"Tim LaHaye & Jerry Jenkins - Left Behind Series 3 - Nicolae" - читать интересную книгу автора (LaHaye Tim)

“Shh!” Buck said quickly. “What're they saying about New York City?”
Chloe turned up the radio. “... devastating carnage everywhere here in the heart of
Manhattan. Bombed-out buildings, emergency vehicles picking their way through
debris, Civil Defense workers pleading with people over loudspeakers to stay
underground.”
Buck heard the panic in the reporter's voice as he continued. “I'm seeking shelter
myself now, probably too late to avoid the effects of radiation. No one knows for
certain if the warheads were nuclear, but everyone is being urged to take no risks.
Damage estimates will be in the billions of dollars. Life as we know it here may
never be the same. There's devastation as far as the eye can see.
“All major transportation centers have been closed if not destroyed. Huge traffic
jams have snarled the Lincoln Tunnel, the Triborough Bridge, and every major
artery out of New York City. What has been known as the capital of the world looks
like the set of a disaster movie. Now back to the Cable News/Global Community
News Network in Atlanta.”
“Buck,” Chloe said, “our home. Where will we live?”
Buck didn't answer. He stared at the traffic and wondered at the billowing clouds of
black smoke and intermittent balls of orange flame that seemed to hover directly
over Mt. Prospect. It was like Chloe to worry about her home. Buck was less
concerned about that. He could live anywhere and seemed to have lived
everywhere. As long as he had Chloe and shelter, he was all right. But she had made
their ridiculously expensive Fifth Avenue penthouse flat her own.
Finally, Buck spoke. “They won't let anybody back into New York for days, maybe
longer. Even our vehicles, if they survived, won't be available to us.”
“What are we going to do, Buck?”
Buck wished he knew what to say. He usually had an answer. Resourcefulness had
been the trademark of his career. Regardless of the obstacle, he had somehow made
do in every imaginable situation or venue in the world at one time or another. Now,
with his new, young wife beside him, not knowing where she would live or how
they would manage, he was at a loss. All he wanted to do was to make sure his
father-in-law and Amanda were safe, in spite of the danger of Rayford's work, and
to somehow get to Mt. Prospect to assess what was happening to the people of New
Hope Village Church and to inform them of the tragedy that had befallen their
beloved pastor.
Buck had never had patience for traffic jams, but this was ridiculous. His jaw
tightened and his neck stiffened as his palms squeezed the wheel. The late-model
car was a smooth ride, but inching along in near gridlock made the huge automotive
power plant feel like a stallion that wanted to run free.
Suddenly an explosion rocked their car and nearly lifted it off its tires. Buck
wouldn't have been surprised had the windows blown in around them. Chloe
shrieked and buried her head in Buck's chest. Buck scanned the horizon for what
might have caused the concussion. Several cars around them quickly pulled off the
road. In the rearview mirror Buck saw a mushroom cloud slowly rise and assumed it
was in the neighborhood of O'Hare International Airport, several miles away.
CNN/GCN radio almost immediately reported the blast. “This from Chicago: Our
news base there has been taken out by a huge blast. No word yet on whether this
was an attack by militia forces or a Global Community retaliatory strike. We have
so many reports of warfare, bloodshed, devastation, and death in so many major
cities around the globe that it will be impossible for us to keep up with all of it....”
Buck looked quickly behind him and out both side windows. As soon as the car