Pokrewne

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Dr Who [Lethbridge Stewart] Andy Frankham Allen (v5.0) (epu
Content Selected Essays on Tech Cory Doctorow
Amazing Doctor Darwin Charles Sheffield
Brian Moore The Doctor's Wife (epub)
Bite My Cookies [Who Needs Chri Joyee Flynn
Doctor MC Three More Wishes Be Kind To Y
Doctor Rat William Kotzwinkle
Doctor No Ian Fleming
Dusty Miller [Project Passio Escape from Bondage [MF] (epub)
Cat Miller [Forbidden Bond 00 Unafraid (epub)

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.‘He promised me! But he betrayed me.’‘Here,’ the man said, handing her a blue handkerchief.‘Dry those tears.’Hannah chuckled, surprised that she could find anything humorous at this moment.‘In this weather,’ she mocked, ‘what would be the point?’The man smiled, again, and for a brief moment he had a look on his face that reminded Hannah of how her father used to look when he tucked her in at night, all those years ago.‘I’m so confused,’ she confessed.‘I don’t know what to do.’The man paused, clearly trying to decide whether or not to say the words forming in his mouth.‘Do you trust me?’ he asked her.A peculiar request from a stranger, but one that Hannah found scarily easy to answer.‘A little,’ she replied.‘I mean, yes, I suppose so.’‘Then let me show you something.’He reached inside his coat and produced a small hip flask.He unscrewed the cap from the top of the flask and turned it upside down to use it as a cup.He turned away and Hannah heard the sound of the liquid trickling into the cup.He turned back to Hannah and placed the cup in her hands.She was surprised to find it was warm.Not hot, just pleasantly warm.Hannah brought the cup closer, thinking it must be soup or coffee or some other comfort drink, then gasped when she saw its contents.It was filled with a bright, golden liquid that sparkled like nothing Hannah had ever seen before.The glow from the drink illuminated her arms and chest.Sparkling orange dust swirled in the steam that rose from the liquid.It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.‘What is it?’ she asked.The man raised his hand in a gesture that told Hannah to drink from the cup.‘What is it?’ she asked again, but she didn’t need an answer.This was hope.Whatever was contained in this cup, the man was offering her something magical, something appealing.Something a million times better than Raymond’s shitty film deal.Hannah raised the cup to her lips, never for a moment questioning the wisdom of taking a drink from a complete stranger.The warm liquid didn’t taste of anything, but as she drank it a pleasant heat spread inside her and she felt a tingling sensation, like tiny sparks of static electricity, dancing down her throat.The moment she swallowed the liquid she became stronger, more confident, and the thought of Raymond and his whore grew further and further from her mind.She turned to look at the stranger, marvelling at the effect his gift had had on her.‘Oh my.it’s amazing! It’s wonderful!’‘It likes you,’ the man said.‘I can tell.You’ve acquired a taste for each other very quickly indeed.’Hannah didn’t quite understand what he was saying, so was content just to sit and listen to his words.‘You see Hannah, you don’t need to sleep with producers, or take your clothes off for magazines, to be famous.All you need is glamour, poise and perfection.You have all that, you just don’t know it.I can help you find those things inside yourself, you know.’Hannah felt tears welling in her eyes once more, except this time they were tears of joy.‘I know, I know,’ she told the man.‘Help me.Show me how.’‘Just drink the rest of that,’ he said, pointing to the cup.‘Absorb it into yourself.Accept it, and agree to follow how it makes you feel, what it makes you want to do.Very soon, with very little effort, you’ll be loved and wanted the world over.You’ll be famous.’Hannah finished the drink, wiped her mouth, then handed the cup back to the stranger.‘Very soon,’ he promised, ‘you’ll be a star.’First ReelChapter OneThe colour red dominated the decor of the Sunrise Villa bar.Red velvet covered its seats, red silk curtains shielded its clientele from the outside world and deep-red European wine flowed freely in the glasses on many of the bar’s tables.Given the colour scheme, Robert Chate felt it was a definite irony that this place was used as a meeting point for those groups most concerned with the growing problem of the Red Menace in the city of Los Angeles.The Sunrise Villa was a safe house for American values, for people who knew whom they could trust and for the security and prosperity that were the right of every American, but which the subversives sought so hard to remove.Chate was here for other reasons tonight though, but the old man pestering him to make a contribution to the ADA just couldn’t seem to get this through his booze-addled head.‘Come on, kid,’ the man ranted, ‘you probably have a young family, yeah? Wife and baby maybe? Think about them.Surely for their sake you want to see the pinkos out as much as anyone?’‘I have no wife,’ Chate snapped.‘No children.No family.I’m twenty-nine and all alone, but doing absolutely fine, thank you for asking.Now if you’ll leave me in peace I just want some time to myself and a quiet drink.Good day to you, sir.’The man shook his head, realising that Chate was a lost cause.‘You wanna watch that attitude of yours, kid.It’s people like you the Reds go for.People who won’t see the nightmare that’s coming before it’s too late.This city will go up in smoke soon, and you won’t have done jack to help.’ With these words of condemnation, he sidled off to harass a bourbon-sipping couple in a corner.Chate darted into the bathroom, then splashed some water on to his face and into his dark-blond hair.He glanced in the mirror to see if he looked as tired as he felt and saw the well-padded form of Martin Revere, one of LA’s most successful racketeers, standing behind him.‘I saw you annoying the locals again, Robert.’‘You’re late,’ was all Chate could think of to say.‘And you were getting worried,’ Revere said, before leading Chate back into the bar area.‘How thoughtful.’He took a sip from a glass of vodka and lit a cigarette.‘Where is it then?’Chate took a quick look around to make sure no one was looking, then reached into his jacket and took out a weighty Manila envelope.Revere snatched it from Chate’s hands, tore off the top and peered cautiously at its contents.‘Nine hundred, yeah?’‘Course.’‘I want you to take some stuff round to Sarah Freeman tomorrow – she’s put in for a big load and she’s keeping low.Rumour has it she split on some movie and broke her contract without making repayments [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]