"Chalker, Jack L - G.O.D. Inc 3 - The Maze in the Mirror" - читать интересную книгу автора (Chalker Jack L)

all for them to know at this stage that Dash had been rescued nor just how much
Sam had already deduced. If he was there, then they would be there.
He would, of course, be walking straight into the lion's den without so much as
a whip and a chair, but he'd done that before. Brandy had done it a while back
and had wound up an addicted slave to these people, so he had no illusions about
them. Still, they had gone to such extraordinary lengths to have a talk with
him; it would be unthinkable to disappoint them.
After Dash finally got his kisses and hugs and went off to bed, he walked
upstairs and sat down on the bed.
"They want to meet me," he told her simply. "Tomorrow night. In the Labyrinth."
"Who? You don't mean . . ."
He nodded. "Them, yes. They think they still have Dash to hold over me and with
the kind of security clamp Bill's got down I suspect they won't know for a while
until and unless I tell them."
"But-Sam, you can't go. Not now. They got nothin' to hold over you no more.
Nothin'! You walk in there and they'll have you cold. Hypnos, mind wringers,
drugs . . . You name it, they got it. You can't beat 'em on their own turf,
Sam."
"We have before," he reminded her. "There's no such thing as a perfect security
system. You know that. Sure, we've added a lot here and filled in the gaps and
the kind of attack they launched last week would be deadly for them to try again
now, but they could get in. A subtler approach. We can't keep Dash out of school
too long, and he's vulnerable. A double, a ringer, somebody you wouldn't think
twice of letting in the hosue would have you and Dash and everything else.
They've haunted us far too long. It's time to take the cross and the stake and
go down into the vampire's cellar once and for all."
"Let's just quit it, Sam. If we wasn't with the Company and didn't have no
substation and clearances and all that and were out of it we'd be no use to them
or nobody else. We got a ton of money. Go someplace like Fiji or Tahiti or
someplace else that's always warm and away from the world and just sleep and eat
and fish and swim and say the hell with it."
He shook his head sadly. "I don't think we can. I don't think either side would
just allow us to opt out, not now." He paused a moment. "I think it was the
aftermath, not the actual attack, that got me. That interrogation Bill Markham
did-I haven't been able to get it out of my mind."
She frowned. "What do you mean?"
"I sat there and watched him press buttons. Pain, pleasure. Watching that guy
just curl up in agony and then become so willing, so pliant, after just one
short shot of pleasure."
"The guy was a scumbag. A drug dealer, kidnapper, and worse. He deserved worse
than that."
"Yeah, he probably did, or does," Sam admitted. "The trouble was, I knew that
and I knew that bastard would have slit Dash's throat and rationalized it in his
twisted way just like he rationalizes shipping tons of addictive drugs to the
willing and eager youth and yuppies of America. That's why I enjoyed that pain
jolt. Really enjoyed it. I wanted him to get more than he got. And then,
suddenly, I couldn't remember which side I was on."
"What? What the hell you talkin' 'bout, Sam?"
"I couldn't remember which side. Suddenly I couldn't tell the two sides apart.
Torture, pleasure, pain, high technology, might makes right. Verdict first,