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

two cups rightside up. He filled them and then
set the pot down. Then he stirred a half
packet of sugar into his own cup, raised it, and
sipped. He continued to stare at Rodgers through the
steam. The general didn't look up.
"Mike?"
"Yeah."
BALANCE OF POWER 27
"This is no good."
Rodgers raised his eyes. "What? The lo mein?"
August was caught off guard. He grinned.
"Well, that's a start. First joke you've made
since-when? The twelfth grade?"
"Something like that," Rodgers said sullenly. He
idly picked up his cup and took a sip of tea.
He held the cup by his lips and stared down
into it. "What's there been to laugh about since then?"
"Plenty, I'd say."
"Like what?"
"How about weekend passes with the few friends you've
managed to hold on to. A couple of jazz
clubs you told me about in New Orleans, New
York, Chicago. Some damn fine movies. More
than a few nice ladies. You've had some real
nice things in your life."
Rodgers put the cup down and shifted his body
painfully. The burns he'd suffered during
torture at the hands of the Kurds in the Bekaa were
a long way from healing, though not so long as the
emotional wounds. But he refused to lie on his sofa
and rust.
"Those things are all diversions, Brett. I love
'em, but they're solace. Recreation."
"Since when are solace and recreation bad things?"
"Since they've become a
reason
for living instead of the reward for a job well done,"
Rodgers said.
"Uh oh," August said.
"Uh oh is right," Rodgers replied.
August had sunk a hose into a cesspool
and Rodgers had obviously decided to let some of the
raw sewage out.
"You want to know why I can't relax?" Rodgers
28 OP-CENTER
said. "Because we've become a society that lives
for the weekend, for vacations, for running away from
responsibility. We're proud of how much
liquor we can hold, of how many women we can charm
our way into bed with, of how well our sports teams