"Alfred Bester - Demolished Man, The" - читать интересную книгу автора (Bester Alfred)

They deposited the papers and recording crystals on his desk and
departed hastily but without rancor. They were accustomed to his rages.
Reich seated himself behind his desk, trembling with a fury that was
already goring D'Courtney. Finally he muttered: "I'll give the bastard one
more chance."
He unlocked his desk, opened the drawer-safe and withdrew the
Executive's Code Book, restricted to the executive heads of the firms
listed quadruple A-1-* by Lloyds. He found most of the material he required
in the middle pages of the book:

QQBA ........ PARTNERSHIP
RRCB ........ BOTH OUR
SSDC ........ BOTH YOUR
TTED ........ MERGER
UUFE ........ INTERESTS
VVGF ........ INFORMATION
WWHG ........ ACCEPT OFFER
XXJH ........ GENERALLY KNOWN
YYJI ........ SUGGEST
ZZXJ ........ CONFIDENTIAL
AALK ........ EQUAL
BBML ........ CONTRACT

Marking his place in the code book, Reich flipped the v-phone on and
said to the image of the interoffice operator: "Get me Code."
The screen dazzled and cut to a smokey room cluttered with books and
coils of tape. A bleached man in a faded shirt glanced at the screen, then
leaped to attention.
"Yes, Mr. Reich?"
"Morning, Hassop. You look like you need a vacation." Make your
enemies by choice. "Take a week at Spaceland. Monarch expense."
"Thank you, Mr. Reich. Thank you very much."
"This one's confidential. To Craye D'Courtney. Send..." Reich
consulted the Code Book. "Send YYJI TTED RRCB UUFE AALK QQBA. Get the
answer to me like rockets. Right?"
"Right, Mr. Reich. I'll jet."
Reich cut off the phone. He jabbed his hand once into the pile of
papers and crystals on his desk, picked up a crystal and dropped it into
the play-back. His chief secretary's voice said: "Monarch Gross off two
points one one three four per cent. D'Courtney Gross up two point one one
three oh per cent..."
"God damn him!" Reich growled. "Out of my pocket into his." He snapped
off the play-back and arose in an agony of impatience. It would take hours
for the reply to come. His whole life hung on D'Courtney's reply. He left
his office and began to roam through the floors and departments of Monarch
Tower, pretending the remorseless personal supervision he usually
exercised. His Esper secretary unobtrusively accompanied him like a trained
dog.
"Trained bitch!" Reich thought. Then aloud: "I'm sorry. Did you peep
that?"