"Джон Варли. Платежное поручение(engl) " - читать интересную книгу автора

Down below, like a tiny black bug, a Security cruiser moved along,
drifting silently with the traffic that flowed up and down the street. It
joined a second cruiser, already parked. Four SP men were standing by it in
their green uniforms, and even as he watched some more could be seen coming
from across the street. He let the blind down.
"It's a hard decision to make," he said.
"If you go out there they'll get you," Rethrick said. "They're out
there all the time. You haven't got a chance."
"Please --" Kelly said, looking up at him.
Suddenly Jennings smiled. "So you won't tell me where the papers are.
Where you put them."
Kelly shook her head.
"Wait." Jennings reached into his pocket. He brought out a small piece
of paper. He unfolded it slowly, scanning it. "By any chance did you deposit
it with the Dunne National Bank, about three o'clock yesterday afternoon?
For safekeeping in their storage vaults?"
Kelly gasped. She grabbed her handbag, unsnapping it. Jennings put the
slip of paper, the parcel receipt, back in his pocket. "So he saw even
that," he murmured. "The last of the trinkets. I wondered what it was for."
Kelly groped frantically in her purse, her face wild. She brought out a
slip of paper, waving it.
"You're wrong! Here it is! It's still here." She relaxed a little. "I
don't know what you have, but this is --"
In the air above them something moved. A dark space formed, a circle.
The space stirred. Kelly and Rethrick stared up, frozen.
From the dark circle a claw appeared, a metal claw, joined to a
shimmering rod. The claw dropped, swinging in a wide arc. The claw swept the
paper from Kelly's fingers. It hesitated for a second. Then it drew itself
up again, disappearing with the paper, into the circle of black. Then,
silently, the claw and the rod and the circle blinked out. There was
nothing. Nothing at all.
"Where - where did it go?" Kelly whispered. "The paper. What was
that?"
Jennings patted his pocket. "It's safe. It's safe, right here. I
wondered when he would show up. I was beginning to worry."
Rethrick and his daughter stood, shocked into silence.
"Don't look so unhappy," Jennings said. He folded his arms. "The
paper's safe - and the Company's safe. When the time comes it'll be there,
strong and very glad to help out the revolution. We'll see to that, all of
us, you, me and your daughter."
He glanced at Kelly, his eyes twinkling. "All three of us. And maybe by
that time there'll be even more members to the family!"