"Doohan, James & Stirling, S M - Flight Engineer 02 - The Privateer 1.0" - читать интересную книгу автора (Doohan James)

"Y'know what you oughta do," Sjarhir said.

Raeder looked at him. "No," he answered. "What?"

"You ought to volunteer for some spectacular mission. When you come back
they'd never dare to send you to a desk job."

Peter snorted and grinned. He held up a hand as featureless as a rubber
glove. "First, this is the sort of thing that gets you rejected when you
try for that kind of mission. Second, where am I going to find this
mission, volunteer, and be accepted in time to overrule Grettirson's
ardent desire to make a scapegoat out of me tomorrow morning?"

The captain smiled slowly and in a way that filled Raeder's stomach with
ice. He could almost hear the Indonesian thinking, "Gotcha!"

I should not have serious conversations with strangers after the third
Glenlivet, he thought.

"If it's convenient," Sjarhir suggested, "I could take you to someone who
can help you right now."

"Who?" Raeder asked, suspecting with dawning horror who it had to be.

"Marine General Scaragoglu." Sjarhir's dark eyes were inscrutable and his
face was as bland as dry toast.

Even expecting to hear that name, a cold ball of panic flashed into being
in Raeder's stomach. Get a grip, he ordered himself. You've only got two
choices. One: let Grettirson ship you back to Earth in disgrace. Two: go
have a look at whatever rattlesnake Scaragoglu is passing around. I mean,
how bad can it be? I can always turn it down.

"C'mon," Sjarhir urged, "what have you got to lose just by listening?
Besides, the general's whiskey is better than this slop."

"Then by all means," Peter said, rising, "lead the way, Captain."

CHAPTER TWO

Lieutenant Commander Sarah James tapped her fingers on the arm of her
chair and recrossed her long legs yet again. She knew her fidgeting was
distracting to the captain's secretary but simply couldn't stop it;
waiting in offices wasn't her forte.

Odd, considering that as a WACCI pilot (the acronym stood for Warning,
Assessment, Control, Command, Information) a lot of her working life
demanded waiting in perfect stillness. And James was extremely good at her
job.