azim78lenk

@@@@@ There was something so unfriendly about the darkThe cavernous station in Charleston was poorly litScarlett craned her neck, searching for her aunts or for a coachman who might be their servant, looking for herWhat she saw instead were a half dozen more soldiers in blue uniform, carrying guns slung over their shoulders"Miss Scarlett-" Pansy tugged on her sleeve"There's soldiers everywhere The young maid's voice was quaveringHer fear forced Scarlett to appear brave"Just act like they're not here at all, PansyThey can't hurt you, the War's been over for practically ten years She gestured to the porter who was pushing the cart with her luggage"Where would I find the carriage that's meeting me?" she asked haughtilyHe led the way outside, but the only vehicle there was a ramshackle buggy with a swaybacked horse and a dishevelled black driverScarlett's heart sank Suppose her aunts were out of town? They went to Savannah to visit their father, she knewSuppose her telegram was just sitting on the front stoop of a dark, empty house? She drew in a long breath She didn't care what the story was, she had to get away from the station and the Yankee soldiersI'll break a window to get into the house if I have toWhy shouldn't I? I'll just pay to get it fixed the same way I paid to fix the roof for them and everything else She'd been sending her aunts money to live on ever since they lost all of theirs during the War"Put my things in that hack," she ordered the porter, "and tell the driver to get down and help youI'm going to the Battery The magic word "Battery" had exactly the effect she hoped forBoth driver and porter became respectful and eager to be of serviceSo it's still the most fashionable address in Charleston, Scarlett thought with reli

@@@@@He made his way through the crowded highway diner toward the men?s room, frantically scanning the wall at the far end for a pay phone There was none! The only goddamned phone was ten feet from the booth and in clear sight of the wild-eyed platinum blonde whose paranoia was as deeply embedded as the dark roots of her hair He had casually mentioned that he thought he should call his office and tell his staff about the accident and where he was, and was instantly met with invective ?And have a swarm of cops coming out to pick you up! Not on your fuckin? life, Medicine Man Your office calls the fuzz, they call my devoted Chief Fork-in-Mouth, and my ass is bouncing into every barbed-wire fence in the countyHe?s in with every cop on the roadsI think he tells ?em where to get laid ?There?d be no reason for me to mention you and I certainly wouldn?tIf you recall, you said he might resent me ?Resent don?t countHe?d just cut your cute little nose offI?m not takin? any chances?you don?t look like you?re too with-itYou?d blurt out about your accident?next thing the cops Robert Ludlum ?? THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM 231 ?You know, you?re not really making sense ?All right, I?ll make senseI?ll yell ?Rape!? and tell these not-so-pansy truckers I picked you up on the road two days ago and I?ve been a sex slave ever sinceHow does that grab you?? ?Very firmlyMay I at least go to the men?s room? It?s urgent that I doThey don?t put phones in the can in these placesNo, honestly, I?m not chagrined, not disappointed?just curiousWhy don?t they? Truckers make good money; they?re not interested in stealing dimes or quarters ?Boy, you?re from La La Land, DocThings happen on the highways; things get switched or snitched, you dig? If people make phone calls, other people want to know who makes themWe only got time for a couple of greasies, so I?ll orderHe?ll head up Seventy, not Ninety-seve

@@@@@ They certainly are differentHopefully this hobby will last longer than yr car restoration thingIf not for eBay that old Mustang would still be behind the house I thinkYr right about it being an odd request but after looking at yr pix I can sort of see what yr up-to (putting different things together so people will look at them in new ways, right) and I'm ready for a new pr anyway so "knock yrself out I'll send them UPS only ask that you send me a jpg of the 194 "Finnish Product" if there ever is one Ilse sd she had a terrific timeI hope she sent a Thank-You card and not just an e-mail, but I know her One more thing to tell you, Eddie, altho I don't know how much you will like itI sent a copy of yr e-mail and jpg pictures to Zander Kamen, you remember him I'm sureI thought he would like to see the pix, but mostly I wanted him to see the email and find out if it was cause for concern, because you are doing in yr writing what you used to do in yr speaking: "bequest" for "request," "laugh like a look" for "laugh like a loon At the bottom you wrote "It's just a wind" and I don't know what that means but DrKamen says maybe "whim I'm just thinking of you Pam 195 PS: My father is a little better, came through the operation well (the doctors say they might have "got all of it" but I bet they always say that) He seems to be handling the chemo well and is at home Thanks for yr concern Her PS zinger was a perfect example of my exwife's unlovelier side: lie backthen bite and "make yrself scarce She was right, thoughI should have told her to pass on best wishes from the Commiecrat when she spoke to her old man on the phoneThat asscancer's a bitch The whole e-mail was a symphony of irritation, from the mention of the Mustang that I'd never had time to finish to her concerns about my mistaken word-choicesSaid concerns delivered by a woman who thought Xander came with a Z And with that petty spleen out of my system (spoken to the empty house, and in loud tones, if you must know), I did review the e-mail I'd sent her, and yes, I was worried On the other hand, maybe it was just the wi

