"Barry B. Longyear - The Hangingstone Rat" - читать интересную книгу автора (Longyear Barry)

тАЬI do indeed, sir.тАЭ

тАЬWould you send a little transmission to Jaggs telling him how great
his new ears are?тАЭ

тАЬVery good, sir.тАЭ To me he transmitted, тАЬYour signal came in
five-by-five, sir. Do you enjoy the feature?тАЭ

тАЬHavenтАЩt quite gotten used to it,тАЭ I answered. To Shad I said aloud,
тАЬWhatтАЩs afoot?тАЭ

тАЬNicely put,тАЭ rhymed Shad. Val and Nadine were both looking up from
their mouse morsels sensing something amiss. тАЬWeтАЩre being observed,тАЭ
Shad announced to us all. тАЬItтАЩs electronic and optical surveillance. I donтАЩt
think the guy staking out this location can pick up low level sound or bio or
mech receivers at the range heтАЩs at, but wireless he gets.тАЭ

тАЬWho?тАЭ asked Val.

тАЬThis is going to sound crazy,тАЭ he said to Val, тАЬbut it might be the
NYPD.тАЭ

тАЬI say.тАЭ I must have looked rather surprised. In any event, I certainly
felt that way. тАЬWhat led you to that conclusion?тАЭ

тАЬThe rat said something to me right before all hell broke loose. When
you were on the phone trying to make sense of the report we received,
Jaggs, I went to the cruiser and copied into this micro. From there I went
directly to our alleged corpse. I was just about to do a scan on the
deceased when the rat opened his eyes, looked behind me, then looked
directly at me and said, тАШHi, cheese eater.тАЩтАЬ Shad issued the ratтАЩs words in a
falsetto voice, replete with scorn and American accented syllables.

тАЬWhat happened then?тАЭ

тАЬThe rat moved one of his front feet and I began getting the hell out of
there. A second later it went boom. By the time this mech rebooted and I
managed to dig my way out from under some turf that landed on me, it was
dark, the area was ringed with crime scene tape, and everybody was gone.тАЭ
 тАЬIs there some significance in what the rat said?тАЭ

тАЬYes,тАЭ answered Shad. тАЬCheese eater is one of the more affectionate
names NYC cops use to refer to members of the rat squad: Internal Affairs
Bureau.тАЭ He turned to Nadine. тАЬIAB takes down crooked cops.тАЭ

тАЬWere you ever in Internal Affairs?тАЭ I asked him.

тАЬNo. But I never took a bribe and among some cops thatтАЩs prima facie
evidence youтАЩre chewing cheddar with the whiskered set.тАЭ