The Pinocchio Syndrome. David Zeman

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СКАЧАТЬ rate in the organization,’ Erroll explained. ‘I’m 513, but that’s only because I missed my last review. You guys, you have it made. You’re set for life. A cop, that’s 915 or better. What I couldn’t do with 915!’ Erroll looked moodily at the buildings passing by the window.

      ‘Uh-huh,’ the cop said, glancing at his partner with a meaningful look.

      ‘But I’ll get my rate back and more after today,’ Erroll said. ‘Just wait till you see. I told you there’d be changes.’

      ‘What kind of changes?’ asked the driver.

      ‘All kinds of changes,’ Erroll said darkly. ‘I told you, I’m not the only one. Everything is going to change.’

      The cruiser pulled into an alley between two rows of very old office buildings. The Dumpster was about halfway down.

      ‘Is this it, Erroll?’ the younger cop asked.

      ‘Yeah. Let’s go, let’s hurry.’

      They stopped behind the Dumpster. Sighing, the two cops got out of the cruiser. One of them turned to Erroll when the smell hit his nostrils.

      ‘Looks like you hit the jackpot, Erroll,’ he said. ‘I smell a popper, or I’m a monkey’s uncle.’

      His partner looked nauseated. They approached the Dumpster. One cop lifted himself up to look inside while the other scanned the windows along the alley.

      ‘Did you see anybody else?’ he called to Erroll.

      ‘Nobody. Not a soul.’

      The cop began shoving garbage out of the way, breathing through his mouth. He nodded to his partner. ‘Yeah, we got a cold one.’

      The second cop came to stand next to the Dumpster while the first one threw more garbage out of the way. Erroll could hear him sighing and gasping for breath. Something was clinging to his uniform, and he threw it off with a curse.

      Then he stopped cold. He looked closer at the corpse.

      ‘Jesus Christ.’

      ‘What’s the matter?’ asked the second cop.

      ‘There’s something wrong with the hands. Wait …’

      He looked deeper, gasping in disgust. More garbage was thrown aside. Uncovered, the corpse filled the alley with the stench of decay.

      Both cops looked somewhat sick, but Erroll breathed in the smell without blanching.

      ‘Look at the feet,’ he said. ‘Go on.’

      The cop in the Dumpster rooted deeper and paused once again. He came up with wide eyes, looking at his partner.

      ‘Look at this,’ he said.

      The partner stood on tiptoe to look over the edge of the Dumpster. He took a long look, then looked back at Erroll.

      ‘You saw this?’ he asked.

      ‘Of course I saw it,’ Erroll said. ‘Saw it first thing. That’s why I came to get you. I told you there’d be changes. Didn’t I? Didn’t I predict this? You can see he’s changed. Just look.’

      Both cops looked closely at the body. ‘Holy shit,’ one of them murmured.

      Then the younger one got out, went back to the cruiser, and got on the radio to call for an ambulance.

      ‘See?’ Erroll said to the other cop. ‘Didn’t I tell you? I told the docs too, but they wouldn’t believe me, they just smiled. But you can see with your own eyes that it’s the truth, can’t you? Come on. Say so.’ Erroll was almost jumping up and down in his excitement.

      The cop had finished on the radio. A distant siren was heard.

      ‘What time did you say you found this, Erroll?’ the older one asked.

      ‘First thing this morning. Six, six-thirty.’

      ‘And you didn’t see anyone around?’

      ‘No one.’

      The other cop had returned. Both of them stood by the Dumpster, looking at each other and at Erroll.

      ‘Did you ever see a thing like that?’ the younger one asked.

      ‘Never.’ The older cop was as shocked as the younger.

      Erroll stood talking to them until the ambulance came. A paramedic got out and came up to them.

      ‘What have you got?’ he asked.

      ‘Dead body,’ said the younger cop. ‘Discovered by this man early this morning.’

      ‘Is there something unusual?’ the paramedic asked.

      ‘Take a look at the hands and feet.’ The older cop stood back to give the paramedic room.

      The paramedic stood on tiptoe, just as the cops had done. He took a long look, then turned back to the cops.

      ‘Jesus Christ,’ he said.

      ‘I told you,’ Erroll said happily.

      The two cops and the paramedic glanced at Erroll. Then the paramedic called the emergency room at the hospital.

      ‘We have a corpse with an odd deformity,’ he said. ‘I’m heading for the medical examiner’s office. You might want to send someone over to observe.’

      They asked him something over the radio.

      ‘The hands and feet don’t look right,’ he said. ‘They’re enlarged and deformed. You have to touch them to really see the difference. To me they don’t even look human.’

      Erroll nodded, giggling. ‘I told you there’d be changes,’ he said, putting on his earphones.

       10

       Gary, IndianaNovember 24

      In 1984 Colin Goss, already a giant in the pharmaceutical industry, found that leftist terrorists had closed down his newest factory in Costa Rica. They dynamited one of his buildings, killing twenty workers on a night shift. They also threatened the local workers he had hired.

      Goss had the manager of the facility complain to the authorities. They promised to safeguard the security of the plant. Their promises were empty. New terrorist attacks followed. The plant manager himself was kidnapped and held for ransom. The leftist guerrillas demanded that Goss pay the ransom and take his business elsewhere.

      Goss took matters into his own hands.

      Two weeks after the kidnapping of Goss’s plant manager, a group of commandos led by professional soldiers СКАЧАТЬ