"Eshbach, Lloyd Arthur - Overlord Of Earth" - читать интересную книгу автора (Eshbach Lloyd Arthur)

shambles. Kerry, grim-faced, narrow-eyed, kept his gaze fixed on the open
elevator doors. In one of them, he was certain, was Andrev. If only he could
plant a grenade within those little cubicles! He aimed carefully, but the cast
fell short and as the smoke of the explosion eddied away, he saw the door slide
shut. One was gone! That last grenade had done the trick.
Kerry's fingers groped for another grenade--found it--and he realized suddenly
that it was his last one. Better keep it for an emergency. He gripped the butt
of his Ghormley, turned to Bodey.
"Glenn," he snapped, "we've got to get to those elevators quick. Andrev's in one
of them--and we must get him! You take the right--"
He broke off abruptly as a familiar stentorian voice rose above the bedlam. The
Overlord!
"Attention! Cowards! Only two men are attacking you! The rest have been wiped
out. Turn and destroy them!"
The words took instant effect upon the milling mass. Heads turned and an ominous
roar surged from scores of throats. And suddenly a beam of intense brilliance
flashed toward the two men from the heart of one of the elevators. From a
weapon, Kerry thought, in the hands of Andrev himself.
"A grenade, Glenn," he snapped through tight lips. If the mob turned on them
their chances were slim. Panic had been their strongest ally.
"All gone," Bodey grunted laconically.
Kerry grasped his last bomb. "Then follow me and get to that second elevator.
Fast!" He hurled the grenade into the thick of the mob; and as it roared its
message of death he dashed with every ounce of strength toward the cubicle that
must hold the Overlord. One hand clutched the Ghormley; with the other he drew a
foot-long, razor-sharp knife.
Savagely he fought his way through the close-packed mass of humanity, slashing,
tricking, his automatic blasting. Hands that clutched him were swept aside as,
weaving, darting, leaping, he pressed furiously toward the Overlord. He heard a
chorus of agony and fear rise ahead of him--caught a glimpse of that searing
beam of the Overlord cutting scythelike through the bodies of his own men!
Clearing the elevator! With a furious oath Kerry leaped high and fired at the
source of beam and the door closed smoothly upon a lone figure standing erect
amid sprawling bodies.
Unreasoning rage seized Kerry Kord. Afterward he had only a vague recollection
of a melee of writhing torsos, clutching hands blows, amid a clamor of screams
and explosions then somehow he had reached an elevator--had plunged within upon
a squirming mound of men and women. The door slid shut, and they shot skyward.
Reason returned when a terrified feminine voice shrieked almost in his ear:
"Here's one of them!"
Kerry thought swiftly. He couldn't hope to overcome a score of people, though
they were unarmed, in such close quarters if they really resisted. His Ghormley
was practically useless here since he couldn't fire it without endangering
himself. There was only one way out--bluff.
"Quiet!" he roared bitingly, his voice cold and incisive. "You have one chance
to live. I'm after the Overlord, not you." He thrust up a clenched fist in which
was gripped one of the tubular flares. "You've seen the effects of these
grenades--and if you resist I'll release this one right now. We'll die, every
one of us. If you tell me where Andrev went you may go. Your answer--quick!"
A dozen voices clamored: "The top of the tower--he's got a plane there! that's