"Laura Resnick - Fever Dreams" - читать интересную книгу автора (Resnick Laura)

Laura Resnick




Fever Dreams




CHAPTER ONE

The heat inMontedoraCity was sticky and oppressive, even after sundown. The dimly lighted bar wasn't
air-conditioned, and the ancient electric fans overhead, which groaned with each sluggish rotation, only
managed to push the hot, damp air around the room, as if trying to ensure that everyone enjoyed an equal
level of discomfort. Even the omnipresent flies seemed heat-stunned, for they had taken to buzzing in a
strange calypso rhythm, flying straight into the walls, and then falling to the floor, apparently unconscious.

Madeleine Barrington sipped glumly on her tepid rum and coke; the Andrews Sisters would never have
sung so cheerily about the drink if they could have tasted this one. Madeleine wished desperately for a
glass of mineral water with a slice of lemon, a cool, fragrant bath, and the comfort of a firm mattress and
clean sheets. But all of that, she acknowledged resignedly, was several thousand miles away in
herManhattan apartment. And she was stuck in Montedora for another night.

A poor South American country, Montedora boasted only one real city,MontedoraCity , its chaotic
capital. Not exactly a tourist mecca, the entire city had only two or three big hotels. The Hotel Tigre,
which hadn't been decorated in nearly twenty years, was the best and safest of them; and it really wasn't
all that bad if you didn't mind threadbare towels, sagging beds, peeling paint, squeaking ceiling fans, bad
food, and sullen service.

Madeleine minded.

She took another sip of her drink and closed her eyes, sternly fighting the wave of depression which
threatened to engulf her. What a rotten day it had been. After spending twelve hours in miserable
discomfort at the airport, she had been informed that her flight, scheduled to take off this morning, had
finally been cancelled. The news had been disappointing enough, after a whole day of unexplained delays,
but then something worse happened. When she tried to reclaim her luggage, she was informed that it had
been mistakenly loaded onto another flight, and now no one knew where it was.

So here she was, stuck for another night inMontedoraCity , and she couldn't even change into a fresh set
of clothes. She couldn't even buy some, sinceтАФdue to the curfewтАФall the shops had already closed by
the time she caught a taxi back into the city. Well, she supposed she could wash out her things in the
bathroom sink in her room.

She sighed and decided that she had better finish her drink in the Bar Tigre and go across the courtyard
to the reception desk, where she could get a room for the night. Perhaps the taxi-sized cockroach which
had shared her room last night would still be there. It could keep her company. She grimaced and
finished her drink. Then, although she was usually abstemious, she ordered another. She'd need a little
fortification if she was going to face one of those sullen desk clerks again. Not to mention the slightly
brown water in the bathroom.