Free Destiny by Jason A. Cheek Page A

watched the small police boat’s approach from the Ormos side of the lagoon in the predawn light of morning. Inside the flat-bottomed boat, he could see a group of men wearing the starched light blue uniforms and white jackboots of the local police force riding inside.
    Thoughtfully, his bright blue eyes narrowed as he took note of the distinctive white broad gun belts and diagonal shoulder straps that each hard faced islander wore. It was something he would have expected from porting in a much larger city like Mumbai or Calcutta, not a small tourist island in the southern Aegean Sea. Either way, Sean knew what was coming next. Without looking away, he spoke in an even voice to the deck cadet at his side.
    “Mr. MacSweeney, I need you to find Chief McDougal and have him join me on deck with Hans and Wolfgang at his earliest convenience.”
    “Yes, Sir!”
    Sean grinned at the young cadet as he came to attention. His name was George MacSweeney, and he was still wet behind the ears. Aunt Harriet had brought George to him the last time they’d dropped anchor in Belfast asking if he’d give the young man a chance to learn the trade. Grudgingly he’d agreed.
    The MacRory family was one of the fifty-nine families that made up the Gallowglass Clan. Originally considered the warrior elite among the Gaelic-Norse Clans residing in the Western Isles of Scotland, they had been invited to settle in Ireland by the Irish Nobility. In return for their military service, they were given lordships across Ireland.
    The local Irish had called them Gallóglaigh in old Welch because they were considered ‘foreign soldiers’ due to their Irish ancestors intermarrying with Norse settlers. Over the centuries, the Gallóglaigh became known as the Gallowglass Clan and had a major impact on Ireland’s culture and history. Unfortunately, that influence had waned in the last few decades, ever since the Clan had fallen on hard times.
    It all started when the Harland and Wolff shipyards were destroyed in the great bombing of 1941 during World War II. In one strike the industrial powerhouse of Ireland was destroyed, setting the entire country back one hundred years and knocking the Gallowglass Clan to its proverbial financial knees. The Clans’ shipping empire had been a major player in the break-bulk cargo industry, shipping goods around the world before the invention of the modern-day container ships that had revolutionized the industry after World War II.
    Unfortunately, after the war, Ireland’s shipyards were never rebuilt to their pre-war levels. Primarily due to the Clans terrible financial losses. Still, the families might have rallied their countrymen to the task if the Americans hadn’t taken over the bulk cargo industry almost overnight. Once it had become obvious that Ireland had lost its foothold on the oceans most of the Clans had sought new avenues to regain their wealth. A few of the families still owned their own ships, like the MacRory’s, and continued plying their trade on the oceans after the war.
    At first, the shipping business had been good, and the families had prospered, but over the years that began to change. It happened slowly at first, but as the years progressed there were almost no shipping contracts left to be had. More and more the world’s non-bulk cargo was slowly taken over by the container industry, but still the family somehow managed to make ends meet.
    Usually, that came in the form of smuggling and over the years the MacRorys had become the de facto experts. In his younger days Sean had run guns to the Congo and Nigeria, diamonds from South Africa and ivory tusks from Tanzania, while fighting off pirates from Somalia on his way to India and beyond. Although, unlike other smugglers, there were some things they didn’t transport. Most notably those exceptions were illegal drugs and human trafficking.
    It was a dangerous life, but one that Sean had come to love. They all knew their luck couldn’t hold out