"Chalker, Jack L - DG1 - The River of the Dancing Gods" - читать интересную книгу автора (Chalker Jack L)

It was a great sob story, but this craziness had started only
after she came aboard.

He drove straight for the lone figure standing there in the
center of the lighted area at about five miles per hour, applying
the hissing air brakes when he was almost on top of the stranger
and could see him clearly.

The woman gasped. "He looks like a vampire Santa Claus!"

Her nervous surprise seemed genuine. Certainly her de-
scription of the man who stood looking back at them fitted him
perfectly. Very tall -- six-five or better, he guessed -- and very




14

THE RIVER OF DANCING GODS

large. "Portly" would be too kind a word. The man had a
reddish face, twinkling eyes with laugh lines etched around
them, and a huge, full white beard -- the very image of Santa
Claus on all those Christmas cards. But he was not dressed in
any furry red suit, but rather in formal wear -- striped pants,
morning coat, red velvet vest and cummerbund, even a top hat,
and he was also wearing a red-velvet-lined opera cape.

The strange man made no gestures or moves, and finally
the driver said, "Look, you wait in the truck. I'm going to find
out what the hell this is about."

"I'm coming with you."

'Wo!" He hesitated a moment, then nervously cleared his
throat. "Look, first of all, if there's any danger I don't want
you between me and who I might have to shoot -- understand?
And second, forgive me, but I can't one hundred percent trust
that you're not in on whatever this is."

That last seemed to shock her, but she nodded and sighed
and said no more.

He opened the door, got down, and put one hand in his
pocket, right on the trigger. Only then did he walk forward
toward the odd figure who stood there, to stop a few feet from
the man. The stranger said nothing, but the driver could feel
those eyes following his every move and gesture.