Interesting Places (Interesting Times #2) Read Online Free PDF Page A

reception area where framed portraits of major
cities hung on the walls. Four large chairs sat around a circular table next to
a water cooler. Nearby a two-foot tall snake plant grew out of a white pot. Two
orchids sat together on a long L-shaped reception desk.
    On a weekday Bruce Caldwell, the
firm’s receptionist, would have been behind the desk. He normally sat with a
Bluetooth receiver in his ear and greeted any visitors who might happen by with
a cheerful smile. Bruce was nearly seven feet tall, built like an NFL
linebacker, and had a small arsenal tucked away in his desk. To the best of
Oliver’s knowledge he’d never had the need to use it, or the switch on his
phone that would lock the entire place down with steel doors like a bank vault.
Oliver found himself wishing Bruce worked weekends; they could have used
another pair of strong hands as he and Tyler dragged the dead cyborg’s body
inside.
    Behind the reception desk was what
Oliver thought of as the executive area. Eight private offices were connected
by a hallway that ran from one end of the building to the other. Only four were
currently occupied. Their staff numbers could fluctuate and were hard to
predict from one day to another. It wasn’t as if they could put up a “help
wanted” advertisement. Employees at Araneae typically fell into their positions
through circumstances outside their control. Tyler had joined after he’d been
turned into a werewolf and found himself unwilling to return to his old job as
a police officer in Honolulu. Oliver had been offered a job after his incident
with the lizard people. Seven had been recruited from the government. Oliver
had assumed he’d worked for the NSA at one point, but Seven had laughed
uproariously when Oliver had asked and said something about not being in
kindergarten. And Sally…Oliver had never gotten the details on that one. Sally
didn’t talk much about her past, Artemis didn’t talk much at all, and while
Tyler knew the story, he’d told Oliver that it wasn’t his story to tell.
    The executive half of the office also
had a large conference room with presentation equipment, a small kitchen area,
and a space Oliver called the “crash room.” It held two twin beds, a couch,
several bookshelves, and an entertainment center. Seven seemed to spend more
time staying there than he did at his own home, wherever that was. Oliver had
stayed there overnight once or twice when he’d found himself too tired to
manage the commute home. He’d brought in a litter box and set of food and water
bowls for Jeffrey some time ago, just in case the cat happened to be at the
office for some reason. Tonight he was glad he’d done so; it might stave off
the cat complaining until they got home.
    The other half of the office,
accessible only through a set of heavy security doors in case someone managed
to get by Bruce, contained Seven’s lab. It was one of his labs, anyway.
He had at least two others that Oliver knew of in other cities. This one was
filled with computers, stacks of servers taller than Oliver, and a variety of
technical equipment. Oliver didn’t know what half of the things in there did,
and wasn’t entirely sure that all of them originated on Earth. He’d only been
at Araneae for six months, but found very little was capable of surprising him
anymore.
    A side room contained a small operating
theater. It wasn’t used for medical purposes, but rather for examination and
occasionally disassembly of interesting things they found on their assignments.
    “Get him on the table,” Artemis said,
nodding at the cyborg as they stopped for Seven to enter a security code
outside the lab. “Seven, take him apart. I want to know everything about how he
got here. The rest of you, when you’re done, my office.” With that she turned
and headed down the hall.
    Oliver had never quite gotten used to
taking orders from Artemis. It had nothing to do with the fact that she was
female, or that Oliver had any