"Дон Пендлтон. California Hit ("Палач" #11) " - читать интересную книгу автора

The girl smiled and actually dropped her eyes. In a small voice, she
said, "I've really turned you all the way off, haven't I."
He said, "Yeah, all the way."
"Well what else can you expect? I mean, that's the kind of broad I am.
Right?"
He told her, "I hope not."
"Well... not deep down. I mean, not down where it really counts. I
guess I just got turned off on myself, huh? I mean, when you ball six or
seven hours a day on scummy sheets under bright lights with the whole world
watching you... well I guess you sort of get turned off on yourself."
Bolan said, "I guess you could."
"We only do it when we need the bread. We - Panda and me - we live over
in Sausalito. Us and a bunch of other lads. On a houseboat."
He said, "Okay."
"I haven't had a good ballin' since I started this crummy business. I
guess I'm just turned all the way down."
"Too much honesty, maybe," Bolan quietly suggested.
"Huh?"
"Romance is a system of tender deceits. Right? Even the beasts of the
field go through courtship rituals. You know?"
She said, "Right, right, I know."
Bolan ended an embarrassed silence with, "Uh, Mary Ching is bringing
some people over here in a little while. Maybe you girls would rather not be
around during that. It just could get rough."
The girl said, "Right, right. I guess we'd better split."
"Don't, uh, don't mention seeing me, Cynthey. Okay?"
"Right, right."
"I'll go outside and let you girls have some privacy."
"Oh sure. Say, uh... Executioner... I'll be at the flick studio up on
Geary for the next few days, eight to five. If you, uh, have time..."
"I'll try," he promised.
The other girl was watching him over the edge of her blanket. She sat
up suddenly, holding the cover close to her, and said, "Cynthey, don't get
yourself involved with this guy. You know what he is."
Cynthey was giving Bolen a dewey-eyed look.
He sighed and said, "Both of you keep clear. And if you like Mary
Ching, then don't breathe a word linking me to her. It could mean her life.
Right?"
He got up and went out, slinging the machine-pistol over his shoulder
and blending into the darkness of the hallway to await a meeting with
"allies."
The two girls came out a few minutes later and hurried down the stairs.
They did not see Bolan and they were arguing about something in angry
whispers.
Panda Bare and Cynthia.
Bolan grinned sadly and shook his head.
Yeah. San Francisco was some kind of town.
As he waited in the darkness, he decided that maybe the old city was
over-infested with too many diverging ideas of "honesty."
Maybe the golden city could use a bit of romantic deceit, some good,