"Evans, Tabor - Longarm 234 - Longarm and the Renegade Assassins" - читать интересную книгу автора (Evans Tabor)

expected. These men wouldn't have come if they and their bosses hadn't
been personally and completely pissed off by the cowardly bomb attack.
Those of them that still had bosses, that is.

Which, dammit, left out Longarm and Henry and all the other deputies
who'd worked under Billy Vail's leadership. It looked like for the time
being they didn't have a boss and weren't fixing to get a new one.

Still, that was all right. The new broom, whoever he turned out to
be, might well want to sweep the office clean of old associations and old
loyalties. The next U.S. marshal could turn out to be a politician who
would want his own people on the payroll. And Custis Long couldn't have
borne the thought right now of not being a part of the investigation into
Billy's death. He could live with the idea of being fired so some
political ass-kisser could replace him. Hell, he'd been fired from jobs
before. But he couldn't--wouldn't--accept it until or unless the person or
persons responsible for that bombing were behind bars or, better yet, dead
and cooling in the hard, heartless ground.

"Give me your best efforts," Cotton was saying, "and we will all work
together to find these people and bring them to justice. Give me your best
efforts, and together we will accomplish that worthy task. Give me your
best efforts, each and every one, I beg you." Cotton paused again. "Now,
if you will please be patient with me, I have made up a list of assignments
for those I knew would be here. I will read the names off and tell you
which room to report to to be briefed on what will be expected of you.
Anyone left when I have completed the list--that is to say, those from
neighboring jurisdictions who I may not have anticipated seeing today--will
please wait in this room until the others have left. Then I will ask you
to register your name, affiliation, and areas of expertise with my clerk
Ralph Hodges. Is that clear? Fine. First, then, the late marshal's
deputies. You can all report to the marshal's office. Someone from my
staff will join you there in very short order with your specific
assignments. All right? Next, you gentlemen representing the Denver
police department and Denver County sheriff's office. I would like you to
assemble-"

Longarm had already turned away and was pushing his way through the
crowd. Henry was close on his heels as Longarm forced a path for both of
them, Smiley and Dutch behind Henry, and the other familiar faces
converging now on the door leading out of the U.S. attorney's office.

Jesus, Longarm thought, with this many men to work on the case it
should be a snap. They'd just surround Colorado, put every man jack in the
state into one big herd, and then start tossing out whoever wasn't guilty.
Then they could hang whoever was left in the middle.

Helluva idea, he told himself as he slipped out into the cooler and
much fresher air in the hallway of the Federal Building. He was already
reaching for a cheroot and match. He figured he needed a smoke to help