Read Online Torn From On High: Free City Book 2 (The Free City Series) by S F Chapman - Free Book Online

difficulties.
    “There
it is!” Seamus pointed to the left.
    A
single dim spotlight seemed to be tracking them from the ground, wavering
between faint and nearly invisible, the beam appeared to be directed at them
from a handheld lamp.
    Keira
followed the beckoning light.
    They
hovered a few hundred meters over the thin shaft of light.
    A
shadowy figure tilted the spotlight towards the ground and illuminated a
miniscule flat gray patch of gravel.
    “Apparently
that's the landing pad,” Ryo shrugged.
    “We
did not practice this sort of thing in flight school,” Keira grumbled.
    The
patrol craft groaned and wobbled as it settled slightly askew on the small,
rough rectangle.
    Seamus
passed two bright orange survival suits to his companions.
    The
threesome shimmied into the tight-fitting garments in the cramped cabin. Both
Ryo and Keira spent several minutes pulling the snug hood over Seamus's head.
    The
three stiff and orange-clad visitors stood uncomfortably at the hatch as Ryo
tapped at the locking mechanism.
    The
door opened to an icy gust of wind.
    “GOOD
MORNING!” a deep and gregarious voice boomed through the darkness. “Welcome to
South Georgia Island!”
    • • •
    Nearly
twelve thousand kilometers north-northeast of the dark and windswept landing
site on South Georgia Island, in a warm and secret little office at Free City
University; Lieutenant Zmuda and his two cohorts considered the many
implications of the morning News Item about the massacre on the Billikin.
    “Is this
a real story or did someone plant it in the media?” Mixion wondered.
    Zmuda
frowned, “Nobody should know about this yet; the Inquisitor's Office is most
likely still going over the crime scene.”
    Jasper
sighed as he read the dispatch over the Lieutenant's shoulder; “It sure seems
to put this Seamus Nelson fellow in peril.”
    “Ah;”
Zmuda finally tapped in victory at the News Item, “this is Ryo Trop's work.”
    He
turned to the two other CRAMP agents, “Find out everything that you can about a
ninety-seven year-old former Engineer named Mr. Seamus Nelson who currently
resides in Free City.”
    Mixion
and Jasper nodded in unison.
    “I
suspect,” Zmuda grimaced, “that others are doing the same thing right now.”
    • • •
    The
big man gleefully dished another steaming pancake onto Ryo's plate.
    “Thank
you Luis, I think that will about do it for me,” the Investigator groaned as he
contemplated eating what would be his fifth serving.
    Both
Keira and Seamus had a similarly bloated look as the groggy threesome sat
around the breakfast table in the cluttered white cottage on the wind-blown
bluff.
    Their
host gazed attentively at his guests.
    “It's
just that I haven't seen anyone for over five months,” Luis added gloomily, “at
least no one alive.”
    Keira
frowned, “You're all alone on South Georgia Island?”
    Luis
nodded, “Yes. It's just me and Moresby who tend to matters during the off
season at New Grytviken.”
    “Moresby?”
Seamus asked.
    “He's
the ancient gray tabby cat that the previous Harbor Master left behind when I
took up the job twelve years ago.”
    Ryo
nodded between bites, “What exactly do you do in this lovely but thoroughly
frozen South Atlantic outpost?”
    “South
Georgia Island is technically part of the Grand Eternal Fiefdom of AmerAsia, I
don't think that anyone else would want it, but it's the AmerAsian Interior
Ministry in Buenos Aires that pays the bills to keep the harbor open.”
    “Open
for what?” Seamus scoffed.
    Luis
beamed at the curmudgeonly old man, “I've often wondered that myself. The
original village of Grytviken was a British and Norwegian whaling port. When
that died out, it was a sparsely used way station for cruise ships destined for
the Antarctic. Now the Interior Ministry has some hopes that Cumberland Bay
could eventually be a supply port for Antarctic mineral extraction.”
    “New
Grytviken?” Keira glanced around the room, “These quaint old relics