"C. J. Cherryh - Fever SeasonUC - Compilation" - читать интересную книгу автора (Cherryh C J)

"So that's why I forgot about meeting you here," Chance said smoothly. And turned to Tatiana: "This young m'ser's up to his hips in Boregy intrigue, m'sera Secretary. And I've been paying too little attention to his problems, with which I've promised to help. Plus, we've got to get him his paperwork for the census. ... So if you'll excuse meЧ"
Tatiana Kalugin scowled at Michael Chamoun. "You know, m'ser, you're stealing my favorite alien advisor. Don't keep him too long. Ambassador, our dinner can't be postponed. We've got to determine just how many teams we need to send out to convince the people to be counted in the census. Perhaps you can press the young m'ser into serviceЧin my name, of course. Getting the aliens to register is, we think, most of what my father is interested in." Her humorless smile cut through the last of Chamoun's confusion.
"Yes, m'sera Secretary, whatever you say. I'd be honored to help in any capacity. It ain'tЧit isn't any kind of imposition. All I'm doing is taking these lessons at the CollegeЧ" He waved vaguely behind him.
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At thai, mercifully, Tatiana chuckled. "Anything to get away from your Uncle Ito, eh? Well, Chance, see what you can make of this boy before dark. But 1 can't do without you tonight."
Without another word, and without waiting for an answer from Magruder, Tatiana Kalugin swept by Michael Chamoun in a gale of cloak and perfume and female warmth and august will.
Chamoun slumped, jamming his hands in his pockets, his eyes unable to meet Magruder's. But he had to ask: "Did I screw up bad?"
"Not bad, Mike. Maybe good, who knows?" His hand clapped Chamoun on the shoulder roughly. "Come on, let's go to the Embassy. When we're on Nev Hettek soil, we can talk."
A warning. The Nev Hettek soil to which Magruder referred was on the Spur at Government Center, among the militia's buildings, where if anyone decided a Nev Hetteker enclave was suddenly a security risk, that enclave could just as suddenly cease to exist.
Chamoun had never been there. He hadn't exactly been Chance Magruder's confidant, the last months.
He had a feeling, by the way Chance was eyeing him, that this was about to change.
If it did. Chamoun would find some way to tell Magruder about Mondragon and Vega Boregy, about the messages he'd been running to Megary and the betrayal he'd been forced into. And about the regression he'd experienced under Cardinal Ito Tremaine Boregy's ministrationsЧabout Mickey and the Merovin Defense Force. About seeing the unclouded stars.
"Whatever you're not telling me," Magruder said after he'd listened to the young Sword prattle on about a revelation gained through regression into a previous life as a space patrol officer, "now's the time. Ito can't hurt you, unless you go against his direct order and tell Vega about the cardinal trying to turn you into some kind of psychic zombieЧand we
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might be able to use that against the College, later. C'mon, MikeЧgive. You've been avoiding me. Why?"
"Avoiding you?" The young agent looked around at Magruder's fancy-assed office in the new embassy, full of ormolu furniture and paintings on linened walls. He shifted on the brocaded settee and Magruder saw a furtive look flash over his face.
Chamoun was in worse trouble than you could get from eating deathangel and taking a mental trip at the hands of a psychwarring priest. Magruder could feel it.
"M'serЧChance, you've been hard to find and they've been watching me, and every time I tried to get near youЧ when 1 really needed youЧyou were sleeping in with that Kalugin woman, so I couldn't get to you. Didn't dare, what with the risksЧ" It came out in a rush that ended as suddenly as it had begun.
"You bet," Magruder said easily, wandering to the mantle beside bookshelves that Tatiana had filled for him. "We've both been walking our own tightropes. Women are tough to run; you're finding that out." Whatever it is, Del-man, you spell it out or I'm going to start considering you part of the opposition. "How's yours?" He turned on his heel and faced the youth sitting on the whale-armed settee as if he might slide off.
"My what? Oh, my ... woman. Cassie's fine. It's not that."
