"Brooks, Terry - Landover 01 - Magic Kingdom for Sale - Sold" - читать интересную книгу автора (Brooks Terry)

all as described, all as the artist had rendered it to beЧstill
it might be less than the dream. It might be as ordinary in
truth as his present life.

Yet the gamble was worth it, because he had seen the
parameters of his present life and there were no unknowns
left in it. And somehow, in some unexplainable way, he knew
that whatever choices he might make now, with Annie gone
the only wrong choice he might make was to make no choice
at all.

He crossed back to the bar and made himself an Irish Mist.
He toasted himself solemnly in the mirror and drank.

He felt exhilarated.

The following morning, Ben went down to the office only
long enough to cancel his appointments for the remainder of
that week and the next and to wrap up a few small matters
that needed immediate attention. He was taking a short va-
cation, he told the girls and the law student who clerked for
them part-time, doing research. Everything could wait until
he returned. Miles was in court in Crystal Lake, so there
were no questions asked. It was just as well.
He called O'Hare then and booked a flight.
By noon, he was on his way to New York.

B"

Хa




B. ХB

New York City was cold, gray, and alien, the jagged edges
of its bones cutting into a sky masked in clouds and mist,
the flat planes of its skin glistening through a steady down-
pour. Ben watched it materialize beneath him as if by magic
as the 727 slipped over the waters of the East River and
settled down toward the empty runway. Traffic jammed the
distant freeways, lifeblood flowing through arteries and
veins, but the city had the feel of a corpse.

He took a cab from LaGuardia to the Waldorf, settled back
in silence as the driver played reggae, and ignored him. He
booked a single at the Waldorf, resisting the temptation of
requesting a suite. There would be no such modem suites
in Landover. It was a meaningless concession perhaps, but