"Charles L. Harness-George Washington Slept Here" - читать интересную книгу автора (Harness Charles L)

mouthpiece and waited for the whirring to stop. "You there?"
"Yes, sir."
"The room here is bugged, of course. No problem with that. I've got a cassette override on it. But the
interesting thing is, I think we picked up a tag on the computer output as soon as we plugged in to the
seventeen ninety-five reference. Can you check it out?"
 "I'll try. Hold on. Yes, it's coming in. There was a tag. It was routed to Sena City. Somebody there is
alerted every time the seventeen nine-five reference is pulled out. But Sena City is as close as I can get.
No name. No phone number. Is that any help?"
"Oh, yes indeed. Thank you, Miss Catlin. And goodnight."
Next call to Sena. "Please come over here as fast as you can."
Okay, Badging, he thought. You laid the tag on the circuit. You've got all the questions. Let's see if
Sena has any answers.
***


As soon as she came in the door he showed her a written slip: "Room still bugged. I've put on
Entertainment Cassette Number Two. We can talk softly."
He walked back to the leather bag on the floor and lifted the covers. "An extraordinary collection,
Sena."
"I trust they are adequate for the retainer?"
He smiled without humor. "I have been given to understand that one coin-- just one-- would bring in
excess of one hundred thousand dollars. And how many are here?"
"Originally there were eight hundred, but over the years I had to spend twenty, maybe twenty-five."
"All identical?"
"Yes."
He grappled with the mental arithmetic. Nearly eighty million dollars. Of course, not that much. After
the first few got on the market, the price would begin to drop.
"Oliver," she said gently, "I don't even think about it. I told Fenleigh and now I tell you: they're
counterfeit."
"Counterfeit. Oh. I see."
"No, you don't see. It's still forty pounds of coin-grade gold bullion, worth about three hundred
thousand dollars on the New York market. Of course, there may be a slight problem with the copper
content."
He had a feeling he shouldn't ask. "Tell me about the copper."
"They had to program for copper, to conform to the Philadelphia mint formula. Copper is added to
coin gold for hardness, you know."
"Go on. There was a problem?"
"We didn't pay much attention to isotopes in those days. Native copper is a mix of Cu-sixty-three with
about twenty-nine Cu-sixty-five isotope. Our Cu is all Cu-sixty-three."
"Is the lack of Cu-sixty-five detectable?"
"There are ways. First of all, though, you have to know to look for it."
"Would a professional coin authenticator be likely to look for Cu-sixty-five?"
"No. It would be outside his level of expertise. Anyway, he wouldn't have the equipment."
"Interesting." Something else was bothering him now. "Mr. York's secretary said he took your case on
contingency. If he lost, you didn't pay. Is that so?"
"Yes, that was our arrangement."
"But you did pay. These coins certainly have bullion value, at six hundred dollars an ounce. If we lose,
am I supposed to return the coins?"
"No, that wouldn't be necessary. Let me explain. It's true, the coins have bullion value just now. On
the other hand, they're part of the Rock. If the Rock collapses, so do they."