"Harrison, Harry- The Stainless Steel Rat for President" - читать интересную книгу автора (Harrison Harry)

"Harapo for president," Bolivar said as he pinned an election button on the officer's chest. The man ripped it off and threw it to the ground.
"Go back. Get out of here. You cannot pass." "Pray tell me why not?" Bolivar asked, offering more badges to the policemen who sneered and pushed them away. Behind him Angelina had descended from the car as well, and was passing out more candy and flags to the crowds of children. "You do not have a parade permit," the policeman snarled.
"We are not a parade. Just a few old friends out for a drive..."
"If I say you are a parade, you are a parade. Now I give

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you exactly ten seconds to turn around and get out of here or else." "Or else what?" "Or else I'm going to shoot youЧthat's what!" A hush fell at these wordsЧand within an instant the street was empty, just a few tattered flags lying on the ground to show that anyone had ever been there. With her audience

gone, Angelina went around the police personnel carrier, and offered her flags to the of Beers there.
"You are going to shoot usЧfor no reason?" Bolivar said, turning his profile towards us and hamming it up something terrible. Knowing that the whole scene was being recorded. "You would shoot helpless citizens of your own countryЧyou who are sworn to uphold the law!" He fell back and gasped. "Your time is up. All right menЧreadyЧaim - . ." A single policeman raised his gun, then slumped down to join his cataleptic companions. Because in addition to the flags Angelina had been passing out sleep gas capsules.
"Fire!" the officer saidЧand nothing happened. He turned and gaspedЧthen tried to tear his pistol out of its holster. Another broken capsule puffed out its invisible message and he dropped out of sight to join his troops.
As he vanished there was a muffled cheer from the surrounding buildings and the children reappeared, shouting and waving their flags with joy. This time there were more than a few adults with them. There were echoing ha-has of jolly laughter as we pinned a Harapo button onto each police uniform, put a Harapo flag into each dozing hand. After this, happy volunteers rolled aside the vehicle with its unconscious minions of the law; cheers were raised again as the parade continued. More than candy was being given out now. Attached to the flags were the crisp green rectangles of Election Money. Each bill could be exchanged for a bottle of wine and a fried bean sandwich at the evening rally. Things were really beginning to come together.
But Zapilote was still trying to take them apart. As we drove into the center of the city the crowds grew larger, the cheering louder. The marqu6z and I stood in the back of the

car, waving, while the election anthem rolled out in eardestroying waves. The stalwart form of my watchdog, Rodriguez, walked alongside the slowly moving vehicle, his grim face grimmer than usual because I had made him leave his recoilless caliber 50 automatic at home. This precaution had

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been a wise one because I saw him scratching at his empty armpit just as a number of bullets impacted the force field. It was disconcerting to see them suddenly appear before my face, moving slower and slower until they stopped.
"He's in that window on the second floor!" Rodriguez said, pointing. I saw a flash of movement that vanished as I looked. "Go get him!" I said.
Rodriguez buried himself through the crowd like a surfer through the wavesЧthen on into the building. I ordered the

car to stop as I reached out and caught the still-hot slugs as they oozed out of the force field. Dropping them on the floor at my feet. I touched my lapel microphone and spoke.
"Did you get that on tape?" I asked, then looked at James in the following car. He raised the camera and patted it as his radioed voice whispered in my earplug receiver. "In the can. Dad!"
"Good. Keep shooting. We have just had an assassination attempt and our faithful watchdog has gone after the gunman. There he is now."
Rodriguez had emerged from the building, a long-barreled

weapon in one hand, dragging an unconscious man by the other. The crowd murmured and tried to see what was happening as he pushed through them. I switched on the public address system to distract their attention.
"Lady and gentleman voters of Puerto Azul! It has been my great pleasure to come here to meet you, and I sincerely hope that I will see you all at the monster rally tonight. There will be talks, entertainment, free wine, and bean sandwiches, ice cream for the kiddies and a hundred door prizes, yes indeed. You do not have to pay to participate. But a hundred lucky winners will each take home a dartboard with complete set of dartsЧand these will not be ordinary dartboards, nosiree. Each of these dartboards has a face on it for a targetЧand I ask you whose face is it? That's rightЧyou can throw darts at the ugly mush of the old dictator himself, Julio 'The Monster' Zapilote!"
As you can imagine that produced a gasp or two and drew everyone's attention. A few of them looked skywards as though they expected a lightning bolt from the heavens to strike and slay me. The car door opened and Rodriguez pushed .the assassin and his gun in onto the floor. I nodded when he rolled the unconscious man over and pointed to his dark ela.sses. Mv arnniififtd vnipp mll~dd r>ii<- aaain

114 The Stainless Steel Rat for President

"Now you may call that pretty strong talkЧbut I mean it. I'm hopping mad. I came here to conduct a peaceful election campaign and what happens? Why I get shot at, that's what happens!" I let the gasp and murmur roll by then turned up the power. "I'm firnous I tell you. Right here in my hand I have one of the bullets that were just fired at me. Right at my feet I have the gunman and his rifle. And you know something funnyЧeven though he was shooting at me from inside that building, this gunman is wearing dark glasses . . ." The crowd roared and surged forward; I signaled the car to start moving again.
"Stop!" I orderedЧand they obeyed. "I can understand how you feel. But you are going to see justice done. I am going to prefer charges against this man in a court of law and we will see if the law of the land is still observed in this fair city. "
As soon as we were clear of the press of the crowd we picked up speed, then did not stop again until we got to the hotel. The main reason that the Hotel Gran Parajero had been picked was because of its underground garage. Our little

convoy hurtled down into it, and all the other cars circled about mine until the area was declared safe. While this was going on I had gone through the gunman's pockets and had found his identification. He was so stupid that he had actually

gone out on this assassination mission and taken this along. I read aloud.
"This says that he is a member of the Federal Health Alteration Committee. What in the world is that?" The marqu6z nodded grimly.
"You would not know. But that is the official name of the Ultimados. Killers!"
"But not too good at it." As though to prove my words the unconscious Ultimado came to life and pulled a large knife from his belt. I kicked him in the head and he dropped it and sank back again. I bent and seized him up and threw him over

my shoulder. "I'll carry him, de Torres, you bring the gun. The press will be waiting and we will really give them something to write about. "
We made an impressive sight as we barged into the main ballroom which had' been set up for the press meeting. Cam-

eras whirled and flashed and the crowd of newsmen buzzed and stirred like a hornet's nest. They were all there,