Brady Carmichael and the Poodle of Mass Destruction - The Kachina Shaman Read Free

no
ordinary theft. When the Kachina was stolen, our guards were
murdered. They were killed in horrible ways.
    “One guard was found with over fifty
rattlesnake bites, the other with hundreds of scorpion stings.”
    The museum director went on. “The police are
inside, and no one has touched anything. I understand that you
prefer not have anything disturbed as you investigate a crime
scene. The Hectapay Kachina really is the jewel of our collection.
It is over 5,000 years old.”
    “Thanks George!” Fifi said, “Show us the
bodies, we’ll take it from here.”
    George stood there shocked, staring at
Fifi.
    Brady looked at him and said, “Yep, she
talks.” He paused for dramatic effect. “A lot.”
    For the next several hours Brady and Fifi
went to work, exhaustively searching through the museum,
interviewing the police and other museum staff.
    They ran a detailed scan of the museum and
its grounds. One of the nice things about Number Eight was its fast
connection back to the main computer server farm at their
headquarters. Brady instructed the computer to use all its
resources to hack into the video camera feeds of the surrounding
area.
    Brady and Fifi hunkered inside the small
operations center nestled in the back cargo bay of Number Eight.
With faces lit by the bluish glare of HD screens, they watched
video footage the computer had assembled of the crime.
    Using Carmichael designed, and not strictly
legal video hacking tools, they were able to assemble a series of
short videos showing the suspect approaching the museum. It
appeared to be a man, cloaked and hooded. His face was either
painted or masked in a skull like pattern. They had especially
chilling footage captured by passing satellite, which showed the
hooded man approaching one of the guards as he was making his
rounds just outside the museum.
    As the suspect drew close, he reached into
his cloak and pulled out a small object. Then he started doing a
twitchy, rhythmic dance. Brady and Fifi watched the video both
horrified and fascinated. The bird’s eye satellite view allowed
them to see hundreds of snakes slithering out toward the
unsuspecting guard from the surrounding rocky desert landscape. The
snakes were pulled as if by a magnet directly toward the guard. The
poor guard wasn’t even aware of their approach until the first one
bit him.
    Within thirty seconds he had hundreds of
rattlesnakes surrounding him with more quickly approaching. The
moment he turned toward one attacker he was bit from behind by
another. Soon he stopped trying to fight. He slumped down to his
knees and just fell over, his eyes rolling back in his head. After
that the snakes swarmed all around him, biting and rattling as if
in some kind of frenzy.
    The dancing cloaked figure stopped his dance
and on cue the snakes ceased their venomous frenzy. They slithered
away, melting back into the underbrush as if they were never
there.
    “Wow,” said Fifi. “Now that’s creepy.”
    “Yeah, I’ll say.” replied Brady. “That guy
must be a shaman who has figured out a way to tap into the powers
of those Kachina dolls.
    “Computer, rewind to the beginning of the
creepy snake dance.” Brady waited for the computer to roll back to
the correct spot in the video. “There it is, now stop. Zoom in and
focus.”
    The screen zoomed in to a slightly blurry
image of a Kachina doll with snakey hair and fangs.
    “It is obvious that he has plans for the new
one that has been stolen. It’s the spirit of fire right? What do
people do when they get a new toy?” Brady asked.
    “They play with it.” Fifi said.
    “Yep” Brady nodded, “So what do you wanna bet
that we’ll be able to find him if we look for strange fires in the
area? Computer? You been listening?”
    “Affirmative, Mr. Carmichael,” the computer
answered promptly.
    “Let’s scan for fires with unusual heat
signatures. These probably aren’t going to be your normal
barbecues. Take us up in the air and maximize sensor