The Stainless Steel Rat Gets Drafted

Начало книги

I am too young to die. Just eighteen years old - and now I'm as good as dead. My grip is weakening, my fingers slipping, and the elevator shaft below me is a kilometer deep. I can't hold on any longer. I'm going to fall…

Normally I am not prone to panic - but I was panicking now. Shaking from head to toe with fatigue, knowing that there was just no way out of this one.

I was in trouble, mortal trouble, and I had only myself to blame this time. All the good advice I had given myself down through the years, the even better counsel The Bishop had given me, all forgotten. All wiped away by sudden impulse.

Perhaps I deserved to die. Maybe a Stainless Steel Rat had been born - but a very rusty one was about to snuff it right now. The metal door frame was greasy and I had to hold on hard with my aching fingers. My toes barely gripped the narrow ledge - while my unsupported heels hung over the black drop below. Now my arches began to ache with the effort of standing on tiptoe - which was nothing compared to the fire in my throbbing forearms.

Читать дальше →