The Dark Root

Начало книги

It was late, cold, and the streets had been quiet for hours, giving the tension in the caller’s voice a chilling element of dread. I paused on my way to the wall-mounted mail slots as the night dispatcher leaned forward and depressed the transmit button with his thumb.

“80.” Charley Davis kept his voice flat, only his narrowed eyes betraying his concentration. Every call was a potential crisis, and the police dispatcher was the crucial linchpin.

“I’m on a vehicle stop-for speeding-above mile-marker nine, northbound. Three adult males. Dark-blue Chevy Nova, Pennsylvania plates.” O-45-Marshall Smith-recited the registration slowly, so Charley could enter it into the terminal before him.

Waiting for the computer to respond, Charley keyed the mike again. “45 from 80. You want some company?”

The response was instantaneous. “10-4 on that.”

Immediately, the other two patrol units spoke up from where they’d been eavesdropping out in the cold winter darkness, eager after a long, slow day.

Читать дальше →