"Дон Пендлтон. Blood Sport ("Палач" #46) " - читать интересную книгу автора

the man and rape of the woman. A sharp knife or razor was used on both,
particularly around the face. Fortunately they were both dead before some of
the other atrocities were committed, including the gouging of the eyes.
Unfortunately, they were alive for the rest".
Brognola crumpled up the report in his hands and tossed it savagely
into a corner of the operations room.
"Well, some men don't scare that easily," he said.
"You mean Mack doesn't," said April, the sadness in her voice an almost
tangible thing. "You mean that Mack will ignore the demented actions of
animals because the mission calls for nothing less. Hal, sometimes we ask
Mack to go against every natural law there is."
"April, listen to me," said Brognola, attending to some of the
paperwork that lay before him on top of the low computer cabinet, his head
bent with a stubborn concentration on other matters. "Striker has had plenty
of practice breaking the law these past ten years. Let's pray he can bend a
few natural ones now that the circumstances require it. Enough said. Now
back to our duties. I cannot bear to dwell on things that neither you nor I
can bend at all."
April looked at her superior with impatient acceptance. Pray was right.
Pray for a sane world and a job that did not lick at the salt of death. Such
a world, such a job, could happen at any time. Just as soon as hell froze.
Let us pray, she said in silence, for flames of ice and an end to war
everlasting.
Could be that hell hath no fury like this woman's prayer...

5

Klaus brought his arm down with the fluid motion he had perfected over
countless similar moves. The knife left his hand, spinning toward Bolan's
back like an airplane propeller that had broken free. To Klaus it was an
ordinary mathematical equation: Knife leaving his hand equals dead man, But
Bolan was not an ordinary man. And this was far from the first time he had
cheated fate.
Bolan exposed his back for only the fraction of a second he knew it
would take Klaus to whip out and throw the knife. As the blade left Klaus's
fingertips, Bolan dropped like lightning into a tuck, turn and roll. He
heard the crash as the blade sliced through the window glass. He came out of
his roll with one knee to the ground and both hands gripped around the
Firebird. Bolan squeezed the trigger twice and watched the front of Klaus's
chest collapse. Klaus staggered forward, his upper body a growing jelly of
blood. Bolan fired two more direct shots into the dying man's lung and
kidney. Then he swung the Firebird toward Tanya like a rigid finger of
damnation. But she stood immobile, a bored expression on her face as Klaus
crashed to the floor.
"Is this absolutely necessary, Grendal?" she asked petulantly.
"Hell, no," muttered Bolan, "not if I have no objection to a slice of
steel sticking out of my back."
She stared at Bolan as the corpse at her feet bubbled blood in a pool
between them. "Yes, well, I detest stupidity," she said with some
difficulty. "And Klaus was stupid beyond my expectations."