"Fritz Leiber - Coming Attraction UC" - читать интересную книгу автора (Leiber Fritz)

COMING ATTRACTION

FRITZ LEIBER

The coupe with the fishhooks welded to the fender shouldered up over the curb like the nose of a nightmare. The girl in its path stood frozen, her face probably stiff with fright under her mask. For once my reflexes werenТt shy. I took a fast step toward her, grabbed her elbow, yanked her back. Her black skirt swirled out.
The big coupe shot by, its turbine humming. I glimpsed three faces. Something ripped. I felt the hot exhaust on my ankles as the big coupe swerved back into the street. A thick cloud like a black flower blossomed from its jouncing rear end, while from the fishhooks flew a black shimmering rag.
УDid they get you?Ф I asked the girl.
She had twisted around to look where the side of her skirt was torn away. She was wearing nylon tights.
УThe hooks didnТt touch me,Ф she said shakily. УI guess IТm lucky.Ф
I heard voices around us:
УThose kids! WhatТll they think up next?Ф
УTheyТre a menace. They ought to be arrested.Ф
Sirens screamed at a rising pitch as two motor police, their rocket-assist jets full on, came whizzing toward us after the coupe. But the black flower had become an inky fog obscuring the whole street. The motor police switched from rocket assists to rocket brakes and swerved to a stop near the smoke cloud.
УAre you English?Ф the girl asked me. УYou have an English accent.Ф Her voice came shudderingly from behind the sleek
black satin mask. I fancied her teeth must be chattering. Eyes that were perhaps blue searched my face from behind the black gauze covering the eyeholes of the mask.
I told her sheТd guessed right.
She stood close to me. УWill you come to my place tonight?Ф she asked rapidly. УI canТt thank you now. And thereТs something else you can help me about.Ф
My arm, still lightly circling her waist, felt her body trembling. I was answering the plea in that as much as in her voice when I said, УCertainly.Ф
She gave me an address south of Inferno, an apartment number and a time. She asked me my name and I told her.
УHey, you!Ф
I turned obediently to the policemanТs shout. He shooed away the small clucking crowd of masked women and barefaced men. Coughing from the smoke that the black coupe had thrown out, he asked for my papers. I handed him the essential ones.
He looked at them and then at me. УBritish Barter? How long will you be in New York?Ф
Suppressing the urge to say, УFor as short a time as possible.Ф I told him IТd be here for a week or so.
УMay need you as a witness,Ф he explained. УThose kids canТt use smoke on us. When they do that, we pull them in.Ф
He seemed to think the smoke was the bad thing. УThey tried to kill the lady,Ф I pointed out.
He shook his head wisely. УThey always pretend theyТre going to, but actually they just want to snag skirts. IТve picked up rippers with as many as fifty skirt snags tacked up in their rooms. Of course, sometimes they come a little too close.Ф
I explained that if I hadnТt yanked her out of the way sheТd have been hit by more than hooks. But he interrupted. УIf sheТd thought it was a real murder attempt, sheТd have stayed here.Ф
I looked around. It was true. She was gone.
УShe was fearfully frightened,Ф I told him.
УWho wouldnТt be? Those kids would have scared old Stalin himself.Ф
УI mean frightened of more than Сkids.Т They didnТt look like kids.Ф
УWhat did they look like?Ф
I tried without much success to describe the three faces. A vague impression of viciousness and effeminacy doesnТt mean much.
УWell, I could be wrong,Ф he said finally. УDo you know the girl? Where she lives?Ф
УNo,Ф I half lied.
The other policeman hung up his radiophone and ambled toward us, kicking at the tendrils of dissipating smoke. The black cloud no longer hid the dingy faчades with their five-year-old radiation flash burns, and I could begin to make out the distant stump of the Empire State Building, thrusting up out of Inferno like a mangled finger.
УThey havenТt been picked up so far,Ф the approaching policeman grumbled. УLeft smoke for five blocks, from what Ryan says.Ф
The first policeman shook his head. УThatТs bad,Ф he observed solemnly.
I was feeling a bit uneasy and ashamed. An Englishman shouldnТt lie, at least not on impulse.
УThey sound like nasty customers,Ф the first policeman continued in the same grim tone. УWeТll need witnesses. Looks as if you may have to stay in New York longer than you expect.Ф
I got the point. I said, УI forgot to show you all my papers,Ф and handed him a few others, making sure there was a five-dollar bill in among them.
When he handed them back a bit later, his voice was no longer ominous. My feelings of guilt vanished. To cement our relationship, I chatted with the two of them about their job.
УI suppose the masks give you some trouble,Ф I observed. УOver in England weТve been reading about your new crop of masked female bandits.Ф
УThose things get exaggerated,Ф the first policeman assured me. УItТs the men masking as women that really mix us up. But, brother, when we nab them, we jump on them with both feet.Ф
УAnd you get so you can spot women almost as well as if they had naked faces,Ф the second policeman volunteered. УYou know, hands and all that.Ф
УEspecially all that,Ф the first agreed with a chuckle. УSay, is it true that some girls donТt mask over in England?Ф
УA number of them have picked up the fashion,Ф СI told him. УOnly a few, thoughЧthe ones who always adopt the latest style, however extreme.Ф
УTheyТre usually masked in the British newscasts.Ф
УI imagine itТs arranged that way out of deference to American taste,Ф I confessed. УActually, not very many do mask.Ф
The second policeman considered that. УGirls going down the Street bare from the neck up.Ф It was not clear whether he viewed the prospect with relish or moral distaste. Likely both.