Stephen Cannell - Vigilante

Здесь есть возможность читать онлайн «Stephen Cannell - Vigilante» весь текст электронной книги совершенно бесплатно (целиком полную версию без сокращений). В некоторых случаях можно слушать аудио, скачать через торрент в формате fb2 и присутствует краткое содержание. Жанр: Полицейский детектив, на английском языке. Описание произведения, (предисловие) а так же отзывы посетителей доступны на портале библиотеки ЛибКат.

Vigilante: краткое содержание, описание и аннотация

Предлагаем к чтению аннотацию, описание, краткое содержание или предисловие (зависит от того, что написал сам автор книги «Vigilante»). Если вы не нашли необходимую информацию о книге — напишите в комментариях, мы постараемся отыскать её.

Vigilante — читать онлайн бесплатно полную книгу (весь текст) целиком

Ниже представлен текст книги, разбитый по страницам. Система сохранения места последней прочитанной страницы, позволяет с удобством читать онлайн бесплатно книгу «Vigilante», без необходимости каждый раз заново искать на чём Вы остановились. Поставьте закладку, и сможете в любой момент перейти на страницу, на которой закончили чтение.

Тёмная тема
Сбросить

Интервал:

Закладка:

Сделать

A small, arrogant smile crossed Nash’s face as he continued. “I learned Cajun. I’d been working airboats, so I already knew that swamp. After I sold V-TV to that local TV station I went back into the ’Glades. It took me a week, but I found him. He’d become even more dangerous than before. He caught and almost murdered me, but using Cajun, I was able to talk him out of it. One day, after things calmed down, he took me to a mud clearing in the middle of the swamp. Nothing but gators, water moccasins, and mosquitoes big as flying beagles. He told me he was building a beautiful city there. ‘Le Gran Batiste,’ he called it. Dreams are powerful things, Shane. They can define or destroy you. There was nothing there but a bunch of stolen lumber and plastic sheeting, but Lee Bob could see a beautiful sun-washed city. I pay him a monthly salary. He’s living to build Le Gran Batiste. It’s all he cares about. Since I sold V-TV , he’s been paid a fortune for the services he’s provided. There’s enough lumber and plumbing stacked on that sandbar now to open up a Home Depot.”

“And you think you can control him? He’s a serial killer.”

“You’re wrong. He’s only delusional and territorial. Like the first Cajun settlers, he kills to protect his land. He’s not crazy. He’s motivated by his dream.”

Nash took a moment to think this over before he said, “I have, however, seen Lee Bob at his tortures. You don’t want to experience that. Marcia’s already come clean. Now you need to tell me what you’ve learned and I’ll see he ends this civilly.”

“Not interested.”

Nash heaved a disappointed sigh and stood. “Sorry you feel that way, but I can promise you this much: the ending will be great TV.”

He looked over at Lee Bob, who had never turned away from whatever he was working on at the bench. “ Sors de la chambre a onze, cher, ” Nash said, then turned back to face me. “Gotta go. The Children’s Cancer Auction awaits.”

Then he walked out, leaving me there.

Lee Bob finally stood up from his workbench and walked toward me. He was holding a damp white washcloth.

Avancez, ” he said, and grabbed my neck, pulling my head roughly forward. Then he clamped the cloth over my nose and mouth. I held off breathing for as long as I could but finally had to inhale. My nose was suddenly filled with a sweet, pungent odor that clogged my senses.

CHAPTER 46

When I opened my eyes, it was dark outside.

I was in the backseat of Marcia’s Cad convertible, my hands firmly tied behind me, my feet still lashed together with fishing line. I tried to speak but quickly realized a gag was jammed deep down my throat. I had to be careful breathing to keep from aspirating.

I looked over and saw that Marcia was also tied up and gagged beside me. Her eyes were bulging with terror.

Lee Bob Batiste was in the front seat behind the wheel, paying no attention to us, tapping his bony fingers on the dash. We were parked off a main road in a dirt lot. To my right, half a block down, I could just make out a road sign that said:

BUENA VISTA

Buena Vista was in Burbank. Out the other window I could see the exit ramp off the 5 Freeway at San Fernando Boulevard a block and a half away. Something about this location began tugging at my memory, but I couldn’t pull it together because my head was still freewheeling.

Marcia started to gag from the cloth down her throat. Lee Bob stopped drumming his fingers and turned sharply around in his seat.

Tranquille, cher, ” he said. “Da loup-garou ca s’advance.”

I didn’t know what most of that meant, but I’d taken a trip to Mardi Gras when I first got out of the service and thought I remembered that a loup-garou was some kind of fictitious Louisiana wolf-man-monster that wanders around in the night and eats the dead.

