(c) Egor ELATOMTSEV, May 1998.
NUMBER SEVENTEEN
part three
The bracelet began to squeal. Look, I haven't lost my temper. Well yes, I have
same “mine rescue” model... The finger touched the sensor
sensor
- Clo-o-o-od?
I bared my bloody mouth.
- Do-o-o-onald? - it turned out poorly. The voice broke.
A familiar giggle.
- I called you three minutes ago - no response. Was
too busy, couldn't stop? Huh? Just a boy
did you stop by? Hey, hey...
I looked at the prostrate body of a tramp two meters away with
an emaciated torso and a head almost separated from the body.
- You wish you had more boys like this...
Donald cackled.
- No, seriously - are you watching the general channel? There, between
By the way, everyone has been talking about you for the last three hours...
- Yes? - I asked listlessly, - Why such a smart guy? As if
This is the president's son...
- Well, the president is not the president, but a big shot. Come on
tense up - what is the name of the mayor of your “home” city? I remembered
evening in a bar, TV screen about one and a half meters, and a disgusting face with
grayish sideburns on him. "Mr. Staller, how are you
treat...
- As mayor, I must say that...”
- Oops...
- Don't piss, -Donald was having fun - they showed an identikit,
with you - nothing like it. Every half hour they play a video with
dad who persuades you and offers...
- What does he offer?
- Well, the usual nonsense - forgiveness, magnetic plane to any point
ball... Politically the old man is already a corpse. And he loved his son... or else
is it too early to speak in the past tense?
I gritted my teeth.
- Soon it won't be too early. Even late.
- Which one? - Donald asked curiously, - according to the reports
I counted eight... do you have a seasonal exacerbation, or what? And
some kind of distortion, there are only two girls... changed
nymphomania, Asian gorilla? Ha...uh...the faun switched...
“Eight were found,” I muttered, “and eight more are still missing.”
lead. This one is the seventeenth. And there is no distortion... almost...
- Yes, keep in mind that you don’t have much time - in
In just over an hour there will be a DNA direction finder in the city. They're taking it to the military
transport.
I felt a flicker of interest.
- Wow! Have you already made a mobile version?
- This is a prototype. But working - to find the boy,
that's enough. The range is up to forty kilometers.
“Not bad,” I whistled, “acid?”
- It won't help. Unless you annihilate the body. Crematoria in
There are three in the city - in the central morgue, the Forest Cemetery and...
“I know,” I said and closed my eyes, “I won’t have time...
- Then finish with him,- Donald suggested, - and at the pace
get out. Farther away this time, and not just to another metropolis.
It looks like they put two and two together and will be looking specifically for you.
Although with the same face.
- Calm down, we’ll break through. Maybe I can do something
do... Today is such... a bad day. Masters was taken. And
Baldy.
I've never seen either of them.
Only reading in the newspapers, and at the same time feeling that I am not quite
alone in this world. It felt bad in the pit of my stomach.
- How? Where? - he inquired gloomily.
- Masters on the Peninsula. Caught "on live bait" -
cyborg child, a novelty of engineering thought. So cute
a creature who loves to wander around dark alleys. And the drive is
seventy horsepower. It has now become completely impossible
work - they created a special service, the Security Committee
childhood. Everything is silent.
- And you didn’t warn him?
Donald paused. Then he reluctantly said:
- You know, I never helped Masters in general.
really. I read some of the official correspondence here... You know,
what he does to children is too much.
I imagined what Donald might consider overkill,
very fond of listening to children squeal when they were being extinguished
cigarettes - “Bring the microphone closer, I’m recording,” and me again
clouded.
- And Baldy?
- The bald guy is just an idiot, -the voice in the bracelet hissed angrily, -
I told him - don’t bother... No, he considers himself smarter than everyone else.
They caught him red-handed, and when they dragged him to the police station, there was a soldiery,
as usual, the crowd could not be restrained, and the people's anger poured out.
Torn to pieces...
- In this sense, Masters was lucky. He will still smoke the sky,
albeit in jail.
