"C. S. Friedman - Coldfire 2 - When True Night Falls" - читать интересную книгу автора (Friedman C. S)

saw one of the bundles on the trams begin to stir, as if
trying to free itself. Apparently so did Ian. The movement
awakened him from his seeming trance, and he began to
move toward the tram and its contents. Stepping over the
line he had drawn, across the sigil-girded circle he had so
carefully created. Drawing a slender knife from his belt as
he moved.

That was enough for Case. He was on his feet in an
instant, and Lise was right behind him. While she moved to
intercept the man, to keep him from reaching the tram, he
took up. a solid position at the edge of the clearing and
leveled his gun at the man's heart. "That's enough," he
announced. "Party's over, Casca. Stay right where you are."

The botanist reeled visibly, as though Case's words had
not only stopped him in his tracks but had awakened him
from some kind of trance. He turned toward the
commander and gaped at him, as if trying to absorb the fact
of his presence.

"Leo," he said at last. Starting to move toward him.
"How did you-"

"Stay where you are!" Case ordered. "And keep your
hands where I can see them." He glanced toward Lise and
nodded; she was kneeling on the tram's bed, inspecting its
contents. "No fast movements, you hear me? Just stay
where you are and keep quiet."

Lise had cut the tie on one of the bundles and was
freeing its occupant. "Well?" Case demanded.

"It's Erik Fielder." She reached a hand in to take his
pulse, and added, "He's alive." Quickly she moved to the
other bundle and unwrapped its upper end. "Liz Breslav.
Out cold. I see bruises, some sort of impact damage to the
side of the head . . . can't say how bad it is without
MedOps. We need to get her back to the ship."

It took him a minute to put the names in context; when
he did, he darkened. Ian's choice of victims was all too
practical. With true night coming, the colony's other
members would have been huddled together in their
makeshift cabins, seeking the dubious safety that could be
found in numbers. It would have been hard for Ian to single
out one or two of them, much less knock them out and drag
their bodies from the camp without being seen. But Fielder
and Breslav had drawn special guard duty for the night,
which meant that they were already outside the camp,