety.”

“Stupid?” Samuel’s mouth tightened. “They specialized in producing foolish programming?”

“Yeah, stupid and foolish. That’s a good description.” Lyssa shrugged. “I don’t know how else to describe it. They walked around doing idiotic, annoying, childish pranks, but they had tens of thousands of subscribers who loved them. Mostly kids and teens, but a lot of people were interested in what they were doing.”

“They were attempting some sort of prank at the mine?” Samuel asked. “I fail to see how you can make an abandoned