Lee Bob checked his watch, turned back, and continued to look out the front windshield. He seemed to be waiting for something. I looked again at Marcia, whose eyes were now darting back and forth in panic; the cords in her neck were rigid.

I was so damn mad at myself for having let this happen. One of these days, if I live, maybe I’ll just follow the fucking manual.

I tried to gather my wits. After a few more minutes, I pinned down what was familiar about this particular location. It had a bloody ten-year history.

The railroad intersection with San Fernando and Buena Vista Street in Burbank had produced a number of fatal collisions with the Metrolink. The cops called it the Death Crossing. In the past few years, there’d been twelve train hits on cars at this spot. The intersection was formed like a Y, which made it hard to see up the tracks when you merge from the left. The crossing was equipped with the normal array of warning lights and crossing guards, but the lights face south and are not easily seen by cars crossing the tracks from San Fernando Boulevard on the east. According to half a dozen lawsuits filed against the City of Burbank and the Metrolink, it’s possible to make a turn onto the tracks before the metallic crossing guard drops and you can see the flashing lights that warn you a train is coming. Because of this flaw, cars have become trapped on the tracks, unable to get off. Several deaths have resulted from train hits at this spot in the last three years. Because the crossing meets all of the NTSB technical and safety requirements, to date the Metrolink and the city have won each lawsuit. As a result, the intersection has yet to be redesigned.

It didn’t take much deduction for me to realize that Marcia and I were about to become the next fatalities.

There would be no prolonged investigation into our deaths. Probably no autopsy, as Nix had suggested. It would be assumed that we were just the next two unfortunate motorists to die here.

We would be victims of a tragic mistake in engineering. It would be covered by the news but dispatched with quickly.

CHAPTER 47

Lee Bob looked at his watch, then got out of the car, opened the back door, and lifted Marcia out. He put her in the passenger seat, then came around to get me. He lifted me up with almost no effort and carried me to the driver’s side of the Cad, shoving me behind the wheel beside Marcia.

It’s hard on a man’s self-image to be lifted, then carried around and dumped like so much garbage.

Da gran reve pesant, cher, ” he said, looking at Marcia. “Da loup-garot, ca arrive .”

Then Lee Bob pulled out a vial of clear fluid and poured it on a rag.

He grabbed me by the neck and pulled me toward him, covering my nose and mouth with the cloth for the second time. He held it there until I began to lose consciousness, then pulled the rag quickly back. I was still awake but totally paralyzed. He reached across me and did the same to Marcia.

We were still parked in the dirt lot on a slight rise when I saw the headlight from the approaching Metro train. It rounded into view a mile away, coming toward us at over sixty miles an hour.

Lee Bob shoved me over, then crowded behind the wheel and started the car. I could see the train barreling down the tracks toward us. At sixty miles an hour, that would put it at the intersection in about a minute. Lee Bob had the car moving and was heading toward the track. It wasn’t even going to be close. He was going to beat the train by at least twenty seconds.

He pulled the Cad around the corner on San Fernando and drove it up onto the tracks just as the signal lights started flashing and the guard arm dropped both in front and behind us. Then he scrambled out of the front seat, pulled a thin curved knife from a scabbard on his belt, and slashed the fishing line holding my hands and feet. He did the same with Marcia.

Читать дальше
Тёмная тема
Сбросить

Интервал:

Закладка:

Сделать

Похожие книги на «Vigilante»

Представляем Вашему вниманию похожие книги на «Vigilante» списком для выбора. Мы отобрали схожую по названию и смыслу литературу в надежде предоставить читателям больше вариантов отыскать новые, интересные, ещё непрочитанные произведения.


Stephen Cannell - The prostitutes ball
Stephen Cannell
Stephen Cannell - The Pallbearers
Stephen Cannell
Stephen Cannell - On The Grind
Stephen Cannell
Stephen Cannell - Three shirt deal
Stephen Cannell
Stephen Cannell - The Plan
Stephen Cannell
Stephen Cannell - White sister
Stephen Cannell
Stephen Cannell - Hollywood Tough
Stephen Cannell
Stephen Cannell - Vertical Coffin
Stephen Cannell
Stephen Cannell - The Tin Collector
Stephen Cannell
Stephen Cannell - The Devil_s Workshop
Stephen Cannell
Stephen Cannell - King Con
Stephen Cannell
Stephen Cannell - At First Sight
Stephen Cannell
Отзывы о книге «Vigilante»

Обсуждение, отзывы о книге «Vigilante» и просто собственные мнения читателей. Оставьте ваши комментарии, напишите, что Вы думаете о произведении, его смысле или главных героях. Укажите что конкретно понравилось, а что нет, и почему Вы так считаете.

x