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

The boy gestured with the gun. "We'll talk when those clods out there send down a committee. Beat it.
Scram. Go."
The boy, who had been waiting outside the elevator, shook his supersonic beam. The other kids
stirred restlessly. "Go back to your card game," a boy yelled. "We'll call you when we need you."
"Give it to him, Petey," a girl said. "Don't be yellow. Uhuru!"
His wife's face hung in front of Edelman's eyes. How would they feel about each other if all the little
memories that had shaped his personality had been destroyed?
"We can't let your parents come down here," he said. "They'll turn into animals as soon as they see
you. Tell me what you want and I'll take your message back. I don't care what you wring out of them.
That's your business. I'm here to make sure nobody gets hurt."
One of the boys armed with poles rapped the butt of his weapon against the floor. "Uhuru!" he yelled.
"Uhuru!" The whole group looked too agitated for comfort. They had been sitting down here watching
danger come closer and closer and now the authority figure himself was standing in front of them.
"Give it to him," the girl yelled again. "Show him."
Edelman shrugged. He backed up with his eyes on the gun. "Tell me what you're trying to do and I'll
tell your parents I think they'd better give in. I can see you've got us beat. You've pulled off a smooth
operation."
A boy pointed at the elevator. The door slid open. Two bombs flew through the air, black smoke
under high pressure hissing out of their vents.
A black cloud surrounded the kids at the end of the pool. The smoke blotted out the lights seconds
after Fracarro tossed the bombs. The kids shrieked with excitement. The boy with the rifle screamed like
a sergeant in a cavalry epic. "Lancers! Surround the hostages. Stand fast."
Edelman tossed a smoke bomb into the darkness. He yelled at Fracarro to stay where she was and
lowered himself over the edge of the pool. Fracarro yelled back and another pair of bombs hissed across
the water.
He paddled across the water through the darkness, the sonic beam held above the waves. The boy
with the rifle shouted orders and four children ran down the side of the pool.
"Grab him! Hold him until we give him the needle. Uhuru! Banzai!"
The children ran down the walk laughing and yelling. Edelman's hand touched the far wall and he
started working his way down the wall toward the end of the pool. The ventilators were pulling the
smoke out at top speed but Fracarro was still throwing bombs. The darkness pressed on him like a
blanket.
"Let me know if you need help," Fracarro whispered in his ear. "I'm lobbing them in every two
minutes. Tell me if you need light."
His hip bumped into the end of the pool. He pushed himself away from the wall until he thought he was
opposite the hostages and eased himself out of the water on his stomach.
"What's going on?" the boy with the rifle yelled. "Where are you?"
"I can't find him," a girl yelled. "I just ran into the wall."
Edelman's left hand bumped into a shoe. A kid gasped. His hand snapped shut around an ankle and he
rose to his knees. The kid yelled and he grabbed him by the shoulders and shoved him into the water.
A pole clattered on the plastic floor. Kids yelled on either side of him. "He's here! He's down here!
Get back here!"
He stepped forward in a low crouch, hands to his chest. He bumped into a figure in the dark and his
hands quickly established it was either Mrs. Rice or her daughter. She grunted behind her gag and he
turned left and tried to find the gap between the chairs.
Children ran down the side of the pool. Fracarro screamed like something out of the jungle and
somebody splashed into the pool. A hand clutched at his pant leg. "He's here," a boy yelled. "I got him. I
got him."
"Hold on," the boy with the rifle said, "I'm coming."
He pushed the kid aside and lurched through the gap. Footsteps came at him from his left. Arms