[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

the house and I could lie down. Indigestion would be my most likely diagnosis. I think."
Mildred didn't say anything for a moment, studying him carefully. "Too low for indigestion," she said.
"Stabbing, did you say?"
"Like a knife of fire, my dear Doctor. Indeed, I would be grateful if I could lie down in the back of the
wag, or I fear that I might pass out. My hearing has gone rather fuzzy, and the world seems to be moving
away from me."
"Get him in the wag," Mildred said to the guards. "Quickly."
She turned to the countess, who had showed very little interest in the small drama. "Can we move now?"
"Of course. Ryan. You'll drive with me again." It was a statement, not a question.
"No. I go with Doc. Sorry, Countess."
She nodded, her face like a mask hewn from living marble, showing no trace of emotion. "Very well. I
understand, Ryan. Believe me, I do. Straub, I wish to talk to you. Come with me."
"Of course, Countess, delighted, delighted." He bowed and scraped in a parody of servility. "I am
honored, honored."
She stalked off and one of the armed sec men opened the doors of the Mercedes. She got in, barely
waiting for Straub before gunning the engine and roaring away in a cloud of smoking rubber.
"Thank you and goodbye, dear lady," Krysty said, touching Ryan on the arm.
Doc was moaning, sagging at the knees, supported by Jak on one side and by a guard on the other.
Mildred was ushering them toward the rear of the nearest wag, telling them to lay him down, watching
him safely installed. Then she walked back to Ryan and the others.
"I'll go with him," she said.
"Any idea what it is? Not having a heart attack, is he?" Ryan asked.
file:///C|/2590%20Sci-Fi%20and%20Fantasy%20...0Deathlands%2032%20-%20Circle%20Thrice.html (183 of 215) [12/29/2004 2:12:50 PM]
file:///C|/2590%20Sci-Fi%20and%20Fantasy%20E-books/James%20Axler%20-%20Deathlands%2032%20-%20Circle%20Thrice.html
She shook her head. "Think not. I have an idea, but I'll need to examine him properly as soon as we're
back at the ville. Then I'll know. Might be less than good news."
Mildred kept looking rather distractedly back at Graceland, as though she expected something to have
happened. But she finally moved to the wag and climbed in.
"See you there," J.B. called.
"Sure, John." She made a decision. "John?"
"Yeah. What is it, Millie?"
"What's the maximum delay on an incendiary grenade?"
The Armorer's jaw sagged. "Dark night! What made you ask that? Maximum's twenty minutes on the
ones that they had in the big house. But why do ? What have you?"
The wag pulled away in an eruption of stinking exhaust smoke, taking Mildred, Doc and Jak with it.
Ryan guessed. "Twenty minutes. I reckon we better get out. My guess is we got about five minutes."
Krysty wasn't with it. "I don't get it. Has Mildred set off a burner in Graceland?"
J.B. nodded, unable to conceal a smile of pride. "Isn't she something? Said how much she hated what had
happened to Elvis's home. Shameful. Wasn't worthy. Well, I guess she's gone and done something about
it."
Ryan beckoned the chief of the sec men. "Need to get going back to the ville."
"Sure. Everyone aboard."
They were on the move away from Graceland in a couple of minutes, though one of the engines proved
stubborn in starting, giving Ryan, Krysty and the Armorer a few nervous seconds before they were off
and rolling.
The three friends sat together near the tailgate, looking behind them as the wag lumbered eastward.
J.B. had been checking his wrist chron. "I make that past the twenty minutes maximum now, if that's what
she set it for. Depends where she hid it, but we should be seeing some sign in the next minute or so. When
they go, those babies really go."
ALREADY THREE OR FOUR miles ahead, down the highway toward the ville, Countess Katya was
talking with a cold ferocity to Straub, who nodded with increasing enthusiasm, then began to giggle, a
file:///C|/2590%20Sci-Fi%20and%20Fantasy%20...0Deathlands%2032%20-%20Circle%20Thrice.html (184 of 215) [12/29/2004 2:12:50 PM]
file:///C|/2590%20Sci-Fi%20and%20Fantasy%20E-books/James%20Axler%20-%20Deathlands%2032%20-%20Circle%20Thrice.html
hideous, bubbling noise, like boiling molasses.
"Yes, I can," he said. "Of course, most exalted one. Yes, of course."
"There," J.B. said, pointing behind them. The road had dipped, and a bunch of tattered palm trees were
between them and Graceland. But they all saw the sudden flash of flame, rising fifty or sixty feet into the
air, followed by a pillar of smoke, erupting much higher, until the southerly breeze started to tear its top
apart.
They were more than a mile away, but all three of them felt the warm blast caress their faces from the
explosion.
"That just one gren?" Krysty asked.
J.B. shook his head. "Don't know. But Millie must've placed it near the heating. Oil or gas, whatever.
Whole place has gone. Did what she wanted."
Chapter Thirty-One
"Appendicitis."
"Sure?"
"Sure as can be. All the symptoms. Main thing is precisely where the pain's located. I can't think of
anything else it could be."
Ryan whistled softly between his teeth. "Bad one. Known of a few people buy the farm with that." [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]