Elephant Song - Smith Wilbur - Страница 25

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Gama stared down at the Landcruiser from the vantage point of the high cab.  Daniel leant forward to see him, lifted one hand from, the wheel and made a peremptory hand signal for him to pull over and stop.

Gomo nodded and obeyed, swinging the truck back to the left, giving way to the Landcruiser.

That's more like it, Daniel grated, and edged back into the space alongside the truck that Gomo had opened for him.  He had fallen into the trap and let down his guard.  The two vehicles were still grinding along side by side, and Gomo suddenly spun the driving-wheel hard back in the opposite direction.  Before Daniel could react, the truck crashed into the side of the Landcruiser and a shower of sparks blazed from the violent contact of steel against steel.  The weight and momentum of the huge truck flung the smaller vehicle back over the verge.

Daniel fought the wheel to try and resist the thrust but the struts flew through his fingers and he thought for a moment that his left thumb was dislocated.  The pain numbed him to the elbow.  He hit the brakes hard and the Landcruiser slowed and allowed the truck to pull ahead, with a shriek of metal between the two vehicles as they disengaged.  The Landcruiser came to rest, half over the embankment with one front wheel hanging over the cliff face.

Daniel wrung his injured hand, tears of agony welling into his eyes.

Gradually he felt strength return, and with it his anger.  By now the truck was five hundred yards ahead and pulling away rapidly.

With the Landcruiser in four-wheel drive, Daniel flung her into reverse.

Only three of her wheels had purchase, but she heaved herself gamely back from the drop.  Her near side was scraped down to bare gleaming metal where the truck had struck her.  Okay, Daniel snarled at Jock.

Do you want any more proof?  That was a deliberate attempt to write us off.  That bastard Gomo is guilty as hell.  The truck had disappeared from view around the next curve of the highway, and Daniel hurled the Landcruiser in pursuit.  Gomo isn't going to let us get ahead of him, Daniel told Jock.  I'm going to get on to that truck and take him out of it.  I want no more part of this business, Jock muttered.  Leave it to the police now, damn it.  Daniel ignored his protest and pushed the Landcruiser to its top speed.  As they came through the bend the refrigerator truck was only a few hundred yards ahead.  The gap between them closed swiftly.

Daniel studied the other vehicle.  The scrape marks down its side were not as extensive as the damage to the Landcruiser and Gama was making better speed now as the slope of the hill eased away towards the crest of the escarpment.  The double rear doors into the cargo hold were locked with a heavy vertical bar.  The airtight seats were black rubber around the edge of the doors.  On the nearside of the hull a steel ladder gave access to the flat roof where the cooling fans of the refrigeration equipment were housed in fibreglass pods.  I'm going to get on that ladder, Daniel told Jock.  As soon as I'm gone, you slide over and grab the wheel.  Not me, man.  I told you, I've had a gutful.

Count me out.  Fine.  Daniel did not even glance at him.  Don't steer!

Let her crash and you with her.  What's one stupid prick less in this naughty world?  Daniel was judging the speed and distance between the two converging vehicles.  He opened his side door.  The retaining catch on the door had been removed to allow unimpeded photography through the opening so the door hinged fully open, to lie flat against the side of the bonnet.

Steering with one hand, Daniel leaned out of the open door.  Take her, she's yours, he shouted at Jock.  Daniel hauled himself up on to the roof, the pain in his thumb forgotten.  At that moment Gomo once again swung across to block the Landcruiser.

As the two vehicles came together Daniel leaped across the narrow gap. He caught the rung of the side ladder and hauled his lower body out from between the steel sides of the vehicles as they clashed together again.

He had a glimpse of Jock at the driver's wheel, pale-faced and sweating in the reflected headlights.  Then the Landcruiser swerved away and fell behind the white truck, Jock steering it erratically, letting the slope slow it, finally bringing it to a halt on the side of the road.

Daniel clambered upwards, hand over hand, agile as an ape on the narrow steel rungs, and reached the flat roof of the truck.  The fan housing was in the centre of the roof and a low grab-rail ran the length of the hull, fore and aft.  On hands and knees Daniel worked his way forward, falling flat on his belly and clinging grimly to the rail when the centrifugal force of the truck through the bends threatened to throw him from the roof.

It took him fully five minutes to get forward above the articulated driver's cab.  He was pretty certain that Gomo had not seen him come aboard.  The bulk of the cargo hold would have blocked his rear view.

By now he must be fairly confident that he had discouraged the driver of the Landcruiser, for its headlights were no longer visible on the empty road behind the truck.

Daniel worked his way gingerly across to the passenger side of the cab and peered over.  There was a running-board below the passenger door, and the sturdy wing mirror standing out from the side of the cab would give him a secure handhold.  It only remained to find out if Gomo had taken the precaution of locking the passenger door.  There was no reason why he should, Daniel comforted himself, as he looked ahead down the beams of the truck's powerful headlights.

He waited until the road turned left.  The pull would hold him against the side of the cab, rather than throwing him clear.

He slid over the side and clutched at the wing mirror.  For a moment his feet were kicking in air, then they hit the wide steel running-board andfound a hold.  He was facing inwards, hanging on to the mirror and peering in through the side window of the cab.

Gomo turned a startled face towards him and shouted something.  He tried to reach across to the locking handle of the door, but the full width of the passenger seat separated him from it and the truck slewed wildly and nearly left the road, for Gomo to grab the wheel again.

Daniel jerked open the side door and threw himself into the cab, sprawling half across the seat.  gomo punched at-his face.

The fist caught Daniel under the left eye and stunned him for only a moment, then Daniel seized the handle of the vacuum brake control and heaved it full on.

All the gigantic wheels of the truck locked simultaneously and, in a shrieking billow of blue smoke and scorching rubber, the truck skidded and swayed down the highway.  Gomo was hurled forward out of his seat.

The steering-wheel caught him in the chest and his forehead cracked against the windshield with enough force to star the glass.

Then the next wild swing of the vehicle flung him back, only semi-conscious, into his seat.  Daniel reached across him and seized the steering-wheel.  He held the truck straight until it came to a halt, half off the highway, with its offside wheels in the drainage ditch.

Daniel switched off the ignition and reached across gomo to open the driver's door.  He grabbed gomo's shoulder and shoved him roughly out of the cab.  Gomo fell the six feet to the ground and ended up on his knees.

There was a lump the size and colour of a ripe fig in the centre of his forehead where he had hit the windscreen.

Daniel jumped down and stooped to catch hold of the collar of his uniform tunic.  All right.  He twisted the collar like a garotte.  You killed Johnny Nzou and his family.  gomo's.  face was swelling and turning purple black in the vague light reflected from the truck's headlamps.  Please, Doctor, I don't understand.  Why are you doing this?

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