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

only a delay. If the girl proved false or useless to him anyway, she would
still have to be removed.




Chapter 7
«^»
Amber was dozing, forehead to her knees, folded up in the corridor like a
chair someone had tossed carelessly aside. The rank scent of Thraks wafted
over her and she heard their constant clicking become agitated chatter
through her half-dreams. Doors opened and the sounds awakened her fully.

She had lifted her head, wincing as a neck muscle kinked. She had done
vigils in worse places by far, on concrete and permaplast streets without soul
or hope, in backwater holes with murderers skulking about, on faraway
worlds where, even surrounded by friends, the agony of waiting for Jack to
return was almost too much to bear.

But this morning's vigil had worn her out in a way no other had, and as
she met the stare of the nurse standing across the corridor, she gleaned no
comfort from the man's words.

"He's out of it. A couple of hours on dialysis and we'll be able to let
visitors in."

Amber got to her feet, slender legs unfolding to hold her, unaware of the
technician's masculine reaction to her grace. She carefully rubbed the sleep
from one eye. "How is he?"

"A little disoriented. We put a piggyback on his tape to bring him up to
date—it's been twenty-seven years since that imprint was made."

Weariness fled. "You did what?"

The nurse looked over his shoulder. His bulk blocked the lab door very
effectively, and he listened to something happening behind him, before he
looked back to her. His jaw set. "We added on a short orientation tape."

"I know what you meant. Who the hell authorized that?"

"Pepys," the nurse said. With that, he backed up and the door slid shut.
Hard glittering eyes watched her until the barrier sealed them off.

"Shit," Amber muttered, and clenched one fist. The Thraks in the
corridor came to attention, their facial masks pulling into Kabuki contortions
of expression. Jack had once taught her how to read them and she now saw
aggression and command. "Don't worry, boys," she said aloud, wondering
what Pepys had done. "But I suggest, for your own good, there be a
changing of the guard before Jack comes out of that lab. He doesn't like