"Quintin, Jardine - Autographs in the Rain" - читать интересную книгу автора (Quintin Jardine)

abandoned newspaper stand. They heard the blast behind them before they
hit the ground, and the scream of tyres as a dark coloured saloon accelerated
away down Regent Street.

He was on his feet again in a second. 'Wait here,' he told the woman,
then ran off down the street after the car, trying to catch a clear view of its
number-plate, only to see it disappear round the curve in the broad street,
heading for Piccadilly Circus. She too was standing once again as he returned
to their safe haven. No one had come to her aid; indeed, none of the few
people who had been passing at the time were anywhere to be seen.

She stared at him, bewildered, but apparently not in the least frightened.
'You swept me off my feet once before,' she exclaimed, 'but never like
that. What was that about?'

He glared back down Regent Street. 'When someone shoots at me,' he
said, tersely, 'I tend to get out of the way!'

Her hand flew to her mouth, and her eyes seemed to flash as they widened.
'Someone shot at you?'

'It's happened before,' he told her dryly. 'Didn't you see the gun?'

'I heard a bang, but that was all. What was it?'

'The guy in that car had a shotgun. I just happened to be looking that
way as he stuck it out the window and took a bead on me.'

'But who would want to shoot you?'

His mouth twisted in a grimace as he unfastened a pocket of his jacket
and took out a hand-phone. 'More people than you could shake a stick at, my dear,' he murmured as he punched in the police emergency number.

'Do you ever get enraged about anything, Sammy?'

'What?'

'Enraged, I said. As in, really steamed up with anger.'

He looked at her as she stood there, all lips and legs. 'Enraged? No, not
so's you'd notice, anyway. Now if you'd said engorged ...'

'But I didn't.. .' Ruth frowned at him severely.

He grinned back. 'Why d'you ask, anyway? Am I beginning to bore
you, Ms McConnell?'

She shook her head, making her long, glossy hair ripple like a shampoo
commercial. 'Not yet, Sergeant, not yet. All the same, you are getting
predictable. You're the easiest going man I've ever been out with.'