"And Rita Nikolaev, your secret love? Seen her since the incident?"
"IЧm'ser, did you . . . kill . . . Romanov?"
So that's it. Well, here we go. "Nope. Said I would, I know. Somebody else beat me to it. That's what's bothering you? He turned up in the Grand, pretty decomposed, and that's all anybody knows about itЧ"
"No it ain't. He was dead and gutted in my cabin, is what he was. Where we found 'im, and tossed his ass overboard."
"Grammar," Magruder reminded Chamoun mildly, to hide his shock. "I see. And you would have told me sooner, but 1 wasn't available, right?"
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The youth nodded stiffly.
Kid, don't do this. Whatever you're into, it won't mean squat compared to what I'll do if you so much as look sideways at me. I've got too much on the line here now to risk you blowing everything. A dead husband wouldn't be insurmountable; we'll just create you a brother to administrate your holdings here . . .
"Me and the boathands, we did well enough. Nobody knows. But if you didn't ki|l him, then who?"
"That's to the heart of it. Who? 1 dunno." Magruder ran a hand along the mantlepiece and lifted a humidor's lid. Another present from Tatiana, whom he didn't trust as far as he could throw the Signeury. He picked two smokes, rolled them in his fingers against his ear to test their dryness, and offered one to Chamoun.
"We'll find out, Mike. Next time, use your emergency fallbacks soonerЧ' *
1
"I ... did," said the young Sword agent as if the two words were an agony to articulate.
"You did? You went to Megary? By yourself? Why wasn't I informed?"
Chamoun shook his head miserably. "M'ser, I just did what I was told, and the Swords there did the rest."
"Anyone in particular who was helpful?" Who the hell had aced Romanov? And why? And how deep did this go? He stared at Chamoun's open face, at the green eyes wide with palpable fear.
The youngster said, "They weren't giving names. But they were giving hard times. Bastard named Baritz was one. I didn't see no al-Banna, even though that was where all the loose Sword talent was supposed to be."
"All right, that's enough. Let's drop it. I'll work on finding out the hows and whys of Romanov's deathЧif it was an inside move, we'd better find out about it. Meanwhile, I've got something I need your help withЧ"
Young Chamoun didn't look relieved, as Magruder had expected. He looked positively distraught. He looked consti-
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pated. He looked like somebody had just slammed a door on his tail.
But then, he had a cushy berth, a slick young wife, all the money he could dream of, and, thanks to the Sword of God, a hell of a lot to lose. You couldn't blame him for being nervous that the Sword would play him too openly- He could find himself swimming for his life in the general direction of Nev Hettek as quickly as he'd found himself the captain of the DeTfish, putting in to port here with Sword-given prospects and an arranged marriage on his horizon.
"I want you to do what Tatiana suggested: help with the census matter," Magruder said implacably. "I want you to put together a team of ... four . . . Nev HettekersЧnot all Sword, for God's sake. Til get you names. Some of them can be Merovingians of Nev Hettek descent, as long as they're good at the local dialects. We'll be working with Tatiana to make sure that her father's decree is obeyedЧthat everybody registers."
"Is thatЧgood for us?"
Us. The Sword of God. "I think it sucks, but 1 can't let on. Old losef sprang this damned trap on everybodyЧprobably to tame his wild children; maybe to put a leash on me. You've seen the trick, I guess, or you wouldn't have asked that question."
"Uh . . . well, if everybody's registered, then theyЧthe governmentЧknow how many we are, and where. Whoever doesn't register is an outlaw."
"That's right, Michael. And though I can use the list of Nev Hettekers to prune the Sword factions, I already have such a list: it's the Kalugins who don't. But we've got to help, or appear to be helping. It's possible the whole thing will fail. Merovingen-below won't like the idea of queuing up and taking a number. But you come around here tomorrow, and we'll put together a team for you. It'll look good for your familyЧthe BoregysЧto take a leading part."
"All right, sir. That's if you'll square it with the CollegeЧ in case I'm not really suspended for the next weekЧuntil further notice."