Title:Ghosts of Manhattan
Author(s): George Mann
Publisher(s): Pyr
Pages: 237
Year: 2010
Format: EPUB
Language: English
**************************************************************************************
Download
The random article:
The train that ran from Long Island to Manhattan was a vast, gleaming masterpiece of modern engineering. Constructed around a shell of iron, it had a tip like a snub-nosed bullet capped with a carapace of shining white ceramic. The carriages snaked in a long procession, linked by joints of reinforced rubber, forming one continuous, open space within. Unlike the more traditional locomotives that still crisscrossed most of the country, the Long Island train had abandoned its reliance on steam and coal. Instead, the engineers had adopted a powerful pneumatic engine, created during the war for transporting missiles along the coast, but now relegated to shuffling people back and forth to the city. The result was a powerful, reliable, high-speed means of traveling to Manhattan Island, and Gabriel hated every moment of it.
It wasn$prime;t the speed of the thing, nor the discomfort; a first-class ticket commanded a particularly high standard of travel, and Gabriel could easily afford it. It was simply the fact that he was too enamored by the sense of control he felt when he sat behind the wheel of his own car to care for the relatively passive experience of being a passenger on the train. He couldn$prime;t abide the notion that he was placing his own destiny in the hands of other people; no matter how unreasonable he knew that notion to be. He felt affronted by it, as if it somehow eroded him, made him lesser in some tiny way. It was a hangover from the war, from the horrible things that had happened to him over there, in Europe. Those experiences had left him feeling impatient, unwilling to concede control. Perhaps that was why he had a tendency to sabotage his own happiness. Perhaps.
Like most of the lost generation, Gabriel Cross was damaged, irrevocably scarred. The difference was that he recognized the fact, and embraced it. It was this that had prevented him from going insane. But even that, he knew, was debatable.
Stifling a yawn, he disembarked onto the platform, stopping to button his overcoat against the brisk winter chill. Behind him the engine sighed majestically, as if weary after its long journey, and the platform suddenly swelled with jostling people as the carriage disgorged the remains of its charge.
He stood for a moment, watching the crowds of people as they swarmed toward the exit, one after another, just like a flock of birds. His hand dropped almost involuntarily into his pocket, fingers probing for the item he had secreted there earlier. He found it, and the cold, hard feel of it was reassuring. His service revolver. It was an old weapon, now, basic compared to the more advanced designs of recent years, but it had never let him down, and he carried it with him whenever he came to the city. Or rather, whenever he came to Joe$prime;s.
Turning up the collar of his coat, he set off, following the herd of travelers as they scrambled up the steps toward the cold Manhattan night.
The sky was clear when he emerged, his breath fogging in the frigid November air. It was dark, and the city was lit up like a showhall; electric lights burned in every tower, crisp and bright and stark against the black fabric of the sky. He checked his watch. Nine-thirty. He had time to walk.
He set off, carrying himself with an insouciant air that he didn$prime;t feel. Cars hissed by on the road, their engines crackling with heat and steam. Pedestrians continued to spill from the station exit, flooding the sidewalks with their loose tongues and even looser morals. Drains exhaled columns of steam; the breath of the underworld rising unbidden into the physical realm. Gabriel marched on. It felt to him as if the city were somehow alive, as if it were watching him with impassionate eyes from every window, from every corner or shadowy doorway. The thought made him shudder. He wanted to stop for a cigarette, but instead he pressed on, turning a corner into a fierce breeze that rattled down the avenue, bringing a cold bite in off the ocean. He ducked his head and continued on his way.
Half an hour later, just as he was beginning to wish that he$prime;d taken a taxi after all, Gabriel rounded the block and turned onto East 14th Street. He blew into his hands to stave off the chill. The Sensation Club, or Joe$prime;s, as the regulars knew it, was between Fifth Avenue and Broadway, down a short flight of steps in the basement of a tenement building and behind an unmarked red door. The police knew about the place-of course they did-and knew also that it was patronized by a small-time crook named Johnny Franco, but they were also aware that the club served a valuable purpose. It kept the city$prime;s rich clientele away from the bigger, uglier drinking dens, and it kept Johnny Franco out of trouble. So they steered clear of the place, and Johnny went about his business, serving illegal gin to the elite of the city, reveling in the perceived radiance of the company he kept. Poor Ariadne had failed to see the charm of it all, but Gabriel knew it for what it was-an extension of the perpetual party, a home from home. And besides, Celeste was there.
Gabriel rapped on the door, and presently the handle turned and a small crack appeared between the door and the jamb. He leaned closer. He could hear the distant strains of music, see a bright red light shining somewhere on the other side of the door. He turned his head. There was a scuffling sound from within, and then the door swung inward and a beaming man in a tuxedo was standing before him, waving him through to the mysterious club beyond. «Good evening, Mr. Cross. It$prime;s nice to see you again.» The doorman, a wiry little fellow with a neatly trimmed beard and darting brown eyes, ushered him forward and swiftly closed the door behind him. «You$prime;re just in time. She$prime;ll be on in a moment.»
- Рубрика: Фантастика
- Перейти на Главную
- Похожие книги:
- Вампир Арман — Энн Райс
- Мемнох-дьявол — Энн Райс
- История Похитителя Тел — Энн Райс
- Царица Проклятых — Энн Райс
- Вампир Лестат — Энн Райс
- Интервью с вампиром — Энн Райс
- Витторио-вампир — Энн Райс
- Пандора — Энн Райс
- Талтос — Энн Райс
- Лэшер — Энн Райс
- Невеста дьявола — Энн Райс
- Мэйфейрские ведьмы — Энн Райс
- Час ведьмовства — Энн Райс
- Зеленая миля — Стивен Кинг
- Кладбище домашних животных — Стивен Кинг
- Долорес Клейборн — Стивен Кинг
- Воспламеняющая взглядом — Стивен Кинг
- Холод страха — Стивен Кинг
- Лангольеры — Стивен Кинг
- Темная любовь — Стивен Кинг