"Simon R. Green - Haven 06 - Bones of Haven" - читать интересную книгу автора (Green Simon R)

"I'll go along with that," said Barber.

Winter's mouth twitched. "It's tempting, I'll admit, but no. We're SWAT, and we can handle anything.
It says so in our contract. Listen up, people. This is how we're going to do it. Storm, you open up the
gateway and then stand back. Barber, Hawk, and FisherтАФyou'll go through first. If you see something
and it moves, hit it. Hard. Storm will be right behind you, to provide whatever magical support you
need. I'll bring up the rear. Mac, you stay back here and guard the entrance. I don't want anyone
sneaking up on us from behind."

"You never let me in on the exciting stuff," said MacReady.

"Yes," said Winter. "And aren't you grateful?"

"Very."

Winter smiled, and turned back to the others. "Take your places, people. Storm, open the gateway."

The sorcerer walked a few steps down the corridor and began muttering to himself under his breath.
Barber stepped forward to take the point, and Hawk and Fisher moved in on either side of him. Barber
glanced at them briefly, and frowned.

"Don't you people believe in amour? This isn't some bar brawl we're walking into."

"Amour just slows you down," said Hawk. "The Guard experiments with it from time to time, but it's
never caught on. With the kind of work we do, it's more important for us to be able to move freely and
react quickly. You can't chase a pickpocket down a crowded street while wearing chain mail. Our
cloaks have steel mesh built into them, but that's it."

"And you don't even wear that, most of the time, unless I nag you," said Fisher.

Hawk shrugged. "Don't like cloaks. They get in the way while I'm fighting."

"I've always believed in amour," said Barber, swinging his sword loosely before him. He seemed
perfectly relaxed, but his gaze never left Storm. "It doesn't matter how good you are with a blade,
there's always someone better, or luckier, and that's when a good set of chain mail comes into its own."

He broke off as the sorcerer's voice rose suddenly, and then cut off sharply. The floor lurched and
dropped away beneath their feet for a heart-stopping moment before becoming firm again. A huge
metal door hung unsupported on the air right in front of them, floating two or three inches off the
ground. An eight-foot-tall slab of roughly beaten steel, it gleamed dully in the lamplight, and then, as
they watched, it swung slowly open to reveal a featureless, impenetrable darkness. A cold breeze blew
steadily from the doorway, carrying vague, blurred sounds from off in the distance. Hawk thought he
heard something that might have been screaming, or laughter, but it was gone too quickly for him to
identify it.

"Move it," said Storm tightly. "I don't know how long I can keep the gateway open. There's so much
stray magic around, it's distorting my spells."

"You heard the man," said Winter. "Go go go!"