"Artemis Fowl 02 - The Arctic Incident" - читать интересную книгу автора (Colfer Eoin)

Three thousand gallons of coolant-enhanced water crashed on to her head at the very moment a heatwave came billowing in from the chute. It was a curious sensation being burnt and frozen almost simultaneously. Holly felt blisters pop on her shoulders only to be flattened by water pressure. Captain Short was driven to her knees, lungs starving for air. But she couldn't take a breath, not now, and she couldn't raise a hand to switch on her helmet tank.
After an eternity, the roaring stopped and Holly opened her eyes to a tunnel full of steam. She activated the demister in her visor and got up off her knees. Water slid in sheets from her non-friction suit. She released her helmet seals, taking deep breaths of tunnel air. Still warm, but breathable.
Behind her, the blast doors slid open and Captain Trouble Kelp appeared in the gap, along with an LEP rapid-response team.
'Nice manoeuvre, Captain.'
Holly didn't answer, too absorbed by the weapon abandoned by the recently vaporized goblin. This was the prize pig of rifles, almost half a metre long, with a starlite scope clipped above the barrel.
Holly's first thought had been that somehow the B'wa Kell was manufacturing its own weapons. But now she realized that the truth was far more dangerous. Captain Short pried the rifle from the half-melted rock. She recognized it from her History of Law Enforcement in service. An old Softnose laser. Softnoses had been outlawed long ago. But that wasn't the worst of it. Instead of a fairy power source, the gun was powered by a human AAA alkaline battery.
'Trouble,' she called. 'Have a look at this.'
'D'Arvit,' breathed Kelp, reaching immediately for the radio controls on his helmet. 'Get me a priority channel to Commander Root. We have Class A contraband. Yes, Class A. I need a full team of techies. Get Foaly too. I want this entire quadrant shut down ..."
Trouble continued spouting orders, but they faded to a distant buzz in Holly's ears. The B'wa Kell was trading with the Mud People. Humans and goblins working together to reactivate outlawed weapons. And if the weapons were here, how long could it be before the Mud People followed?
Help arrived just after the nick of time. In thirty minutes there were so many halogen spotlights buzzing around E37 that it looked like a GolemWorld movie premiere.
Foaly was down on his knees examining the unconscious goblin by the escalator. The centaur was the main reason that humans hadn't yet discovered the People's underground lairs. A technical genius, who had pioneered every major development from flare prediction to mind-wiping technology, every discovery made him less respectful and more annoying. But rumour had it that he had a soft spot for a certain female Recon officer. Actually, the only female Recon officer.
'Good job, Holly,' he said, rubbing the goblin's reflective suit. 'You just had a firefight with a kebab.'
'That's it, Foaly, draw attention away from the fact that the B'wa Kell foxed your sensors.'
Foaly tried on one of the helmets. 'Not the B'wa Kell. No way. Too dumb. Goblins just don't have the cranial capacity. These are human manufacture.'
Holly snorted. 'And how do you know that? Recognize the stitching?'
'Nope,' replied Foaly, tossing the helmet to Holly.
Holly read the label. 'Made in Germany.'
'I'd guess that this is a fire suit. The material keeps the heat out as well as in. This is serious, Holly. We're not talking a couple of designer shirts and a case of chocolate bars here. Some human is doing some serious smuggling with the B'wa Kell.'
Foaly stepped out of the way to allow the technical crew access to their prisoner. The techies would tag the unconscious goblin with a subcutaneous sleeper. The sleeper contained microcapsules of a sedative agent and a tiny detonator. Once tagged, a criminal could be knocked out by computer if the LEP realized he was involved in an illegal situation.
'You know who's probably behind this, don't you?' said Holly.
Foaly rolled his eyes. 'Oh, let me guess. Captain Short's arch-enemy, Master Artemis Fowl.'
'Well, who else could it be?'
'Take your pick. The People have been in contact with thousands of Mud Men over the years.'
'Is that so?' retorted Holly. 'And how many that haven't been mind-wiped?'
Foaly pretended to think about it, adjusting the foil hat jammed on his head to deflect any brain-probing signals that could be focused his way. 'Three,' he muttered eventually.
'Pardon?'
'Three, OK?'
'Exactly. Fowl and his pet gorillas. Artemis is behind this. Mark my words.'
'You'd just love that to be the case now, wouldn't you? You'd finally have the chance to get your own back. You do remember what happened the last time the LEP went up against Artemis Fowl?'
'I remember. But that was last time.'
Foaly smirked. 'I would remind you that he'll be thirteen now.'
Holly's hand dropped to her buzz baton. 'I don't care how old he is. One zap with this and he'll be sleeping like a baby.'
Foaly nodded towards the entrance. 'I'd save my charges if I were you. You're going to need them.'
Holly followed his gaze. Commander Julius Root was sweeping across the secured zone. The more he saw, the redder his face grew, hence the nickname, Beetroot.
'Commander,' began Holly. 'You need to see this.'
Root's gaze silenced her. 'What were you thinking?'
'Pardon me, sir?'
'Don't give me that. I was in Ops for the whole thing. I was watching the video feed from your helmet.'
'Oh.'
'Oh hardly covers it, Captain!' Root's buzz-cut grey hair was quivering with emotion. 'This was supposed to be a surveillance mission. There were several back-up squads sitting on their well-trained behinds only waiting for you to call. But no, Captain Short decides to take on the B'wa Kell on her own.'
'I had a man down, sir. There was no choice.'
'What was Verbil doing^out there anyway?'
For the first time, Holly's gaze dropped. 'I sent him out to do a thermal, sir. Just following regulations.'
Root nodded. 'I've talked to the paramedic warlock. Verbil will be OK, but his flying days are over. There'll be a tribunal, of course.'
'Yes, sir. Understood.'
'A formality, I'm sure, but you know the Council.'
Holly knew the Council all too well. She would be the first LEP officer in history to be the subject of two simultaneous investigations.
'So what's this I hear about a Class A?'
All contraband was classed. Class A was code for dangerous human technology. Power sources, for instance.
'This way, sir.'