"Judith Moffett - The Bird Shaman's Girl" - читать интересную книгу автора (Moffett Judith)

clasp knife, and LexiтАЩs hands were free.

Numb as they were, if sheтАЩd still been on the ground sheтАЩd have been
off like a streak of lightning, Granpa was right. Vividly she saw herself
squirm into a hidey-hole in the rocks and crouch low while they lumbered
past, kicking at the scrub oak, failing to find her. Later she would tear strips
from the dress to wrap and tie around her feet, make a little shelter, stay
cleverly hidden until Jaime or Pam could spring into action. There were
serviceberries in the mountains this time of year, and plenty of water. She
had perfect faith that eventually Pam would save her. All she would have to
do would be not get caught until that happened.

But it was all useless; she was sealed inside the helicopter and the
pilot was making the rotors roar.
 ****

Aboard the bullet train from L.A. to Las Vegas and Salt Lake, Pam sat
at a table in the concessions car, sipping cider and alternately fretting and
scheming. The Nevada desert slipped drearily past her window.

If Lexi was alone in the mountains, she had to be found at once. If the
Ephremites were holding herтАФand this seemed likelierтАФthere was no
need to be concerned about her physical safety; but the Church would work
on her to renounce the Gaians, and otherwise try to guilt-trip her back into
the fold, which they would consider a great PR coup if they could bring it
off.

Fiercely Pam determined not to let Lexi be put through
deprogramming. She intended to find her fast, with HumphreyтАЩs help if
necessary. And from now on, however often she would have to encounter
the odious RoLayne, Pam intended to play a more active role in LexiтАЩs life.
The world as they knew it might be on the verge of changing for everybody,
but this one child was not going to be forced to live in constant fear of
having her private world turned inside out like a sock if Pam could help it.

As if activated by these thoughts, the TV screen above the forward
door of the car crackle-flickered to lifeтАФand Pam gasped and half-rose, for
there stood Lexi herself, in her Kate dress and sun bonnet and bare feet,
arms folded across her chest, looking proud and defiant despite her
streaky makeup. As Pam sank back in her seat, a news announcer began
reading a report: тАЬCBC-TV has learned that Alexis Allred, eleven-year-old
star of the popular television series A Thousand Miles, was kidnapped
earlier today by agents of the Church of Ephrem the Prophet, commonly
known as the Ephremite Church.

тАЬThe network received this recording an hour ago from a
spokesperson for the Church, which is claiming credit for liberating Alexis
from what they term тАШthe corrupting influence of the Gaian Movement.тАЩ
Church agents are holding the girl in an undisclosed location and
demanding that the Hefn agree to release her officially into Ephremite