"Flint, Eric - Weber, David - Honorverse SS - From the Highlands" - читать интересную книгу автора (Flewelling Lynn)

simple reality: getting himself arrested, or even confined to
quarters due to indiscipline, was the surest way he could think of
to make his daughter's already slim chance of survival
nonexistent.
That realization brought his own final decision. I'll get Helen out of
this, no matter what the cost. Damn everything else.
The thought brought the first real calmness back to Anton Zilwicki
since his daughter had been abducted. It drenched his fury like a
bucket of icewater and restored his normally methodical way of
thinking.
First things first, he told himself firmly. Get the hell out of here
before they put any actual restrictions on your movements.
He rose abruptly to his feet and saluted. "As you wish, Admiral.
I'll send the communication to the kidnappers from my own
home. With your permission. I think that would be better."
"Yes," agreed the ambassador firmly. "If you send it from here,
or your own office, they might get suspicious." His tone of voice
actually managed a bit of warmth. "Good thinking there, Captain.
I'm quite certain, along with the Admiral, that this is a long-term
gambit on the part of the Peeps to create a conduit for
disinformation. They'll be reassured if their contact with you
seems completely private."
The words were spoken in the manner of an old intelligence
hand, congratulating a novice on having figured out a simple task.
Given the circumstances, Captain Zilwicki almost burst into
laughter. The captain was an "old intelligence hand." What
Hendricks knew about the craft was simply the maneuvers he'd
learned as an ambitious nobleman in Manticore's political arena.
That arena was complex and tortuous, true, but it was a far less
savage place than Zilwicki had inhabited for many years now.
But he let none of his contempt show. He simply nodded politely,
bowed, and left the room.



Anton

Sometime later, when he entered his apartment, Zilwicki found
Robert Tye still sitting in the lotus position in the center of the
living room. To all appearances, the martial arts master had not
moved a muscle since the captain left that morning. Tye had his
own way of controlling rage.
The martial artist raised an eyebrow. Zilwicki shook his head.
"About what I expected, Robert. The imbeciles are taking this at
face value. And they're so obsessed with the propaganda coup
provided by Parnell's coming testimony on the Peep regime that
they don't want to deal with anything else. So I've been ordered
to follow the kidnappers' instructions."
For a moment, Tye studied the captain. Then, a slight smile
came to his face. "And clearly you have no intention of