"Anthony,.Piers.-.Mute (2)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Anthony Susan)

"If she bribed me, she could prove a lot."

"I've already counterbribed you." He stretched, his
right hand almost brushing the ceiling while his left fell far short. "What's the tote, today?"

"Routine." Then her phone buzzed. Knot waited while she answered it. Her lips pursed. "Finesse? Certainly; he will be ready." She disconnected.

"She's coming back?" Knot asked, surprised.

"It seems she forgot to ask a question or two, last time."

"Didn't you give her the literature?"

"Of course I did! You think I have a death wish? But she's a CC auditor; she's clever despite her appearance. A pretty face can mask a viciously cunning mind. 1 think you're in trouble, Knot."

"No doubt. But I've been hi trouble before. Maybe she merely hankers after the same medicine she got before."

"Especially if she's pregnant," York said with irony. "We shall see, all too soon."

Finesse arrived on schedule. She was just as pretty as before. Knot knew he could not afford to see much more of her, lest he get emotionally hooked.

Knot had cleared the hour, knowing he had to employ a deft touch on this case. "So good to see you again, Auditor! I understand there was some item we neglected to cover?"

She squinted at him as if trying to remember him. That was reassuring; it meant his psi had worked, and that she remembered nothing of their private walk. Her recollection would encompass York and the enclave and the literature she had been givenЧliterature carefully crafted to conceal the enclave's secretsЧand she would know that someone had shown her about, and that he must have been the one, so she had to play along, pretending to remember him. "Yes. I had intended to clarify the matter of the leadmuter, but I fear I forgot."

Knot considered. "Leadmuter?" be asked as though perplexed.

"I think it would be best if I could actually see this mutant. I realize that the name is more suggestive than the reality, but as long as there is any questionЧI'm sure you understand."

He certainly did! She had fallen into his trap, and all
clever exposure of his secrets had come to nothing. f, like the good scout she was, she was trying to her seeming neglect. It would be easier to fool the second time, now that he knew she was suscepti-to his psi. "Oh, of course. We must have complete

for CC! I'll take you there now."

"That is most kind of you," she said with a certain ige. How much did she suspect? Ordinary people could fooled easily, but to a trained observer the discrep-F&ttcies of memory and experience became upsetting. tV Soon they were outside, following the same trail as fjwfore. Finesse had not dressed properly this time, either, was another encouraging evidence of her loss of [memory. She wore a green jumper-dress that deepened green of her eyes and showed her fine calves to advantage. Her shirt, however, fit more closely about her neck, ^permitting no "accidental" exposures there. Ah well, he ^thought; chance gave and chance took away; today was & leg-admiring day. Unless he managed to seduce her 'jfcgain; then he might get to see it all. That was chancy; jvWomen had ways of remembering seductions when they ^forgot routine things. York was a good example; she had .Uncanny ability to fathom what he had or had not done Nrith her the night before, and generally let him know, would be safest to keep his hands off Finesse, despite Considerable temptation.

"I really should have done this the first time," Finesse Said, pausing to unhook her skirt from a tenacious "Хbramble, in the process showing as nice a knee as Knot could recall. "I can't think why I didn't. I don't recall 'raising the issue at all."

Yes, indeed. "Well, the leadmuter is only one of several hundred mutants here," Knot said. "I dare say you overlooked him in the confusion. He's just an old man who likes to work with old lead, trying to make things from it. Harmless hobby." t "I suppose so. Your literature does make that clear. But it still seems odd I didn't check it out directly." "By no means. You must be very busy." He helped her negotiate a steep bank, bracing himself while she put one hand on his shoulder for steadiness while she climbed. Then she stood at the top, her feet at
the level of his head, waiting for him to climb. Oh, my, those legs!

"Even more confusing is the discrepancy between my memory of the occasion and the holosonic recording I made."

Oh no! Knot thought, caught in midadmiration of her limbs. The utter bitch!

He scrambled up the bank while he wrestled with it in his mind. How was he going to deal with this? His psi did not work on machines. Finesse had been playing with him all this time, letting him lay himself deeper into the hole, and now he was fairly trapped. Had he not been so absorbed by her anatomy, he might have caught on in time to prepare a countermoveЧas she surely was aware. Why did he keep having to bite at the bait she proffered?

Well, at least he could survey the extent of the damage before proceeding further. Are you with us, Hermine? he thought.