The Gadget: The Rondon Chronicles Book One by V. Timlin (speed reading book .TXT) 📕

“Understood.”

He pulled Anouk aside, keeping his voice quiet. “Since his lieutenants are here, it means he has bigger plans than lying low. But now let’s see if Rose has anything new.”

He strode towards the Tarandus house, with Anouk falling a couple of steps behind him. Cold chills ran down her spine. Bigger plans? Stalo had the Gadget in his possession. Did his possible bigger plan involve… her world? How much had he managed to see in less than the few hours he had spent in London? How impressed was he with what he saw?

Nat knocked on the door and a few moments later Rose answered it, surprise spread across her face.

“Good morning, Mrs Tarandus.” Nat bowed, taking his hat off.

“Good morning, Nat and Anouk. I…” she hesitated, but then stepped back, gesturing for them to come in.

Anouk walked behind Nat into the dim-lit room. Valintina and Danja were playing with rag dolls on the floor. Nat bowed to them with the same gentlemanly manner he had shown their mother. The girls started to giggle and darted behind the chest at the far end of the single room, the giggling continued in their hiding place.

Anouk nudged Nat’s arm. “I think you’ve made two new conquests.”

He winked with a grin and turned to Rose.

“Sorry, I’ve only a few minutes to spare. I’ve got laundry to deliver.” Rose patted a basket on the dinner table. “I wasn’t expecting you to respond to my message this soon.”

Nat frowned quizzically. “We’ve been a bit busy lately, so I haven’t had a chance to check the Communicator. When did you send it?”

“About a half hour ago.”

“Ah, we were ‘playing tag’ with the guards in Rondon Industrial District.” Nat flashed a boyish smile. Anouk bit her lip. Although it had been a terrifying experience, Nat’s flippant comment tickled her funny bone.

Rose rolled her eyes.

“Judging by your face, Nat, you’ve been slower than Anouk.”

“No, these are from yesterday and last night when I hooked up with some new ‘friends’.”

“New friends, you say?” Rose didn’t sound impressed.

“Well, they got a bit carried away.”

Rose flicked her eyes at Anouk, regarding her with a flat expression.

Anouk hurried to say, “I wasn’t there, but I did meet them eventually. Not very healthy minded people.”

It was official, she was with a crazy person and it was catching.

Rose must have been thinking the same because she shook her head with a heavy sigh.

“What did you have to tell us?” Nat asked.

“Ah, yes, Dr Arnar left soon after your visit.”

Nat nodded. “Aye. He said he was leaving the city for a while.”

“Well, this might not have anything to do with your case, but I saw a man in front of Arnar’s clinic asking about him and his whereabouts. There are plenty of backstreet quacks around, so if he’d needed one, he could have gone just a couple blocks towards Flower Estate to find the next. That’s why it struck me strange. And since Stalo visited him, I thought there might be a connection.”

“It’s very possible. What did he look like?”

Rose puffed out her cheeks. “Hmm, slightly taller than you. Maybe in his late-forties, early fifties. Blue eyes, dark greyish hair. And, oh yes, he had a small tattoo behind his ear. It looked like a noble crest.”

“De Meriweth family crest.” Nat’s face fell grim. “Yes, he’s one of Stalo’s men. They are the only ones with that kind of tattoo.”

“Good to know.” Rose lifted the laundry basket. “I’m sorry, but I have to get these delivered soon or I won’t get paid.”

“Of course, but could I ask a favour before you go?”

“Sure.”

“Those new ‘friends’ I mentioned were hired by Stalo, and they died last night at the port. There was also a fire. From what I picked up from their conversation, they were all from The Pits. If you hear anything about them, could you let us know?”

“I’ll keep my ears open. Mrs Ustur told me this morning about the fire and the burned bodies. She said it’s in today’s Rondon Gazette. But now I really must be going.” Rose supported the basket on her hip.

Anouk and Nat thanked Rose and headed out. Through the open door, Anouk heard Rose instruct the girls to stay inside and open the door to no one. A wave of sympathy washed over Anouk; single parenting in The Pits must have been hellish to the nth degree.

“What’s a communicator?” Anouk asked, when they came back to the street.

“The Communicator is a machine to send a message-like telegraph, but without a cable. I’ll show it to you when we get back to camp.”

Anouk whistled. This world never ceased to surprise her. “So the Communicator sends, umm, a radio signal?”

“Yes,” Nat said, looking pleased.

“But someone might be able to eavesdrop, if it works the way I think it does.”

“Oh, you’ve the same technology?”

“Yes, but ours…” She hesitated, she didn’t want to appear arrogant.

“Yours is more advanced?”

Anouk grimaced. “Yeah…”

“Well, I thought it might be.” Nat turned. “Alright, let’s get the newspaper first and see what it says.”

It took some time to locate a paperboy. One stood on the corner in front of a shop at the edge of The Pits.

“Fire in the port! Eight bodies found!” he shouted, holding a banner in his hand that stated the same in cat size letters. Below the headline, there stood in smaller print, ‘Rondon Gazette’. The newspapers were folded and tucked under his arm. The buzz around the boy was constant—disasters and body counts appeared to stir up as much interest here as in Anouk’s world.

Nat approached the boy while Anouk stayed behind, observing the scene.

Having got the paper, Nat strolled towards Anouk. He folded the page of the breaking news of the day and angled it so she could read it as well.

Like the Victorian newspapers she had seen, this one was full of articles with tight text in narrow columns and pictures to accentuate the stories were sparse. The lines started to jump around Anouk’s vision and