"Timothy Zahn - The Green and the Gray" - читать интересную книгу автора (Zahn Timothy)

The 911 operator came on with gratifying speed. He explained the situation, gave her the address,
and was assured that a patrol car would be there as soon as possible.
Caroline was pacing around the living room when he returned. "Everything locked up?" he asked.
"I didn't check the door off the bedroom," she said. "I didn't want to wake her up. But I remember
seeing the broomstick in the rail this morning."
"So did I," Roger confirmed. Crossing to the couch, he moved one of the throw pillows aside and sat
down. "You might as well get comfortable. This might take awhile."
"I suppose," she said, crossing to one of the two chairs in front of him. She sat down, but
immediately bounced up again. "No, I can't."
"Sit," Roger ordered, searching for some way to get her mind off her nervousness. "I want you to
look at something."
He pulled out the gun the mugger had given him as she reluctantly sat down again. "You and your
dad used to go shooting together, right? Tell me if this feels too light to you."
Her eyebrows lifted as she took it. "Way too light," she said, frowning as she hefted it. "Is it a toy?"
"Don't ask me," he said. "Could it be some kind of high-tech plastic gun?"
"I don't know," Caroline said. "It looks like a standard 1911 Colt .45." She turned it over, and her
searching eyes widened slightly as she saw the blood smear. "Is thatтАФ?"
"I doubt it's tomato juice," Roger said. "Anything else you can say about the gun itself? I really don't
want to have to tell the cops I got mugged by an F.A.O. Schwartz Special."
"Well, the slide works," Caroline said, pulling the upper part of the gun back and then letting it go,
the way Roger had seen them do in the movies. "Toy guns usually don't do that."
She fiddled with the bottom of the grip. "But the clip seems to be glued in place," she added.
"So that means no bullets?" Roger asked, trying to decide if that made him feel relieved or just more
ridiculous.
"I don't know," Caroline said, pulling the slide back again and peering inside. "There's something in
there that looks like a cartridge. ButтАФ"
She let the slide go, pulled it back again. "But if it was real, it should eject when I do this. Either the
round is jammed, or else it's a fake."
"Any way to tell for sure?"
"You want me to try pulling the trigger?"
Roger snorted. "No, thanks. So what exactly have we got here?"


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The Green and the Gray

"I don't know," Caroline said again, handing the gun back. "The slide works, but the slide release
doesn't. The safety catch works, but not the clip release. There seems to be a round chambered, only
I can't get it to eject. It's like it was designed to look like a real gun, but only up to a point."
"You mean like a movie prop?"
"Maybe, but why go to the trouble of making a prop that only works halfway?" she pointed out.
"Why not just use a real gun filled with blanks? It doesn't make sense."
"Yeah." Roger fingered the gun. "Speaking of making sense, what did you think of her outfit?"
"A little out of style for New York," Caroline said. "Reminds me of the costumes they wear at
madrigal concerts."
"I meant the material," Roger said. "What is it?"
"I didn't really pay attention," Caroline said. "It shimmered like silk, though."
"But it doesn't feel like silk," he told her. "It's too smooth."
"I don't know, then," Caroline said. "Maybe something new."