"Lester Del Rey - Pursuit" - читать интересную книгу автора (Del Rey Lester)

Some of it did, but whe he finished shaving, he felt better. It wouldnтАЩt pass close inspection, but he now
seemed to have darker hair, and the dye had exaggerated the little beginning of a mustache enough to make
some change in his appearance.
He waited for her to comment, but she said nothing. He waited for her questions about what he was going
to do, and her explanations that of course he couldnтАЩt stay there. She merely went on talking idly, while they
ate. It didnтАЩt fit.
Finally he stood up and began taking down the rope that was strung up over one end of the room, to use
as a clothes line, he supposed. She looked up at that. тАЬWhat -тАЭ
тАЬYou can fight, if you want to,тАЭ he told her. тАЬOr you can save yourself the headache of being knocked out.
Take your choice. People donтАЩt pay much attention to screams in a place like this. And IтАЩm not going to
harm you, if youтАЩll take it easily.тАЭ
тАЬYou mean it!тАЭ Her eyes were huge in her face, and there was a touch of fright now. She gulped visibly,
and then seemed to go limp. тАЬAll right, Will. In the bedroom?тАЭ
He nodded, and she went ahead of him; She didnтАЩt struggle, until he was about to gag her. Then she drew
her head aside. тАЬThereтАЩs money in my bag, if youтАЩre going out.тАЭ


He swore, hotly and sickly. If sheтАЩd only act just once as a normal female should! Maybe Irma had been a
hysterical, cold-blooded fool, but she couldnтАЩt have been that much different from other women - even the
books indicated Ellen should be anything but so damned co├╢perative!
тАЬIf youтАЩll tell me whatтАЩs going on, IтАЩll still let you go,тАЭ he suggested, drawing her hands tighter together.
тАЬI canтАЩt, Will. I donтАЩt know.тАЭ
He had to believe her - he knew she was telling the truth, at least to some extent. And that made it just so
much worse. He bound the gag over her mouth as gently as he could, and closed the door behind him. Her
big eyes haunted him as he turned to the telephone.
The information girl at CCNY could only tell him that Wilbur Hawkes had resigned abruptly seven
months before, and no one knew where he was - they had heard he was doing government research. He
snorted at that - it was always the excuse, when nobody knew anything.
He tried a few other numbers, and gave up. Nobody knew - and nobody seemed to react to his name any
differently from what they would have done had he remained a quiet, professorish man, minding his own
business, instead of being chased byтАж
 He couldnтАЩt complete that. The idea was still too fantastic. Even if there were alien life-forms that were
subtly invading Earth, why should they pick on him? What good could a little, unimportant mathematician
do them - particularly if they had the powers he already knew they possessed? It was a poor answer, though
no harder to believe than that any group on Earth could so suddenly come up with miracles.
Anyhow, men knew enough already to be pretty sure that Mars and Venus wouldnтАЩt have creatures that
could invade Earth - and the other planets were hopeless. Perhaps from another star - but that would mean
violating the theories of mass-increase with the speed of light, and he was not ready to accept that, yet.
This time, he went out of the building without looking first. It could do no good - they could hide from
him, he knew, and he would only call attention to himself by looking around. With the change in appearance,
he might get by. He moved rapidly up to Broadway, where he found a little clothing store and a ready-made
suit that nearly fitted him. The tailor there seemed unconcerned when he insisted the cuffs be turned up at
once, and that he wanted to wear it immediately. It took nearly an hour, but he felt safe, for a change. A five-
and-ten furnished a pair of heavy-rimmed glasses that seemed to have blanks in them, and he decided he
might get by.
There was no evidence of pursuit. He caught a cab, and headed for the library. Ellen had been well-heeled
- suspiciously so for a girl who lived in a cold-water flat like that; heтАЩd peeled fifteen tens from her wallet,
and thereтАЩd been more, not to mention the twenties. His conscience bothered him a bit, but he was in no
position to worry too much.