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Автор Чарльз Джеймс Бокс
Savage Run
C. J. Box
2002
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Acknowledgments
I would like to acknowledge the Wyoming Game and Fish Department for providing the opportunity to "ride along" and provide a glimpse into the day-to-day duties of a game warden. Specifically thanks to Game Warden Mark Nelson, who is a credit to his profession.
Special thanks as well to Sergeant Mitch Maxwell of the Cheyenne Police Department, who assisted with expertise on ballistics, weaponry and law enforcement procedure.
Much of the background for actual ecoterrorist groups came from Bruce Barcott's article "Stalking the Ecoterrorists: The Secret Life and Prying Times of Barry Clausen," which appeared in the October 2000 issue of Outside.
A wealth of appreciation for Martha Bushko, my editor extraordinaire; Ken Siman, publicist extraordinaire; and G. P Putnam's Sons for its encouragement and support. And, of course, for Andy Whelchel, my agent and fishing partner.
A place called Saddlestring does exist, but it is a tiny post office located on a historic ranch, not a real Wyoming community The fictional Saddlestring, Wyoming, is an amalgam of at least three different towns.
Part One.
1
Largdee national forest,
June 10
ON THE THIRD DAY OF THEIR HONEYMOON, infamous environmental activist Stewie Woods and his new bride, Annabel Bellotti, were spiking trees in the forest when a cow exploded and blew them up. Until then, their marriage had been happy
They met by chance. Stewie Woods had been busy pouring bag after bag of sugar and sand into the gasoline tanks of a fleet of pickups in a newly graded parking lot that belonged to a natural gas exploration crew The crew had left for the afternoon for the bars and hotel rooms of nearby Henry's Fork. One of the crew had returned unexpectedly and caught Stewie as he was ripping the top off a bag of sugar with his teeth. The crew member pulled a 9mm semiautomatic from beneath the dashboard of his truck and fired several wild shots in Stewie's direction. Stewie dropped the bag and ran away, crashing through the timber like a bull elk.
Stewie had outrun and out juked the man with the pistol when he literally tripped over Annabel as she sunbathed nude on the grass in an orange pool of late afternoon sun, who was unaware of his approach because she was listening to Melissa Ethridge on her Walkman. She looked good, he thought, strawberry blonde hair with a two-day Rocky Mountain fire-engine tan (two hours in the sun at 8,000 feet created a sunburn like a whole day at the beach), small ripe breasts, and a trimmed vector of pubic hair.
