"Harry Harrison - Rebel in Time" - читать интересную книгу автора (Harrison Harry)

guard with sergeant's stripes on his sleeves stepped forward when the vehicle ground to a stop. The
colonel stepped down then pointed to his watch. 'What do you think of six minutes, nine and three-tenths
seconds from the time I went into the woods from the road until the time I was intercepted?'

'I don't think very much of that at all, Colonel McCulloch,' the sergeant said.

'Neither do I, Greenbaum, neither do I. I was halfway to the lab before the guard turned up. If I had
been an intruder I could have done a lot of interesting things in that time. Do you have anything to say?'

'No, sir.'

'Do you have any questions?'

'No, sir.'

'None? Aren't you interested in how I got as far as the fence without being detected?'

'I am, sir.'

'Good.' Colonel McCulloch nodded as he would at an idiot child. 'But your interest is a little late,
sergeant. Exactly one week too late. That's how long ago I noticed that a newly fallen tree had blocked
part of the field of vision of one of the remote TV cameras. I waited one week for you or one of your
men to notice it. None of you did. I therefore arranged this demonstration to show just how lax security is
around here.'

'I'll see that it's tightened up, colonel…'

'No, you won't, Greenbaum. Someone else will. You are losing those stripes, taking a salary cut to
match, and a reprimand goes into your record…'

'No, it doesn't, McCulloch. Because I'm quitting this job. I'm through.'

McCulloch nodded agreement. 'Yes, you are through. And you have just described yourself as well. A
quitter. You quit after serving twenty years in the Army too. Now you're quitting—'

'Bullshit, colonel, if you will excuse the expression.' Greenbaum glowered in anger, fists clenched. 'I got
out of the service to get away from chickenshits like you. But I just didn't get far enough away. You're in
charge of security at this lab. Which means you got responsibilities too. If you gave a shit you would have
reported that tree. We're supposed to be in this together, you're supposed to help us. Not pull this Boy
Scout and Indian crap. Well I'm getting just as far away from that kind of stuff as I can. Beginning right
now.'

He turned and stamped away. McCulloch watched him go in silence. Only when Greenbaum was out of
sight did he turn to the silent guards.

'I want a written report on this exercise from each one of you. On my desk in the morning.' He waved
Lopez out of the jeep and took his place. 'Get me back to my car,' he told the driver, then turned to the
other guards as the engine started up. 'Every one of you is expendable. Screw up like Greenbaum and
you go just the way he did.'