"Steven Gould - Jumper 02 - Reflex" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gould Stephen Jay)

He could still jump within range of the chains.

That is if he was willing to risk broken wrists or ankles.

Parts of the chain were being accelerated instantly, over a distance of mere feet, but the energy
imparted to the rest of the chain was considerable. Plaster dust floated in the air near the wall where
the chains vanished through rough holes.

He wondered if his observers had seen him do it or grasped any of the implications. He waited
for a moment, but there was no reaction from the speaker. The door didn't open.

He picked up the book again. He'd gotten through the betrayal. Perhaps it was time to check
out the escape.



They brought supper that night, as usual, two different men in surgical masks and scrubs.

He wasn't feeling very well. There was a persistent ache from the surgical scar on his upper
chest and above, too, a tenderness that ran under the skin. Yet he had energy, too.

So he took their masks off.

One second he was reading in bed, the next he was standing at the extent of his chains, reaching
out with both hands and closing on their masks just as the recoil from the chains reached his wrists.
The chains, really, more than his own arms, snatched the paper masks off.

They jerked back, the one holding the supper tray dropping it with a clatter. They stopped, out
of reach and stared at him, startled, perhaps even afraid.

He wasn't sure, but he thought he recognized one of them from the restaurantтАФone of the
ambulance crew, a small-chinned man with blond eyebrows so white as to be almost invisible. The
other man was a hook-nosed individual with bushy reddish brown eyebrows and freckles. Not young,
thoughтАФin his forties, perhaps.

Davy stared at them, hungrily. These were his enemies, but they were the first faces he'd seen in
days, perhaps weeks. He had no idea how long he'd been drugged.

The blonde held his hand to his cheek where a line of blood was forming. Davy must've caught
him with a fingernail.

"Sorry," Davy said, gesturing. The chains clanked again. "Didn't mean to gouge you."

The computer voice came over the loudspeaker. "Leave the room, Gentlemen."

They turned and left, without ever speaking.
 Davy sighed.

The supper tray was lying out of reach, a small steak, baked potato, and salad, lying in a small