"Charles Ingrid - The Sand Wars 05 - Return Fire" - читать интересную книгу автора (Ingrid Charles)

The sandy-haired man grimaced. "He'll have to stand in line behind
Pepys and Baadluster and half a dozen others."

Colin took a step, heard the grinding of shards underfoot and looked
down. He seemed to realize for the first time that he'd dropped his cup.
With a dismayed cluck, he bent over and began to pick up the pieces,
muttering, "Genuine porcelain."

"Does Denaro still have his armor?"

"No. Baadluster keeps an iron grip on the equipment. If there's any black
market to be had, he probably runs it." Colin straightened, his attention still
on the fragments in the palm of his hand. He stirred them. He looked up
suddenly, with renewed fire in his brown eyes. "What do the Green Shirts
say about me?"

"I was told to tell you I deal in artifacts, and that you might know a
broker."

The fire quieted. "Ah. I do know a thief or two in that area. Did they
intimate I was a Shirt?"

"No. And that I was to use discretion in inquiring." Jack tilted his head to
one side, eyeing the Walker saint.

"And well you might, this or any other time." Colin cleared his throat in
satisfaction. "I do not collude with the enemy!"

"You don't have to tell me that. But as to brokers—"

Colin closed his fist over the shards of porcelain he held. "Unfortunately,
religious artifacts are bought and sold like any other commodity. Well, the
best man I know is a real scoundrel in under-Malthen, a man named
Gibbon."

Jack nodded in satisfaction, saying, "Then that's probably the man I
need." He began to fade back into the long shadows from which he'd
emerged.

Colin looked up abruptly. "Will you be buying or selling?"

"Selling," the man answered. "As soon as I steal two suits of armor."

"Your price of initiation. You know what the Shirts can do with weaponry
like that."

"All I need to do is get in, make the contacts I need, and get out. I won't
leave functional armor behind. You won't believe how difficult it is to man a
suit unless you've been well-trained."