Southwest Nights (Semiautomatic Sorceress Book 1), Kal Aaron [best books for 20 year olds txt] 📗

more than five minutes without bragging that her contributions in the final battle were superior because she’d taken down more men, but she hadn’t called Lyssa a thieving cat the entire time.

Were they friends now? No. Frenemies who might occasionally help each other take down threats? Probably. Lyssa could live with that.

“That’s now, but it wasn’t the same then.” Lyssa pocketed her phone. “After all, Aisha did try to kill me in Midland when she thought I was working with the Lone Five Stars.”

“Are you accusing Elder Theodora of attempting to assassinate you?” Jofi asked. “Why would she do that?”

Lyssa had never been more frustrated by the lack of emotion in Jofi’s voice than at that moment. An outrageous statement like that needed feeling behind it. She wanted someone to be angry on her behalf.

“I don’t know what’s going on. All I know is I better watch my back, and Chris is alive. I have to be careful about who I trust going forward.” Lyssa frowned. “For now, though, I better get these shards taken care of.” She pulled her phone back out and dialed. “A little white lie never hurt anyone.”

“Agent Riley here,” Damien answered.

“I got a little tip for you on more shards. Don’t ask where I got it. These things come up when a woman does what I do. You’re going to need to call someone and have them collect some toys from a storage unit in Norman, OK.”

“Okay. That’s good news, I think.”

Lyssa chuckled. There was something soothing about Damien’s voice. That was what Bill the Boy-Next-Door had lacked: a good, soothing voice.

She could ask him out on a date. Samuel said he was going to direct other Torches toward jobs for a while, but she’d just verified that her brother was alive. It wasn’t the right time to worry about dating hot feds.

Sorry, Tricia, she thought. Looks like my life is on hold for a while.

“It’s good news, Damien,” Lyssa replied. “Every shard we keep out of the hands of criminals makes the world a safer place.”

Chapter Thirty-Two

Lyssa paced in her living room, her stomach tight. Samuel had sent her a message via the mirror, letting her know he was going to stop by and an exact time. She’d asked him to come over so they could go over a couple of things concerning the job.

All progress resulting in him becoming more reasonable, however small, was good. The problem was she needed to figure out how to proceed with her brother. There was no way she could follow up on the memory card without help. Even going to Last Remnant to check on things would require an Elder’s permission, which meant getting Samuel onboard.

But her suspicions lingered. Adrien might have been trying to mess with her head as one final attack, but it wasn’t like he could have set up the shards and pictures in his dying moments hundreds of miles away from Norman, Oklahoma.

She wasn’t sure there was a conspiracy. The small number of Torches in the United States meant a given Torch had a high probability of running into trouble across a multi-state area.

That was why she hated coincidences so much. They could have multiple explanations, which was not a great thing for a paranoid woman whose job involved tracking down dangerous people who didn’t want to be found.

Lyssa’s perimeter alarm spells sent her to the door before the knock. Samuel wore a different disguise this time, though it was equally nondescript. She opened the door and gestured him inside. Once she closed the door, his form shifted to his normal Gentleman regalia.

She didn’t bother to sit this time, instead folding her arms and standing in front of her couch with a defiant look on her face. Depending on how the next few minutes went, the Elder might end up an enemy, and she wanted her enemies to know she would stand up for herself.

Samuel watched her for a moment with an irritated expression. “The Society considers the shard matter officially closed. Some of the shards recovered from the port were originally offered for sale in Japan during those incidents before the relevant parties were captured.”

Lyssa nodded. “Then I cleaned up not just for you, but for some other Elders, huh? I think that makes me one badass Sorceress.”

“Your success in this matter hasn’t gone unnoticed.” Samuel stroked his beard. “Nor has your cooperation with Aisha Khatri despite your history of tension with her. You’re learning.”

“Yeah, about that.” Lyssa dropped her arms. “What the hell was Aisha doing investigating this anyway?”

“I thought that was already clear to you.” Samuel stared at Lyssa. “Elder Theodora misunderstood the scope of what I intended for investigation. She apologized for the mistake, but it worked out to everyone’s advantage, so there’s no point in pressing the issue.”

“Really? That simple, huh?” Lyssa chuckled. “She misunderstood the scope, but she never mentioned it to you? Didn’t pass you a little message? ‘Hey, I’ve got Flame Deva on this!’”

“No, I wasn’t aware of it until after the battle in Houston.” Samuel narrowed his eyes. “Which means you also held back from me. Be cautious of what accusations you fling, given your behavior. This situation is considered a positive achievement overall. Don’t taint that.”

“Held back from you? Aisha and I, as the Torches in the field, had it handled.” Lyssa smiled thinly. “And if the Elders can’t even communicate with each other ahead of time to keep from messing up on assignments, why should we waste valuable time waiting for orders when we have a hot lead? If we hadn’t gone to Houston right away, Adrien Allard would have run off to the next country to sell shards.”

“Watch yourself, Miss Corti. Success doesn’t mean immunity in all matters. It might not be your intention to impugn an Elder, but your words are coming close to that.”

“Tell me that whole situation wasn’t total garbage. Convince me, and I’ll gladly back off.” Lyssa scoffed. “I know you, Samuel, and I know you