"Bradley Denton - Blackburn" - читать интересную книгу автора (Denton Bradley)

Blackburn was surprised that it was so easy. He hadn't thought he would be able to shoot another man.
But here was Number Two trying to pull on his pants. The man was big, and his footfalls shook the
telephone on the nightstand. A hole in his stomach pumped dark blood. The blood glistened on the man's
skin, on the bedsheets, on the floor.

The woman on the bed was screaming. She scooted back against the headboard and stuffed part of the
top sheet into her mouth. She screamed louder.

"Don't do that," Blackburn said. His ears were buzzing from the gunshot.

Number Two pulled his pants up as far as his knees, then fell. The telephone jumped. The man grunted.
He lay on his side, and the blood ran down his belly to the floor. The woman continued to scream. Her
screams were why Blackburn had come into the room. But there was no need for them now.

"It's all right," Blackburn said.

The woman screamed and screamed.

"What else could I do?" Blackburn asked.

Number Two began twitching. After a moment Blackburn realized the man was sobbing. He was in
pain. Blackburn was sorry for that. He wasn't used to the pistol. Until today, he had never fired a real
gun. He hadn't meant to hit Number Two in the stomach.

Blackburn stepped closer to the man. "Don't look," he said to the woman. The woman pulled the sheet
over her head. Her screaming was becoming hoarse.

Blackburn pulled back the pistol's hammer to cock it. Then he pointed the muzzle at the side of Number
Two's head.

The man was sweating. His twitching had become a steady tremble. His eyes rolled up to stare at
Blackburn. He moaned.

Blackburn hesitated. It had been easy to shoot when he had seen the man beating the woman. It was not
so easy now.

He turned to leave. This man wasn't Number Two after all. Wounding didn't count.

The woman's screams stopped as Blackburn started for the door. She was probably already reaching
for the phone. He would have to get down the road in a hurry. He hoped that the junk Ford pickup he
had stolen would start.

He heard the woman say, "Oh my God should I call an ambulance?"
He heard the man say, "Get you for this, bitch."

The pistol was still cocked. Gripping it with both hands, Blackburn went back to the man and fired into
his head.

It was spectacular. Blackburn was shocked. He'd had no idea. The walls, the bed, the woman, his
clothes. He'd had no idea at all.