"Ann Maxwell - Fire Dancer 1 - Fire Dancer" - читать интересную книгу автора (Maxwell Ann)

The rest of his threat was lost in an excited shout from a man down the street. “There she is! That
blond with the big furry! She caused the riot at the Black Whole!”

Kirtn took a fast look down the street One look was enough. The people staring toward him wore
the red-and-silver uniforms of Yhelle Rangers. He would have preferred the local police. They
were noted for taking bribes first and shooting only as a last, unprofitable resort. The Rangers
were celebrated for shooting first, last and on the least excuse.

Bre’n muscles bunched hugely. Rheba grabbed Kirtn’s weapon harness in the instant before he
leaped. He hit his full stride in a single powerful surge. Behind him a tight beam of lavender light
smoked across the sidewalk. Her fingers frantically probed the pockets on his harness.

“Where’s your gun?” she demanded.

“Ship,” he said laconically, reserving his breath for running. “No license.”

She whistled a Bre’n expletive between her teeth. Grimly, she hung on to him. Lavender
lightning vaporized a puddle of water in front of them. He leaped aside with no loss of speed.
Farther ahead, the spaceport’s silver arch shimmered, separating spacers from downside
spectators.

Kirtn was strong and fast, but so were two of the Rangers—and they were not carrying anything
heavier than their guns. Rheba measured the distance separating pursuers from pursued, and
pursued from safety.

The Rangers would win.
“There’s an alley where those buildings meet,” she said urgently. “Drop me there. I’ll hide, then
take the first ship out to Zeta Gata. You can pick me up there.”

He neither commented nor paused. The alley whipped by, a slice of darkness wedged between
two pale buildings.

“Kirtn, you can’t outrun them carrying me!”

He lengthened his stride. She loosened her grip and tried to throw herself free, hut the Bre’n had
anticipated her. His arms tightened until she gasped. Struggling was not only futile, it ran the risk
of unbalancing him.

Lavender beams split the darkness. Kirtn’s breath, rushed out in silver bursts, but his stride did
not shorten. Rheba looked over his shoulder, cringing when the lethal beams came too close. One
shot was so near it made her eyes water. She cursed her lack of a gun. Her aim would have been
no better than that of the running Rangers, but return fire would at least have made them more
cautious.

Light hissed across a building, leaving a head-high groove of incandescence. Desperately, she
grabbed at the energy with the immaterial fingers of her will. She gathered what she could of the
backwash of Ranger lightguns, shaped it and hurled it toward them.

Light burst over the Rangers, light so bright that it washed out the scarlet of their uniforms.