"Bill Vaughan - The Wall" - читать интересную книгу автора (Vaughan Bill)

At Fourth Street, Leo Bugleman crossed Avenue D and hurried into a building
that grew out of the Wall. An elevator took him up twenty stories, to the top.

The elevator opened onto a broad plaza. Here it was bright and warm. You
could hardly hear the pumps. Crowds of tourists were beginning to gather, gawking
in all directions.

To the east, the ocean was blue-green and clear. Breakers roared over the
shattered towers of Brooklyn and Queens. On the horizon stood the Long Islands
and the tan sails of the fishing fleet.

To the west was Manhattan, looking much as it had for the last hundred years.
The Wall wasnтАЩt tall, next to the skyscrapers of Downtown and Midtown тАФ it was
easy to ignore.

To the south, seagulls wheeled over the docks by the New Fulton Fish
Market. It wasnтАЩt new, and it wasnтАЩt too close to Fulton Street some two hundred
feet below, but thatтАЩs what they called it.

Leo saw none of this. He glanced at his watch and hurried across the plaza to
the Tourist Information Center. Adjusting his cap, he entered by the door marked
EMPLOYEES ONLY.

The emblem on his cap read:

Port Authority of the City of New York TOUR GUIDE

The first tours of the Wall were about to start.

The tunnel is dark and cramped. Pancho Villa and Leo Bugleman lug the
toolbox while Nikolai Lenin goes ahead and scouts. Pancho is taller than Leo and
has to duck under conduits to keep from hitting his head. The stream of water at
their feet is shallow. It burbles and chuckles, following the drainтАЩs gentle downward
slope under the Wall, toward the sea.
 Nikolai comes back. тАЬItтАЩs all right down to the cross tunnel. Come on.тАЭ He
speaks with that accent once called тАЬBrooklynтАЭ or тАЬJoisey.тАЭ But Brooklyn is
drowned now, and so is much of New Jersey. It always was a New York accent тАФ
now New Yorkers must admit it.

Leo and Pancho hurry, as well as they can, to the cross tunnel. It is a
maintenance tunnel, seldom used. It is relatively dry.

тАЬThis goddam nuke is heavy,тАЭ complains Leo, setting his end down. тАЬAt least
weтАЩre out of the water.тАЭ

тАЬYouтАЩre soft,тАЭ says Pancho. тАЬI tote industrial equipment all the time. This
ainтАЩt no worse.тАЭ Pancho Villa is muscular. His grandparents came illegally from lost
Trinidad, but his speech does not betray them.