"3 Star Brothers" - читать интересную книгу автора (Bova Ben)

Hunching forward, burly arms on heavy thighs, Kruppmann said, "These events are not random They follow a pattern They represent nothing less than a deliberate move toward realignment of the world's financial structure "

"A realignment of the international power base," said Hsen

Realignment What a bloodless word, thought Jo She recalled what the world had been like fifteen years earlier, when the great multinational corporations were running roughshod over the world

Keith had made her see what was happening And why it had to change Forests ripped down in Brazil, farmers and even scientists who dared to protest killed by mercenary soldiers War tearing central Africa apart, whole tribes annihilated, genocide so routine that it was hardly newsworthy Terrorists striking blindly in a blood lust that seemed endless Greenhouse effect turning farmlands into deserts, raising sea levels everywhere Population growing, swelling, bursting

beyond the capability of the world to sustain so many human beings Six billion people Eight Ten Most of them starving, diseased, born in miserable poverty and dying in miserable poverty, surviving only long enough to make still more babies, half a million more each day

Keith Stoner struggled to change that world With Jo beside him, he quietly, fiercely, unceasingly worked to save the human race from self-destruction With the drive of an implacable force of nature, with an intensity and single-minded strength that went far beyond ordinary human abilities, Stoner worked invisibly, beyond the sight of the world's intelligence services and news media, to improve the human condition Jo helped him, shielded him, put the enormous resources of the world's largest corporation at his disposal

Thanks to Keith Stoner, and his wife, central Africa was now an interdependent economic zone that sold its natural resources on the world market and invested in raising the standard of living for its people Terrorism dwindled as true wealth began trickling into the hands of the poorest of the Earth Fusion energy desalted seawater and pumped it along thousands of kilometers of irrigation channels Blind exploitation of the planet's resources was slowing, a little more each year, as a new economic balance was painfully attained

Hardly anyone knew that Stoner was the man behind this monumental change But have Hsen and Kruppmann found out? Jo wondered Have they learned the role I've been playing in all this?

If they find out, Jo told herself, they will try to stop Keith And the only way to stop him will be to kill him That was why her heart pounded beneath the cool surface she presented to the two angry men riding in her limousine

With a small nod, Jo said to them, "Your computer forecasts must be telling you the same things mine do The old days of East-West competition are gone Today it's the North against the South The industrialized nations against the nations that hold most of the world's natural resources "

"The rich against the poor, as always," Kruppmann agreed

"But the poor are making rapid strides," Hsen pointed out

"Is that so bad" Jo asked lightly "The more money they have, the more they can spend on what we have to sell "

"They are moving to create a world government," Krupp-mann insisted "First the Peace Enforcers, then this verdammt International Investment Agency "

"Which you helped to create," Hsen accused

Jo arched an eyebrow at them "The HA has forestalled god knows how much terrorism by channelling investment money to the nations that need it "

"Extorting blackmail from every major corporation, you mean" Kruppmann groused "Blood money"

"Do you want to go back to the way it was ten or twelve years ago Would you like to have your factories blown up by terrorists, or be kidnapped and tortured to death'"

"We are not here to argue about the International Investment Agency," Hsen said "Although it troubles me that you so often vote against us at board meetings, Ms Camerata "

Masking her fear with a cold smile, Jo replied, "I don't want the IIA board split into two intransigent camps If every vote comes down to 'us against them,' the Third World and the environmentalist zealots will defeat the corporations every time A bipolanzed board would be very bad for us "

Kruppmann shook his head, making his beefy cheeks waddle "You are proud of kowtowing to the Greens Do you know how much the ridiculous ecological constraints your IIA insists upon are costing us?"

"Vanguard complies with those environmental constraints, just like everyone else," Jo replied

"For how long" asked Hsen, as softly as a cobra gliding toward its prey

Jo stared at his shadowed face, its expression hidden in the darkness as the hmo sped silently along the highway So that's what this is all about, she realized He wants to take over Vanguard

"For as long as I'm president of Vanguard," she said mildly