"Nephilim - 03 - The Revealing" - читать интересную книгу автора (Marzulli L A)

9



Nora dreamed she was alone in a big church and there were many candles. Then a strong wind blew the flames so that they started a fire that burned down the church. Then she found herself in a small room with padded walls and every time she touched them she received a shock of electricity.
She awakened with a start and sat upright, her mind a jumble of thoughts and ghostly images. The sounds of a snoring man next to her brought her back. That's Jerry, she told herself.
She wondered how she had gotten to bed the night before and couldn't remember anything after sitting around the fire eating the track rabbit. She rubbed her head, then noticed that a patch of her hair was shaved close to her scalp and wondered how it had happened. Creeping out of the card-board house, she looked around. Most everyone was still sleeping except Laverne, who was hunched near the fire which she had kept going with the supply of papers and scraps of wood that Jerry and some of the others brought to her. Nora didn't like her because she seemed to be vying for Jerry's attention. She eyed the bottle of pills but decided not to take one.
She tiptoed out of the camp and made her way out of the Condos and into the subway tunnel. A train approached and she stayed close to the wall as it went by. Afterward, she walked down the length of track toward the mouth of the tunnel, being careful to avoid the third rail, which carried the high voltage electricity that powered the trains. Jerry had told her that he once saw a man electrocute himself on it. The man had been drunk, tripped, and landed with his exposed arm on the third rail. The bottle he had carried broke and the liquid wet his arm. There had been a shower of sparks, the smell of burning flesh, and then it was over. All of the mole people had run away. No one had even bothered to go for help.
Nora shuddered and kept walking, always aware of the third rail. She touched the shaved spot on her head again and thought about going back to get a hat to cover it, but decided against it.
Half an hour later she was at the entrance to the tunnel. It was morning, and the city was in the grip of rush hour as a procession of crammed commuter trains rushed by her like ghostly phantoms from another world. She waited for another train to go by, then walked out of the tunnel and scrambled up the embankment that she and Jerry had slid down the day before. She hopped over the fence and walked through the vacant lot. At the smell of bacon and eggs cooking, her stomach growled. She slipped up the alley and saw the stray dog that she had named Boy. The mangy-looking animal wagged its tail but kept its distance from her.
"Come on, Boy," she called, as she bent over trying to coax him to her. The dog, however, remained steadfast and wouldn't budge. "I've got stuff to do, Boy. See you when I come back, and I'll bring you somethin'," she said as she left the alley.
Nora hurried to the park where she followed a jogging trail. She kept her eyes low, avoiding the glances of joggers who moved to the other side of the path to stay clear of her as they ran by.
She reached the end of the trail and left the park, hurrying past two winos on a bench who were stirring from sleep. At 90th Street she put her hands in her pockets and walked quickly, staying close to the buildings. There was a clock tower at the intersection, and she glanced at the time.
Big hand on the seven, she thought, and she realized that she had better walk faster or she was going to miss her opportunity. She quickened her pace, rounded a corner, and walked for another half block. Across the street was an apartment building with a forest-green canopy outside the lobby. A security guard was stationed in front, while a doorman sat on a stool next to the door.
Nora waited for the traffic to clear and then walked across the street. She crept close to the building and stopped fifty feet away, then moved closer until she was behind the guard.
"Hello, Nora," the guard said in a cheerful voice, even though his back was turned from her.
"How did you know I was here?" Nora asked, as she scurried around to the front of the man.
The guard, who was a retired dockworker in his sixties, glanced at the convex mirrors that were placed overhead in the framework of the canopy, enabling him to see behind him. "It's magic, Nora," he said. "Want a piece of gum?"
Nora giggled and held out her hand.
The guard gave her a pack of Juicy Fruit, which she tore open quickly, putting two sticks in her mouth.
"You be careful upstairs, and use the service elevator," he said.
Nora nodded. "Bye, Mr. Jenkins," she called, as she hurried around the side of the building down the alley to the service entrance.
