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.He threw himself on the spacetrooper sled.Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlThe shotgun roared again!Heller hit the controls.The sound of the door bursting in.The sled started out the window.Another shotgun blast!Something tugged at his heel!He shot out into the dark night!THE FIRST EXPLOSION WENT!It sounded just like lightning had struck dose to hand, a blasting, cracking roar that filled the night!The sled bucked and twisted.It plummeted earthward from thirty-five stories high.THE SECOND EXPLOSION WENT!Convulsively, Heller gripped the sled controls.The ground was coming up, unseen, but it must be verynear!Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlHe got the sled into a climb.THE THIRD EXPLOSION WENT!The sled slewed.Heller got it straightened out.A tree straight ahead! , Heller zoomed over it.At least he knew where the ground was now.He settled the sled vertically and played his light down.He landed.THE FOURTH EXPLOSION WENT!He was behind Babe's lines, half a block from the building.Quickly he collapsed the sled and lashed it to his satchel.He started to run forward, toward the building."Stand where you are!"Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlA flashlight hit him in the face."It's the kid!" said somebody else."Don't shoot him." Corleone men, part of the ring around thebuilding.Heller was worried about the cat."Let me through! I've got to get back there!""Naw, naw, kid.You stay here! They're pouring out of there like rats from a sinking ship."THE FIFTH EXPLOSION WENT!It was like a nearby crack of lightning but no flash or flame.The explosions were coming from thebuilding top, progressing down where he had planted each of them.A rush of running feet from the building.A crash and a yell.Three more Narcotici men had slammed into the fishnets strung across the streets.Corleones gathered them up, disarmed them and shunted them over to a group where they were quicklytied.THE SIXTH EXPLOSION WENT!"Jesus, what are those things?" said a Corleone to Jet."There ain't any flame or debris.Sounds like awhole God (bleep) floor goes up each time."Heller could have told him that they were matter-vibration-intensifying bombs used by Voltar combatengineers to create diversions at point B when they were really quietly blowing up point A.They did nottransmit their sound directly into the air but only through matter molecules.They didn't destroy anythingGenerated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlexcept perhaps an eardrum if you were inside the place.But Heller said, in Italian, "Who knows? Thewrath of Gods, perhaps."THE SEVENTH EXPLOSION WENT! |,When its crack ceased echoing, Babe's voice came over some-body's walkie-talkie."Signore! What'sthe count now?""Five hundred and thirty-six, mia capa," crackled back."Couple hundred to go," came Babe's voice."Stay on your toes!? Has anybody seen Jerome?"THE EIGHTH EXPLOSION WENT!Heller grabbed his two-way response radio."I'm on the ground, Mrs.Corleone.I'm okay.I'm atStation Six.Please tell the men to let me through.I've got to get back to the building."THE NINTH EXPLOSION WENT!A dozen Narcotic! men, running in panic from the building in the dark, hit the net near Heller.They werejumped on promptly, disarmed and carted aside.Babe's voice."Station Six.Don't let Jerome through until after you've launched the general assault.""Yes, yes, mia capa."THE TENTH EXPLOSION WENT!Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlA hissing series of orders sizzled near Jerome.The same sound, more distant, was coming from otherstations all around the encircled building.A sudden shout from half a thousand throats, "CORLEONE!" A rush and thunder of feet movingforward in the blackness.The general assault had begun.A blaze of gunfire flamed."You can go now, kid," said a voice near Heller.Heller rushed forward.It was not quite as dark.Gun flashes coming from lower windows and thosereplying gave the night a fitful, jerking light.Most of the assault force was inside now but those in viewwere seen like sudden still pictures as a rifle went.Somebody yelled, "Army tanks rolling south, half a mile! Mop this up fast!"Heller sized up the building.There had been no spiral chute on the plans.The basement under thissection of the structure, below Faustino's office, was all furnaces.He went up to the outer wall, pressing in against it.He edged along.He must be now directly belowFaustino's office.The side of the building was made of huge, black blocks of stone here, flanking thestreet.Gunfire was rolling inside where diehards were holding out.He heard the thud of a grenade.He was looking for a manhole cover, some telltale.AN ARCED SCAR ON THE PAVEMENT!Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlIt began at the bottom edge of one of the black stones and curved in a perfect arc across the sidewalk.At some time this stone had swung open and a bit of debris had been under it, making the mark.There was a vertical line where the stone joined another in the outer wall.Heller took his disintegratorgun and widened the crack.He took a bar and forced it in and pried [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]