"Ludlum, Robert - Rhineman Exchange" - читать интересную книгу автора (Ludlum Robert)

boxes at each comer of the glass-fronted, lightless cubicle. There followed
the distant howling of dogs - large, rapacious dogs - and then a voice -
deep, clear, forbidding -spoke over the interweaving sounds of the organ
and the animals.
Wherever madness exists, wherever the cries of the helpless can be heard,
there you willfind the tallfigure ofJonathan Tyne - waiting, watching in
shadows, prepared to do battle with the forces of hell. The seen and the
unseen....
Suddently there was a piercing, mind-splitting scream. 'Eeaagh V Inside the
lighted, inner room an obese woman winked at the short man in thick glasses
who had been reading
 from a tyWA script and walked away from the microphone, chewing her gum
rapidly.
The deep voice continued. Tonight wefind Jonathan Tyne coming to the aid of
the terror-stricken Lady Ashcroft, whose husband disappeared into the misty
Scottish moors at precisely midnight three weeks ago. And each night at
precisely midnight, the howls of unknown dogs bay across the darkened
fields. They seem to be challenging the very man who now walks stealthily
into the enveloping mist. Jonathan Tyne. The seeker of evil; the nemesis of
Lucifer. The champion of the helpless victims of darkness....
The organ music swelled once more to a crescendo; the sound of the baying
dogs grew more vicious.
The older officer, a colonel, glanced at his companion, a first lieutenant.
The younger man, his eyes betraying his concern, was staring at the group
of nonchalant actors inside the lighted studio.
The colonel winced.
'Interesting, isn't it?' he said.
'What?'... Oh,yes, sir. Yes, sir; very interesting. Whichoneishe?'
'The tall fellow over in the comer. The one reading a newspaper.'
'Does he play Tyne?'
'Who? Oh, no, lieutenant. He has a small role, I think. In a Spanish
dialect.'
'A small role ... in a Spanish dialect.' The lieutenant repeated the
colonel's words, his voice hesitant, his look bewildered. 'Forgive me, sir,
I'm confused. I'm not sure what we're doing here; what he's doing here. I
thought he was a construction engineer.'
'He is.'
The organ music subsided to pianissimo; the sound of the howling dogs faded
away. Now another voice - this one lighter, friendlier, with no
undercurrent of impending drama - came out of the two webbed boxes.
Pilgrim. The soap with the scent offlowers in May; the Mayflower soap.
Pilgrim brings you once again 'The Adventures of Jonathan Tyne.'
The thick corked door of the dark cubicle opened and a balding man, erect,
dressed in a conservative business suit, entered. He carried a manila
envelope in his left hand; he reached over and extended his right hand to
the colonel. He spoke quietly,

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 but not in a whisper. 'Hello, Ed. Nice to see you again. I don't have to
tell you your call was a surprise.'