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

“I’d been telling Jake for a while,” Nardi replied. “I said we couldn’t do the same stuff anymore. People were getting sick of it, sick of us. The diehards wanted us to do crazier pranks, but I didn’t want to turn into an asshole. We started the channel to be fun. That’s what it was supposed to be, fun.”

“You didn’t answer my question.” Lyssa stepped away from the bed and minimized her shadowy aura. Spooking the man might spike his heart rate and get the nurse back. “I need to know why you listened to the email. What got your attention?”

Nardi rolled back to face her. His face contorted in pain. “Because it said we could find actual magic crap in the mine. I told Jake this was our chance. It didn’t matter if we couldn’t line up more stuff like that in the future. If we got there and showed actual magic on the channel, we could do way better than the wannabes. But he didn’t want to.” He shuddered. “He said it wouldn’t be fun. He wanted to do pranks and convince people we were magic, nothing real, but I convinced him to check it out. I told him I had a good feeling. I convinced him to go because of that stupid email.”

“Why didn’t you tell the EAA about this?” Lyssa asked. “Do you feel guilty?”

“You’re damned right I do.” Nardi closed his eyes. He grew quiet. “And I was scared. I didn’t expect anything like that to happen. I figured it’d be like a floating rock, and then the monster came. But after that, when I woke up here, I thought, ‘Damn it. What if it’s our fault? What if we played a prank on some Sorcerer, and he had it in for us? If I say something, he’ll finish me off.’”

“No, Mr. Nardi.” Lyssa shook her head. “Rogues aren’t allowed to operate freely. The Society will make him pay. I swear it. I am a Torch, and I’ll burn away the impurities of this world.” She growled, angrier now that she’d verified they’d been sent there. “I need to know specifically what the email said. Or you can tell me the account and the password.”

“It doesn’t matter. I feel better, but you’re just a figment of my imagination. You have to be.” Nardi managed a weak smile before his head lolled to the side. “I wish this were all real. I wish you were more than just a dream.” His eyes closed. “Everything should be a dream. I’ll wake up, and Jake will still be alive.”

“Mr. Nardi? Lucky?”

He started snoring.

She walked toward the window, casting a glance at the wounded man. The incident hadn’t been an assassination attempt. A Sorcerer wouldn’t kill a shadow in such an elaborate way and risk exposure. They’d been lured to the mine for a reason.

Lyssa looked out the window. “I’m getting closer, you bastard.”

Chapter Seventeen

Lyssa didn’t wait to talk to Damien. The days were ticking by, and the threat of Halloween loomed heavy over the investigation. Her news was promising and increased the threat of a rogue.

She’d contacted Damien on her way back to Maricopa County and laid out the information she’d uncovered before asking him to check into the email using his resources. She agreed to come to the parking lot of the building at noon the following day. That wouldn’t bother anyone inside or raise unusual suspicion. It was a reasonable compromise.

When she rolled into the lot, it wasn’t hard to find Damien in the mass of nearly-identical-looking government sedans and SUVs mixed with personal vehicles of startling uniformity. Damien stood outside with his arms folded, leaning against his black car. It was yet another vehicle that looked like dozens of others in the lot.

With her bike still looking like a specter’s chopper, Lyssa drove right up to the EAA agent and pushed down her kickstand, ignoring the odd looks from people walking through the parking lot. At least they didn’t look as frightened as the people inside. After her visit the other day, everyone must have gotten used to the idea of visits by Hecate.

“Does this work better?” Lyssa asked, motioning around the lot.

Damien gestured toward the building. “I think meeting in the parking lot is worse, and that’s before we worry about cameras and drones.”

“Huh. You didn’t seem bothered when I contacted you earlier.”

“Because I didn’t want to waste a lot of time on logistics.”

“And by the way, who cares about drones? Everyone knows I work with the EAA. What other problems are there?” Lyssa looked at the sky. “I’m not seeing any drones.”

“It looks like we’re trying to be shady meeting out here,” Damien offered a weak smile. “The truth is I was going to ask you to reconsider where we’d meet, but you seemed kind of wound up, and I didn’t want to piss you off. I still haven’t got you figured out, but I’m getting there.”

She needed to do a better job of communicating with him. Not all their complications were his fault, but for now, she needed to keep control of the conversation.

Lyssa chuckled. “If you don’t want to piss me off, tell me you’ve got something for me. I’m not Samuel. I know how to use a computer, but that doesn’t mean I can get access to someone’s private email account easily, and I don’t know how to do it without leaving a trail I don’t want to leave. I’m hoping our mystery suspect isn’t an expert either.”

Damien’s huge smile reminded Lyssa of a happy puppy. Every man wanted to be useful, and it could be hard to work around someone with a power like sorcery.

“I did my work and then some,” he said. “I’ll spare you the epic tale of bureaucratic wrangling, but the finished product was an expedited warrant to have the FBI check out email accounts accessed from Nardi’s phone.” He pulled out his phone and tapped it