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

"No way, man. I kn?w nothing 'bout this and that's a fact."
"Say you're sorry then." She balled her fists and stuffed them into the pockets of a dirty pair of men's trousers several sizes too big for her.
The man took a step back and looked up the alley. He ran his hand nervously over his forehead and licked his lips. "Man, I'm gonna just walk outta here and we not gonna get nothin'. You'll see." He took a step back.
Nora's laughter echoed through the alleyway. "Somebody gonna hear you with that crazy laugh 0' yours and then they gonna find us here."
"We done noth?n' wrong . . . yet," she said, looking at him with a grimy angelic face and a shoulder-length mane of unkempt, dark brown hair.
"I'm gonna leave you, Nora, 'less you go on an' do it."
"Say you're sorry," she demanded.
The black man scowled back at her. "No way, man, I ain't sorry for jack."
"Then you can find somebody else to get you in."
The man kicked a Styrofoam cup that still held some coffee, which splattered back on his pants as he sent it flying against the alley wall. "Now look what you made me do."
Nora laughed again.
"That laugh 0' yours gets more creepier by the day," the black man said. "You been takin' your pills?"
Nora ignored the question. "Say you're sorry, Jerry," she demanded.
Jerry licked his lips again. He was com?ng down from amphetamines and he needed to get more. His body was beginning to ache and his hands trembled uncontrollably for a second or two as he angrily eyed the woman, who, in his mind, had made such an unreasonable demand on him. After all, he hadn't said anything to offend her. He had just told her to hurry it up. His left arm shuddered, forcing a decision. "All right . . . I'm sorry."
Nora showed him a tired smile, with a few missing teeth. She pulled her hands from her pockets and once again set to work on a padlock that held a thick chain that was wrapped around the back door of a convenience store. Jerry took a few steps so that he was right behind her. He watched her delicate ivory fingers work the lock pick. A moment later Nora pulled down on the lock and it opened.
"You amazing, you know that," Jerry said,Ф genuinely astounded at Nora's ability. IТll do my part now, be ready to get out here, soon as you see me." He pulled an old pillowcase from the ins?de of h?s sweatsh?rt, then slowly unwound the chain and slipped into the store.
Jerry let his eyes adjust to the dimly lit room. Cocking his head, he listened to the muted conversation and the blare of a radio that came from the front of the store. Then he made his way to one of the shelves that held canned foods, some of which were still in half-opened boxes. He picked up one and carefully slipped it into his sack. Then he grabbed the next one and carefully set it against the first can, at the bottom lest he should make any unwanted noise. It's my lucky day, he thought, as he filled his sack up and glanced back at Nora. Crazy chick. He wondered where she had learned to pick locks like a pro. The bag nearly full, he grabbed for another can, and as he did his hand trembled uncontrollably. The can slipped from his grasp and fell to the floor. Jerry froze and waited, eyeing the door that led directly to the front counter. He saw it begin to open. He picked up another can as he made for the back door.
"Hey, you!" a fat old Korean man shouted at him.
Jerry threw the can and it slammed into the man's shoulder. As the man yelled in pain and fell to the floor, Jerry darted through the doorway and into the alley. Nora was running next to h?m, laughing like a crazed woman.
"Crazy chick," Jerry muttered under h?s breath as he made for the back of the alley. He saw Nora go over the chain-link fence, catlike.
Jerry got to the fence. Glancing behind him, he saw that the angry Korean grocer had made it to the doorway and had a gun. "You stop. I shoot!"
On the run, Jerry tied the top of the pillowcase and threw it over the fence into Nora's waiting arms. He scrambled up the fence, and as he reached the top, he heard the gun go off.
The bullet whizzed over his head. Jerry was now really scared. He's gonna kill me over a few cans of food, he thought, as he dropped to the ground. He grabbed the sack from Nora and the pair began to run down another alleyway.
They ducked into a doorway and were hidden from sight. "You think he's gonna follow us?" Nora asked, her breath coming in little pants.
"He too fat 'n' old for this ... no way, man," Jerry said, and he grinned at Nora. He peered around the blackened brick. "He's at the fence, w?vi? his gun around."
"You hear that?" Nora said, and she grabbed Jerry's sweat-shirt.
"The? ain't gonna find us," Jerry blustered, as he nodded toward the police sirens that echoed through the labyrinth of buildings near New York's Central Park. "Besides, nobody gonna mess with a couple of mole people." He grinned.
He motioned for her to stay close and, crouching low, they made their way along the wall of the alley.
"Up here." Jerry pointed to part of a rusted fire escape that had been gerry-rigged over the alley's rear wall. The pair climbed over the wall and fell into the rear of a burned-out shell of an apartment building, which, in spite of the fence, had been a catch-all for the community's garbage and unwanted items.
"Look at all this," Jerry said as he picked up a torn mattress. "We can use it back at the condo," Nora said.
"Yeah, I'll come back for it, after we eat . . ." Jerry pushed Nora down.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Nora said.
"They knows we here. Look, they in front of us," Jerry pointed to a squad car with its lights flashing in front of the lot.
"They're not getting me," Nora whispered, and she moved closer to Jerry.
"Nothin' gonna happen ... they ain't comin' here through all this. Too many rats." Jerry pointed to one that scurried a few feet past them.
? bullhorn cracked to life. "We kn?w you two are in there. Come out with your hands up."
"Yeah, like I'm just gonna give up my food to you, man," Jerry taunted in a whisper.
"I don't like this, Jerry. They kn?? we're here," Nora said. "I knows somethin' that they don't," Jerry said, as he tapped his head with his index finger knowingly.
"Like what?" Nora asked.
"You 'pologize to me for making me say sorry to you back there," Jerry insisted and folded his arms across his chest. Nora looked defiant.
"Come on, man, no chick gonna hit me with that stuff 'cept my ol' lady, an' you ain't her."
"Come out now . . . this is the police . . . you're both under arrest," the cop ordered.
"Yeah, like I'm gonna come out with my hands up and everything," Jerry mocked.
"All right, I'm sorry I made you do it," Nora said, clearly growing more nervous with the police presence.
"Good . . . Now sta? low an' follow me," Jerry ordered as he crept forward on his hands and knees, holding the sack in front of him. He made his way past a huge pile of broken concrete and bricks and then toward a large pile of scrap wood and building materials. 'It's comin' up now"
"I don't see anything," Nora whined as she crawled behind him. "They ain't gonna get me and I ain't goin' back to that place."
"Dort worry, nobody's gonna get ya."
"So where is it?" Nora asked again.
"Tim told me about it, an' he never lied 'bout nothin' to nobody." Jerry allowed himself to chuckle.
"This is the police . . ."