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"Thank you very ize for only being able to give you a few minutes Melody probably told you that I had a brief appointment slotted"

"Yes, she did I appreciate the fact that you were able to give me any time at all You must be very busy"

"I've got fifteenwith the executive director" She rolled her eyes "He's a stickler for promptness In the interests of brevity, perhaps I can simply rattle on for ten minutes and allow five anization is quite informative"

From his jacket pocket Zavala extracted a Sony ht at a discount outlet and a notepad picked up that store

"Fair enough Rattle away"

She gave hi smile that reminded him how a mature wo unformed beauty like Melody, the receptionist

"Tioals We wish to pro of the present and prepare for the future by studying the past We are educative, in that we support learning about our world, particularly through our in-school prograive the ordinary person a chance at an unusual vacation adventure Many of our volunteers are retired people, so for them we are the fulfillment of life's dream"

She paused for breath and went on "In addition we support ical expeditions We are known to be a soft touch," she said with her pleasant s us for support Usually we are glad to give it We use money paid by our volunteers, soWe provide experts or help pay for thelobe In return we ask mainly that we be informed of special discoveries before anyone else Most people consider it a set Any questions?"

"How did the organization start?"

She pointed to the ceiling above her head

"We are a nonprofit subsidiary of the company that occupies the six floors immediately above us"

"Which is?"

"Halcon Industries"

Halcon The Spanish word for "falcon" or "bird of prey" He shook his head "Don't know it"

"It's an umbrella corporation with many divisions We're one of them Most of its revenue comes from a diversified portfolio