The door was locked like always, so she fished into her baggy pants and brought her lock picks out. She selected one and set it into the lock. Moments later she was inside the building. She needed another pick to access the elevator. She activated it, the doors opened, and she entered, pressing the button for the fourteenth floor. The elevator stopped at the tenth and a painter entered, pushing a cart filled with paint cans, brushes, and other equipment. Nora moved to the rear of the elevator. The doors closed and it started its ascent. On the eleventh floor it stopped, the doors opened, and he rolled his cart out.
When the doors opened on the fourteenth floor Nora bolted down the plush carpeted hall. She stopped at apartment 1403 and looked up and down the hall, noticing the video surveillance cameras on opposite ends of the hall. Using her lock picks she opened the door and entered the apartment. She closed the door, stood with her back against it, and listened to the ticking of an antique grandfather clock a few feet away. Her eyes wandered over the rich Oriental car-pet that graced the polished hardwood floors. Antique chairs, an ottoman made of an elephant's foot, and several statues graced the room, giving it an eclectic richness. Nora sniffed the air, smelling the warm mustiness of old books.
She moved away from the door and ran her hand along the bookcase that lined one entire wall of the room. Then she made a beeline for the kitchen. Opening the refrigerator door, she stuck her head in and began to sample the variety of cold cuts and cheeses that were stuffed into the drawers.
She tossed onto the floor several packs of hot dogs, some cheese, and two loaves of bread (one of which she earmarked for Boy). Then she turned her attention to the pantry, where she grabbed numerous cans of soup, vegetables, and beans. Leaving the kitchen, she walked back down the hall and opened a linen closet, where she grabbed a pillowcase.
Reentering the kitchen, she gathered the food from the floor into the pillowcase, and was about to leave when she noticed a bowl of fruit on the table. She went over to it and took several apples. She sat down, placed them on the table in front of her, and then arranged them in a pattern, that of a cross. She got up, looked at her handiwork, then throwing the plunder over her shoulder, retraced her steps. As she was about to leave the apartment she heard a noise on the other side of the door. The mail slot opened, and a flood of letters, magazines, and bills fell to the floor.
Nora waited a moment. She put her ear to the door and heard the mailman walking away. She then turned her attention to the mail on the floor. She sat down, crossed her legs underneath her, gathered the mail, and set it on her lap.
She started with a magazine, Biblical Archeology Review, and, not finding anything of much interest, tossed it aside. She opened the telephone bill. Seeing nothing but numbers on the paper, she crumpled it into a ball and threw it over her head behind her. One letter in a manila envelope caught her eye because of the row of colorful stamps.
She brought it close to her and looked at the stamps, slowly sounding out the word, "It . . . a . . . ly." She scratched at the corner of one of the stamps, hoping to peel it off so she could show Jerry back at the Condos. The stamp wouldn't budge. As she turned the envelope, she felt something hard inside and began to wonder what it was.
She pressed her dirty fingers against it and traced the outline of it. She looked around to make sure no one was watching and then she tore the envelope open and, bringing it close to her face, peered into it. She was disappointed. She reached in, took out the black square thing of plastic, and stared at it. Then she looked again at the pretty stamps and wondered to herself why there was nothing fun inside. She turned the envelope upside down, and a folded letter fell to the floor, which she ignored. She then put the plastic thing back into the envelope and, folding it in half, stuffed it into the pocket that she kept her lock picks in. Then she got to her feet, picked up the bag with the food, and opened the door.
Nobody, and that's good, she thought, as she peered down both ways of the corridor. She crept out, closed the door behind her, and ran to the service elevator. When it arrived she hurried into it and pressed the "L" button over and over again until the doors finally closed. The elevator lurched as it began its descent, and a few moments later it opened. Nora got out, and at the entrance to the service alley she waited until Mr. Jenkins, the security guard, had his back turned. Then she darted from the alley, unaware that Jenkins saw her in the video monitor, and was chuckling to himself at that very moment.






10






The Major hunched over his desk in his private office, deep underground in Tel Aviv. He rubbed at the corners of his mouth with his fingers and spoke into the phone that was cradled between his head and shoulder. "Are you sure our rockets killed everyone in the car?"
"Yes, sir, I am. We have confirmed it."