Page 70 of Aïdes the Unseen
That white paper with a footnote containing my name clawed at the edges of my mind and refused to let go. It had been scrubbed from the website only a couple of months earlier, but nothing indicatedwhenshe wrote it in the first place.
Thanatek had eyes on me? Was it new? Or had they always? And Mara was involved. I mean, she had to be, right? She co-authored the paper, cataloging something she hadn’t even warned me about. What about everyone else?
What about the Annex?
The moment I arrived, I went straight past the main gallery and down to the admin wing. The puppy trotted next to me. My boots squeaked slightly on the polished floor. I didn’t even bother checking my reflection in the side glass. I was too focused and too wired to care what I looked like.
I didn’t knock. The door to Dr. Eleanor Heinritz’s office was open a crack, and I pushed through on instinct. The words already formed.
“I need to talk to you about Thanatek and why my name is?—”
I stopped cold because the doctor wasn’t alone. She sat behind her desk, half-turned toward a man lounging in one of her guest chairs like it had been put there just for him. He didn’t look even a little surprised at my entrance. In fact, he smiled.
Slow. Easy. If sunshine could be trapped in a smile, he had it and it would burn if you got too close.
“Ah,” he said. “There she is. Right on time, I’d say.”
What?
He wore a tan wool coat over a navy suit, open at the collar. No tie. Polished brown shoes that had somehow stayed clean even in the mucky weather outside. His hair was golden bronze and far too perfect. His eyes? A little too bright and far too amused.
“Ms. Bloom,” Dr. Heinritz said carefully. “We’re just finishing up a meeting?—”
“No,” the man interrupted smoothly. “We’re just beginning, I think.” He rose and crossed over to me while holding out his hand. Welcome radiated off him. I took his hand almost automatically and his warmth engulfed me.
“West,” he said. “Oscar West. Independent logistics consultant. But you can call me Hermes.”
I all but gawked as I stared at him. “Excuse me?”
He grinned wider. “Sorry. Habit. Alias, not name. I go by Oscar in this century. Old names have a tendency to get heavy.”
“Oscar is here representing a legacy patron,” Dr. Heinritz said, folding her hands. “He’s expressed interest in some of our more interactive installations, particularlyFuture Flora.”
Tugging my hand from his, I glanced between them. My pulse hadn’t slowed. “Is this about Thanatek?”
“Everything is, eventually,” Oscar said, smile undiminished. “But in this case? No. Not directly.”
Dr. Heinritz gave him a look.
“What?” He raised his hands. “I didn’t say itwasn’trelated. Just not thereasonI am here.”
Honestly, I didn’t have the spoons for this man. I turned to Dr. Heinritz. “I found something last night. About Mara. A research paper?—”
“She hasn’t been in,” the doctor interrupted gently. “And I’m aware of the work you’re referring to.”
“You knew?” It came out far sharper than I intended.
“Thanatek funds a portion of our sensory-mapping research. That’s hardly a secret, Irina.”
“No,” I countered. “But taggingpeople? That’s not just data. That’ssurveillance. That’s me.”
Oscar shifted, his attention dancing back and forth between me and the doctor. “Youarespecial,” he said, studying me with an intensity that added weight to his words. “Even if you don’t remember why yet.”
“Don’t do that,” I ordered. I didn’t know this man and he didn’t have the right to interject his opinions or judgment. “Don’t talk to me like I’m some huge secret.”
“Who said you weren’t?” He tilted his head.
Dr. Heinritz rose. “I think it’s best we reconvene?—”
