"HARRISON, Harry - 08 - The Stainless Steel Rat Sings The Blues (V1.0)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Harrison Harry)

And stopped quite still as the guards who were flattened against the wall all
pointed guns at me.
"Shoot him!" Colonel Neuredan ordered.
"I'm unarmed!" My gun slid across the floor as I threw my hands into the air.
Fingers quivered on triggers-it was all over.
"Don't shoot-I want him alive. For the moment."
I stood frozen, not breathing until the trigger fingers relaxed. Looked up and
quickly found the security bug in the ceiling. Must be one in every room and
corridor down here. They had been watching me all the time. A good try, Jim. The
Colonel grated his teeth horribly and stabbed a finger in my direction.
"Take him. Chain him. Bind him. Bring him."
This was all done with ruthless efficiency. My toes dragged along the floor as I
was whisked back to the cell, stripped at gunpoint, thrown to the floor with my
black robe thrown on top of me. The door clanged shut and I was alone. Very much
alone.
"Cheer up, Jim, you've been in worse trouble before," I chirped smilingly. Then
snarled, "When?"
Back in the pits again. My abortive attempt at escape had only gained me a few
bruises.
"This can't be it!" I shouted. "It can't all end just like this."
"It can-and it will," the Colonel's funereal voice intoned as the cell door
opened again. A dozen guns were pointed at me as a guard brought in a tray with
a bottle of champagne on it and a single glass.
I watched in stupefied disbelief as he twisted the cork out. There was a pop and
a gush as the golden fluid filled the glass. He handed it to me.
"What's this, what's this?" I mumbled, staring wide-eyed at the rising bubbles.
"Your last request," Neuredan said. "That and a cigarette."
He took one from a package and lit it, holding it out to me. I shook my head. "I
don't smoke." He ground the cigarette under his heel. "Anyway-champagne and a
cigarette thatТs not my last request."
"Yes it is. Forms of last request are standardized by law. Drink."
I drank. It tasted all right. I belched and handed back the glass. "I'll take a
refill." Anything to gain time, to think. I watched the wine being poured and my
brain was dull and empty. "You never told me about the . . . execution."
"Do you want to know?"
"Not really."
"Then I will be pleased to tell you. I assure you that there was extensive
deliberation over the correct method to be used. Thought was given to the firing
squad, electrocution, poison gas-a number of possibilities were actively
considered when the law was passed. But all of them involve someone pulling a
switch or a trigger, and that would not be humane to the someone."
"Humane! What about the prisoner?"
"Of no importance. Your death has been decreed and will take place as soon as
possible. This is what will happen. You will be taken to a sealed chamber and
chained there. The entrance will be locked. After this the chamber will be
flooded with water by an automatic device actuated by your body heat. It is
always there, always turned on. You alone will be responsible for your own
execution. Now isn't that quite humane?"
"Drowning is humane all of a sudden?"
"Possibly not. But you will be left a pistol containing a single bullet. You can