"Charles Stross - Red, Hot and Dark" - читать интересную книгу автора (Stross Charles)

Frightened, he looked over his shoulder, but only a bust of Lenin was watching. He
scooped up the bundle and began to squeeze it into his brief-case. Half-way through the
process he discovered that it wasn't going to fit unless he emptied the case first; he
up-ended it over the carpet. Anatoly watched with what Ol
g assumed to be amused tolerance. He had to leave out the confidential papers, the ones
about Krasnoyarsk, but finally everything fit together and he bent down to close his
case.

Behind him, Anatoly cleared his throat. "There's something you should know, professor."

Oleg turned to Anatoly, who stood behind him, and sniffed, although he could tell
perfectly well what was happening. His guts loosened abruptly. "What's going on? Where
did you get that gun?" He tried to conceal his dismay as his companion stared at him.
"What's happening?"

"This way, academician." The gun was small, oily-looking, the hole in its muzzle horribly
dark; he could see the rifling in the barrel, which pointed straight at him. "Your services
are required. Happenings more significant than the current ... ruckus, are being expedited
under cover of the confusion. Events of cosmic importance. You could say the trigger
just fell into our hands." Anatoly -- the being who wore the student Anatoly's face --
gestured Oleg backwards.

Oleg glanced left and right, but there was no way out. He backed slowly towards the
door. The stranger was holding his brief-case, and Oleg had a gut-deep feeling that his
living cooperation was not essential. "What do you want with me?" he whispered.

"Just cooperate. Through the door. Into the lift."

The lift grilles rattled open behind him. The gunman crowded in close, thrusting the
muzzle of his weapon into a coat pocket to conceal it from by-standers. "Press the first
floor button."

Oleg did as he was told, obedient, tense, knees trembling. "What are you doing?" he
mumbled.

"Taking you somewhere safe." Anatoly sounded bored by the question.

"But -- this is crazy! Why are you kidnapping me? Who are you?"

The rough walls of the lift shaft rose up on either side. "Don't be naive, Oleg. You made a
bargain years ago. Your research to be allowed to continue, with our support, in return
for obedience -- when the time came. And what happens? You call your KGB kitten!
That's not what I call obedience. And the falsehoods you've been feeding us this past
year have not amused us greatly. Anyone would think you were trying to play a two-way
game ... and you know what happens to people who get caught in the middle."

The lift came to a stop. Oleg looked around frantically. The lobby outside the elevator
cage was deserted but for four Interior Ministry soldiers, rifles at the ready. One of them
crossed the floor and pulled the doors open. Anatoly gestured him back with his free
hand. "Forward, professor. We have a long journey ahead of us." He smiled as one of