"Maloney, Mack - Wingman 03 - The Lucifer Campaign UC" - читать интересную книгу автора (Maloney Mack)

The office's window looked right out onto the tarmac. Hunter couldn't help but be distracted by the pandemonium outside.

"What's going on here?" he asked.

"Those people?" el-Fauzi sai'd, sipping his drink. "Well, they're escaping, of course."

"Escaping?"

"Yes, major," el-Fauzi said, looking surprised. "Escaping. Getting out. Flying to South America. All of them. Before the war breaks out again."

"That seems to be on everyone's minds these days," Hunter said, tasting the thick, ultra-bitter liquor. His friend, Diego on the Azores, had talked about the imminent war.

"As well it should be, major," el-Fauzi said. "But isn't that why you are here in Casablanca?"

"To fight?" Hunter asked.

"Why, yes," el-Fauzi answered. "To join The Modern Knights."

21

"I don't know anything about any Modern Knights," Hunter said, reaching into his pocket. He produced a picture of Viktor.

"I am chasing this man," he said, handing the photo to el-Fauzi.

El-Fauzi took the photo and instantly dropped it as if it were on fire. "That's him!" he nearly screamed, his unflappable manner temporarily leaving him. "That is Lucifer!"

"Lucifer?" Hunter said. "Who the hell is Lucifer? That man is Viktor Robotov. He's a Russian agent. Caused a rather large misunderstanding back in America -one that left a couple hundred thousand or so people dead. So now I'm tracking him. Heard he might have passed through here."

"This man is the one they call Lucifer," el-Fauzi said, downing his drink and pouring another. He was slowly regaining his composure. "He passed over us, some time ago."

" 'Passed over'?" Hunter asked.

"Yes," el-Fauzi said. "In his horrible black airplane. He had several free-lance fighters with him. Ran right through our airspace, shot down several planes, simply for being in their way."

Sounds like Viktor, Hunter thought.

"But, we know him as Lucifer," the Moroccan continued. "He's the most powerful man left in the Mediterranean. Europe. The Middle East. Anywhere. His allies hold every piece of major territory east of Tunisia all the way to the Sinai. He controls everything east of that. It is he who is to make war on the rest of the Mediterranean. People know it's coming. They're trying to get out now."

"And that's what this is all about?" Hunter asked, motioning towards the mass of humanity outside trying to fit onto the waiting airliners.

22

"Yes," el-Fauzi said, refilling their cups. "World War Three, major, is about to heat up again."

Hunter shook his head. That's just what Diego had said. He still couldn't believe it.

"Where is this Lucifer?" he asked. "Where's his base? His headquarters? Where is he right now?"

El-Fauzi laughed, then quickly became dead serious.