"Philip Jose Farmer - The Empire of the Nine omnibus" - читать интересную книгу автора (Farmer Phillip Jose)

The grenade was close enough to half-deafen me but I was not confused or
immobilised. I rolled away and then crawled toward the men shooting at me. Or
shooting where they thought I should be. Gouts of dirt fell over my naked back
and on my head. Bushes bent, and leaves fell on me. Another grenade exploded
near the first. Bullets screamed off, and pieces of bark fell before me. But I did
not believe they could see me. I would have been stitched with lead in a few
seconds.

One thing, some of them must have seen that I was only armed with a knife, and
that would make them brave.

Suddenly, there was silence except for a man shouting in English. He was telling
them to form a ring, to advance slowly to contract the ring, and to fire downward
if they saw me. They must not fire into each other. They must shoot at my legs,
bring me down, and then finish me off.

If I'd been in his place, I would have done the same. It was an admirable plan
and seemed to have a one hundred percent chance of success. I was as
disgusted as I had time for. I should have approached more cautiously and
scouted the area. I had made the same mistake they did, in essence, except that
they were better equipped to rectify theirs.

I kept on going. I did not know how many men they had. I had determined that
ten weapons had been firing. But others might be withholding their fire. It would
take them some time to form a ring, since they had all been on one side of me. In
this thick bush, they would have to proceed slowly and keep locating each other
by calling out.

Men circled around swiftly and noisily. I could smell them; there were ten men on
that side. So that meant there had to be as many or more ahead of me. Some
had been holding back their fire.

I looked upward. I was close to the tree from which the flash had come as a
sniper shifted his rifle. He was still about twenty feet up on a branch and waiting
for me to make a break for it. I scrutinised the other trees around me for more
snipers, but he seemed to be the only one.

I sprang out from under the broad leaves of the elephant's-ear and threw my
knife upward. It was a manoeuvre that had to be done without hesitation and
which involved much danger, since it meant I would be revealed, if only for a
moment.

It was, however, unexpected. And the only one who saw me before I ducked
back under the plant was the sniper. His surprise did not last long. He saw me
and the knife about the same time, and then the knife caught him in the throat.
The rifle fell out of his hands and onto the top of a bush. He sagged forward but
was held from falling by the rope around his waist, tied to the trunk. The knife had
made a chunking and the rifle a thrashing as it slid through the branches of the
bush. But the shouts of the men had covered it up.