"Charles L. Grant - Raven" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grant Charles L)

and shook his head. Havvick nodded weakly, moved to the stairs and started up. Head and shoulders disappeared
before he leaned down and said, "Don't you feel sick?" And disappeared again.
A knee began to buckle. He sagged against a post and let the tremors work their way through him. Teeth chattering
again. Blinking so fast that when Mandy stepped before him she seemed trapped in a dim strobe light that made him
dizzy. Trying to move away when she reached out a hand. Feeling the cold. Swallowing bile. Raising his head
help-lessly toward the ceiling when she put an arm around his waist and held him, saying nothing, squeezing once in a
while, finger-combing the melting snow from his hair.
I'm supposed to be mad now, he thought, watching cobwebs shift lazily in a draft; I'm supposed to go outside with
forty guns strapped to my chest and blow the bastard away.
I'm supposed to be mad.
I'm acting like a baby.
Mandy said nothing; she held him and squeezed once more.
It felt like an hour; it was only a few seconds.
"The cops?" he finally asked, voice rasping.
"The phone is dead. Both of them."
"Someone will have to go."
She tugged. "Not now. Upstairs. It's warmer."
He didn't think he could move, and was amazed that his legs didn't splinter when he finally tried to walk. By the time
they reached the staircase she had released him, but stayed behind him, guiding fingers lightly on his leg as he
climbed the stairs hand over hand as if it were a ladder. Once he was through and out, Davies took his elbow and led
him to the nearest table, and as he sat, Julia put a glass beside his hand. The hand jumped. The fingers clutched and
opened. He stared at them, commanding them to knock it off. And when they didn't, couldn't, he curled the hand into
his lap and stared blindly at the creek.
"Someone has to go."
"On my way," Davies volunteered without hesitation. "West or east?"
"Deerfield," Julia told him. "West. It's closest. You can't miss it. A blinking light at a T-intersection. Turn right and
it's about a mile up, on the right." She faltered, cleared her throat. "It's a State Police barracks."
"Give him the gun," Neil told her. He cleared his throat, cleared it again. "Give him the gun."
"Oh, now wait a minute," Davies protested, holding up a hand.
"Don't argue. Julia, give him the gun."
Davies moved away to fetch his coat, still refusing. "Wouldn't do any good, believe me, I've never used one. Don't
worry, I'll be fine."
"He's crazy."
"I'll be back before you know it."
"The sonofabitch is crazy."
He closed his eyes then and leaned back. The hand in his lap jumped once and steadied. Someone helped him off
with his coat, and he moved as little as possible, listening to the building take on the wind, to footsteps moving
cautiously around him, whispers, a woman trying not to cry and failing, but softly; rustling cloth, the clink of a bottle
against a tumbler, the furnace, the scrape of a chair, the trapdoor being lowered back into place.
i think i know him
Who was it, Nester?
i know who he looks like
It wasn't a Holgate.
He hadn't seen the man's face clearly, but he knew it wasn't one of them.
So who was it, Nes, who was it?
"Hugh?"
"Don't worry, love, I won't take any chances."
A door opened and closed.
He opened his eyes and managed a grateful smile when he saw Mandy seated across the table. She returned the
smile, touched her hair, nodded to the drink Julia had poured. He wasn't sure he could lift it, but he was able, with