"Mack Reynolds - Pacifist" - читать интересную книгу автора (Reynolds Mack)

In the garage, Mary Baca was waiting nervously. She said, even though she must have been able to see the
boy, “You got him?”


“That’s right.” Casey said. “I’ve given him a shot. He’ll be out for another half hour or so. Take over, will you,
Mary?”


The nurse looked down at the crumpled figure bitterly. “It couldn’t have been his father. We have to pick on a
child.”


Casey flicked a quick glance at her as he lit the pipe. “It’s all been worked out, Mary.”


“Of course,” she said. Her voice tightened. “I’ll have him in the cell behind the rumpus room.”


Down below he went to the room that had been assigned him and stripped from the uniform. He went into the
bath and showered thoroughly, washing out a full third of the hair that had been on his head and half the color
in that which remained. He emerged from the bath, little refreshed and some five years older.


He dressed in an inexpensive suit not overly well pressed and showing wear. His shirt was not clean, as
though this was the second day he had worn it, and there was a food spot on his tie.


At the small desk he picked up an automatic pencil and clipped it into the suit’s breast pocket and stuffed a
bulky notebook into a side pocket. He stared down at the gun for a moment, then grimaced and left it. He
departed the house by the front door and made his way to the metro escalator.


The nearest metro exit was about a quarter of a mile from Senator McGivern’s residence and Warren Casey
walked the distance. By the time he arrived he had achieved a cynical quality in his expression) of boredom.
He didn’t bother to look up into the face of whoever opened the door.


“Jakes,” he said. “H.N.S. McGivern expects me.”


“H.N.S.?” the butler said stiffly.
“Hemisphere News. Hemisphere News Service,” Warren Casey yawned. “Fer crissakes, we gonna stand
here all day? I gotta deadline.”


“Well, step in here, sir. I’ll check.” The other turned and led the way.


Casey stuck a finger into his back. His voice went flat. “Don’t get excited and maybe you won’t get hurt. Just
take me to the Senator, see? Don’t do nothing at all that might make me want to pull this trigger."