"Evans, Tabor - Longarm 223 - Longarm and the Double-Barrel Blowout" - читать интересную книгу автора (Evans Tabor)

"Hope it's bad news, Longarm. You been having too damn much fun the last
couple of times you went out."

"Sure I have! If your idea of 'fun' is getting shot in the shorts and
almost beaten to death by a couple of murdering whores I had to deliver
to the federal prison."

"Ha! I seen them whores! Was four of 'em and they were all kissing you
good-bye and trying to unbuckle your belt one last time! Some hardship
assignment, you lucky bastard."

"They weren't trying to get into my pants! They were trying to get into
my pockets so they could remove their handcuffs!"

"Sure they were!"

The entire office began to laugh, and Custis could feel his cheeks
warming so he decided to call it a day. Snatching up the little envelope
and his snuff-brown and flat-crowned Stetson, Longarm barreled for the
door, and his exit caused even more laughter.

Longarm felt better the minute he was outside. The spring weather was
invigorating and the trees in the nearby park were bursting with pale
green leaves and sweet-smelling blossoms. The air was like perfume and
so clear that to Longarm even the most distant snow-capped peaks seemed
magnified and almost touchable. The day was a tonic and, best of all,
Longarm was about to go on vacation.

Vacation. Even the word sounded strange because he hadn't had one in so
many years. Oh, sure, his friend and supervisor, Billy Vail, certainly
wanted to give Custis a well deserved rest. It had been two years since
Custis had taken any time off and he was mentally exhausted and
physically exhausted. But their office was chronically shorthanded and
Longarm, being the best and most experienced field marshal, was
impossible to replace on the toughest cases. But this June, by damned,
he was going on vacation. Maybe to New Orleans or St. Louis or even back
to West Virginia where he still had a few relatives.

"Hey, Custis!" Ruben, the shoe shine man, called. "Need your boots
worked on today?"

Ruben had been shining Longarm's boots for years. The old man claimed to
be part Apache Indian, and probably was, for his skin was the color of
leather. Ruben was a colorful character and liked to wear a red bandanna
like Cochise or Geronimo. His hair was straight and black, streaked
liberally with silver hair and always bound in a pair of thick braids.
Ruben had a great fondness for turquoise and silver jewelry. He liked to
talk while he worked and his favorite customers were the frontier
marshals that moved in and out of Denver's federal building.