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

all are without even looking. The very best kind of Commander also knows, with
a dead certainty, exactly what his opponent will do under any given set of
circumstances.'
'But she has started all wrong and this man is a world-class champion. I am by
no means an expert at the game but I do know enough about it to be sure she
cannot hope to win by starting like this.'
The Admiral pondered for a moment. 'I'll bet my next month's wages she beats
him.'
'What? After she's begun with a Weather-Girl's Gambit?'
'Watch closely, Henry. I think that you and I and the Russians are about to
receive a lesson in human nature. I don't yet know what she's up to but I
intend to let her have her head. You can call her a simple Weather-Girl if you
like but, whatever else she might be, that kid is one very smart cookie.'
'Queen to King's Rook Five,' the Russian pronounced, the smile firmly back on
his face.
He had "taken" five of Suzette's pieces in just seven quick moves and was very
pleased with himself. The UN officers stood in silence and Suzette's eyes
never left the Colonel's for a second, their bodies only inches apart.
Lieutenant Benson took the safety catch off his automatic and tensed himself.
'Queen's Knight to Queen's Rook Six,' Suzette said without blinking.
The former chess champion paused. It was too easy. He had played hundreds of
games in his life and this was going to be the quickest victory ever.
'Queen's Rook to King Five,' he said after considerable thought. Any minute
now.
'Queen's Knight to Queen's Bishop Seven,' she instinctively returned.
The Russian Colonel hesitated, his smile slowly dissipating. The Lieutenant's
arm hung by his side, the gun at the ready.
'Check!' Suzette tossed into the ensuing silence.
The atmosphere could have been cut with a knife as the Russian glared down at
the slip of a girl who stood before him, her innocent brown eyes big and wide.
The fingers of his right hand behind his back touched something solid up the
sleeve of his left arm. A sideways glance told him what he had hoped he would
not see but knew he would. The Major was watching him closely so he dare not
lose now. The pride of the whole Russian Navy depended on his winning this
exchange.
Unfortunately, he had made the worst possible mistake. He had become
over-confident, missing a vital move, one that could now cost him the game.
There was only one possible way he could get out of it.
'King to Queen One,' he gambled.
Suzette was silent. The handle of the switch-blade knife was now in the
Colonel's right hand, his thumb on the tiny button that would release the
razor-sharp, five-inch blade with the notched end, designed to rip its way
through flesh and cause the maximum damage in the process. If she twigged him,
if she won, he had only one course of action to take for the pride of Mother
Russia. For that reason, he had to beat her.
He was deceiving himself. By getting this far, she had proved that she knew
the game she was playing and there was no way she would miss this chance to
humiliate him. Slowly, he looked down the front of Suzette's dress at the
material stretched tightly over her most precious assets, the shape of her
navel clearly seen below them. In his imagination, he drew himself onto tiptoe