"Destroyer 052 - Fool's Gold.pdb" - читать интересную книгу автора (Williams Remo)

And then Wissex took out a map and showed where the woman and her bodyguards would be going. It was a small village in the Yucatan peninsula.
"They will be going to this village. Camping over probably. And then on to this area over here, where the woman may find an inscription. That might be the best point because they will all be concentrating on that inscription. Do you understand?"
"Spoken is done," said Mahatma.
There were other things Terri Pomfret didn't like besides heights and depths. She didn't like mosquitoes. Some said the Yucatan grew them with bellies like baseballs and beaks like railroad spikes.
"How come he isn't bothered? Or you?" she said to Remo. They had stopped four times for her to rest.
"Because, like the forces of the universe, mosquitoes respect the good," Chiun said. "However,
61
they do not bite Remo because I have taught him tricks."
"Teach me tricks," said Terri.
"Why?" said Chiun.
"Because I'm not going any farther unless you do," she said.
"Then sit and stay here. We have promised to keep you alive, not comfortable," Chiun said.
"Why did you have to say that to him?" Remo asked Terri,
"What difference does one more insult make in a life?" Chiun interrupted. "They are like the mosquitoes. Killing one does no good, nor is it missed."
"What insult? What insult did I say?" screamed Terri. Her skin bitten, her legs raw from the sweating pants, the jungle so humid it was like swimming; and now to top it all, the Oriental was angry at her.
"Well, you wouldn't think it's an insult," Chiun said.
"Of course I don't think it's an insult. I don't even know what it is," she said.
"How crude. How white," said Chiun.
"I didn't say it," Remo said.
"No. This time you didn't. But your friend did."
Remo was mad. Terri Pomfret wasn't his friend. She was a very talky professor who had to be escorted to some make-believe mountain of gold. But early on, when he had had trouble convincing her that she would be safe, Chiun had decided that she was Remo's friend. That way, he could add her actions to Remo's and keep brimming the bowl of the world's injustices to a land, decent old man
62
wishing only peace. It sometimes could keep Remo in line.
But this time, Remo had decided it was not his fault and she was not his responsibility. And he was going to do the job because it was his job. No more. She was not his friend, and he wouldn't take that baggage from Chiun. Even if she was attractive when she wasn't yelling as she was now.
"Will you, for heaven's sakes, please, please, please tell me what insult I committed. Just tell me. I won't do it again."
"It's nothing," said Chiun.
"No. Tell me. Please tell me. So I will never do it again."
"If you wish and only because you beg. I should be addressed as 'Gracious Master.''
"Certainly, Gracious Master. Absolutely, Gracious Master."
And Chiun raised a finger so that the long nail was perpendicular to his shoulder.
"Correct," he said. "See, Remo. I have just met this noisome woman and already she knows how to address me."
"I'm not calling you Gracious Master," Remo said.
"And after all I have given him," Chiun told Terri.
"Why don't you call him Gracious Master if that's all he wants?" Terri asked.
"You don't understand," Remo said. "Let's go."
"And now you're mad," Terri said to Remo.
"Sweetie, if you want to go through life with everyone liking you, better dig a hole and end it now because that isn't going to happen," he said.

63
Terri slapped her neck. There was another mosquito bite. Chiun picked three leaves and told Terri to chew them.
"The Chocatl chew them from birth and mosquitoes never bother them. A good people, the Chocatl. In your calendar of 907, we serviced the Chocatl, although they were somewhat poor. We took carvings instead of gold. The Incas had gold. The Mayans had gold. But not the Chocatl. But because they showed proper respect for a Master of Sinanju, we killed the evil king who was persecuting these good people. Even though they had no gold. Only carvings."
"That's a beautiful story. But I thought the Americas were only discovered in the 1400s," Terri said.
"By white men," Chiun explained.
"Why didn't you share your knowledge with the world?" Terri asked.
"Open up a market to competitors?" Chiun said.
"I think that is very beautiful about serving someone for only carvings because that was all they could afford. It makes even assassins look noble. Not that I have anything against what you do," Terri said.
"We are often misunderstood," said Chiun. He looked at Remo, but Remo was looking up ahead. This was supposed to be a village trail, yet there were no signs of anyone having walked the path in the last few hours-which they would certainly find if they were close to a village. There were no freshly snapped twigs or pressed foliage from feet that left ever-so-minute impressions on the cells of the leaves.
64
"Don't you think that is beautiful?" Terri asked Remo.
"About the carvings of the Chocatl?" Remo said.