The Scargill Cove Case Files: An Arcane Society Story (A Penguin Group eSpecial from Jove) Read Free

for an assistant. I tell her no. She gets me my coffee. I go back to the office.
     
     
    I take a good look around the office. I’m buried in paperwork. Probably do need an assistant, but how do I find one in this town?
     
     
    Back to work on the Fitch case. I fire up the computer. Hit my favorite conspiracy theorist sites. Whack jobs are as busy as ever.
     
     
    I exclude the Area 51 crowd. Not dealing with aliens here. Focus on the black helicopter folks. Strike out.
     
     
    Move on to what used to be my favorite conspiracy site, but the Sentinel went dark a while back and it is still silent. Rumors are circulating that the Sentinel is dead.
     
     
    The Sentinel was way, way out there, definitely over the horizon, even for a conspiracy theorist. But in a weird way, I’m going to miss the site. What does that say about me?
     
     
    No luck with the usual suspects. Sit back and think for a while. Get an idea and pick up the phone. Call Arizona Snow.
     
     
    Arizona Snow is the ultimate conspiracy theorist. Lives in a little town on the Oregon Coast. Eclipse Bay.
     
     
    Snow is kind of crazy. Sunk so deep into her conspiracy theories that she will never escape. Some people say I’ll end up like her.
     
     
    Snow and I have never met but we have mutual acquaintances. Grace and Luther in Hawaii. They worked the Craigmore case.
     
     
    When AZ answers the phone I start to introduce myself; use the Grace and Luther connection. But Snow says she knows who I am.
     
     
    The fact that AZ recognizes my name and is willing to talk to me is a little scary. The woman is loony tunes. But she’s got talent.
     
     
    AZ once worked for a secret government agency. She was black ops before they had a name for it. Now she’s nuts. Coincidence?
     
     
    When I talk to AZ, am I talking to my own future? Am I doomed to get so far out on the psychic plane that I’ll never find my way back?
     
     
    Have to worry about my para-psych problems some other time. Got to find those missing crystal guns before Nightshade or a rogue does.
     
     
    Arizona asks if my phone is encrypted. I say yes. She starts talking about rumors of three men who vanished several years ago.
     
     
    AZ says that at one time the three missing men worked for her old agency. Got sent to another dept. for some tests. Never returned.
     
     
    Rumor was that the tests were intended to identify agents with certain psychic abilities. AZ thinks the men went to another agency.
     
     
    AZ hints that one of the projects at the other agency involved some kind of psychic weapons. Agency shut down years ago.
     
     
    Officially, the three men died in an accident. But rumor is they pulled a disappearing act and took some of the weapons with them.
     
     
    AZ says there haven’t been any rumors of the crystal guns in years. She says Vortex probably tracked down the men and the guns.
     
     
    AZ says the crystal guns are just the kind of thing Vortex would try to get hold of. I ask her what Vortex is and brace myself.
     
     
    AZ says Vortex is a group of highly-placed conspirators dedicated to controlling the world. Like anyone would want that job.
     
     
    I think of Nightshade. Okay, there are such things as conspiracies. Problem is, Nightshade is real. Vortex isn’t.
     
     
    I thank AZ, tell her J&J owes her a favor, and try to end the call. She wants to tell me one more thing.
     
     
    AZ says that I’m opening a can of worms. Says to keep an eye out for Vortex agents. I ask how I’ll recognize one.
     
     
    AZ says I’ll know a Vortex agent by a tattoo of a tornado on the shoulder. I tell her I don’t plan to get that close.
     
     
    End the call, sit back, and pull up my talent. Watch the grid light up with connections. No such thing as Vortex except in AZ’s head.
     
     
    But the crystal guns are real. Scenario: Hooker and two others stole the psychic weapons years ago when their agency shut down.
     
     
    Hooker and the others knew the guns were very, very