[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
Deathlands - Ice and Fire
His expression unchanged, almost, the Armorer threw the blaster on the bed and
slid back the bolt on the door.
"Come in."
"You're a careful man, John Dix," she said as she walked across the threshold.
He closed the door behind her and locked it again.
"I try to be."
"And you succeed. I saw Ryan and Krysty out walking a few minutes ago."
"Yeah."
There was an awkward silence.
The room wasn't largearound ten feet by ten feet. A small pie-crust table with
a broken leg was at the head of the bed; a bureau with three drawers stood
alongside the window, next to another small chest with a water jug and bowl on
top of it. The carpet was faded and worn near the door. The only attempt at
any kind of decoration was an attractive watercolor painting on the side wall,
showing some trees and an expanse of grass.
There was also an armchair in a patched, loose cover. J.B.'s jacket was flung
over the back of the chair;
his stripped handblaster covered the bedspread.
Page 93
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
He looked at the woman. Carla was dressed much as she'd been at the morning
service in the snake temple polished boots, trim skirt, crisp white blouse
fastened at the neck with a sapphire clip. A jacket of dark brown corduroy had
been draped over her shoulders against the night air.
"Well," she said, trying to defuse the sudden tension that she felt between
them. "Looks like you're busy."
"Busy?"
"The blaster." She gestured toward the bed.
"Oh, yeah. Cleaning itthem. Cleaning them while I got the chance."
He was aware that Carla was still standing uncomfortably by the locked door,
her arms folded defensively across her chest.
"You want to sit down? I mean, I'll clear off some space for you. The chair or
the bed? Which would you?"
"Sure. Bed'd be fine, John. Can I give you a hand to move anything?"
"No!" he answered sharply. "Sorry, Carla. Just that I don't like"
file:///G|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/Ja...Deathlands%20008%20-%20Ice%20an
d%20Fire.html (136 of 209) [12/30/2004 2:01:49 PM]
Deathlands - Ice and Fire
"Anyone to touch your blasters," she finished, smiling at him. "I should have
guessed, John. You go ahead."
His hands were almost a blur of movement as he reassembled the Steyr pistol,
slotting the parts together in a series of soft, greased clicks, whipping away
the stained rags with the flourish of a magician performing his greatest
trick.
"There," he said, patting the bed. "Sit down, Carla. Can I ask Mrs. Rainer to
bring you up anything?"
She sat down primly, crossing her legs with a whisper of rustling sound.
"Thanks, John. If Ruby brought me anything it'd probably be cyanide."
J.B. laughed and sat down at the far end of the bed, licking his lips and
blinking behind his glasses. It seemed odd to him how the room had become so
very much smaller in the past few minutes, and how the bowl of hot water had
made the bedroom feel uncomfortably humid. He ran his finger around the inside
of his shirt collar.
"Want me to open a window, Carla?" he asked. "Seems kind of stuffy."
"That would be nice, John."
He stood and slipped the catch across, levering the top half of the casement
upward a few inches, which brought a breath of cool evening air into the room.
Before he could turn around, J.B. felt the woman's hand touch his shoulder,
her breath against his neck. Suddenly she was in his arms, and the soft caress
of her lips was against his. After a split second's shock, he found himself
responding to her warmth.
A moment later she broke away from him, carefully adjusting the curtains
across the window. "Don't want the whole ville to see us, do we, John?"
"Guess not," he replied hoarsely.
Her hand still rested on his shoulder, fingers teasing at the short hairs
curling onto his neck. She was smiling into his eyes. "I really wouldn't want
you thinking I did this all the time, John," she whispered.
"Me neither."
"Truth is, I haven't actually done this, anything like this, for a very long
time."
"Me neither, Carla."
"Would you like to you know, John?"
J.B. kissed her on the mouth. "Yeah, Carla. I would."
file:///G|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/Ja...Deathlands%20008%20-%20Ice%20an
d%20Fire.html (137 of 209) [12/30/2004 2:01:49 PM]
Deathlands - Ice and Fire
Page 94
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
DOC HAD BEEN DOZING, fully clothed, his battered knee boots standing crookedly
by the side of the bed. He'd been dreaming, but he couldn't remember what
about. There had been a horse and a river, flowing fast and clean over white
stones. He thought that his long-dead wife, Emily, had been in the dream, but
he couldn't be certain. All he knew was that he'd been crying in his sleep.
He couldn't be certain, either, what it was that had woken him. A door closing
or a shutter banging loose?
"What was it, Lori?" he whispered into the darkness of the room. Ruby Rainer
had given them two single beds, pushed side by side.
There was no answer. He sat up, grunting at stiffness in the small of his
back. Peering across, he saw that the other bed was empty.
"Lori?" Where in thunderation had the girl gone off to?
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]