@@@@@He ripped the blindfold from my eyes Our room was lit by several of the dim blue lanternsDoc was standing rigidly, as if he'd just sprung to his feetKneeling beside him, her hand still holding a wet cloth to Jamie's forehead, was SharonHer face was almost unrecognizable, it was so contorted with furyMaggie was struggling to her feet on Jamie's other side Jamie still lay limp and red, eyes closed, his chest barely moving to pull in air ?You!? Sharon spit, and then she launched herself from her crouchLike a cat, she sprang at Jared, nails reaching for his face Jared caught her hands and twisted her away from him, pulling her arms behind her back Maggie looked as if she was about to join her daughter, but Jeb stepped around the struggling Sharon and Jared to stand toe-to-toe with her ?Let her go!? Doc cried?Wanda?heal him!? Doc moved to put himself between Jamie and meThe violence in the room, swirling around Jamie's still form, scared me Doc didn't move, his eyes on Sharon and Jared ?C'mon, Doc,? Ian saidThe little room was too crowded, claustrophobic, as Ian came to stand with his hand on my shoulder?You gonna let the kid die for your pride?? ?It's not prideYou don't know what these foreign substances will do to him!? ?He can't get much worse, can he?? ?Doc,? I said Doc wasn't the only one who responded to my wordsJeb, Ian, and even Maggie looked and then did a double takeMaggie glanced away quickly, angry that she'd betrayed any interestJamie doesn't need to suffer Doc hesitated, staring at my face, and then let out a big sigh?Ian's right?he can't get much wo

@@@@@The communications from corps and army were growing progressively impatientSoon, like a traffic jam, that pressure would be backed up all the way to Washington, and Cummings could imagine without difficulty the conversations that must be going on in certain rooms of the Pentagon"Well, what's happening here, what's this, Anopopei, what's holding it up, whose division, Cummings, Cummings, well, get the man out of there, get someone else He had known it was dangerous to rest the troops for a week, but it was a gamble he had had to take while he finished the road, and it had boomerangedThe shock cut deeply into the General's confidenceThe process at most times was unbelievable to him, and he was suffering the amazement and terror of a driver who finds his machine directing itself, starting and halting when it desiresHe had heard of this, military lore was filled with such horror tales, but he had never imagined it would happen to himFor five weeks the troops had functioned like an extension of his own bodyAnd now, apparently without cause, or at least through causes too intangible for him to discover, he had lost his sensitive controlNo matter how he molded them now the men always collapsed into a sodden resistant mass like dishrags, too soft, too wet to hold any shape which might be given themAt night he would lie sleepless on his cot, suffering an almost unbearable frustration; there were times when he was burning with the impotence of his rageOne night he had lain for hours like an epileptic emerging from a coma, his hands clasping and unclasping endlessly, his eyes staring fixedly at the dim outlines of the ridgepole of his tentThe power, the intensity of the urges within himself, inexpressible, balked, seemed to course through his limbs, beating in senseless fury against the confines of his bodyThere was everything he wanted to control, everything, and he could not direct even six thousand menEven a single man had been able to balk him He had made furious efforts for a time, launched that attack, had kept the troops patrolling constantly, but deep inside himself, unadmitted, he was becoming frightenedA new attack on which he had had Major Dalleson and the G-3 staff working for days had been called off several times alreadyAlways there had been good superficial reasons -- a large shipment of supplies was due from a few Liberty ships in a day or two, or else he felt it tnore advisable to capture first some minor features of land which might seriously impede the attackBut actually he was afraid; failure now would be fatalHe had expended too much on that first attack, and if this one foundered, weeks and possibly months would accrue before a third major drive could be initiatedBy that time he would be replaced His mind had become dangerously lassitudinous, and his body had been troubled for some time by a painful diarrheaIn an effort to scour his ailment he had had officers' mess suffer the most rigid inspections, but despite the new standards of cleanliness his diarrhea continuedIt was acutely difficult now to conceal his annoyance with the most insignificant details, and it was affecting everything about himHot wet days sloughed past, and the officers in headquarters snapped at each other, had petty quarrels and cursed the unremitting heat and rai