Southwest Days (Semiautomatic Sorceress Book 2) by Kal Aaron (ebook reader for manga .txt) 📗

“Anything that keeps the monsters under control is fine with the EAA. The higher-ups have authorized even more bonuses because of the expanded risk to the general public.” He sounded surprised. “I don’t think anyone expected this little recon and monster hunt to turn into an underground dungeon crawl with huge queens. We’re doing a good job of managing the media blackout on this, but there’s only so long we can hold them off without admitting anything. This happened in the middle of nowhere, or we might have had twenty-four/seven news coverage screeching about the underground monster menace threatening the American people. The last thing we need is a panic.”

Lyssa frowned. “We’ll get the monsters handled. No one will panic if the first time they hear there is a problem, it’s already been solved.”

“True enough, but we still have the issue of whoever is behind this.”

“Convinced there’s a rogue now?”

“I never doubted it all that much,” Damien replied. “I just don’t think it’s someone targeting you.”

“I don’t care at this point,” Lyssa said. “Just give me what you’ve got.”

“I don’t have much to give you that will help with that.” A trace of bitterness colored Damien’s voice. “And that’s worrying me. It’s almost like they wanted the incident to blow up. Remember the email? They wanted a livestream. They wanted those guys to die on camera, and thousands if not millions of people to see it live. Who does that?”

“Why didn’t they follow up, then?” Lyssa asked. “Why not write every news company in the country and tell them about it? I don’t get it.”

“Because that would leave a trail back to them,” Damien replied. “The FBI and the EAA would track them down, then you or an Eclipse would show up and end them. They aren’t confident they can hide from normie tech without taking extra precautions. That’s one of the few advantages we have over this bastard.”

“Speaking of that, I’m still not convinced we’ll find the rogue at the bottom of that mine,” Lyssa said, clutching her phone tighter.

“Huh? You were just making fun of me about that.”

“No, you don’t get it. I think there’s a rogue involved, but I don’t think he’s dumb enough to still be sitting in the mine after the racket I made,” Lyssa said. “Which means whatever you got from that USB stick might be helpful. It might come down to another old-fashioned investigation. Or a high-tech, old-fashioned investigation. You know what I mean. We need to nail this guy.”

“Sorry,” Damien growled. “We got nothing. Absolutely nothing. That’s what I called to tell you.”

“Nothing?” Lyssa’s exasperation flowed into her tone. “How can you have nothing? I gave you a USB shard stick. Don’t you guys have computers not connected to a network you can test that stuff on? It’s not like I was expecting you to use a spell on it.”

“Yes, we do have that sort of thing, and yes, we used them. And we got nothing.”

“But how? Why? Are you sure you tested it properly?”

Damien scoffed. “We did a lot more than just stick it in a port. We also did testing and imaging, and it turns out it’s not even a working USB drive. It looks like one, but there’s nothing inside. It’s hollow.”

“Damn it!” Lyssa hissed. “It was nothing but a trick? The bastard. But what about anything else you might have been able to pick up? There’s got to be something we can use.”

“No fingerprints but yours,” Damien replied, sounding apologetic. “There was also no DNA to sequence or useful chemical residues we can trace to anything or anyone specific. Other than knowing it’s a shard, we have no idea what it does or where it came from. We’re getting ready to turn it back over to the Society and hoping they’ll have more luck.”

“I doubt it. That’s why they left it behind. It’s not because they were worried about tracking, but because they knew we wouldn’t be able to do anything with it.” Lyssa furrowed her brow. “The shard’s not powerful enough as is to have accomplished much other than what we already have evidence for.” She furrowed her brow. “Our email writer went to the trouble of using a public computer to hide their trail, which meant they weren’t confident they could do it with sorcery, so it’s not that. Given the low power I felt, I suspect it was a limited-use shard to disrupt the cameras. It might not have any power left by the time you turn it over to the Society.”

“A throwaway shard?” Damien chuckled. “Oh, man. Five years into this brave new world, and I’m still not prepared for every new thing I run into. Giant monsters, disposable enchanted items, and rogues plotting mayhem in the desert with giant monsters. Just another day in the office. New powers, new criminals, new headaches.”

“I want this bastard badly, but if we annihilate his army, at least he won’t be able to finish his plan. Killing all his pets has a chance of flushing him out.” Lyssa stood and marched over to the window, separating the slats of her blinds to peek at the peaceful suburban street. “Even if he doesn’t come out, that’s enough of a win for now. There’s no way he’ll be able to easily rebuild his horde.”

“I agree, and I can tell you the higher-ups view it that way as well,” Damien replied. “As far as they’re concerned, this is a significant enough issue that they’re confident the Society will track and handle the rogue regardless of what the government tells them. I don’t think anyone involved in investigating this wants those monsters to leave that mine.”

Lyssa let out a bitter chuckle. “Yeah. The only thing worse than a rogue is a rogue who’s trying to make a big splash. Got anything else for me?”

“No. I’ll let you know, but I can’t guarantee anything else before you finish clearing the mine, given your aggressive timeline. Not that I’m trying to discourage