“But that’s unlikely,” Donald chuckled, “yes, on the Peninsula.”
no tower, only life sentence... But Masters inherited both the Polar Division and
Most likely, he will be extradited there.
“Gas,” I said, “or an injection.”
- For old Masters' sake, they might as well remember the electric one.
chair Broadcast on TV will beat all ratings...
“Ugh,” I said, “how wild.” Medieval
barbarism... But I'll take a look. Just curious what he's like.
- You've always been neat, Doctor...
- If only you could look at me now...
We laughed.
“So you’re the only one left with me,” Donald concluded, “
the rest are trifles, doomed riffraff... Don't screw it up. There's still time
there is, but it’s time to hurry up without haste. So...
“Wait, Don,” I said hastily, getting up, “alone.”
question... somehow it hasn’t been resolved before... why do I need you
helping, huh? What is your interest?
The bracelet began to buzz.
“Consider this my hobby,” he blurted, the “bi” already sounding
barely audible.
The sun was setting, and over the red-haired corpse there was alreadybuzzed
first flies. I stepped over him, took three steps and bent down
above the window. You can't see a damn thing.
- Four or five, I'm going to look! Whoever didn’t hide, it’s not my fault!
Silence. Okay, time is running out, it's time. Knock-knock-knock
down the stairs, touch the lock with your fingertips... Click.
I pushed the door, but it didn't open. Something was bothering her
sides.
- Oh, you naughty girl! - I barked cheerfully, - come on now!
open up to your uncle!
- Fuck! - and dirty swearing to boot.
“It’s not good,” I drawled, rolling up my sleeves, “you don’t even
you know how to do what you're talking about...
Aaah! My shoulder immediately began to ache from the push, but the door
half a centimeter, opened slightly. Run away, it’s a pity the playground
a little narrow, and again...
- I’ll show you... How it’s done... visually...
G-bastard... And I lost my temper, according to the shortened program
I wanted to skip it. Well, that's it now, now all three sections...
and without intermissions... Damn door! Ah, it’s my own fault... I should have
an injection after all... nothing would have happened to him with half a cube...
Call signal. I swore, very long, ornately and
unprintable, and confirmed the reception.
- What else?!
“You’re in shit, Claude,” Donald’s quick, faltering voice,
the freak you strangled is an informer, a freelancer with a wired
transmitter. Everyone who is now free will flock to his corpse.
Time insawn-off shotgun, stop fooling around and cut your claws. As fast as
only you can. You have about ten minutes, no more. Rip your claws!
- I can’t, I can’t! - I yelled and kicked the smooth metal. door
I trembled, and my leg immediately “withered” - the puppy saw me! And now
I heard you too!
- Then kill him! Kill! - screeching in the mini-speaker.
- Yes, I’ll try! - and again with the shoulder... it’s a pity, the years are not the same...
and again... a little more...
- Don't bother, idiot! Make it! Sde... - the bracelet is weak
crunched when I hit the shiny surface with the interlocking
hands. But the place of impact turned out to be well chosen - one of
the boxes standing on the other side of the door fell from the rest. Another blow
shoulder... and the door swung open, and I rushed inside by inertia.
The boy rushed past me to the exit - I was on the fly,
turning around, I caught him by the collar, but he wriggled out of
captain's sleeves and would have left if not for a clever trip. Tony
stretched out on the floor, and I fell on top of him, groping
throat with hands. The faint smell of a half-childish air entered my nostrils again.
sweat and strong - fear. From the fuss on the floor a hot wave passed
from belly to throat...
Such a handsome guy... Make him cold and that's it? Or maybe
is there still time?
I decided, and after strangling him lightly, I dragged him to the corner with the straw
trestle bed. But halfway there he recovered and began to tear himself out of his hands.
such strength and rage that it became clear- without strong means
can't get by. “I’m getting old,” flashed through my head, “I have to choose
younger... or tie up the sleepy ones...". I hit it twice and hit -
the boy croaked, writhed, but did not stop squirming, and hit
elbow me in the eye. Sparks, sparks... and pain. That's it, I'm done
that's enough!
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