"Lee Edgar - Princess 04 - Checkmate for a Princess" - читать интересную книгу автора (Edgar Lee)

'Because Miss Blackman here monitored the whole affair. Both your people and
mine were tricked into attacking each others' forces with the effect that the
population of almost the whole of Europe has been annihilated.'
The Colonel turned to Suzette. 'How were you able to monitor this?'
'By satellite,' she replied confidently.
'NATO spy satellite?' Major Gobonev snided.
'Not at all,' she replied without offence. 'I am an Anglo-French civilian and
use non-military equipment. Initially, the satellite, Princess, was put into
geostationary orbit by the French and Britain was given permission to use the
data to monitor the weather patterns by means of heat probes. Unfortunately,
Princess was taken over by the Consortium which instigated the war and used it
to misdirect the data so that each side believed itself to be under nuclear
attack from the other. Both retaliated as instructed and Boom! No Europe.'
The Russian Major sneered. 'It cannot be that simple.'
'Why not? Often it is the simple things that work most effectively. NATO
bombers were given false information and incorrect codes were fed to your
submarines. Within an hour of the data corruption, nuclear exchanges had taken
place with the loss of millions of lives.'
'This Consortium. What did it hope to gain?'
She placed a long index finger on his chest. 'Power, comrade. When the dust
settled, they would come up out of their fallout shelters and make Europe one
big empire and control the finances of the world.'
The Russian Colonel turned to the Admiral. 'And now they are all destroyed?'
'We believe so. Miss Blackman's brother was able to break into their
headquarters building at Mandagout and locate the other control centres. UN
aircraft from Columbia then destroyed those centres.'
'So. In the whole area, there is just your small fleet and my submarine.'
Suzette suddenly frowned.
'It would seem so,' said the Admiral. 'With the exception of a few thousand
survivors who had the good sense or luck to stay underground.'
'Colonel,' interrupted Suzette, stepping slowly in his direction. 'Do you
still play chess?'
The Russian looked taken aback for a moment before he smiled. 'Of course. Your
memory must be very good, Miss Blackman. It is some years since I played in
championships.'
'Pawn to King's Knight Three,' she suddenly challenged.
There was a stunned silence which lasted for several minutes as Suzette moved
until she stood a foot from the Colonel, facing him with her hands loosely
clasped behind her back, her shoulders pulled back, her head raised to look
him straight in the eyes, her chest and slightly-rounded belly thrust towards
him as she rocked on the side of her shoes like a young child.
Colonel Narovic smiled and responded 'Pawn to Queen Four.'
'King's Bishop to King's Rook Three,' retaliated Suzette without a second's
hesitation and the smile dropped from the Russian's face.
'What the hell is she up to?' whispered Captain Whittaker.
'It's called playing him at his own game, I suspect,' replied the Admiral
quietly.
'But how can they play chess? They have no board, no pieces.'
The Admiral smiled. 'A good Commander knows how to find out where all his
troops are at any one time. A great Commander knows, instinctively, where they