"Simon Hawke - Wizards 08 - Wizard of Lovecraft Cafe" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hawke Simon)

The energy blast that came out of the elevator struck him squarely in the chest. It lifted him right off his
feet and threw him back clear across the room.

"No!" screamed Kira.

As Silver came out of the elevator, he suddenly found himself face-to-face with Billy Slade. He raised his
arm to hurl a bolt of thaumaturgic force at him, but Billy's eyes strobed with a blaze of bright blue fire and
twin bolts of energy lanced out from his pupils, striking Silver in the chest and knocking him backward.
Billy followed with another burst of force, but then Angelo came out of the elevator, arm raised, a vacant
look on his face, a 9-mm semiautomatic in his fist. His first two shots missed, but the third struck Billy in
the shoulder. Before he could fire a fourth time, Kira was on top of him. She leapt and brought him
down, wrestling with him for the gun, and then the heavy stairway door exploded off its hinges and the
S.W.A.T. team came pouring through into the penthouse suite.

They were exhausted from fighting their way up the final flight of stairs. They had double-timed it all the
way to the top floor and broken through the stairwell doorway leading to the penthouse only to hit the
spell ward at the final flight of steps. Suddenly it was as if they had run into a solid wall of invisible
molasses. They piled up against each other, trying

to force their way through, but it was like trying to run underwater. Knowing that officers had already
gone in and »ere in need of backup, they had bulled their way through by sheer weight of numbers, but it
had taken almost every ounce of energy they had left, and when they blew the door and forced their way
into the penthouse, they were completely unprepared for what awaited them. They suddenly found
themselves faced with a knight in full armor, complete with shield and broadsword.

The first two S.W.A.T. men through the door were involuntarily brought up short by the amazing sight,
and their fellow officers behind them ran right into them. It caused a up, and as the disoriented officers
scrambled to their feet, armored knight hit them full tilt, shield first. Like a bulldozer, he plowed them
back through the open doorway, forcing them back into their fellow officers and pushing them back
down the stairs. They went down like dominoes. Nobody had to get a shot off, nor was there an
opportunity to do so without hitting their own men. They tumbled backward down the stairs, going down
much faster than they had come up, and when they realized the knight had retreated, they attempted to
regroup, but found the stairs beneath them suddenly coated with a thick layer of ice. As they struggled to
find their footing, they kept falling back into each other and going down in a jumble once again.

Billy came back into the penthouse. Kira was lying on the floor, trying to get up. There was no sign of the
other two men. The elevator doors were closed. He rushed over to Kira and helped her to her feet.

"Are you all right?"

"I think so .... I got his gun, but he nailed me with a shot to the jaw and . . .oh, God! Modred!"

They hurried to where Modred lay on his back . . . only it wasn't Modred anymore. He was Wyrdrune
once again, younger, unbearded, with longer hair . . . and badly hurt. His chest was burned and
blackened, the shirt cooked right into the flesh. He was unconscious and his breathing was ragged and
shallow.

Kira stared at him, aghast. "Is he . . . ?"

"He's still alive," said Billy, crouching by him, "but just barely. We've got to get him out of here. Those