"Elrod, P N - Vampire Files 10 - Cold Streets" - читать интересную книгу автора (Elrod P N)

want."
"Miami's too expensive. Go to Havana."
"But they got horse races, dog races, everythingЧan' they talk American."
"Once you hit the tracks, you'll be broke in an hour."
"Not if I win. Everyone knows when you lay down the big money you get back
bigger money. No more stinking two-dollar windows for me."
"Same horses run at two bucks as for twenty-five Gs. Same horses lose."
By that division of the money, I could deduce there might be four in the gang.
Three to make the pick up and one left behind to watch Sarah? I could hope.
I'd gotten used to thinking we were dealing with a single man. Not easy to
tackle four, but possible by taking out one at a time, and only after I got the
girl clear. If she was still alive. I was tempted to make my presence known to
these goofs right now and hypnotize them into submission, but I'd tried a stunt
like that once and had nearly wrecked the car and me with it. Besides, there was
the guy following us. Dugan. Better to let things move forward, then jump in
once I had the whole picture.
"You just don't want me havin' fun," Ralph grumped. "I got all the money in the
world now and you act like it's nothing."
Vinzer sighed. "No, I'm acting like you're an idiot. If you played it smart you
could make your share last the rest of your life. You almost got it right about
buying a business, but go anywhere near the tracks and you'll be back here
again."
"Holding a suitcase with a hundred Gs?" Ralph snickered.
"Aw, shuddup an' lemme drive."
One of them turned on the radio. We listened to Bergen and McCarthy fading in
out of the static. I was too nerved to laugh at the jokes. Ralph hooted and
repeated punch lines to himself.
After an entirely too long but favorably uneventful ride, Vinzer made a turn
onto an unpaved road. We left behind the march of phone lines that comprised my
only scenery except for occasional looming trees. I wanted to sit up for a look,
eager as a kid for the end of the trip. They had the car heater going the whole
time, and in my heavy coat and gloves, I'd grown warm, weary, and cramped. If
I'd still been human, I might have disastrously dozed off.
The road got rougher; we skidded on icy patches. Vinzer grumbled under his
breath. He finally braked and cut the motor. He and Ralph left the car. At
nearly the same time, another car door slammed shut close by. The sound was
flat, isolated. I counted a slow ten before raising my head in the hard silence.
Empty, snow-covered countryside, no lights showing except from a small clapboard
house that had seen better days. Vinzer and Ralph went right in. I sieved-out of
a fairly new Studebaker and made note of a battered old Ford parked next to it.
No other cars were in sight.
Partially materialized, I floated lightly over the snow, drifting close to the
building. Escott said I should rent myself to haunt houses for Halloween. The
ghost gag was damned helpful for this kind of work; it made me harder to spot,
left no tracks, and I could still discern things fairly well through the gray
fog that hindered my sight.
The stark structure was no more than fifteen feet wide but went back three times
that distance. I knew the type. If you stood at the front door, the hall lined
up with it so you could see to the back of the house. Every window was shaded or
thickly curtained, not one crack to peer through.