Читать книгу Аэропорт / Аirport онлайн | страница 11
Being recalled to the airport after performing a full day’s work was not a new experience, but tonight the weather was worse than any other occasion he remembered. Traffic was moving at a crawl, or not at all. Both his own car and the one immediately ahead had been stationary for several minutes.
Five minutes went by. Ahead, Joe Patroni could see people getting out of cars and walking forward.
Someone shouted, “There’s been an accident. It’s a real mess.”
A large, dark shadow ahead proved to be a massive tractor-trailer unit on its side. The cumbersome eighteen-wheeled vehicle was spread across the road, blocking all traffic movement.
Two state police patrol cars were at the scene. They were questioning the truck driver, who appeared unhurt.
“All I did was touch the goddam brakes,” the driver protested loudly.
A tow truck, amber roof-beacon flashing, approached, moving slowly, on the opposite side of the obstruction.
Joe Patroni shoved forward. He puffed on his cigar, which glowed redly in the wind, and prodded the state trooper sharply on the shoulder. “Listen, son, you’ll never move that with one tow truck.”
“First, mister, there’s spilled gasoline around here. You’d better get that cigar out.”
Patroni ignored the instruction, as he ignored almost all smoking regulations. He waved the cigar toward the overturned tractor-trailer. “What’s more, son, you’d be wasting everybody’s time, including mine and yours, trying to get that hunk of junk right side up tonight. You’ll have to drag it clear so traffic can move, and to do that you need two more tow trucks.” He began moving around, using his electric lantern to inspect the big vehicle from various angles. As always, when considering a problem, he was totally absorbed.
Ten minutes later, working with the police officers, Joe Patroni had virtually taken charge. Helping to clear the blocked highway, he calculated, was the fastest means of getting there.
5
As Mel drove out of the terminal, wind and whirling snow slammed savagely against the car’s windshield.