"David L. Robbins - Endworld 02 - Thief River Falls Run" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robbins David L)

Rikki followed on his heels. "Could be a trap," he said, voicing his
concern. "Could be some more scavengers," he noted, referring to an
attack by a roving band of marauders several years before, an assault the
Family successfully repelled.

"Could be," Hickok agreed, glancing down. Imbedded in the concrete at
his moccasined feet was a thick steel ring. Attached to the ring, coiled in a
large pile on the rampart, was a stout rope.

"You'll need a backup," Rikki contended.

"No, thanks," Hickok declined. He lifted the rope. At this one point, the
barbed wire was deliberately spaced to permit one person to pass over the
edge of the rampart.

"You don't know who or what is out there," Rikki stated, his tone
reflecting his annoyance.

"Doesn't matter," Hickok informed him.

"It's against standard Warrior procedure," Rikki added.

Hickok shrugged, peered over the top of the wall, and tossed the rope
down the wall.

"You're taking a needless risk." Rikki wouldn't let the matter drop. "You
could be killed."

Hickok paused in the act of climbing over the side. He stared into
Rikki's dark eyes. "I don't care, pard. I just don't care." He pushed off.

Rikki-Tikki-Tavi knelt and watched his friend slowly lower himself to
the ground in front of the drawbridge. So! What Blade and Geronimo had
said about Hickok was true. With the death of the woman he loved, at the
hands of the Trolls, Hickok was displaying signs of outright recklessness
with regard to his personal safety. The Family's supreme gunman seemed
normal otherwise, but Blade believed Hickok was a simmering volcano
waiting for the right catalyst to trigger an eruption. Rikki vividly recalled
the tormented expression on Hickok's face when they had buried the
woman. Joan, her name had been, and rumor had it she was Hickok's first
true love.

Hickok reached the bare earth below the drawbridge and waved once to
Rikki before jogging across the field in the direction of the cough. He knew
he should present as small a target as possible to potential ambushers, but
his suppressed grief negated his extensive Warrior training and he ran
upright, exposed, almost hoping he would see the flash of a firearm and
feel the impact of a slug ripping through his body.