"Asprin, Robert - Myth 09 - M.Y.T.H Inc. In Action" - читать интересную книгу автора (Asprin Robert)

"Are you okay, Guido?" she sez, peerin' at me concerned- like. "You sound a little flat."

"I'm all right. I'll tell youse though, Tananda, this assignment is gettin' me down a little."

"Well cheer up, things may have been rocky so far, but working together, we should be able to make some pr ogress. Tell you what, find Nunzio and fill him in what we're doing. Then we'll meet back here and give it a try... Say, tomorrow night?"

"Sure, why not?"

"In the meantime," she sez, openin' her disguise mirror again and startin' to fiddle with the knobs, "Come on downstairs and I'll buy you a drink or two."

For a minute that sounds like a good idea. Then I remember Frumple.

"I think we'd better cool it, Tananda. We gotta be careful about how much we're seen together here."

"What do you mean?"

"The reason we're hangin' out here is we found out that the proprietor's a Deveel. The trouble is, he seems to know the boss and has some kind of grudge against him. So far, he doesn't know we're connected with the boss, but if he gets suspicious..."

"A Deveel?"

"Yeah. Says his name is Frumple."

"Frumple? So he's back in operation again, is he?"

"You know him?"

"Sure. He teamed up with Isstvan against us back when I first met Skeeve... And you're right, if he gets suspicious, a disguise spell wouldn't keep him from figuring out who I am."

"Maybe we should wait and try to run our gambit somewhere other than here, " I sez, tryin' to keep the hope out of my voice.

"No need, " Tananda grins. "As long as he doesn't make the connection between us beforehand, we should still be able to pull it off tomorrow night. In fact, it'll be killing two birds with one stone, in a manner of speaking. I Don't mind doing Frumple a bit of dirt in the course of action, but it' looks like his place will be at ground zero when the fireworks start. By the time he puts it together, we'll be long gone."

"Swell," I sez, with more enthusiasm than I am feelin'. "Then we're all set. Youse go ahead and leave first. I'll stay up here awhile and give youse a head start."

As soon as she is gone, I settle my self to try to sort out my misgivin's about how things are goin' on this assignment. It doesn't take long to figure out that I am sufferin' under a burden of conflictin' loyalties.

Youse may find this surprisin' from someone in my line of work, but loyalty and betrayin' trust counts very high up in my books... Which is one of the things I have always admired about the M.Y.T.H. Inc. crew as they all seem to value the same thing.


In the past, I've managed to balance my loyalties between the boss and the mob, as the strange approach the boss takes to things has not directly threatened any of the mob's interests. This current situational, however, is turnin' out to be a horse of a different caliber.

In plannin' to stir up trouble between the civilians and the army, I am violatin' the trust placed in me as a representative of the army... But I have managed to rationalize this as it is my reason for joinin' the army in the first place, so in this matter I am actin' kinda like a spy with my loyalty clearly with the boss.

Nunzio has convinced me that I am not violatin' my deal with Frumple by usin' his place as a site for our mischief, as it falls outside the agreement we made. This strikes me as a little shaky, but I can be flexible when the occasion calls for it.

This latest plan, though, of settin' up someone in your squad to be the fall guy is real hard to see as any thin' except betrayin' a friend. Still, Tananda is right... It is the best way to be sure that things go the way we want 'em to.

Thinkin' it over real hard, I finally come up with an answer : What I gotta do is think of it as a joke on a buddy. Okay, maybe it's a dubious joke... like pop pin' a paper bag behind someone who's gettin' ready to blow a safe... But as long as the notable in question does not end up permanently damaged or incarcerated as a result, it can be passed off as a joke.

Now, my only concern is tryin' to make sure that whoever we pick has a sense of humor... A real good sense of humor!