"Emil Petaja - The Path Beyond The Stars" - читать интересную книгу автора (Petaja Emil)

Jon stood among the shadowy arches, in the dim glow cast by the ring
of lights at the base of the central fountain, waiting for something to
happen. Something was supposed to happen. The aura was there, surging
in close, close. He froze. He waited.
Nothing happened. The portent sense withdrew, abruptly. The
nothing-something stalking him was biding its time. Jon shrugged and
swung quickly down the curve of stairs from the doorway, across the court
and the patterned gardens. Whistling loudly, he ran down the long ramp
leading to the parking lot and slammed away into the night.
His Runabout was rented for him by the company. He could have had
something a good deal more pretentious. A helio-car, for example, with a
chauffeur. Jon preferred the next thing to a rattletrap, and the privacy of
modest means and modest living quarters.
He was halfway through the Marin County underbay tunnel when he
knew suddenly that he wasn't alone in the car. From anger and irritation,
he'd slammed out of the parking lot without so much as a glance into the
rear seat, and now, his muscles tensing, he realized that something was
crouched down below the level of the bucket seats.
He switched into the autotrack, which he usually scorned; it seemed so
babyish, so ineffectual, as if a man didn't have the brains to maneuver a
vehicle himself. It did help if you were drinking, though. He pressed the
stud which geared the Runabout into automatic and then started to turn.
His nerves tingled; his body tightened up for an animal's spring.
тАЬKeep going,тАЭ a taut whisper stopped him. тАЬSpeed up to normal. Keep
your hands on the wheel.тАЭ
тАЬHey!тАЭ
It was her.
тАЬDon't talk. Don't even think. I mean, you've practiced holding back from
other intuates. Hold everything back. Especially me.тАЭ Venus Trine's voice
was husky with that same terror he'd seen when it barreled out of those
gorgeous green eyes back in his office.
Jon clamped down his mind, instinctively obeying the compulsion of that
bridling fear in her voice. Venus Trine was in trouble. He had made a move
toward helping her, and now he was in trouble, too.
For the moment his instincts were purely self-defensive. All very well,
these damsels in distress, butтАж
Silence. Then the girl whispered in his ear, тАЬWhere are you taking us?тАЭ
тАЬI'm taking you!тАЭ Jon chuckled. тАЬWhat's that you're holding in your fist,
pointed at my back? Not a peashooter, I think!тАЭ
тАЬIt's a blaster,тАЭ Venus admitted. тАЬBut it's not for you.тАЭ
тАЬThen why's it pointed at me?тАЭ
тАЬHE might have taken hold of your mind. I had to be sure. I am now.
Where did you say we were going?тАЭ
тАЬI was going home to bed. Alone. But if you'd care to join me, that
might be arranged. That is, if youтАФтАЭ
тАЬDon't talk so much. Don't tell me where you live. Just go there. Pretend
you're alone. You do live in Sausalito?тАЭ
тАЬYes.тАЭ
тАЬOne of those car lifts that lets you park your car on the same level as
your apartment?тАЭ