"Colin Kapp - The Dark Mind - The Transfinite Man" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kapp Colin)

He stood up to signify that the interview was at an end. Dalroi rose also, puzzled by a curious
undercurrent in the P.R.O.'s manner. Madden showed him out with the usual courtesies and a final
handshake. As their hands clutched, Dalroi became aware that a piece of folded paper was being
pressed into his palm. A glance at Madden's eyes cautioned him to silence. He trapped the paper deftly
beneath his thumb, and set off down the corridor without once looking back.
He was deep in the heart of the old town before he slipped the note carefully into his pocket. Glancing
round to make sure he was not being followed, he entered Mortimer's caf├й-bar and went straight to the
telephone. This was a tactical move. Mortimer saw him enter and nodded to the boy to watch the door.
Dalroi and Mortimer had a mutual pact to protect each other's right to privacy, a remnant of the old
gang-fights of their youth.

The note read:

FAILWAY G2. 12:00 MUST SPEAK. MADDEN.

Dalroi frowned. Failway G.2, was the heavy goods entrance on the river side of the Terminal. It was
situated in the wharfing area in the toughest and most vicious district of the old town. Dalroi knew. He
had spent his youth in the shadows of the brothels and bars around the mouldering wharves. That scar on
his forehead was no accident.

He dropped some coins into the meter and dialled his office. Zdenka, his secretary, answered the phone.

"Dalroi here, Zen. Anything new come in for me?"

"Nothing тАФ unless you count the gas bill."

"File it," said Dalroi. "Under miscellaneous. Look, I want you to get on to our police contacts and see if
you can get information on any unidentified bodies found in this area in the last four weeks. I'm
specifically interested in three, male, in the fifty to sixty-five age group."

"That sounds ominously like the members of the fact-finding party who went into Failway."

"Precisely," said Dalroi. "I'm tempted to wonder if I've been looking for them in the wrong place.
Something's very curious about this whole affair. There's a hell of an undercurrent behind everything."

"Speaking of undercurrents," Zdenka said, "somebody named Dutt was on the phone."

"How long ago?"

"Thirty seconds, perhaps."

"Right!" said Dalroi. "You can go home if you want to. I shall probably be late."

He broke the connection hastily. He knew nobody named Dutt. The message was a prearranged code.
DUTT ... Don't Use The Telephone. It meant that the personal-privacy meter in the office had detected a
wire-tap on the line. His interest in Failway had somebody worried, and that somebody was going to a
great deal of trouble to keep informed of his movements. Things were beginning to warm up.

He left the phone, nodded to Mortimer, then changed his mind about going out of the front entrance and