"Gordon R. Dickson - Childe Cycle 04 - Tactics of Mistake" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dickson Gordon R)

Through the aperture, over the soldier's shoulder strap, Mondar could see the two waves of
camouflaged-overalled figures that erupted suddenly from both sides of the jungle trail and came pouring
down upon the car. The little handgun in Eachan's hand was speaking steadily, and, magicallyтАФfor its
voice was almost lost in the general din and uproarтАФfigures in the front of the rush were going down.
But there was only a matter of fifteen meters or so for the attackers to cover; and then the jungle and
the little patch of sunlight Mondar could see were blotted out by camouflaged overalls.
The gun in Eachan's hand clicked emptyтАФand in that second, just as the shape of the first guerrilla
darkened the opening through which Cletus had gotten out, the wild yammer of a dally gun roared from
behind the attackers, and they melted like sand figures under the blow of a heavy surf.
The dally gun yammered on for a second longer, and then stopped. Stillness flowed in over the scene
like water back into a hole made in a mountain lake by a falling stone. Eachan pushed past the frozen
figures of Mondar and Melissa and crawled out from the car. Numbly, they followed him.
Limping on his artificial right knee joint, Cletus was climbing out of the ditch, dragging the shape of the
dally gun behind him. He got to his feet on the roadway just as Eachan came up to him.
"Very well done," said the Dorsai, with a rare note of warmth back in his usually stiff voice. "Thank
you, Colonel."
"Not at all, Colonel," said Cletus, a little shakily. Now that the excitement was over, his one knee that
was still flesh and blood was trembling with reaction, invisibly but perceptibly under his uniform trouser
leg.
"Very well done, indeed," said Mondar, as quietly as ever, joining them. Melissa had halted and was
staring down into the ditch where the dead driver lay. It was his arm that had been upflung, obviously
with intention by Cletus, as he lay thrashing about like a deeply wounded man, unseen in the ditch.
Melissa shivered and turned away to face the rest of them.
She stared at Cletus out of her white face, in which a strange mixture of emotions were now
intermingled. Mondar spoke:
"Here come our relief forces," commented the Exotic, gazing skyward. A couple of battle aircars,
with a squad of infantry aboard each, were dropping down to the roadway. A hiss of a braking airjet
sounded behind them and they turned to see the bus slide into view around a turn in the road. "As well as
our signal section," he added, smiling a little.
5
The command car, its compressor damaged by guerrilla fire, was left behind. One of the battle aircars
carried its four surviving passengers the rest of the way into the port city of Bakhalla. The air-car
dropped the four of them off at the transport section of Alliance Headquarters in Bakhalla. Eachan Khan
and Melissa said good-bye and left by autocab for their own residence in the city. Mondar opened the
door of another autocab and motioned Cletus inside.
"You'll need to go to Alliance HQ for your assignment and billeting, and that's on my way. I'll drop
you off."
Cletus got in; Mondar reached to punch out a destination on the control board of the autocab. The
cab rose on its air cushion and slid smoothly off between the rows of white-painted military buildings.
"Thanks," said Cletus.
"Not at all," said Mondar. "You saved all our lives back in the jungle just now. I want to do more than
just thank you. I take it you might like to talk to Dow deCastries again?"
Cletus looked at the Outbond curiously. All his life he had enjoyed watching people of strong aims at
work to achieve them; and in the five days since he had met Mondar he had become aware of a
purposefulness in the Exotic that might well be as dedicated as his own.
"I thought deCastries went down to Capital Neuland."
"He did," said Mondar, as the autocab made a right turn into a somewhat broader boulevard and
began to approach a large building of white concrete with the Alliance flag flying on top of it. "But
Neuland's only twenty-five minutes from here by air. The Coalition hasn't any direct diplomatic relations
with our Exotic government here on Kultis, and neither our people nor Dow want to pass up a chance to