"John DeChancie - Skyway 3 - Paradox Alley" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dechancie John)

dumb thing to do."

PARADOX ALLEY 3

" 'A dumb thing to do,'" John repeated hollowly. He turned
and appealed to the group. "'A dumb thing to do,'" he said
again, nodding in mock approval. I had never seen John this
ironic. He snapped his head around to fix Carl with a look of
utter contempt. "You have a gift for understatement. Unfortu-
nately, it makes your stupidity all the more colossal."

Carl scowled. "Ah, come off it. I just punched him. If
he'd've done to you what he did to meтАФ"

"That's hardly the point. Did you stop to consider what the
consequences might have been for usтАФthe rest of us? Did
you stop a single instant and think? No. No, youтАФ"

"Hold it, John," I said.

"Jake, you can't possibly think he was justified."

"No, it was dumb. But he's young. At his age, I might've
done the same thing."

"No excuse."

"Probably not. But the whole question's kind of moot, isn't
it?"

John's shoulders slumped. "Unfortunately, yes."

Liam detached himself from the group and walked toward
us. "Isn't anybody going to see if he's all right?"


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I knelt beside Prime. Gingerly, I uncovered his head. I put
my hand on his copper-colored hair. It was as soft and silky as
a baby's. I moved his head to the right and looked at his face.
The eyes were closed, the face serene. With my thumbтАФgen-
tly, very gentlyтАФI pried the left eyelid open. The iris was coal
black with tiny flecks of purple. The pupil didn't respond to
light, and the eye wasn't moving. I reached for his wrist.
Rolling up the pleated cuff proved to be difficult, so I ran a
middle finger under his jaw, tracing a line along the left neck
muscle near the throat, trying to find the carotid artery. The