[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
blowflies whirred past on their way out, and several of them flew into his face and hair.
Grimacing, he brushed them away, then passed deeper into the gloom of the place.
There was one small window looking out on the road and barrier; dirty and fly-
specked, it didn't let too much light in. A cubicle at the rear contained a toilet and
washbasin. The door to the toilet stood open... and someone was sitting there with his
trousers round his ankles. Half of the shack was hidden behind a slightly elevated
counter, where a second man was seated in a chair, with his head laid back as if he
were asleep. Trask knew he wasn't asleep, however, and also that the man using the
toilet... wasn't using it.
For while Trask's eyes were still adjusting properly to the gloom of the place, his
talent had leaped ahead to register the grisly truth of what he was seeing. And:
'My God!' he said, when finally it sank in. His exclamation an explosion of
sound in the silent, stinking confines of the border-post shack brought more flies
swarming from the faces of the two corpses, or from what had been their faces.
For the one on the toilet had no face just a raw, screaming mask where the
flesh had been flensed right down to the bone. And his shirt all down the front inside his
open uniform jacket was a sticky crimson mess where blowflies, reluctant to give up
their meal and their egg-laying pursuits, continued to swarm.
As for his colleague, lolling in his chair behind the desk: twin ballpoint pens were
sticking up from his eye sockets, his face was crusted with dried blood, and his throat
and windpipe had been torn free and were hanging on his chest ...
From close behind Trask, Lardis grunted, 'They were here.' A completely
unnecessary comment, but what more could he say?
'Yes,' said Inspector Burdur from the doorway. 'They were. And now you are
please telling me who was here. I thinking you owing me that much, Mr Trask...
21
THE VAMPIRE HUNTERS. MEMORIES OUT OF TIME.
Feeling sick and more than a little dizzy, Trask followed Lardis and Burdur out of the
shack. The dizziness (he told himself) was probably due to the fact that he'd been
holding his breath from the moment he'd caught his first whiff of the place. Blood and
death were like that each had its own distinctive smell and violent death was even
more distinctive, and much more pungent. And you couldn't get much more violent than
this. Added to which both men had soiled themselves in the moments before they died,
but only one had been in the right place to do so.
Well?' said Ali Bey Burdur, when they were out in the open again.
Trask took the handkerchief from his mouth and put it away, and coughed for a
moment or two to clear his throat before trying to speak. But the Old Lidesci who in his
lifetime on Sunside really had seen a lot worse than this, and all too often strode
across to the other members of the team and, in lowered tones, began to tell them
something of what he'd seen.
'Mr Trask?' said Burdur. 'Please, I need to understanding.'
'I can't tell you everything,' said Trask then. 'It's possible that my people back in
London have already passed information to Turkish intelligence in Ankara, but I still
don't know what or how much.'
'If not telling everythings, then telling somethings, eh? I must knowing, Mr Trask.
Those men in there, they are having the families.'
'I understand,' Trask nodded. 'And I'll tell you all I can, which may not be much
but should be better than nothing. Not about what's gone but what might be coming.'
'Something coming?' said Burdur anxiously. 'I listening.'
'But first our documents,' said Trask. 'We need them stamped in order to cross
the border. If we're checked in Bulgaria without the proper authentication '
'I can dealing with that,' said Burdur. 'These two men here are border officials.
They came here to relieving the dead men. They will stamping your documents, giving
you the visas. But I needing to know what is all about. I needing it now!'
'Then listen carefully,' said Trask, 'and when I'm finished ask me no more.
Because what I'm going to tell you is all I can tell you. The people who did these
things... no, the creatures who did these things who killed Fletcher and the others, and
who murdered these border guards and the man who owned that car they carry a
disease. But it's a disease like none we've ever seen before, and it's extremely virulent.'
'A disease?' said Burdur. 'A sickness? Then must be causing the madness, this
disease. No sane peoples ever did things like this.'
'That's right,' said Trask. 'They are insane, and in their madness they ll cause
others to go mad, too. And so it spreads. That's why we have to track them down and
destroy them.'
'What of the dancing girls?' said Burdur. 'They are having a part in this, right?'
'They were victims,' said Trask. 'Helpless victims. But by now the disease is in
them, too. And there's no helping them.'
'This is something to do with the plague out of Asia,' said Burdur. 'A new
development a new strain am I right?'
'No,' Trask shook his head. 'It's far worse than the plague out of Asia.'
'But... how am I knowing this thing when I seeing it?' Ali Bey threw up his arms in
frustration. 'And is it in Turkey now, this horrible plague thing?'
