"Clancy, Tom - Op-Center 05 - Ballance of Power" - читать интересную книгу автора (Clancy Tom)

she wondered impertinently as the man ambled toward
her. Aideen decided to let Martha handle this one and
she started to turn away. As she did, Aideen
noticed a car pulling up to the curb behind the man.
The black sedan didn't so much arrive as edge
forward, as though it had been waiting down the block.
Aideen stopped turning. The world around her suddenly
seemed to be moving in slow motion. She watched as the
young man pulled what looked like a pistol from inside
his jacket.
Aideen experienced a moment of paralytic
disbelief. It passed quickly as her training took
over.
"Fusilar!"
she shouted. "Gunman!"
Martha turned toward her as the gun jerked with
booming cracks and dull flares. Martha was thrown
against the booth and then dropped to her side as Aideen
jumped in the opposite direction. Her thinking was
to draw the man's fire away from Martha. She
succeeded. As Aideen dove for the pavement, a
startled young mailman who was walking in front of her
stopped, stared, and took a bullet in his left
thigh. As his leg folded and he pitched forward, a
second bullet
16 OR-CENTER
hit his side. He landed on his back and Aideen
dropped flat beside him. She lay as low as she could
and as close to him as she could as he writhed in
agony. As bright blood pumped from his side, she
reached over and pressed her palm to the wound. She
hoped that pressure would help stanch the bleeding.
Aideen lay there, listening. The popping had stopped
and she raised her head carefully. As she watched,
the car pulled from the curb. When people began to scream in
the distance, Aideen rose slowly. She kept up
pressure on the man's wound as she got on her
knees.
"Ayuda!"
she yelled to a security guard who had run up to the
gate at the Congress of Deputies.
"Help!"
The man unlocked the gate and rushed over. Aideen
told him to keep pressure on the wound. He did
as he was told and Aideen rose. She looked
back at the booth. The sentry was crouched there,
shouting into the phone for assistance. There were people across the
street and in the road. The only ones left in
front of the palace were Aideen, the man beside her, the
guard-and Martha.