"Spencer,.Wen.-.Ukiah.3.-.Bitter.Waters" - читать интересную книгу автора (Spencer Wen)

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Bitter Waters
a sequel to Alien Taste and Tainted Trail

Wen Spencer



First Printing, May 2003
ISBN 0 451 45922 9



To James Larkin,
who taught me not to waste daylight






CHAPTER ONE

Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania
Sunday, September 12, 2004

Ukiah Oregon peered up the city street that climbed the steep hillside; normally so narrow that passing cars risked clipping side mirrors, it was now lined with television news trucks and police cars. Red and blue strobe lights were reflected in every raindrop. Nations of people gathered in the islands of light generated by the streetlamps: curious bystanders with umbrellas, tired cops in rain gear, and TV crews trying to ignore the drizzle as they prepared for the eleven o'clock news report.
"Well, this is certainly the right street." Ukiah scanned the row houses stepping up the hill on either side of the street. "2197 would put the house at the top of the hill."
"Ah, Christ, what a circus," Max Bennett, Ukiah's partner, muttered as he threaded the Cherokee up the slick paving bricks and found a parking space. "Are you really up to this?"
After two grueling weeks in Oregon solving a missing persons case, Ukiah and Max had flown out of the Pendleton Airport at dawn, West Coast time. Bruised, battered, and bone-weary, they had planned to go straight home once they landed at Pittsburgh International Airport. Ukiah had looked forward to seeing his fiancщe, Special Agent Indigo Zheng, and his son, Kittanning. An urgent call about a missing boy, however, caught them at the layover in Houston, and reluctantly, they agreed to check out the case.
Ukiah eyed the confusion of people and vehicles. "Yeah, I should be fineЧthis is Pittsburgh."
There was a tap on Ukiah's window, and he lowered it to find Pittsburgh policeman Ari Johnson standing beside the Cherokee.
"Hey, Wolf Boy!" Ari grinned at him. "How's that kid of yours?"
"Kittanning?" How did Ari know about Kittanning? Considering the alien Hex created Kittanning out of Ukiah's blood without benefit of a woman or the normal nine months of waiting, they kept the baby a family secret.
"Ukiah. Kittanning. I get it. You named him after the town." Ari guessed correctly. "He's what? Like three months old now? Hopefully it's been a quiet three months, not like when he was born."
Ukiah's memory clicked in: Ari had been at the shoot-out the day Ukiah recovered Kittanning; the officer had provided them with diapers, clothing, and formula.
"Um, yeah, three months," Ukiah said.
"Is he sleeping through the night yet?" Ari asked.
Max scrubbed at his face. "Jeez, Ari, you sound like an old woman."
"Triplets do that to you," Ari said. "My life is all about babies and guns at the moment. You look like shit, Bennett!"
"Eight hours on a plane will do that." Max tilted his head in puzzlement, and then squinted at Ari. "You put them on to hiring us?" In "you," Max meant the cops, not Ari as a person.
"You've been out of town," Ari said. "We've had too many kids go missing lately."
"How many is too many?" Ukiah asked.
"Personally, one is too many, but the count is higher than that. This makes five."
"Within the last two weeks?" Max looked like he'd bitten into something sour.
"Yeah. It's been one every two days or so. Everyone's fairly jumpy."
"Shit." Max sighed, looking out his driver's window and seeing hidden danger in the night. They had learned the hard way that kidnappings usually meant people with guns and the will to use them. In the following moment of quiet, rain lightly tapped on the roof of the Cherokee. Max swore again, and turned to Ukiah. "Well?"
"We do it."
"Okay. I'll deal with the family, kid. Gear up the best you can."