"Ken MacLeod - The Highway Men" - читать интересную книгу автора (MacLeod Ken)

IV
AILISS

“Nice ass,” said Euan.

“Well boys,” I said when we’d watched her out, “about time we did the
same.”

“Not walking like that,” said Euan, getting back at me.

I nodded to agree we were evens. Euan was already rolling his
cigarette. He wagged his tongue back and forth against his top lip. One up
to him.

“Move your arse,” I told him. “You can go shotgun. Smoke all you
want.”

I couldn’t be sure if this was one up to me.
 As we drove back up the street we saw the girl from the cafe trudging
along the side of the road. The Tesco bag was weighing her down on one
side. I slowed the truck and wound down the cab window.

“Want a lift?”

The girl opened her mouth and said something. Out of the corner of
my eye I saw two hurtling shapes, black and spiky as ninja knives. As my
head whipped round to follow them I saw them skimming above the loch at
about twenty metres. The sound of the fighter jets hammered over us a
moment after they’d disappeared.

“What?” I asked.

“I said, ‘Where are you heading?’ “

“Strathcarron way,” I said.

“Fine,” she said. She crossed the road and walked around the front of
the truck. Murdo opened the door and moved over and squashed into the
middle seat. The girl stepped up and swung in. She put the bag down
between her boots and slammed the door. As she turned back with a smile
and a thank you her hair flicked and I could see she didn’t have a phone on
her ear.

I let the engine’s flywheel bite again and released the brake. We slid
forward out of the village. I glanced sideways. Murdo was wrinkling his
nose. I didn’t mind the smell at all.

“What’s your name?” I asked.

“Ailiss,” she said, looking ahead and around like a kid at the front of