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

interest in being the boss himself. It was
rather that Artemis appeared to be a ten-year-old girl. He knew that she
wasn’t, of course, at least not chronologically. Nobody on the team knew
exactly how old Artemis was, and the girl had never volunteered the
information, but a very old vampire he’d met once had told him that he’d first
met Artemis when he was still very young. Oliver had taken that to mean she
could be hundreds of years old, but once in a conversation Artemis had made
reference to having had difficulty understanding the intricacies of Roman tax
law. It had taken Oliver a moment to realize she wasn’t talking about a trip
she’d taken to Italy recently.
    Oliver and Tyler helped Seven get the
cyborg onto the operating table and then walked back to the executive area with
Sally.
    Artemis was waiting for them behind a
large oak desk when they reached her office, fingers steepled in front of her.
Four chairs sat in front of the desk. She didn’t need to motion for them to sit
down. Oliver felt a sense of dread, as if he were being called into the
principal’s office for a scolding. That seemed strange to him, given that he
hadn’t actually done anything wrong , and also that she was wearing a
t-shirt with a Mr. Snuffleupagus print on it, but Artemis tended to be stern on
a good day, and this was no longer a good day.
    A china teapot sat on a silver tray in
front of them, with three small cups next to it. Artemis poured the tea
silently. Oliver and Tyler each took a cup. Sally didn’t touch hers. She hadn’t
said a word since putting a bullet in the cyborg’s head.
    Jeffrey jumped onto Oliver’s lap. “I
don’t see a cup for me,” he noted, looking at the tray.
    “Have you begun drinking tea?”
Artemis asked.
    “No, but it’s nice to be offered.”
    “I shall have to remember that.”
Artemis took a small sip from her cup. “First things first. Are any of you
injured?”
    Oliver and Tyler shook their heads.
“He didn’t seem to want to hurt us,” Oliver said. “Well, not me and Tyler.”
    “Or me,” said Jeffrey.
    “Sally?” Artemis asked.
    Sally stared off into space, her eyes
vacant. Oliver wasn’t sure she’d heard the question. On second thought, he
wasn’t entirely sure she even knew where she was.
    Tyler put a hand on her arm. “Sally?”
he asked gently. “Are you hit?”
    Sally looked down at his hand as if
confused by the physical contact. “No,” she said. Her voice sounded slightly
groggy. If she hadn’t been in his presence the entire time since they’d encountered
the cyborg, Oliver might have thought she’d snuck off to a bar for a quick
drink or five.
    “There is that much, then,” Artemis
said. “Someone should tell me what happened now.” She looked at them. “Begin
speaking.”
    Sally didn’t look to be in any condition
to talk, so Oliver took the initiative. “We were just coming back from the
airport,” he began. It only took a few minutes to break down the encounter. The
whole thing had been over nearly as quickly as it had begun. Oliver paused for
a moment when he was finished. “I thought the cyborgs were gone,” he said to
Artemis.
    “It would appear that one survived,”
Artemis noted. “Hopefully he was telling the truth when he said he was alone,
but I suppose he had no reason to lie.” She pressed a button on her phone to
activate the intercom. “Seven?”
    “Here,” Seven’s voice came back.
    “Report.”
    “I’ve barely started with him!” Seven
protested. “Their armor doesn’t come off that easily. Half of it is grafted
into the skin.”
    “First impressions.”
    Seven sighed loudly over the speaker.
“He was already badly damaged before Sally shot him. I don’t think he’d have
lasted for more than a few more days.”
    “How was he damaged?” Artemis asked.
“Had he been in combat?”
    “Not recently. I’m running some of
his blood now, but I’d say most of his nanobots have been down for a while. I
think the