"Smith, Wilbur - The Diamond Hunters" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith Wilbur)

The Diamond Hunters [047-066-4.8]

By: Wilbur Smith

Category: Fiction Adventure

Synopsis:

The jet was a solid eighteen-inch column, a pillar of brown mud and
yellow gravel and sea water that beat against the steel plates of the
hull with a hollow drumming roar. In the few seconds since the explosion
the cyclone room was already half-filled with a slimy shifting porridge
that rushed from wall to wall with the movement of the ship. It was
like some monstrous jelly fish which each second gathered weight and
strength.

Van der Byl Diamond Company, willed by its founder to his son Benedict,
urns out to be a bequest of hatred. For it is couched in such terms as
to offer him the instrument of destruction of his bitterest rival.
"Destroy Johnny" is the old man's implacable message. And so, consumed
with envy for his own foster-brother, Benedict sets out in ruthless
pursuit of this goal - and Johnny is plunged into a maelstrom of greed,
vengeance and murder. ...


His flight had been delayed for three hours at Nairobi, and despite four
large whiskies he slept only fitfully until the intercontinental
Boeing touched down at Heathrow. Johnny Lance felt as though someone had
thrown a handful of grit in each eye, and his mood was ugly as he came
through the indignity of Customs and Immigration into the main hall of
the international terminus.

The Van Der Byl Diamond Company's London agent was there to meet him.

"Pleasant trip, Johnny?"

"Like the one to Hell,"Johnny grunted.

"Good practice for you." The agent grinned. The two of them had seen
some riotous times together.

Reluctantly Johnny grinned back at him.

"You got me a room and a car?"

"Dorchester - and Jag." The agent handed over the car keys. "And I've
got two first-class seats reserved on tomorrow's nine o'clock flight
back to Cape Town. Tickets at the hotel reception desk."

"Good boy." Johnny dropped the keys into the pocket of his cashmere