"Michael Marshall Smith - Dying" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith Michael Marshall)

with ten men with guns padding behind us I donтАЩt care how quiet they are. Animals
could hear things we canтАЩt even imagine.тАЭ
тАЬAnd they could sense things.тАЭ Chen added, not looking up.
Ng looked at him.
 тАЬYou know that?тАЭ
тАЬI believe it.тАЭ Ng nodded, and then dropped back.
Another five minutes took us up and down the next side street. I felt stupid,
and impotent. There could be something here, and all we could do was walk around,
waiting for it to lollop in front of us, when thatтАЩs the last thing it would do. If it
existed. which it almost certainly didnтАЩt. For a moment I felt complete despair, and
knew in my heart of hearts that there were no animals anymore There couldnтАЩt be.
They simply wouldnтАЩt fit in this world.
We turned into the last side street and I heard Miranda sigh. I reached out and
took her hand, and she looked at me. There was something wrong tonight, and we all
knew it. It felt like it would be the last time we did this. Something about the soldiers
behind us. about Hye, about the whole fucking world, said that the gaps were
closing and the old dreams had been squeezed out. We walked to the end of the
road, watching the sidewalks carefully and scanning the buildings, and then we
turned. The soldiers, guns still at the ready, echoed our progress, walking to the end
of the road and then turning to follow us.
About twenty yards up the road Ng scared the life out of me by suddenly
speaking from directly behind me again.
тАЬRun very fast into a building on the side. Good luck.тАЭ I turned to look at
him. He smiled and nodded us forward.
Suddenly there was a shout behind us. I tugged MirandaтАЩs hand and gave
Chen a shove and we sprinted for the nearest building. A shot fizzed off the lintel of
the vacant doorway we stumbled through but we kept on running, weaving through
the debris and out the other side.
тАЬWhat the hell . . .тАЭ
тАЬHeтАЩs still alive,тАЭ Chen panted. тАЬThree have gone after him. Run. RUN.тАЭ
We ran. On impulse I steered us across the main strip and then into a long
burnt-out building. The shouts behind werenтАЩt getting any farther away, but they
were spreading out. They didnтАЩt know where weтАЩd gone. We all winced at each
hissing shot, but so long as they were still firing, we were still alive. And so,
hopefully, was Lieutenant Ng.
We had to duck out of the building at one point onto the road, so we crossed
quickly and slipped into the row on the other side. By this time weтАЩd begun to
double back on ourselves. The sound of shots was coming less frequently, and the
muted shouts seemed more distant, too.
When we came up against the next intact wall, Chen stopped abruptly.
тАЬHave to stop a second.тАЭ
 I glanced round, and then stopped, too. My chest was aching and Miranda
was barely on her feet. Realizing I was still holding her hand, I let go of it.
тАЬWeтАЩre as far away as weтАЩre going to get without leaving the subsector. A
minute, then walk. We have to keep moving.тАЭ They nodded wearily at my being right
again.
тАЬNg. Why?тАЭ Miranda asked, pulling the back of her hand across her forehead.
тАЬBecause he wanted to,тАЭ Chen said. тАЬHe wasnтАЩt one of them. He knew what
we were here for.тАЭ I nodded.
тАЬI hope to fuck heтАЩs all right.тАЭ Chen looked at me. We knew he wouldnтАЩt be.