"Davis, Jerry - Code of the Beast, The" - читать интересную книгу автора (Davis Jerry)

Code Of the Beast

й 1998 by Jerry J. Davis







1. ANARCHISTS



The phone had been ringing for quite a while.
Dodd noticed the ringing. Then he noticed it more. It was
like he was coming back from somewhere down a long hallway to find
a phone ringing at the very end. Then it took him a moment to
realize that he should answer it, being that --- after all --- it
was his phone.
He tore his eyes away from the large 3-D screen and looked
around his living room. His girlfriend was there along with some
other friends, all of them staring at the screen. The phone rang
on. No one was noticing but him.
I should answer it, he thought.
Dodd struggled to his feet and walked across the living room
to the adjacent kitchen. He groaned; the time display on the
telephone's screen read seven-past-midnight. What was he doing
still awake? It was a work night. This was probably Toby's wife
calling to get him to come home.
He picked up the handset and touched the button to accept
video. Instead of Toby's wife, a bearded face with unkempt hair
appeared. "Dodd!" the face said.
"Danny?" Dodd said back to it. He was alarmed --- like dark
clouds at sea, the appearance of Danny Marauder usually foretold
trouble.
"Sorry I woke you up. You know I wouldn't be bothering you if
it wasn't important."
"I . . . you didn't wake me."
"Me and a couple of friends are kinda caught out in the open,
if you know what I mean. We need a place to crash."
Dodd fidgeted. Anarchists in his apartment? If it were just
Marauder it would be okay --- but his friends? "Well, I . . . I
have company over here, Danny."
"We'll stay in your garage if you want us to, man. I mean, we
have to get under a roof. You understand?"
"You mean the . . ." Dodd cut himself off. He didn't want to
know.