Southwest Days (Semiautomatic Sorceress Book 2), Kal Aaron [book recommendations based on other books .txt] 📗

and they stepped out. Damien led her down the wide hallways to a dark wooden door with a simple black sign reading, US Extraordinary Affairs Agency, Phoenix Field Office. He opened the door. There were three cramped desks with computers and phones, but no one inside.

Lyssa closed the door behind her and looked around. “They didn’t seriously send you here by yourself, did they? That’d be a dick move even for the government.”

She was not used to dealing with a huge number of agents. The EAA preferred to dedicate an agent as the handler for an Illuminated on a one-to-one ratio, with other agents and staff providing support, but she’d never seen a field office with only one agent.

Damien chuckled and took a seat at his desk. There wasn’t much decoration unless she counted the nameplate that read Agent Damien Riley. Now that she looked around, she noticed other nameplates. A little observation would have answered her question.

“Everyone else is at lunch,” Damien began, “but it’s like I’m always complaining about. The EAA is supposed to manage all you sorcery types with a tiny budget and staff.”

Lyssa grabbed a chair from behind the desk belonging to Agent Rick Thompson. “You guys outsource all the hard work to us.”

Damien frowned. “Thanks for that. I appreciate the respect.”

“Oh, don’t get all huffy. You’re a big boy.” Lyssa scoffed. “No one trusts us, so you’re there to keep us on a leash, but we’re the ones who hunt down our own. It’s just the way things are. I don’t know if I’d set up a different system.” She waved a hand. “Forget it. I didn’t come here for my Bitch of the Year competition entry, which I already earned anyway. I came because you needed me. Before we talk, I want to confirm something.”

“Okay, what?” Damien asked, his face relaxing.

“I’m curious if you guys are keeping the same procedure the EAA had before concerning contract approval,” Lyssa said. “I never thought to ask when I moved here.”

“Is that important?” Damien looked confused.

“It depends,” Lyssa said. “The previous primary agent assigned to me never talked to Samuel directly. At least that’s what he told me, and Samuel never gave any indication that he was lying.”

“Oh. That.” Damien nodded. “I haven’t talked to him directly either. I call a number and lay out the information, and somebody else calls me back. That a problem? I always figured the Elders don’t like talking with Shadows.”

“No, it’s not a problem.” Lyssa shook her head. “I wanted to make sure Samuel wasn’t messing with me, and I’m eager to get back to work, but I also needed to make sure everything is working like it did before. Don’t be offended, though. I think in Samuel’s case, it has a lot more to do with him being a fossil who can barely stand to use a cell phone. It’s like it’s an insult to everything he believes in to acknowledge technology can be as impressive as sorcery.”

Damien laughed. “Okay, that makes sense. And I’m not offended. I’d rather talk to my field equivalent anyway.” An uneasy expression settled on his face. “I want to make one thing clear.”

“Go ahead.” Lyssa folded her arms. “Short of trying to shoot me or dissing Kawatsu-chan, I doubt you’re going to offend me. It’s been that kind of week already.”

“We didn’t reach out to you for any contracts in the last month because Samuel specifically told us you weren’t available,” Damien said. “I’ve been suggesting for a while that we should get you back into the field. I think it looks bad when not every Torch is working. We don’t want people to think we have a shortage and get ideas that they can pull crap.”

“I know. I don’t blame you. I don’t even blame him. Things happened, and everyone was trying to do the right thing.” Lyssa nodded. “I care more about what’s going on now than the past. You said you have a job for me, and I want to get out there and vent my stress on whatever idiots were dumb enough to get the government to look my way.”

Damien nodded. “Sure. You’re right.” He took a deep breath. “Here’s the deal. We’ve got a situation, a nice local one in Arizona. By the way, I don’t want to get in the middle of Society politics, but I got the feeling Samuel didn’t want you doing this either, but he had no choice. It’s just the way his response was quoted back to me. It’s not anything I can put my finger on.”

“I’ve been loudly insisting,” Lyssa noted. She didn’t care if Damien knew how annoyed she was about being benched. “He might have run out of excuses.”

“I don’t know if you have your ear to the ground,” Damien replied, “but the other nearby Torches need some time to recover from their most recent contracts. It’s exactly what you were worried about—a personnel shortage.”

Lyssa nodded. “Then everyone’s a winner here except the criminals. What’s the job?”

“Simple recon.” Damien’s casual words didn’t match the seriousness of his tone.

“Simple recon can turn complicated, depending on what I’m looking for,” Lyssa replied, leaning forward. “Make sure you’re not leaving anything out. I don’t want any mysterious shard ambushes.”

“I was getting to the rest of it,” Damien said, “it’s recon and a potential monster hunt follow-up.”

“Monsters?” Lyssa snorted. “I’m guessing these monsters aren’t something that has been around for a while and just stayed under the radar.”

Damien shook his head. “We don’t know a lot of the details, but we have strong indications of sorcery-enhanced creatures on the loose in southern Arizona. We’re coordinating with the Mexican government since the location in question is close to the border, but they’re not having any trouble on their side. They’re leaving it up to us, though they’re stepping up their patrols in case something big and hungry sneaks across. Cross-border incidents can get messy.”

“Monsters don’t pop out of nowhere, no matter what Shadows think,” Lyssa said.