"Steve Perry - The Man Who Never Missed" - читать интересную книгу автора (Perry Steven)

"I'll send a quad for you, stay where you are."
Naturally, Khadaji thought, the call would be traced, but it wasn't going to
be played that way. "I would rather not be a target," Khadaji said. "I'll get
to yqur office on my own. But if word gets out, I'm a dead man. This is
between the two of us, no one else."

"My word," Befal Creg said.

"I am on my way."

Khadaji's grin broadened as he broke the connection. The Old Man would be
scrambling already, getting stress analyzers set up, recorders checked, drugs
and electropophy gear brought to his office. A commander of ten thousand men
would hardly be careless when it involved something this major. Khadaji
expected no less. By the time he left the Jade Flower, probably a dozen quads
would have been corn-dispatched to collect him.

The first quad found him within two minutes. Another joined for backup. Five
men and three women formed a circle around Khadaji and escorted him to the
Befalhavare's office, alert for any attacks by the Shamba Scum. Khadaji
allowed himself a short laugh.

The security at the C.O.'s office was impressive. Fifty troopers, half in
class three armor, and a ground-effect spin-gun guarded the building. The Scum
weren't going to storm this building. Khadaji kept his face impassive as he
was marched into the hard foam structure. Of course, the Scum didn't have to
storm the building....

Khadaji was checked for weapons; he emptied his pockets—he only had a pack of
flicksticks and some change, which he handed to the Lojt in charge—was
hand-searched, then walked past a fluroproj to double check that he had no
material secreted in his clothes or body cavities.

"Clean," the tech said, looking at the proj.

The Lojt handed the flicksticks and money back to Khadaji. Khadaji extended
the pack toward the officer. "Like a smoke?"

"No, sir. Not on duty."

"For later, maybe?"

The officer hesitated a moment, then shook his head. "Better not. Go ahead in,
sir."

Inside, there was at least a pretense of privacy; Creg sat behind his desk,
and the two men were alone in the room.

"Sit," Creg ordered.