"Mack Reynolds - Ability Quotient" - читать интересную книгу автора (Reynolds Mack)

"Why? Jim's the best."
 She sighed and said, "I have to look up twice to see the top of him."

He was unhappy, but there was nothing to say. Jim Hawkins had
always had hard luck with his women— the women he was serious about.
Practically all men liked him. Well, practically all women liked him too,
but those who had really mattered to him didn't go further than that; they
only liked him.

They were coming up to the high-rise building that contained their
respective apartments. They were silent now. At the elevator banks, she
turned to him and extended her hand again. "Nice to have met you, Bert,
Jim has mentioned you, more than once."

He stared at the elevator door which closed behind her. In the past,
when Jim Hawkins had come up with a new girl he was hot about, Bert
Alshuler had steered clear. He didn't know if he was going to be able to do
it this time, or not.

Chapter Three
He entered an empty elevator and said into the screen, "Sixty-third
floor."

He was still bemused, thinking of Jim and the girl, when he reached his
floor and walked down the corridor to his door. The door screen picked
him up upon approach and opened, and he was in the small living
room-cum-bedroom-cum-kitchenette before the other had any indication
of his approach.

Bert Alshuler stopped abruptly. "Looking for something?" he snapped.

The stranger had been bent over one of his suitcases, rummaging
through it. He came erect and faced the apartment's tenant, his face
embarrassed.

He was a fraction smaller than Bert which made him about five-eight,
about one-fifty and he looked to be in his middle thirties which gave him
almost another ten years. He was dressed well but conservatively by
present day standards, and was obviously no ordinary prowler.

Bert said, "How in the hell did you get in here?"
 The stranger sat down on the couch which became a bed at night and
looked defiant. He said, "What did you discuss with Professor Katz? I
came to find what you discussed with Katz."

"Did you expect to find it in my suitcase?"

"I thought I might find some indication. What did he want of you?"