"Asaro, Catherine - Echea" - читать интересную книгу автора (Asaro Catherine)

"Then everyone will want to go."

"But not everyone can," he said. "We can."
He touched his pocket. I saw the bulge of
his credit slip. "If you do the job."

It had been easier when I didnТt know.
When doing a job meant just that. When I
didnТt have other things to consider.
After the first job, my father asked where
I had gotten the morals. He said I hadnТt
inherited them from him, and I hadnТt. I
knew that. I suggested maybe Mother, and
he had laughed, saying no mother who gave
birth to me had morals either.

"DonТt think about it, honey," heТd said.
"Just do."

Just do. I opened my mouthЦto say what, I
donТt knowЦand felt hot liquid splatter
me. An exit wound had opened in his chest,
spraying his blood all around. People
screamed and backed away. I screamed. I
didnТt see where the shot had come from,
only that it had come.

The blood moved slowly, more slowly than I
would have expected.

He fell forward and I knew I wouldnТt be
able to move him, I wouldnТt be able to
grab the credit slip, wouldnТt be able to
get to Colony Latina, wouldnТt have to do
the job.

Faces, unbloodied faces, appeared around
me.

They hadnТt killed him for the slip.

I turned and ran, as he once told me to
do, ran as fast as I could, blasting as I
went, watching people duck or cover their
ears or wrap their arms around their
heads.

I ran until I saw the sign.

The tiny prefab with the Red Crescent