[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

front of the engine. Grant figured the artillery piece fired armor-piercing, high-
velocity rounds and could certainly do want Kane said it could blow the
locomotive to scrap metal. He counted at least twenty sec officers standing on
both sides of the tracks.
"Acknowledge!" Kane's tense, worried voice lashed out of the transceiver like
the snap of a whip.
"Acknowledged," responded Grant. "We'll comply."
Turning to Brigid, he repeated the gist of the conversation. She hazarded a quick
look out of the cab window. In a monotone she declared, "We have no choice."
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Axler, James - Outlanders 02 - Destiny Run
She ordered the engineer to lay off the steam and start braking. He breathed out a
heavy sigh of relief and quickly obeyed her.
By degrees the train clanked and clattered and screeched to a shaking halt. It
continued to hiss clouds of steam even at rest. Grant left the rifle in the coal
tender and he and Brigid stepped down on the left side of the locomotive, fingers
laced at the backs of their necks. Grant glared at the dozen blaster bores pointing
at him.
Somebody barked an order, and Kane stepped forward, wearing his black coat,
looking damnably calm and fresh. Captain Lenya Ivornich walked beside him,
one arm through his. Both of them smiled at Brigid and Grant, but they didn't
smile back.
"Put your hands down," Kane said. "You look like you're doing calisthenics."
As Grant lowered his arms, he growled, "Now what? Torture or jail or both?"
A quartet of officers parted, moving aside, allowing the lean figure of Colonel
Sverdlovosk to push his way forward. "Actually," he said coolly, "I thought we
all might have an early supper. I'm sure you've worked up quite the appetite by
now, running all over outer Moscow with your silly American knees bent."
He bestowed upon Brigid a wide, welcoming smile, took her gloved hand in his
and pressed his lips to it. "And you, Baptiste, are even lovelier than I imagined. I
look forward to renewing our friendship."
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Axler, James - Outlanders 02 - Destiny Run
Chapter 18
The low-ceilinged room was lit by flare-mouthed kerosene lanterns. Heavy
purple drapes masked the windows, admitting no light in or out. The dining
room was big, scattered with nearly two dozen cheesecloth-covered tables. A
pleasant wood fire blazed in the hearth. A gramophone, obviously a reproduction
of the machine that had been popular in an earlier century, played an old-time
folk tune, full of melodic violin strings.
The place was an anachronism. Ivornich had claimed it was an accurate copy of
the type of eateries favored by the social elite during the days of Czar Nicholas.
The restaurant was completely empty except for Ivornich, Kane, Brigid, Grant
and Sverdlovosk. Upon entering the place by a back-alley door, Ivornich had
commented cryptically, "You can relax in here. You're much safer here than you
would be in official custody."
Only the three strangers had been served food, bowls of a rich, meaty stew
Sverdlovosk had prepared and called beef Stroganoff. He didn't eat. He drank
from a bottle of vodka and strutted back and forth around the room, frequently
stopping at their table to encourage them to eat. He was a happy man. As he
walked, he laughed and slapped his thigh and laughed again, looking toward
them as they ate. They tried to ignore him and appear unconcerned, even though
all three of them had been completely disarmed. Even Grant and Kane's Kevlar-
weave coats were confiscated.
"It is so funny," Sverdlovosk said in English. "You don't realize yet how funny it
really is."
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Axler, James - Outlanders 02 - Destiny Run
Grant scowled as he stared, side-mouthing to Kane and Brigid, "It does my heart
good to see a thoroughly tickled man."
Kane pushed his empty bowl away and poured a tumblerful of vodka from a
decanter on the table. He tasted it, made a face, then downed the contents of the
glass in one gulp. Turning to the table where Lenya Ivornich sat nursing a goblet
of wine, he said mildly, "Let us in on the joke, why don't you?"
Ivornich shook her head, glanced at Sverdlovosk in irritation and sighed. The
colonel kept chuckling and striding back and forth, swinging the bottle in one
hand like a dinner bell. For the past forty-five minutes he had brushed off all of
their questions and imbibed the liquor, immensely relishing its effects.
Crossing the room to Ivornich, he draped an arm about her slim shoulders and
pointed to the three Americans, closing one eye as if he were sighting down the
barrel of a gun. "See them, Lenya? Did you ever dream that the solution to our
problem would drop into our laps, borne across the sea by the wind of the wolf?"
She tried to shrug off his arm. "No, Piotr, I did not." [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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