"Evans,.Linda.-.Sleipnir" - читать интересную книгу автора (Evans Linda)

right.

I unholstered my P-7 pistol, and balanced it across my palm. Its
lines were sleek, deadly. So was Gary's sheath knife, strapped to
my calf. What if I were fooling myself? Even if Niflheim were as
real as the gun in my handЧand I'd seen the proof of thatЧwhat if
a living man couldn't get there? All the myths and sagas were
pretty consistent on one point. The gods did the choosing, not
men. It was more than possible I'd just wander around down here
until I died, without ever seeing anything more interesting than grey
rock walls.

I reholstered the P-7.

It didn't matter.

Odin was breaking the rules ten ways from SundayЧI'd seen the
goddamned proof of that, too. And if he could cheat the Norns,
then I could get to Niflheim. Without dying. I hadn't doubted it
before, when there was still a chance to back out, and I wasn't
about to doubt it now.

I looked down the long stretch of bland grey tunnel, and listened as
the silence echoed in my ears. The cave twisted into the bowel of
the mountain like a wormhole burrowed into the core of a rotten
apple. Feeling some sympathy with a cockroach about to be
squashed, I shouldered my gear, stuck an emergency cyalume
stick in my shirt pocket, and started down the jagged slope.

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Contents
Framed
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Contents
Chapter Four

Ever notice how assholes just have to show off, even when they
know better? I haven't yet met an exception to that ruleЧand I
figure I know myself as well as I'm going to by now.

Most of the time, nothing serious happens when some idiot shows
his true colors. People nearby mutter, "What an asshole" and that's
an end to it. (Of course, kids kill themselves all the time pulling
stupid stunts like falling off hotel balconies while they're drunk, and
driving off bridges at a hundred miles per hour, and doing enough
crack cocaine to give the entire Rams front line a buzz. Dumb
schmucks.)

But for those of us who survive puberty, being an asshole is
generally limited to minor idiocies like proving that your dick won't