"Charles DeVet - Infinity's Child" - читать интересную книгу автора (DeVet Charles)

"Possibly." Wagner pulled his cheeks up but his eyes remained chilled and cold. He had the trick of
smiling mirthlessly. "But even if I were to grant you that, we estimate that already nearly half of your
organization is dead from the Plague. There will be more before you can do anything. The rest we can
hunt down at our leisure. So you see, even if we let you live, you'd soon be a man without a party."
"We could start all over again if we had to." The first signs of feeling came back with a twinge of pain
at the tip of the little finger on his left hand.
"I doubt it very much."
"What would I be expected to do?" Buckmaster asked.
"Simply this. Go back among your former comrades and act normal. But let me know what they're
planning. In time we'd get them anyway, but with your help, the job will be easierтАФcleaner, let us say."
"In other words, you want me to act as the Judas ram?"
"Call it what you like," Wagner's eyes narrowed. "Just remember that you've nothing to lose."
"And after?"
"You can name your own price. Within reason, of course."
"And if I refuse?"

"WAGNER LAUGHED. It wasn't necessary for him to answer. Buckmaster had seen the results of
Wagner's sadism in the past. Whatever else might be mystifying to him he knew one thing: The instinct of
self-preservation was still as strong as ever. He did not want to take the chance that the extraneous will
he felt within him would be strong enough to combat what Wagner would try to do to him.
"Let's say I agree," he said. "What comes next?"
"Can you move your limbs yet?" Wagner asked.
Buckmaster flexed his fingers and lifted his arms. "I believe I'm strong enough to walk," he said.
"By the way," Wagner inquired, "have you any idea why you didn't die?"
Buckmaster shook his head.
"Well, no matter. Lie back and relax. Now look into my eyes. Concentrate on the right one."
Buckmaster knew what was coming now. Mind contact!
Subtly he felt the first tentative probe of Wagner's thought antenna. One part of his brain accepted it
passively, but another part used the probe as a bridge.
Wagner's thoughts seemed unguarded. Buckmaster easily read everything there. He had to hide his
surprise at what he learned. Things that Wagner, by no process of logic, would ever reveal to him.
Reflections concerning the Plague. Remembrances of snatches of conversation with the General.
Wagner's relations with women. Sex occupied many of his thoughts. The fear of Olson was there, in spite
of Wagner's brave words earlier.
Then Buckmaster read about himself in Wagner's mind and was certain something was wrong here.
He saw that Wagner had no intention of ever letting him live, no matter how useful he might be. There
was death for himself as soon as that usefulness was over.
"Damn it," Wagner cursed, "relax. Let your mind open up to me. Are you deliberately trying to get
yourself back in trouble by being stubborn?"
Then he knew. The contact had been one-way. He had read Wagner's mind because Wagner had
not realized he could do it, and had not thrown up a guard.
Cautiously Buckmaster let fragments of careful thoughts escape. The moment he lowered the barriers
of his mind he felt Wagner's power beat against him, wave upon wave. The sensation was frightening.
Wagner seemed satisfied. Buckmaster could read very little in his mind now.
"Done," Wagner said. "Now, one last warning. Don't try to double-cross me, or you'll regret the day
you were born."
Buckmaster's choices of action were very few. He doubted that he could make it but at least he
should try to get to Duluth.
At the toll bridge across the arm of the lake he bought a ticket. Nobody bothered him. He breathed
easier as he rested against the iron railing waiting for the gate to open; then stopped breathing as a tall