The Arctic Incident by Eoin Colfer Read Free Book Online Page A

blasters,” he said.
    Butler had relieved LEPretrieval One of their weaponry during the previous year’s siege.
    Artemis nodded. “Good idea, but remove the nuclear batteries and put them in a bag with some old games and books. We can pretend they’re toys if we’re captured.”
    “Yes, sir. Good thinking.”
    The Bentley Red Tag crunched up the driveway, activating the ground’s security lights. There were several lamps on in the main house. These were on randomly alternating timers.
    Butler undid his seat belt, stepping lithely from the Bentley.
    “You need anything special, Artemis?”
    Artemis nodded. “Grab some caviar from the kitchen. You wouldn’t believe the muck they feed us in Bartleby’s for ten thousand a semester.”
    Butler smiled again. A teenager asking for caviar. He’d never get used to it. The smile withered on his lips halfway to the recently remodeled entrance. A shiver passed across his heart. He knew that feeling well. His mother had used to say that someone had just walked over his grave. A sixth sense. Gut instinct. There was peril somewhere. Invisible, but here nevertheless.
    Holly spotted the headlights raking the sky from over a mile away. Optix were no good from this vantage point.
    Even when the automobile’s windshield came into view, the glass was tinted and the shadows beyond were deep. Holly felt her heart rate increase at the sight of Fowl’s automobile.
    The car wound along the avenue, flickering between the rows of willow and horse chestnut. Holly ducked instinctively, though she was completely shielded from human eyes. You couldn’t be certain with Artemis Fowl’s manservant. Last year he had dismantled a fairy helmet and constructed an eyepiece that allowed him to spot and neutralize an entire crack squad of LEPretrieval commandos. It was hardly likely that he was wearing the lens at the moment, but as Trouble Kelp and his boys had learned, it didn’t pay to underestimate Butler.
    Holly set the Neutrino to slightly above the recommended stun setting. A couple of Butler’s brain cells might get fried, but she wasn’t about to lose any sleep over it.
    The car swung into the driveway, crunching across the gravel. Butler climbed out. Holly felt her back teeth grinding. Once upon a time, she had saved his life, healing him after a mortal encounter with a troll. She wasn’t sure if she’d do it again.
    Holding her breath, Holly set the DoubleDex to slow descent. She alighted soundlessly, aiming her weapon at Butler’s chest. Now there was a target a sun-blinded dwarf couldn’t miss.
    The human couldn’t have detected her presence. Not possible. Yet something made him pause. He stopped and sniffed the air. The Mud Man was like a dog. No, not a dog, a wolf.
    Holly focused her helmet lens on the weapon, sending a photo to her computer database. Moments later a hi-res rotating 3-D image of the gun appeared in the corner of her visor.
    “Sig Sauer,” said a recorded byte of Foaly’s voice. “Nine millimeter. Big bullets. One of these hits you and even magic can’t fix it. Other than that you should be all right, presuming you remembered to wear the regulation above-ground microfiber jumpsuit recently patented by me. Then again, being a Recon jock, you probably didn’t.”
    Holly scowled. Foaly was all the more annoying when he was right. She had jumped on the first available shuttle without even bothering to change into an above-ground suit.
    Holly’s eyes were level with Butler’s now, yet still more than three feet from the ground. She released the visor seals, wincing at the pneumatic hiss.
    Butler heard the escaping gas and swung toward the source.
    “Fairy,” he said. “I know you’re there. Unshield or I start shooting.”
    This was not exactly the tactical advantage Holly had in mind. Her visor was up, and the manservant’s finger was creaking on his pistol’s hair trigger. She took a deep breath and shut down her shield.
    “Hello, Butler,” she said