"Bolan, Mack - Stony Man 36 - Stranglehold" - читать интересную книгу автора (Bolan Mack)

Mack Bolan
Stony Man #36: Stranglehold

PROLOGUE

The closest William "Bobcat" Buchanan had been
able to come to describing the contradictory atmo-
sphere in the editorial offices of the Retained Warrior
magazine was straight out of Dickens. "'It was the
best of times,'" he finally said out loud, "'and it
was the worst of times.'" In the dim glow of the
reading light on the desk, he watched Colonel Sam-
uel K. White nod silently.
For a moment, neither man spoke. Buchanan
turned away to the wall, pondering the joy and sor-
row that seemed to fill his heart simultaneously. The
joy, he knew, came from the fact that he was about
to embark on a mission. The sorrow was the result
of what had happened to the last man who had un-
dertaken that mission, a man who had been a friend
to both Buchanan and White.
Buchanan crossed his legs and looked back at the
gray-haired man behind the desk. Colonel White
opened a drawer, produced a large Jamaican cigar,
struck a kitchen match and rolled the flame over the
tip. Buchanan studied his face in the light from the
match. Colonel Samuel L. White, ex-Marine, looked




exactly like what he was--an aging, battle-scarred
warrior. A much decorated officer, the colonel had
seen combat during World War II, Korea and the
early years of Vietnam. When the Corps had forced
his retirement in the late 1960s, the battle-hardened
old warhorse had hit the mercenary trail in Africa
and South America, then returned to the States to
become publisher of his own magazine. He'd been
sitting behind this same desk, in this same office
where he published the Retained Warrior, ever since.
Thick blue clouds of smoke came from the long
cigar as White dropped the match into an ashtray. He
smiled, then leaned back in his chair. "Spence was
a good man, Bobcat. All of us will miss--" The
sudden purr of an automobile engine on the quiet
street outside the window caused him to halt in mid-
sentence.
Both men's eyes shot to the windows. The mag-
azine's offices were in an isolated industrial section