Hinged Tenure

Hidden Keys #11

by Jacie Middlemann

It’s the middle of the twenty-third century and while there have been staggering technological and environmental advances, human nature is still very much the same as it has always been. One woman unexpectedly finds herself thrust into the middle of a long simmering struggle between power, greed, and an overwhelming effort to keep long hidden secrets buried.

Hidden Keys is a series of short stories, each revealing key pieces of information that are not always obvious to Ava Sullivan and Harper Riley as they do everything they can to identify her pursuers, find the answers about why they are after Ava, and somehow stay alive after surviving the first attempt on her life only days after her father’s death.

Luckily, Ava isn’t on her own. Harper is a childhood friend that she hasn’t seen in years, but just as when they were kids, he is proving again that he can be trusted even as they just barely avoid one near miss after another. But this isn’t the first time that Harper Riley has had to dodge bullets or protect himself from oncoming fire. Now though, the gun in his hand is to protect Ava.

But protecting her is about to become more difficult when it becomes obvious that Mick Johnson is no longer the only threat they face….and that Ava is no longer the only person at risk.

The Hidden Keys Short Story series is filled with long hidden secrets, strong characters, and a growing quest for justice. If you enjoy Short Reads…quick to read short stories, slightly entangled and complicated relationships, and a puzzling mystery that needs to be unraveled…Hidden Keys may be the series for you.

Hinged Tenure is part eleven of the Hidden Keys short story series that is best read in sequence.

Hidden Keys Legacy
Surviving the Night
First Clues
Cryptic Truths
False Cipher
Last Missive
Obscure Pivot
Shadowed Caveat
Veiled Enemy
Cloaked Secrets
Scattered Lies
Hinged Tenure

Genres: Fiction

25 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 29, 2021

About the author

I fell in love with books when I was in the 4th grade and my free period was spent volunteering in the school library. I read every Nancy Drew book there was to check out, discovered collections of myths and fairy tales from around the world, Louisa May Alcott and C.S. Lewis, and decided I wanted my own library. By the end of that summer with the supplies our school librarian graciously provided me my books had due date slips, card pockets, book cards, and black electrical tape on the spine with the first three letters of the author's last name. I still have most of those books.
In the hope she could get me involved in something else my mother gave me a camera. Right around the same time my father told me I could use his typewriter when he wasn't using it. The typewriter won. We shared his typewriter but I also filled notebooks with stories scribbled before school, after school, and often when I was supposed to be asleep. Thanks to my mother, who saved just about every single one of those notebooks, I still have them as well.
Several years ago my father gave me his typewriter…the same one we shared all those summers ago. Every time I look at it I remember the young 4th grade girl who was quietly encouraged to do what she loved…and years later reminded with a box filled with notebooks crammed full of handwritten stories and dreams.
And it’s still not unheard of that I stay up way later than I should with a good book that’s just impossible to put down.

Reviews

[Richard Goodrum · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good episode. Ava and Harper seem to be getting more comfortable with their developing relationship. The home contingent seems to be postulating things to do but continue in a holding pattern. The Denver and congressional contingents don't seem to be making any better headway. And, now, a new, unknown contingent has surfaced. It's a bit disconcerting that I'm approaching the middle of the overall story and I still have no idea where it will lead.

Easy-to-read. Entertaining. Haunting. Romantic. Twisted. Unpredictable. Wonderful characters.