"Sean Williams - Metak Fatigue" - читать интересную книгу автора (Williams Sean)

yard. The Main door of the building was ajar. "What now?" she whispered. "We
go in." "Okay. But after you, this time."
He led the way through the gate and up the steps. At the entrance, he nodded
her to one side, then nudged the door open with his foot.
Barney clicked on the torch she had brought with her and swept the beam across
the rubble on the floor. The light revealed old food cans, empty; rotten
cardboard boxes and a pile of yellow newspapers; a sofa that had seen better
days, half a century ago. The house had obviously escaped the usual scouring
for recyclable resources. The next room was similar. Roads pointed to split up
and edged into the darkness of the building, torchless.
The ground floor was empty. They met at the base of the stairs and headed
upward. The first floor was empty too, and the second.
"Cellar," said Roads, his breath thick with dust-laden air. They found the
entrance in a closet off the unused kitchen. The door was locked.
Barney took position on one side as Roads kicked it in. The lock splintered
with a loud crack. She pointed the torch through the open doorway.
Dim light cast faint shadows at the bottom of a flight of stairs, its source
Out Of sight. Movement in the shadows coincided with the sudden cessation of
sound, as though someone had quickly moved for cover. "Who's there?" she
called. "You tell me," floated back a voice.
Roads gestured for her to cover him as he went down the stairs. She moved to
another position, juggling torch and gun in both hands, trying to get a better
angle. From the top of the stairs, she could only see two or three metres
across the room below, and Roads obscured much of that. When he had descended
a halfdozen steps, she dropped to her knees and aimed over his shoulder.
"Morrow sent us," Roads said. He stopped as something moved out of Barney's
line of sight. "What a coincidence,' said the voice in return. "He sent me
too."
Barney saw Roads' shoulders tighten as someone stepped out of the shadows and
into the light. Roads' pistol snapped up, ready to fire. She craned for a
better view, but could see little above the waist of the person confronting
him. "I'm your consultant," said the man. "And you must be Phil Roads. Coyne
on down and I'll show you what I've found so far."
Roads didn't respond immediately. His posture remained tense, as though he had
seen something that bothered him. But just as Barney was about to ask what
26
his pistol slowly fell, and he took another wrong down the stairs. en the
sound of a vehicle putting up outside the
hed her. She listened briefly, until she use reac W@.*cognjsed the familiar
whine of an RSD engine. Al "Phi I she hissed into the cellar. "The squad's
here."
Roads %topped on the last step and looked up at her.
go he said. "Have them seal the house and set a cordon - you know the drill.
just talk to me before ing anyone else down here." "Are vou sure?" She
frowned at his concerned Xpression. "I can-" "No Fle cocked his head. "I'll
be okay. Git." Z 'rhe sotiad had already begun unloading equipment
from the van by the time she left the house. Komalski, the officer in charge
of the footsquad, greeted her warrnly, despite the hour. Cleaning up after
the. Mote li- was a familiar job for both of them, and under normal
E,,@,circuynstances she would have responded in kind. But