Hound & Key by Rhiannon Held

Author:Rhiannon Held [Held, Rhiannon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: map, hand of the gods, hound, lantern, key, fairy tale, oral tradition, breath, fable
Published: 2016-08-02T15:58:38+00:00

Chapter 17

In my youth, the elders told such tales.

Like how the four other searchers followed Hound through the lushness of the jungle, great canopy above, vine-draped trunks around them. A jaguar leaped at them from a branch above, but Hound had tracked where it, too, had passed, and shot it with a poison-tipped arrow.

The TendarisHerron lab building was three stories, one more new, red brick building with plenty of shiny glass among other red-brick, shiny-glass office buildings in a light industrial park. Eric had also taken photos at their corporate office space downtown before, one floor in a high-rise filled with other high-profile companies, but at this time of the morning, Clive Herron, CEO of—Eric made himself stop mockingly using the news article title even in his own mind—Clive was usually here. Eric had decided on the way over to go all the way to the top, if they could reach him, and shake down the man who probably knew exactly what was going on. Or as much as Ariadne had told him, at least.

This location had been the easiest of the two to scout, and he’d even been here recently, for the photo that had doomed Patricia. He concentrated on the irony of Ariadne’s job coming full circle to help him work against her, rather than on all the trails.

Most of them were layered into streams rather than tangled, at least. They left the various parking spaces and converged, root system–like, on the front door. He got out of the car, which was probably a mistake, because then anyone going in and out of the building would notice if he just stood there and stared. Part of him was desperate to stall and run over plans in his mind, but he knew the layout already. Better they were here for as little time as possible in case Ariadne took it into her head to visit her business partner.

Time to enter show mode. Whatever came, he’d roll with it, based on trained instinct rather than planning. Eric strode for the front door, and Key tagged along behind.

It didn’t have much of a foyer—an elevator to one side, and a seating area with a potted plant, a few chairs, and a reception desk to the other. Semiabstract depictions of chemical bonds and double helixes shimmered from pieces of art etched into metal. Between the elevator and desk, a wide hall led down into the building, with offices and workspaces opening off it.

Eric strode up to the desk, where the young woman only belatedly looked up from her computer screen. Not the tightest security, but he suspected the really important samples and data were on the floors above, protected by a key-card-operated elevator as well as the internal door locks. And a security guard would be around somewhere, within easy calling distance.

“We’re here for an appointment with Mr. Herron. He told us to come right in.” Eric smiled at the receptionist, very polite, but like he was doing her a favor by telling her when he really didn’t have to.

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