"Harry Harrison - SSR 05 - The Stainless Steel Rat For Presid" - читать интересную книгу автора (Harrison Harry)

polish off a squad before breakfastтАФand still have an appetite for lunch. The footsteps stopped as
the burliest one appeared before me. I tensed as he reached into

a pocketтАФthen relaxed as he produced nothing more deadly than an ornate golden badge studded with
precious stones.
"I am Captain Kretin of the Blodgett police. While you, I believe, are the individual who
operates under the alias of the Stainless Steel Rat . . ."
Alias indeed! As though I were a common criminal. I ground my teeth with rage as I reached out
and broke my cigar under his nose. His eyes widenedтАФthen closed, as the instant sleeping gas from
the crunched vial in the cigar drifted into his hairy nostrils. I took his badge, after all be had
offered it to me, and turned aside as he dropped, lace first, into the sugar bowl.
I kept turning, my rigid index finger extended, to catch his corpulent colleague just behind the
jawbone with this deadly digit. There is a nerve ganglion there which, if hit in the




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The Stainless Steel Rat for President 3

precise center, will produce instant unconsciousness. I did not miss. He folded nicely across his
fat friend.
I didn't stay around to watch. "Twenty-two," I called out to Angelina as I started for the
kitchen door. Before I reached it two more policemen stepped through. And the main entrance was
blocked by survivors of the original four.
"Trapped!" I shouted aloud, then touched the sonic screamer in my belt buckle. A number of the
diners screamed in response as the vibrations produced feelings of terror. Nice. In the confusion
I would escape through the fire exit hidden behind the drapes.
Except this door wasn't the only thing the drapes concealed. Two more policemen blocked my way.
"This was getting annoying. I leapt onto a long banquet table and neatly danced my way down its
length, avoiding all the crockery with a fine precision that belies my years. More screams and
shouts followed this exhibition until I reached the endтАФand

spun about with my back to the window.
I was trapped. Every exit was blocked, and the minions of the law were advancing.
"It's not that easy!" I shouted. "Better cops than you have tried to capture Slippery Jim
diGriz! All have failed. Better a --clean death than sordid captivity!"
Behind the attacking hordes I could see my sweet Angelina blowing me a farewell kiss. I gave her
a last wave as I tensed

my legs and sprang backwards.
"Thus ends the saga of the Stainless Steel Rat!" My words were followed instantly by the crash of
breaking glass, as I burst through the window and hurtled out into the night.
Falling. Twisting and turning as I did. So that I hit the waters of the canal in a clean dive
that took me under in a curving arc, I did not break the surface again until I was some meters
away and concealed by the darkness.
It was a happy end to a pleasant evening; I hummed to myself as I did an easy breaststroke
through the darkness. I had brought joy to this dull planet, at least for a few brief moments. The