Landfall (The Reach, Book 2) Read Online Free Page B

her inside.
    But now that she thought about it, maybe there was a quicker way to achieve the same result.
    She pulled out her holophone and searched through her contacts.  She did not have numbers for Hildi or Giroux, but there was a general contact for Grove that might put her in touch with the right people, or even Roman himself.
    The other end picked up almost immediately, and a young man with neatly combed black hair appeared on the display.
    “Good morning, Grove exports.”
    “Hi,” Talia said.  “I’m looking for Giroux.”
    The young man all but rolled his eyes.  “I’m sorry, Giroux does not take direct calls.  If you have a customer identification–”
    “This is not a business call.  This is a personal matter that’s very important.”
    “I’m sure it is, but I’m not the person to speak to about that.”
    “Who is?”
    The man sighed.  “If you have a customer identification number–”
    “I’m a personal friend of Giroux.  If you’ll hand the phone over to him, he’ll tell you.”
    “What’s your name?”
    “Talia Anders.”
    “Doesn’t sound familiar.”
    Talia grunted, exasperated.  “Listen, a boy’s life is in danger.  I need to speak to Giroux right now.”
    “Which boy?”   The man’s patience seemed to be running thin.  “ What are you talking about?”
    “His name is Roman.”
    “I don’t know him.”
    “Please, just put me through to Giroux–”
    “I’m sorry, I can’t do that.  And now I have other matters to attend to.”
    Talia’s desperation grew.  “Put me through to Giroux, you stuck-up little bastard, or I’ll come over there and–”
    The image of the man disappeared abruptly as the call was disconnected.  Talia stood staring helplessly at the blank screen.
    Well handled, Talia.
    “Okay, that approach isn’t going to work,” she said to herself.  “Time to go back to Plan A.”
    She fixed the respirator to her face and headed to the door, this time showing no hesitation in turning the handle.  There was work of her own that was awaiting her in the basement, she knew, and she had an important deadline to meet by noon the next day, but that was not enough reason to make her think twice about leaving.  Right now, she needed to find Roman.  Everything else could wait.
    The orange glow of morning light stabbed into Talia’s retinas like glinting knives after the relative gloom of the interior of her house.  The pavement and asphalt outside glistened in the aftermath of an early- morning shower, a deluge that had undoubtedly dumped more toxins from the sky across the exposed surfaces of the city.  Talia stepped carefully around the deeper puddles, showing caution even though the poisons were unlikely to permeate the leather of her boots on contact.
    One could never be too careful after a storm had passed through.
    So intent was Talia on her feet that she almost collided with a man standing on the footpath in front of her house.
    “Mornin’, Talia,” he said, smiling beneath his respirator.  There was dirt crusted on his face and a yellow residue around his eyes that might have been dried mucus.  His pallid skin was flaky and grew darker toward his hairline, as if he’d been wearing something on his head that had stained his flesh.
    Talia started, cursing her inattentiveness.
    “Crumb,” she said, recognising the man.  “So nice to see you.”  She smiled sardonically.
    “I was just ’bout to say the same thing,” he said amiably.
    She’d seen Crumb around a lot lately.  She didn’t know much about him – not what he did for a living, or even his real name, but enough to know she didn’t want to hang around for a leisurely chat.  She looked upon him as she would a stray dog, the type that, once fed even the slightest morsel, would follow you around for the rest of your days in the hope of receiving another.
    She kept walking.
    “Say, you lookin’ hot today, Talia,” Crumb said, loping along beside her to catch