"Charles Ingrid - The Sand Wars 06 - Challenge Met" - читать интересную книгу автора (Ingrid Charles)

see through its panels. "The doctors should be done with him soon. I came
down to tell you the tape has been updated successfully."

The hammering faltered badly. She swallowed to hide the flutter of pain
it caused. "Then there's nothing to stop the imprinting."

"Nothing but Commander Storm himself, if the doctors pass him."
Vandover turned, aware that he'd drawn her attention back to him.

Amber met his burning stare defiantly. She said nothing.

The minister thinned his lips with a semblance of a smile. "The
mind-loop of a seventeen-year-long cold sleep must be a formidable
experience. I myself find it hard to believe that he volunteered for this. A
most unusual reward for the task Pepys has asked of him, don't you think?"

Amber could feel her emotions seething, boiling just under her skin, but
she lifted her chin and said coldly, "You might find it… difficult. Jack might
find it gratifying."

Vandover laced his fingers together. They made a pale steeple against the
unrelieved darkness of his robes. "Never doubt that Pepys wants Colin
found. No one wishes the holy war of revenge that will result unless the
man is brought back. Even I." He paused a moment longer. "I came to ask
you for your aid."

"Me? What could you possibly want from me?"

"Commander Storm's passion to regain his past is second only to his
passion for you. I want you to sway him, milady. Convince him that he may
be crippling himself by imprinting the tape before he undertakes his mission
to find St. Colin. Convince him to wait… until later."

Or until you can destroy the tape, Amber thought, but did not say aloud.
"We went through hell to find this tape."

"Indeed. Through that and Green Shirts…" Vandover paused, as though
naming yet another dissident faction left a bad taste in his mouth. "And it is,
unless I am mistaken, a tape of a man going through yet another hell. We
need Commander Storm sound in mind and body."

"St. Colin has disappeared so well that not one of the thousand
under-ministers of his church know where he could possibly be. I don't
think I can ask Jack not to have his memories restored before he goes after
him. It wouldn't be fair… I couldn't do that to him." Amber fought a
desperate battle to keep her voice cool, free of emotion. If Vandover wanted
him to avoid the tape, all the more reason Jack needed it.

She would not let herself look at Baadluster, but she knew he watched
her avidly. She could feel his stare burning into her.