"Lee Edgar - The Andromeda Trial" - читать интересную книгу автора (Edgar Lee)

‘You make me sound like some kind of marine commando.’
‘I didn’t mean to. However, when you turned Wayfarer Two into a thermonuclear bomb to
neutralise the black hole, you did the whole universe a favour.’
‘Okay, you’ve convinced me. Wine me and dine me.’
A mischievous smile touched his lips. ‘I had a little more than that in mind. I
booked a room at the hotel we stayed at before.’
She turned to face him. ‘But I have to be back early in the morning.’
‘It won’t hurt to take a day off. Juanita can cover for you.’
‘It‘s not that simple.’
‘Yes, it is. I’ve booked a day off so that we can spend the whole day together if we
want to.’
‘I have to be there,’ she said, looking down at her hands in her lap.
‘You take your work too seriously,’ he said a little sarcastically.
She turned towards him again, her eyes pleading. ‘Don’t let us fight, not tonight.’
Mike was silent for a moment but then sighed. ‘Okay. We wine and dine and forget the
hotel.’
‘Don’t you dare.’
‘What?’
‘We’ll have a couple of hours to spare, won’t we?’ she said cheekily.
He glanced at her quickly. ‘A hundred pound room for two hours?’
‘Don’t you think I’m worth it?’
He grinned. ‘Okay, you convinced me. Two hours, best of three rounds. Satisfied?’
‘No. But I guess I will be by morning.’

THE man in the raincoat watched as the couple entered the hotel later, laughing and
giggling like teenagers on their first date. He saw the length of Cassi’s dress, the
look in Mike’s eyes. He saw them enter the lift, deep in passionate embrace before the
doors had properly closed. He smiled and then dialled on his phone.
‘Go!’ was all he said.
 ΦΡ Ι∆ Α Ψ
Cassi yawned as the helicopter rose into the dawn sky. Few clouds dotted the rosy
eastern horizon as Mike headed north-west, his tie undone. He glanced over at his wife
in the other seat while she stretched, her arms high above her head.
He grinned. ‘Good grief, you look sexy, even early in the morning.’
‘Without having had a wink of sleep and with my hair all over the place?’
He jerked his head towards her short black dress. ‘You’ll knock the lads cold in that
outfit.’
‘I’m not giving them the chance. Drop me near the gym and I’ll get changed before I
face the rabble.’ She looked at her watch. ‘Damn, I’m going to be late.’
Mike grinned. ‘It was worth it, wasn’t it?’
Cassi sighed. ‘Yes, I suppose so.’
‘Thank you very much,’ he scolded playfully. ‘Is that all the thanks I get?’
She looked round at him. ‘Until tonight - yes.’
‘Looks good, doesn’t it?’ Mike said after a while, pointing ahead to Europoort.
Beside the wide Maas estuary was the flat space terminal and, dead centre, the launch
complex itself. Off to the left, between the sea and Brielle harbour, was the long pair
of wide runways. As they watched, a Lunar shuttle rolled along the north one, seemingly
too big to leave the ground, much less fly to the moon. As they curved round the south
of the complex in normal security approach pattern, the shuttle accelerated rapidly and
pulled up into the sky, its rocket boosters pushing it up at a forty-five degree angle.