"Christopher Hinz - Paratwa 03 - The Paratwa" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hinz Christopher)

The lion stared upward, into the great bubbling patches of gray-green mist that marred the
seventy-mile-long capitol cylinder. Directly overhead, where the cosmishield glass should have been
providing this sector's primary light source, the mirrored image of the sun was totally hidden behind
swiftly churning cloud banks.

A day of programmed obscurity.

"Doyle," he said quietly, "if E-Tech should learn anything new regarding these affairs, I would appreciate
being kept informed."

Blumhaven stiffened. "I can assure that you will be kept abreast of current developments."

The lion stood up. "Is there anything else that we need to discuss?"

"Nothing that can't wait until the next Council meeting," replied Blumhaven, slowly lifting his bulk from
the chair.

The lion walked him toward the path leading to the main parking lot beyond the woods. "Anything new
on the Order of the Birch massacres?" quizzed the lion, knowing that this remained a sore spot with
Blumhaven. E-Tech Security still seemed totally impotent in dealing with the continuing killings. There had
been two new massacres in the last week alone, bringing the total number to eleven.

"We have some leads," muttered Blumhaven. "Since the Venus Cluster killingsтАФsince we first learned
that it is probably a Paratwa assassin we are dealing withтАФwe have been making steady progress."

Steady progress, thought the lion, a misnomer for we've learned nothing new. And Blumhaven obviously
did not realize that the lion had been the one responsible for leaking the information that the Order of the
Birch killers was indeed a singular Paratwa. The lion remained angry that the Council had votedтАФover
his own and Inez Hernandez's objectionsтАФto withhold that information; publicly, E-Tech Security
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continued to proclaim that the killers probably were not a Paratwa, although increasing numbers of
freelancer reports disputed those assertions.

Of course, the lion recognized that he was just as manipulative with information as Blumhaven. The
E-Tech Director and the rest of the Council still did not know that the assassin they were dealing with
was a tripartite, composed of three tways instead of the normal two. Nick, ever one to hoard
information, had felt it best that they keep that little tidbit to themselves, at least for the time being. The
lion halted at the edge of the woodland. "Good-bye, Doyle."

Blumhaven's tone softened. He almost sounded polite. "Please give some added consideration to what
we have discussed. Your political future must certainly be more important to you than a misguided
friendship."

"It's not," said the lion. Blumhaven stared at him for a long moment, then turned and marched up the
winding path through the pines. The lion waited until Doyle had vanished from sight before heading back
to the house. Nick stood waiting for him just inside the door.