Sean Michael Between Friends 01 Between Friends
A.J.Quinnell Szlak śÂez
Dziewica Deveraux Jude
Carroll_Jonathan_ _Vincent_Ettrich_TOM_02_ _Szklana_zupa
140. Small Lass Skradziony dzien
Derlikiewicz Ewa Zaburzenia zachowania a śÂrodowisko rodzinne dziecka(1)
Kuttner, Henry Valley of the Flame
H. P. Lovecraft The Dunwich Horror
Diana Palmer WśÂadca pustyni
Dale Goldhawk Getting What You Deserve The Adventures of Goldhawk Fights Back (pdf)
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
I don t know any others from memory. I don t even remember how the rest of it goes, and I ve
read it a thousand times.
Was Beethoven a poet? she asked.
A composer. Of music.
So was Bob Dylan.
Nick said, The world began before Dylan.
Let s go, Charley said. I feel like I m catching cold. Did you enjoy it?
No, he said truthfully.
Why not?
You re too tense.
If you had gone through the things I ve gone through
Maybe that s what s the matter. You know too much. Too much and too soon. But I love you.
He put his arm around her, hugged her, kissed her on the temple.
Really? Some of her old vitality returned; she leaped up, spread her arms wide, spun in a circle,
arms extended.
A police cruiser, its siren and red light off, came gliding up behind them, silently landing.
The Cow, Charley said; she and he sprinted for the Cow, scrambled in, with Charley behind the
tiller. She started it up; the Cow rolled forward as its wings extended themselves.
The red light of the PSS skunk car came on; so did its siren. And, on a bullhorn, the cruiser blared
at them, words they could not decipher; the words echoed and echoed until Charley screeched with
suffering.
I ll lose him, she said. Denny did it a thousand times; I learned from him. She crushed the
gas pedal, flattened it. The roar of full-throated pipes thundered behind Nick, and at the same time his
head was snapped back, as the Cow suddenly gained speed. I ll show you the engine in this
sometime, she said, her eyes moving back and forth. And the Cow continued to gain speed; he had
never been in a squib hopped-up like this, although he had seen many hopped-up ones brought onto the
lot for resale. They were not like this, however.
Denny put every pop of money he owned into the Cow, she said. He built it for like this, for
getting away from the pissers. Watch. She touched a switch, sat back, her hands no longer on the
controls. The squib dropped abruptly, almost to the ground; Nick tensed himself it looked like sure
impact and then, on some sort of automatic pilot system, unfamiliar to him, the ship glided at
enormous speed up narrow streets, between old wooden stores gliding at about three feet from the
ground.
You can t navigate this low, he said to her. We re lower than if the wheels were down and we
were landcrawling.
Now watch this. She turned her head, studied the PSS cruiser behind her it had followed,
allowed himself to fly at their level and then she yanked the rise-gear network into the ninety
degrees position.
They shot upward, into the darkness, the cruiser right behind them.
And now, from the south, a second cruiser appeared.
We ought to give up, Nick said, as the two cruisers joined together. They could open fire any
time, now, and get us. In another minute, if we don t comply with that flashing red light, they ll do
so.
But if we re caught, they ll snuff you, Charley said. She increased their flight angle, and still,
behind them, the two police cruisers howled their sirens and flashed their lights.
The Cow dropped once more, deadfall, until the automatic system halted it several feet above the
pavement. The police cruisers followed. They dropped, too.
Oh, God, Charley said. They ve got the Reeves-Fairfax margin control system, too. Let s
see. Her face worked frantically. Denny, she said. Denny, what ll I do? What ll I do now? She
turned a corner scraping a street lamp, he noticed. And then a bursting cloud of fire manifested itself
directly ahead of them.
Grenade launchers or thermotropic missiles, Nick said. A warning shot. Turn on your radio to
the police band. He reached toward the control board, but she savagely grabbed his hand and pushed
it back.
I m not going to talk to them, she said. And I m not going to listen to them.
Nick said, They ll destroy us with the next shot. They have the authority to do it; they will.
No, Charley said. They re not going to shoot down the Cow. Denny, I promise you.
The Cow ascended, did an Immelmann, did one again, then a barrel roll . . . and the cruisers
remained on their tail.
I m going do you know where I m going? Charley said. To Times Square.
He had been waiting for this. No, he said. They re not letting any ships into that area; they
have it sealed off. You d run into a solid phalanx of black-and-whites.
But she continued on. He saw searchlights ahead, and several military vehicles circling. They
were almost there.
I m going to go to Provoni, she said, and ask him for sanctuary. For both of us.
For me, you mean, he said.
Charley said, I ll ask him straight-out to let us into his protective web. He will; I know he will.
Maybe, Nick said, he will.
Abruptly, a shape loomed ahead. A slow army vehicle, carrying ammunition for hydrogen
warhead-firing cannon; it had its warning lights lit from end to end.
Charley said, Oh, God I can t And then they hit.
Chapter 25
Light flashed in his eyes. He heard felt movement about him. The light hurt and he reached to
put his hand up, to shut away the light, but his arm would not move. But I feel nothing, he said to
himself. He felt completely rational. We re on the ground, he said to himself. It s a PSS occifer
shining his flashlight into my eyes, trying to see if I m unconscious or dead.
How is she? he asked.
The girl in the ship with you? A leisurely, calm voice. Too calm. Uncaring.
He opened his eyes. A green-clad PSS occifer stood over him with a flashlight and gun.
Wreckage, mostly from the ammunition carrier, lay spread out everywhere; he saw an ambulance,
white-clad men working.
The girl is dead, the PSS occifer said. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
