Mississippi Roll. Джордж Р. Р. Мартин

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      ‘Me,’ the Angel agreed, and advanced on him.

      He backed away, saying, ‘Not again, not again!’

      ‘Hmm,’ Ray said, and fired two shots into the air.

      IBT burst through the door and threw a couple of loops of his body around the Witness.

      ‘The serpent!’ the Witness screamed. ‘Oh, God, not the serpent! Save me, oh, God, save me!’

      IBT started to squeeze and the Witness screamed like a little girl.

      Next to Ray, Maximillian Klingensmith appeared from out of the shadows.

      ‘Where you been?’ Ray asked.

      ‘Hiding from that snake guy,’ he said. ‘Everything under control?’

      ‘I guess so,’ Ray said.

      But, no, Ray realized. Their troubles were far from over.

      He stood in what remained of the bridge, with the Angel, Olena, IBT, and the Schröder’s captain and mate. The Witness, who’d fainted dead away when the IBT had grabbed him, was tied up with his surviving men in the hold. The Schröder was still steaming upriver, being chased by more launches and followed on the road running alongside the river by a line of screaming police cars, their sirens wailing in the night.

      ‘Now what?’ Olena said miserably. ‘Our last hope is gone. Cuba was our last haven. What can we do now? We can’t let them be taken to Rathlin. That’s a prison sentence, a virtual death sentence.’

      They all exchanged glances.

      ‘Well,’ Ray said, ‘far be it from me to encourage illegal behavior, but I think your best chance is to run for it.’

      ‘What?’ Olena said.

      Ray shrugged. ‘Find someplace, run the ship aground, and leg it. Some of the refugees will probably be caught, but you can hardly have a more emotionally heart-touching revelation of their plight. The publicity will be killer. In the meantime, many will get away. It’s a big country. I’m sure there’s people out there willing to help, one way or another.’

      ‘But you, you say this? You represent the government.’

      Ray sighed. ‘I’ve represented the government for forty years, and if it’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that the government isn’t always right. The right thing for them in this case was to help your people, not turn their backs on them.’

      ‘The Lord,’ the Angel said quietly, ‘helps those who help themselves.’

      ‘There you go,’ Ray said.

      Olena and IBT looked at each other. Then she looked at the captain.

      ‘Can this be done safely?’

      ‘Relatively,’ he said.

      ‘But your ship?’

      He sighed. ‘My ship is old and so am I. I think we are both ready to retire.’

      Olena took a deep breath. ‘All right,’ she said. ‘Let’s do it.’

      ‘Are we doing the right thing here, Angel?’ Ray asked as they watched the crowd of refugees swarm the deck.

      ‘I think you’ve given them their best chance,’ she said.

      They looked at Munnin. The patch was back over his left eye. ‘I see nothing,’ he said.

      ‘That’s probably for the best,’ Ray said. ‘Better hang on.’

      They all grabbed onto the derrick in the center of the deck as the captain ran the ship aground. It hit the riverbank in the midst of a dark industrial area that consisted of large buildings set in a warren of narrow streets and alleys. The ship shuddered with a groaning cry of old metal tearing. Although the three kept their feet, on the deck below them many of the refugees went down. Some skidded and rolled, but most all got to their feet immediately and it was every man, woman, and child for themselves. They swarmed down gangplanks and ladders. The confident swimmers went over the side and into the water below.

      The launches following them stopped dead, the police cars racing up the road skidded to a halt. The three SCARE agents watched the show unfold. It was like watching a surrealistic version of an old Keystone Kops movie with sound effects.

      The refugees, vastly outnumbering their pursuers, were fleeing in all directions. Some few, of course, were caught.

      Gunfire erupted from one police boat as someone started shooting at those who were swimming for it. Suddenly a vast, dark form erupted out of the river. It slammed into the launch, half lifting it out of the water. The launch rocked uncontrollably, and to Ray’s astonishment he realized that the attacker was a giant alligator. It was the largest gator that Ray had ever seen, fifteen feet long if it was an inch. The gator managed to hook a leg over the edge of the boat and clambered aboard like an avenging demon. It swept the boat clean of cops using its tail and then bellowed, its cry roaring eerily into the night. Using its snout as a battering ram, it sank the boat, then slipped under the water.

      ‘That’s not something you see every day,’ Ray remarked.

      A barge rowed by zombies cut through the water, picking up a handful of refugees. Ray could see the Handsmith and his son among them before it disappeared into the darkness.

      A golden creature, the winged Tulpar, appeared on the shore and charged the lead car in the police caravan that was chasing refugees who were fleeing into the warren of warehouses and industrial plants, smashing in its hood with her razor-sharp hooves. She leaped up onto the car’s roof, crumpling it, and managed to cripple half a dozen more before vanishing into the night.

      The show was interrupted when Evangelique Jones appeared in one of the launches, looking up at them on the Schröder’s deck and shouting.

      ‘What’s going on here?’ she cried. ‘Why aren’t you helping to round up these illegal aliens?’

      ‘Not my assignment,’ Ray called down.

      ‘I’ll have your badge for this!’ Jones screamed at him.

      ‘All right,’ Ray said. He took it out and scaled it down at her. As usual, his aim was impeccable. It hit her in her ample bosom and fell down at her feet. She stared at him, her jaw dropping.

      Ray looked at the Angel. She laughed aloud for the first time in way too long. Ray smiled at her. Her aim wasn’t as good. Hers plunked down into the river somewhere near the launch’s bow. Ray looked at Max.

      ‘You might want to hang on to yours.’

      ‘Yes, sir,’ the young agent said stoically.

      ‘It was nice working with you,’ Ray said.

      ‘Nice working with you, sir,’ Max replied.

      Arm in arm, Ray and the Angel walked down one of the gangplanks leading to the riverbank. He felt relieved. Almost light-headed. For the first time in years it seemed as if nothing, not a single part of his body, hurt.

      ‘What СКАЧАТЬ