"Gordon Eklund - Serving in Time" - читать интересную книгу автора (Eklund Gordon)

without the faint light of the pipe bowl, it was nearly pitch dark.
 Jan stood up, too.

Phineas seemed to hesitate. He glanced into the woods, then
turned back to Jan. "But I want you to remember what I said.
Will you promise me that much, Jan?"

"Yes, sir. Of course."

"Good." Phineas laid a strong hand on Jan's shoulder and
kept it there for a long moment.

Then a twig snapped.

The noise, in the silence of the forest, came as loud as any
explosion. Jan spun on a heel and peered between the dark trees.
"Who is it? Somebody there?"

He turned back to Phineas, but nobody was there. The path
was empty.

Another twig cracked.

Jan spun again. A light suddenly flared. The beam struck him
square in the eyes. He was blinded. "Help!" he cried. "Uncle
Phineas! Where are you?"

The light sprang closer. He heard footsteps running, too. Then
he realized what it must mean: it was themтАФ the government:
they had come to get him.

Turning, he tried to run.

Another light flared from the opposite side of the path.

They had him trapped.

Rubbing his eyes, he fought to clear his sight. He saw a
shadow very near and swung in defense. Hard bone cracked
against his fist. A voice howled in pain.

Turning down the path, he tried to run back toward the
house. It was useless. More and more of the bright lights
exploded at him from every conceivable direction. At last a log
tripped him. He fell flat on his face in the dirt.

Somehow he managed to stagger back to his feet. "Uncle
Phineas? Where are you? UncleтАФ?"

Then the men were on him. Two pulled him down while a