And Trask could only answer truthfully, for he felt certain now that it was in [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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blowflies whirred past on their way out, and several of them flew into his face and hair.
Grimacing, he brushed them away, then passed deeper into the gloom of the place.
There was one small window looking out on the road and barrier; dirty and fly-
specked, it didn't let too much light in. A cubicle at the rear contained a toilet and
washbasin. The door to the toilet stood open... and someone was sitting there with his
trousers round his ankles. Half of the shack was hidden behind a slightly elevated
counter, where a second man was seated in a chair, with his head laid back as if he
were asleep. Trask knew he wasn't asleep, however, and also that the man using the
toilet... wasn't using it.
For while Trask's eyes were still adjusting properly to the gloom of the place, his
talent had leaped ahead to register the grisly truth of what he was seeing. And:
'My God!' he said, when finally it sank in. His exclamation an explosion of
sound in the silent, stinking confines of the border-post shack brought more flies
swarming from the faces of the two corpses, or from what had been their faces.
For the one on the toilet had no face just a raw, screaming mask where the
flesh had been flensed right down to the bone. And his shirt all down the front inside his
open uniform jacket was a sticky crimson mess where blowflies, reluctant to give up
their meal and their egg-laying pursuits, continued to swarm.
As for his colleague, lolling in his chair behind the desk: twin ballpoint pens were
sticking up from his eye sockets, his face was crusted with dried blood, and his throat
and windpipe had been torn free and were hanging on his chest ...
From close behind Trask, Lardis grunted, 'They were here.' A completely
unnecessary comment, but what more could he say?
'Yes,' said Inspector Burdur from the doorway. 'They were. And now you are
please telling me who was here. I thinking you owing me that much, Mr Trask...
21
THE VAMPIRE HUNTERS. MEMORIES OUT OF TIME.
Feeling sick and more than a little dizzy, Trask followed Lardis and Burdur out of the
shack. The dizziness (he told himself) was probably due to the fact that he'd been
holding his breath from the moment he'd caught his first whiff of the place. Blood and
death were like that each had its own distinctive smell and violent death was even
more distinctive, and much more pungent. And you couldn't get much more violent than
this. Added to which both men had soiled themselves in the moments before they died,
but only one had been in the right place to do so.
Well?' said Ali Bey Burdur, when they were out in the open again.
Trask took the handkerchief from his mouth and put it away, and coughed for a
moment or two to clear his throat before trying to speak. But the Old Lidesci who in his
lifetime on Sunside really had seen a lot worse than this, and all too often strode
across to the other members of the team and, in lowered tones, began to tell them
something of what he'd seen.
'Mr Trask?' said Burdur. 'Please, I need to understanding.'
'I can't tell you everything,' said Trask then. 'It's possible that my people back in
London have already passed information to Turkish intelligence in Ankara, but I still
don't know what or how much.'
'If not telling everythings, then telling somethings, eh? I must knowing, Mr Trask.
Those men in there, they are having the families.'
'I understand,' Trask nodded. 'And I'll tell you all I can, which may not be much
but should be better than nothing. Not about what's gone but what might be coming.'
'Something coming?' said Burdur anxiously. 'I listening.'
'But first our documents,' said Trask. 'We need them stamped in order to cross
the border. If we're checked in Bulgaria without the proper authentication '
'I can dealing with that,' said Burdur. 'These two men here are border officials.
They came here to relieving the dead men. They will stamping your documents, giving
you the visas. But I needing to know what is all about. I needing it now!'
'Then listen carefully,' said Trask, 'and when I'm finished ask me no more.
Because what I'm going to tell you is all I can tell you. The people who did these
things... no, the creatures who did these things who killed Fletcher and the others, and
who murdered these border guards and the man who owned that car they carry a
disease. But it's a disease like none we've ever seen before, and it's extremely virulent.'
'A disease?' said Burdur. 'A sickness? Then must be causing the madness, this
disease. No sane peoples ever did things like this.'
'That's right,' said Trask. 'They are insane, and in their madness they ll cause
others to go mad, too. And so it spreads. That's why we have to track them down and
destroy them.'
'What of the dancing girls?' said Burdur. 'They are having a part in this, right?'
'They were victims,' said Trask. 'Helpless victims. But by now the disease is in
them, too. And there's no helping them.'
'This is something to do with the plague out of Asia,' said Burdur. 'A new
development a new strain am I right?'
'No,' Trask shook his head. 'It's far worse than the plague out of Asia.'
'But... how am I knowing this thing when I seeing it?' Ali Bey threw up his arms in
frustration. 'And is it in Turkey now, this horrible plague thing?'
And Trask could only answer truthfully, for he felt certain now that it was in [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]