"Kuttner, Henry - Red Gem of Mercury" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kuttner Henry)

Red Gem of Mercury
by Henry Kuttner
A stone from the stars kept vigil, and a dead man smiled, as Steve Vane bore a
death token from Mercury to the man who had promised him--murder!



CHAPTER ONE
Stone from the Stars
THE noise of pursuit was growing louder. Steve Vane's lungs ached with each
knife-thrust, gasping breath of the icy air. His gray prison garments were no
protection against the wintry breeze, and his thin shoes were already wet with
snow and beginning to freeze.
It was hard to keep going. It would be far easier to give up the mad attempt, to
stop and wait, with his hands in the air, till the guards came and took him back
to the bare gray walls of his cell. But--Vane took a quick glance at the
grim-faced man racing along beside him--if tough little Tony Apollo could keep
going, certainly husky, big-shouldered Steve Vane could grit his teeth and
stagger along. But where would it end? The break had been hopeless from the
start, doomed to certain failure. Only the iron determination of Tony Apollo,
and the burning sense of injustice rankling within Vane had kept the latter's
will firm.
"Pasqual framed us both," Apollo had said, his dark face sombre with hatred.
"I've been in here longer than you have--but I'm getting out now. If you're
smart, you're coming with me. One of us has a chance to get Pasqual before the
cops nail us."
And so the two had planned and fled. Blue and shaking with cold, they plunged
along the bank of the river gorge toward the cabin Apollo had said would serve
as a hideout.
"How--how much further?" Vane managed to gasp, and hated himself for the
weakness his question betrayed. Apollo managed a twisted grin.
"Just over the ridge, kid. Dunno if I can make it. Those damn guards--that
bullet went into my lungs. Steve, if I--if I croak, get Pasqual for me. When he
framed me into the big house, I told him I'd come back, and he knows I've never
broke my word. I--"
Apollo grimaced and coughed blood. He lurched; Vane gripped the smaller man's
arm and pulled him along for a few steps. Then the gangster pulled free and
plunged ahead, ploughing up snow as he ran.
TRUE enough, Vane thought, Apollo had never broken his word. The whole set-up
was fantastic. Two years ago Tony Apollo had been the underworld king of
Kentonville, and had tried to bribe Vane and failed. For, in those days, Steve
Vane had been a struggling, idealistic lawyer in the slum district.
Then big Mike Pasqual, Apollo's lieutenant, had stepped in. Very cleverly he had
framed his chief. Apollo had gone to prison and Pasqual reigned in his place.
Anybody who got in his way was crushed. As Steve Vane had been
crushed--suspended from the bar and given a long prison term because of certain
papers Pasqual had had forged. Now the two doomed men fled along the snowy brink
of the gorge in a gray, ominous half-light, with a wintry breeze numbing their
bodies. And behind them came men with guns.
Almost at the summit of the ridge it happened. Apollo clutched at his side,