"Sharon Green - Diana Santee 3 -Tanderon" - читать интересную книгу автора (Green Sharon)

acquired as an agent. I'd worked for Ringer for nine years, ever since he'd been
given the job, and I'd never seen him back down from a threat or apologize when
giving out assignments.
Ringer's eyes moved over me slowly as he considered my words, and it took an
effort to remember what he now saw. My normal self-image is of a thirty-year-old
woman, brown hair and eyes, tall, better than average figure, a Special Agent for nine
of the twelve years I'd been an agent. But that wasn't what Ringer saw, not after
another little mishap I'd had which involved getting sent on a one-way trip to
nowhere. The disabled ship I'd been trapped on had been stopped by members of a
humanoid race my own people had no idea existed. I'd ended up helping them with a
problem they'd had, in order to say a proper thank-you for the rescue.
And since the help had included needing my physical appearance changed, what
Ringer now saw was a fifteen-year-old girl who had long, bright red hair, blue eyes, a
gorgeous face, and the same good figure. I knelt on the bed I'd been in for so long,
the hem of the blue hospital gown not quite touching my knees, my hands on the
bed's side rail, undoubtedly oozing innocence, youth, and vulnerability.
I'd once thought that looking teenage, innocent, and very beautiful would be an asset
in my job, something that would produce the unbeatable combination of supposed
inability hiding deep experience, but things weren't working out as well as I'd
planned. Two weeks of chewing at the problem had brought me to the conclusion
that I'd be better off going back to the way I'd originally been. The first step on that
road, though, was getting out of the hospital section of Xanadu Orbital Station.
Under normal circumstances I'd be able to sign myself out, but looking as I did - not
to mention that I registered just as young on a bio-detector - I needed an "adult" to
do the signing. Needless to say, that fact alone was enough to annoy the hell out of
me.
"You know," Ringer mused, the thoughtful look having left his face, "I nearly forgot
who I was talking to. Do you really think you can con me, Diana?"
"Con you?" I echoed, still sticking with reasonable. "What would I get out of
conning you?"
"What do you ever get out of it?" he countered, exhaling another lungful of smoke.
"The last time you signed yourself out of a hospital before you were officially
released, your wound was bleeding again the very next day. I can't blame you for the
way you feel about hospitals, but this time you don't have the excuse of an
assignment waiting that can't afford to wait. You'll stay in that bed until you're told
you can leave, and that's an order."
I had the very strong urge to tell him what he could do with his orders, but that
wouldn't have gotten me very far. He continued to watch me just as closely as he'd
been doing all along, waiting for an explosion, so I decided not to disappoint him.
"Damn it, I'm all healed!" I shouted, grabbing the bed rail and shaking it. "The
surroskin is completely bound to my back, and these bandages on my wrists are the
next thing to decoration! Do I have to take on everyone in this place hand to hand
before you'll believe me?"
"Believe you?" He barked out a laugh. "You've got to be kidding. You stretch the
truth whenever you feel like it, but I'm all through with listening to you. For once you
won't be having everything your own way, and that's an experience you've been
needing for years. Scream all you like, but no one will be signing you out."
He poked a finger at me to emphasize his point, turned away, walked to the door,
and left without another word. I was so annoyed I could have shaken that damned
bed apart, but not because Ringer's attitude was unexpected. It would have been