"Allston, Aaron - Doc Sidhe 01 - Doc Sidhe" - читать интересную книгу автора (Allston Aaron)

But the third call was to ElaineТs, and a second later Gaby was on the line. УHarris, are you all right?Ф
УIТm fine.Ф I almost got my leg cut off but a magical doctor put me back together. УHow about you?Ф
УIТm okay. IТve been so worried. Did the police find you? Where are you?Ф
УYour place. No, I havenТt talked to the police. TheyТre kind of low on my priority list.Ф
УDid you talk to Leo next door? I asked him to kind of keep an eye on my place. If he hears something suspicious he may call the cops.Ф
УWeТll keep quiet.Ф
Doc appeared in the doorway, the volt-meter in his hands. Harris said, УDoc, I have her.Ф
УSo do I, I think. I rekeyed this to show myself . . . and I read another signal, probably hers. SheТd be nearly due east of here, ten or fifteen destads, I think.Ф
УWhoТs Doc?Ф
УA friend, Gaby. Wait a minuteЧyou mean you donТt know him? Doc, with the Sidhe Foundation?Ф
УHuh?Ф
Harris looked up at Doc. УShe says she doesnТt know you from Adam. WhatТs a destad?Ф
УTwo thousand pacesЧten stads. If her signal strength is similar to yours, she isЧФ
УTen or fifteen away. Right.Ф Harris did a rough conversion: one pace would equal about one yard. That made her twenty to thirty thousand yards. Sixty to ninety thousand feet. Divide by five thousand . . . УYep. That puts her out somewhere near New Rochelle, all right. Gaby, Doc here has a gizmo that you have to see. It shows that youТre at ElaineТs.Ф
УYouТve got to be joking.Ф
УNo . . . Oh, shit. If Doc has this thing working right, then the old guy . . . Gaby, the old guy has to have one of these, too. He probably knows where you are right now.Ф
He heard her hiss of breath, then: УStay there. IТll get there as fast as I can.Ф And she hung up.
УDammit.Ф Harris slapped the handset down in its cradle. УSheТs coming here, Doc. ItТll be a little while.Ф
Doc nodded. УThat will give me more time to collect scrapings and measure aura traces. There was something very ugly in these quarters a few hours ago . . . and if I read the signs right, Adonis was not the ugliest.Ф

Chapter Ten
Doc closed his right eye and returned to scanning the living room. It wasnТt easy; though his Gift was very strong and well trained, ever since heТd come to the grim world it had been very hard to call upon.
It was too bad Alastair wasnТt here; the doctorТs good eye was so much better than DocТs. Alastair might have been able to make more of the faint haze of aura that still hung in the apartment. All Doc could see was traces of two aura presences. One was obviously УAdonisФЧdim, channelled anger and animal spirit.
The other, almost washed away by AdonisТ trace, was dark and very complex. Someone with the Gift. Maybe even a deviser. Doc had seen the auras of many of the Gifted and a few devisers . . . and this aura trace was starting to look familiar.
Almost as familiar as his own. Doc found himself swallowing as his stomach rebelled. It was different from the aura he remembered, but not more different than could be accounted for by twenty years of profaning the spirit.
DuncanТs aura. Just older. Bleaker. Purer. HeТd started to suspect when he studied the tracing device, but it had been easier not to believe.
These thoughts held DocТs attention so completely that he never heard the faint creak of footsteps out in the hall. He didnТt recognize danger until it was on him: the door slamming inward, two men in street clothes and coats pointing guns at him, shouting words in angry tones.
Solemnly, he raised his hands, with a little prayer to the gods that this gesture was universal.

УLights going out, sir.Ф
The old man started out of his doze and looked over at the Carpenter house. The porch light was now off, and as he watched, the last of the bedroom lights went out. УAh. Very good. WeТll wait a few minutes and then go in.Ф
УSir . . . Things would be easier and safer if we just eliminate her.Ф
УI want to study her.Ф
УYes, butЧforgive meЧwanting to study her has caused us a lot of problems so far.Ф
УYouТre entirely correct.Ф The old man sank comfortably back against the soft seat. УWilliam, does gravity ever bother you?Ф
УI never gave it much thought. ItТs not as though I have a choice.Ф
УAh, precisely my point. William, all existence tries to dictate what you can do and not do. I find it tremendously galling that life insists that we use mechanical devices to escape gravityТs bond. That we find ourselves inconvenienced by luck or practical considerations. That we die. Freedom consists of telling the universe what to do. Not the reverse.Ф
УI donТt get you.Ф
УWell, in the short term, it means I have chosen to study Miss Donahue before we eliminate her. I have decided. And regardless of the relative importance of that study, I refuse to let man or god stop me. My wish is more important than theirs. Else IТm just another bee in the hive. Do you understand?Ф
I understand youТve got some busted gears. УYes, sir.Ф
* * *
Harris finished stuffing GabyТs pocketbook and address book back into her pack. He rose to shut the window againЧand felt it shake under his hand as the apartment door slammed open. Someone in the living room, an unknown male, shouted УPolice, donТt move!Ф
Cops. That was okay. He had a right to be here. He might be arrested, but Gaby would show up and fix things.
If she made it home.
If she werenТt grabbed again on the way.
And if she were, and he were in jail, he wouldnТt be able to help her. Dammit! He could run out on Doc, or stay here and perhaps not be available when Gaby needed him. Swearing to himself, he stepped out through the window onto the fire escape, then began descending as quickly and quietly as he could.
He got to the bottom of the fire escape on the second floor. Below was the sidewalk along 11th Street. He climbed over the wrought-iron railing and lowered himself partway down, then dropped to the concrete, jarring his feet.
So what had happened? Probably Leo Crenshaw next door, being a dutiful neighbor. Such a nice guy. Harris felt a sudden urge to throw the man out his window.
He heard a scream from the window heТd just left.
A manТs scream. He thought it was DocТs.