"femaleofthespecies" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gray Russell)

THE FEMALE OF THE SPECIES
by Russell Gray


They were five armed men, but she was a woman. And she used a woman's way to fight!


As we neared the house, my nerves loosened a bit and I began thinking how decent the
Lockman's had been to me and what a heel I must be to do this to them. I said:

"Remember, fellas, take it easy. There's just those two, and the husband has both his
legs broken."

Lew Virova, sitting next to Doc who was driving, turned his heavy face around to me.
"Scared we'll play rough with the dame, eh, Joey? We got plenty else to worry about."

Sure we had, but that only made it worse. I'd been holed up before, and I knew how
fear and boredom started tearing at whatever good sense you had. With the cops of the
whole State hunting us, we might have to be cooped in that house for weeks. And that
woman would always be around.

I sat in the back seat between Stoop and Babe. The black satchel was between my feet.
Stoop had his gun on his lap and was fingering it nervously. Babe was twisted completely
around so that he could keep his eyes glued to the back window.

"To hell with dames!" Stoop growled. He was a tall, sour-faced guy who didn't care for
anybody in the world except Babe. "I don't like this set-up. Suppose the dame slips away
to the coppers? Or suppose somebody comes to the house to visit? And how'll we get food?
Like I said before, the hide-out in the hills--"

"Would mean our capture within twenty-four hours," Doc May cut in with that soft voice
of his. "The cops will begin by fine-combing the hills. They'll never suspect we've taken
up residence with a respectable young couple. A poet, didn't you say, Joey ?"

"Yeah," I said. "I guess you got to be a nut like that to live way off by yourself.
The house is seven miles from the nearest neighbor and nearly twenty from the village.
Once a week, they drive in for mail and food. I was there eight days and nobody ever came
to see them."

"That's another thing," Stoop grumbled. "What do we live on--dandelions? We can't
let her drive In for food and we gotta lay low in the house."

"Relax," Doc May said. "I'll see to it that you are afforded all the comforts of
home."

Stoop continued to mumble under his breath, but now he was doing it solely to ease his
tense nerves. Doc's answer, which was no answer at all, satisfied him as it did the rest
of us. That's how much confidence we had in Doc.