"Michael Flynn - Falling Stars" - читать интересную книгу автора (Flynn Michael)

Agency Indian.тАЭ She cocked her head and studied him as he rose, too. тАЬToo damn bad. I bet you wouldтАЩve
been good.тАЭ
тАЬNot just good. Outstanding.тАЭ He raised both hands. тАЬUnderstand, IтАЩm just repeating what IтАЩve been told.тАЭ
тАЬYeah, modest, too. You better hit the road, тАШotter,тАЩ before you change your mind.тАЭ
Chase left the bar feeling far better than he had going in. Nothing improved a guyтАЩs outlook more than
having a good-looking gal hit on him.
Of course, maybe Honey knew that, too, and thatтАЩs why sheтАЩd done it. Cheer the poor bastard up. Still,
Chase was as certain that her offer was sincere as she had been that he would turn it down. He tossed his
car keys in the air and caught them on the way down. Yeah, too bad. TheyтАЩdтАЩve been good together. But
pledged virgins were not the only ones who took their vows seriously.
It wasnтАЩt something predictable; it wasnтАЩt something Chase himself could have predicted all those years
ago at Witherspoon High, when he had been groping the girls and handing out black eyes. HeтАЩd been phat
nasty back then. Bully, casual extortion, angry all the time, a couple of smash-and-grabs where heтАЩd been
lucky enough not to get caught тАж Wealing on Jimmy Poole. When he thought about it, it was like
remembering a stranger.
Danny Coughlin, his father, had been a good enough man when sober, but prone to casual violence and
thoughtless lust when the drink was on him, which was all too often. But there was enough to admire,
even to love, that Chase had begun to follow his dad down the same path. If hot pilot Ned DuBois hadnтАЩt
taken him under his wing, who knew which jailтАЩs cot heтАЩd be warming today?
He hadnтАЩt seen it at the time. He hadnтАЩt thought he was teetering on a cusp, like a hot тАЩchine banking hard,
just on the edge of losing lift and going into a spin. Yet, looking backward, it was as clear as the stars from
orbit that his entire life had been decided that summer and everything since had been a working out of
those choices. He had pulled on the yoke тАФ No, he hadtaken hold of the yoke for the very first time in his
life and flown on his own bearings.
Mentor Academies must have seen something in him; more than he had seen in himself. Something more
than a nobody taking the bruises his father handed out wholesale and passing them along to others at
retail. They had set him up with a job as a machinistтАЩs helper at Thor Tools, where heтАЩd been miking a
component for a tool build when Ned DuBois showed up.
Of course, he hadnтАЩt known who Ned was; not then. It was only later, with his heart pounding in his throat,
that he followed the news of the first SSTO flight and the rescue of Gregor Levkin; and later still that he
had taken NedтАЩs dare and flown with him to the long-abandoned Moon and the whole world shook itself
awake and said,We can go back again тАж Yet he had sensed something deeper in the older man than
mere cockiness. Here was a man fully in command of himself.
Chase had latched on to Ned with the fervor of a drowning swimmer, and found a courage he had never
known he lacked. After all, what sort of courage did it take to smack around the likes of Jimmy Poole? Not
the sort you needed to thread the needle landing tail-down at the Fernando de Noronha test field; or
snatch a shipping pod lobbed by the lunar catapults in what amounted to a тАЬcontrolled collision.тАЭ
Ned DuBois had been a womanizer тАФ for a test pilot, it went with the territory тАФ but when the chips were
down and the hand was called, he had gone back to his Betsy. He had even given up command of the
FarTrip mission to stay with her. That choice had impressed Chase more than all the swagger. Doing the
right thing counted for a lot with Chase; though he wasnтАЩt always sure what the right thing was. There
might be circumstances that would tempt him into arms like HoneyтАЩs. He couldnтАЩt say. But those
circumstances hadnтАЩt happened yet; and more to the point, he didnтАЩt go out looking.
The house was empty when he got back. A note posted on the microwave reminded him about Little
ChaseтАЩs one oтАЩclock dental appointment. Officially a cleaning, but really just to get the tyke used to a
dentistтАЩs office.
Chase doffed his coverall and hung it in the closet. He paused before shutting the door and wondered
when he next might put on Pegasus red, if ever. He traced the silhouette of the winged stallion with his
fingertip. HeтАЩd given the Old Gray Mare seven years of his life. Wham, bam, thank you, maтАЩam. Maybe
they would get the economic mess cleaned up quick, but somehow he didnтАЩt think so. The market dive