"Paul Preuss - Secret Passages" - читать интересную книгу автора (Preuss Paul)

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Paul Preuss
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 1
A
t the edge of a high terrace, under a grape arbor supported on slender columns, two
men sat watching the autumn twilight. Below them the lights of Athens rippled in
the thick-ening haze; the shadow of the Acropolis rose like a stone ship on a
phosphorescent sea.

“The fellow was competent enough, occasionally creative,” said the taller man.
Manolis Minakis poured brandy into bal-loon glasses and slid one across the marble
tabletop. “It wasn’t a complete waste of time.”

“You said the same thing about Ostrovsky when you gave him the sack.”
Richard Wingate was small and neat, with man-icured nails and graying hair trimmed
close to the skull.

“Bloodless characters, with passion only for their next pub-lications,” Minakis
replied.

“Ambitious youngsters, rather, not religious acolytes. And they agreed to help
you, despite the absurdly remote location and your insistence on secrecy.”

Minakis raised his glass—”Yeia sas, Richard”—and leaned back comfortably,
his blue cotton sweater draped loosely over his shoulders. “It’s good of you to
defend them. And they did teach me an important lesson.”

“Which is?”

“That I need something more than a bright young experi-mentalist.”

Wingate’s laugh was dry. “You need a disciple.”

Minakis did not reply, but studied the purpling sky through the curve of his
glass. Behind him, over the tile roof, a pale glow in the sky announced a fat moon
rising.’

“Who’s the next candidate?” Wingate busied himself light-ing a thin black
cigar with a cylindrical brass lighter. “I’m sure you have someone in mind.”

“I’m thinking of Peter Slater. Presently in Hawaii.”

“Slater. Really.” Wingate blew a thin stream of smoke. “How do you propose
to lure him away from his comfortable position to follow you into the desert?”
 Minakis grinned, baring white teeth under a broad gray mus-tache. “There ate
signs that, like Saul on the road to Damascus, Peter Slater has recently undergone a