"Ludlum, Robert - Matlock Paper" - читать интересную книгу автора (Ludlum Robert)

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Loring walked out the side entrance of the justice Department and looked for
a taxi. It was nearly five thirty~ a spring Friday, and the congestion in
the Washington streets was awful. Loring stood by the curb and held up his
left hand, hoping for the best. He was about to abandon the effort when a
cab that had picked up a fare thirty feet down the block stopped in front of
him.
Going east, mister? It's O.K. This gentleman said he wouldiYt mind."
Loring was always embarrassed when these incidents occurred. He
unconsciously drew back his right forearm, allowing his sleeve to cover as
much of his hand as possible-to conceal the thin black chain looped around
his wrist, locked to the briefcase handle.
"rhanks, anyway. rm heading south at the next comer."
He waited until the taxi reentered the flow of traffic and then resumed his
futile signaling.
Usually, under such conditions, his mind was alert, his feelings
competitive. He would normally dart his eyes in both directions, ferreting
out cabs about to disgorge passengers, watching the comers for those dimly
lit roof signs that meant this particular vehicle was for hire if you ran
fast enough.
 6 Robert Lud7um

Today, however, Ralph Loring did not feel like running. On this particular
Friday, his mind was obsessed with a terrible reality. He had just borne
witness to a man's being sentenced to death. A man be!d never met but knew
a great deal about An unknowing man of thirty-three who lived and worked in
a small New England town four hundred miles away and who had no idea of
Loring's existence, much less of the justice Department's interest in him.
Lorines memory kept returning to the large conference room with the huge
rectangular table around which sat the men who'd pronounced the sentence.
He had objected strenuously. It was the least he could do for the man he'd
never met, the man who was being maneuvered with such precision into such
an untenable position.
"May I remind you, Mr. Lorin&" said an assistant attorney general who'd
once been a judge advocate in the navy, "that in any combat situation basic
risks are assumed. A percentage of casualties is anticipate&"
"The circumstances are different. This man isn7t trained. He won't know who
or where the enemy is. How could he? We doet know ourselves."
"Just the point." The speaker then had been another assistant AG, this one
a recruit from some corporation law office, fond of committee meetings,
and, Loring suspected, incapable of decisions without them. "Our subject is
highly mobile. Look at the psychological profile, 'flawed but mobile in the
extreme: That's exactly what it says. He's a logical choice."
"'Flawed but mobile'l What in heaven's name does that mean? May I remind
this committee that I've worked in the field for fifteen years.
Psychological profiles are only screening guidelines, hit-and-miss judg-
ments. I would no more send a man into an infiltra-
 THE MATLOCK PAPER 7