"Keith Laumer - The Ultimax Man" - читать интересную книгу автора (Laumer Keith)

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One

THE ULTIMAX MAN

This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and
any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.

Copyright © 1978 by Keith Laumer

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form.

A Baen Book

Baen Publishing Enterprises 260 Fifth Avenue New York, N.Y. 10001

First Baen printing, June 1987

ISBN: 0-671-65652-X

Cover art by J.K. Potter

Printed in the United States of America

Distributed by SIMON & SCHUSTER 1230 Avenue of the Americas New York, N.Y. 10020

A man walked slowly along a darkened street. He was a young man, conservatively attired in a dark
blue double-breasted blazer, gray bell-bottoms, and a bright blue shirt with a wide regimental
tie. But he moved like a man of eighty, holding his elbow pressed tightly to his side. His name
was Damocles Montgomerie and he had been shot at close range by a .32 caliber Beretta automatic
pistol, the bullet having broken two ribs and driven a dozen bone splinters into his liver before
coming to rest half an inch from his spine.

Reaching an alley mouth, he half-turned, half-fell into the shadowy space between corroded brick
walls. A garbage can lid clattered on oily cobbles. He braced himself against the wall, pushed
himself upright, and went on, deeper into the reek of garbage. Reaching the end of the cul-de-sac,
he turned, put his back to the wall. With his fingers, he explored the hot, damp area below the
ribs on the right side. There was a neat hole in the thick flannel of the coat, a hole that
continued on through the heavy silk shirt and the fitted undershirt into the flesh beneath.

THE ULTIMAX MAN 3

A step sounded softly from the direction of the alley mouth. The beam of a flashlight speared out,
traversed the pavement, played up the wall and across Montgomerie's chest, moved to his face. It
held there for a moment and then winked out.

"Where you want it, punk?" a soft, hoarse voice rasped. "Between the eyes suit you OK?"

"Better try a gut shot, Chico," Montgomerie said in a voice as thin and taut as a stretched wire.