"Ron Goulart - Conversations with My Knees" - читать интересную книгу автора (Goulart Ron)

****

Two tall men in dark suits were standing on our twilight doorstep. Both
had close-cropped blond hair and were in their early thirties.

The leaner of the pair inquired, politely, “Are you Mr. Frank Whitney?”

“Yeah, and who might—”

“I’m Agent Mickens with the National Counterspy Bureau.” He showed
me a plastic ID card with a holographic portrait of him included. As he tilted
it toward me his image took on a third dimension. “And this is Agent
Tubridy, also with the NCB.”

When Tubridy, the bulkier one, tilted his ID, the portrait remained
two-dimensional.

I was about to suggest they come into the living room, when I found
myself saying, “Nice try, buster, but no cheroot. That ID of yours is as
phony as a three-buck bill. It lacks the spread eagle and the Colonial flag
images that are supposed to appear behind your portrait.”

“Sir, I assure you that—”

“Looks to me, buddy boy,” I informed him, “like you’re actually in the
employ of some second-rate, low-budget Middle European nation with
delusions of grandeur.”

“In that case,” said the apparently spurious Mickens, “grab the
bastard, Bruno.”

The faux Tubridy leaped across our threshold, grabbing me in a very
impressive bear hug.

To my surprise, I kneed the big man in the groin, which caused him to
let go. I then grabbed his arm, applied some sort of martial arts grip, and
tossed him halfway across the room.

Bruno landed, hard, on Mavis’ Early American rocking chair.

The whole damn chair, which I’ve never much liked, collapsed under
him.

Discouraged, he got to his feet to go running across the living room.
He slid open the wide glass door to the deck and dived outside into the
approaching night.

Following, I tackled the big fake agent.

He fell with a substantial thunk, twisted free, and grabbed up Mavis’s