"Tom Purdom-Toys" - читать интересную книгу автора (Purdom Tom)

doing. He couldn't see her but he knew she was probably gesturing as if she were rejecting everything he
was saying. "I'll stand near the ladder so I can drop if he gets up here," she said. "If you don't get him
going up, we can get him going down."
Edelman shook his open hand at the ceiling. He looked like a pagan pleading with his gods. "Give him
time to recharge his laser," he said. "We'd better give him time to argue with the girl, too."
"Check. Ready?"
"Ready."
Fracarro swore again. Her foot stamped on the floor. "I didn't come here to play games," she
screamed over the loudspeaker. "We've taken all the nonsense I intend to take. Send your hostages up
or I'll blow your hairy little friend to pieces. You've got ninety seconds. If I don't see the first hostage in
the elevator by then, I'll shoot him in the leg. He'll get it bullet by bullet until he's dead. You aren't the only
people who can make threats."
Edelman threw up his hands. He stood under the ladder and pretended he was begging her to stop.
She shouted at him to shut up in English and he backed away from the ladder and looked up wildly. The
elevator door was one jump behind him.
Seconds slipped away. Down below, wherever they were, the kids were arguing. If they decided they
would rather threaten to kill the hostages than send somebody up to fight, Edelman didn't know what he
was going to do. He had seen an opportunity and he had grabbed it without thinking out every
alternative. Hostages were useless, once you killed them and he had done everything he could to look
harmless.
"Don't!" a girl screamed. "We're sending them up. Wait!"
"Hurry up!" Fracarro yelled. "First the hostages, then you. Move."
The motor echoed in the elevator shaft. Edelman pressed against the door and shook his fist excitedly.
His gun hand brushed against the control panel and he pressed in the button with his knuckles.
The elevator stopped behind the door. He dropped to his hands and knees and the door slid open. A
boy and the other gorilla were standing inside. The boy's eyes widened and he swung the laser beam
around.
Edelman hurled himself at the boy's legs with his face turned toward the floor. The beam flashed above
his head. The gorilla snarled. His shoulders crashed into a skinny body and the boy went down.
The elevator door caught on his leg. He yanked in his foot and the door slid shut. "Stop him!" the boy
yelled. "Kill him. Get him out of here."
The gorilla's hands grabbed Edelman's shoulders. It yanked him up before he could pull himself away
from it. He pulled up his legs and kicked it hard in the stomach. He didn't have time to be afraid. His
conditioning and his basic instincts had taken control.
The gorilla grunted. The door slid open and he twisted himself around so it couldn't throw him out of
the elevator. For a moment the gorilla's side was exposed to the door.
***


Fracarro leaped across the room. She jammed herself into the door and pressed her injector against
the gorilla's thigh. The gorilla shoved Edelman against the side of the elevator and turned on her with a
snarl. Its eyes glazed. Edelman kicked it again and it slid to the floor.
The boy was pulling himself up in a corner behind the gorilla. He was holding his wrist phone in front of
his mouth. "Take me down," he yelled. "Stand by to repel boarders."
Edelman grabbed at him over the gorilla. He twisted away and reached inside his shirt. A stubby
cylinder appeared in his hand. His thumb shoved a switch forward and a focused supersonic beam hit
Edelman in the face.
A terrible ache spread through Edelman's skull. The skin on his face burned. He stumbled against the
side of the elevator with his hands over his eyes and thousands of invisible whips turned his fingers into
fire.