"Clancy, Tom - Net Force 02 - Hidden Agendas" - читать интересную книгу автора (Clancy Tom)

Michaels stood.
"I'll take it in my office." He waved at
Jay and Toni.
"Get busy, folks."
Chaapter 2
Friday, December 17th, 1:45 p.m.
Washington, D.c.
Thomas Hughes strode into the senatorial
offices as if he owned them, the building they were in,
and the city around them. He waved at the receptionist.
"Bertha. Is he alone?"
"Yes, sir, Mr. Hughes."
Hughes nodded. He'd known Bertha for more than a
dozen years. She'd been with Bob since his first
term, but she still called him "Mr. Hughes," and he
had not encouraged otherwise.
He walked to the inner office door, rapped
once, and pushed it open in the same motion.
Jason Robert White, fifty-six, the
senior United States senator from the great state
of Ohio, sat at his desk. He was playing a
computer game.
He looked up and started to frown at the
interruption before he realized who had dared barge in.
"Hey, Tom." White did a finger wave over
the sensor on his hand pad and the small-scale
holoproj images froze. It looked like two
guys in hand-to-hand combat, one of whom was green and
scaly. Jesus.
"Bob. How'd the lunch with Hicks go?"
Hughes moved to the pale gray leather couch, sat,
and looked at the man for whom he worked.
White appeared ten years younger than his actual
age, with a deep chemical tan under his perfectly
styled, artfully graying hair. He wore a
dark-blue tailored Saigon suit, a
pastel-pink silk shirt, and a striped regimental
tie for a regiment that had never existed. Hughes
couldn't see his feet, but the shoes were doubtless
Italian or Australian, and handmade. Altogether,
the outfit the senator wore offhandedly was
worth what Hughes made in salary each month,
easy. He was the image of a successful senator,
handsome, fit, and comfortable in his custom clothes, no
doubt about it. He could play a Viennese waltz
on the piano, speak passable French and German,
keep up with a so-so tennis pro, and break a
hundred on a bad day at the country club golf
course. A man who could walk the corridors of
international power with ease.