"Gwyneth Jones - Saving Tiamaat" - читать интересную книгу автора (Jones Gwyneth)

тАЬOh, God! Get after him. After him!тАЭ

I ran with the police, Pel├й stayed with Tiamaat and the Ki: on our shared
frequency I heard him alerting Colonel Shamaz. We cast to and fro through the
twilight wood, held together by the invisible strands and globules of our shield,
taunted by rustles of movement, the CSP muttering to each other about refugee
assassins, homemade weapons. But the young leader of the An was unharmed when
we found him, having followed the sounds of a scuffle and a terrified cry. He
crouched, in his sleek tailoring, over his prey. Dark blood trickled from the victimтАЩs
nostrils, high-placed in a narrow face. Dark eyes were open, fixed and wide.

I remembered the children in that school, staring up in disbelief at the ogres.

Baal rose, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. тАЬWhat are you looking
at?тАЭ he inquired haughtily, in his neighborsтАЩ language. The rest of our party had
caught up: he was speaking to the Ki. тАЬWhat did you expect? You know who I am.тАЭ

Tiamaat fell to her knees, with a wail of despair, pressing her hands to either
side of her head. тАЬHe has a right! Ki territory is An territory, he has a right to behave
as if we were at home. And the Others knew it, donтАЩt you see? They knew!тАЭ

The CSP officer yelled something inexcusable and lunged at the killer. Pel├й
grabbed him by the shoulders and hauled him back, talking urgent sense. The Ki said
nothing, but I thought Tiamaat was right. TheyтАЩd known what the DiasporaтАЩs pet
monster would do in here; and he hadnтАЩt let them down.

****

Perfectly unconcerned, Baal stood guard over the body until Colonel HaaтАЩagaan
arrived with the closed cars. Then he picked it up and slung it over his shoulder. I
traveled with him and his booty, and the protection of four Green Belts, to the
elevator. Another blacked-out car waited for us on Parliament level. What a
nightmare journey! We delivered him to the ser-vice entrance of his suite in the
Sensitive Visitors Facility, and saw him drop the body insouciantly into the arms of
one of his aidesтАФa domestic, lesser specimen of those rare and dangerous animals,
the An.

The soldiers looked at each other, looked at me. тАЬYouтАЩd better stay,тАЭ I said.
тАЬAnd get yourselves reinforced, there might be reprisals planned.тАЭ

BaalтАЩs tawny eyes in my mind: challenging me, trusting meтАФ

****

The debriefing was in closed session; although there would be a transcript on
record. It took a painfully long time, but we managed to exonerate everyone,
including Baal. Mistakes had been made, signals had been misread. We knew the
facts of the KiAn problem, we had only the most rudimentary grasp of the cultures
involved. Baal and Tiamaat, who were not present, had made no further comment.