"Ann Maxwell - Risk unlimited 02 - Shadow and Silk" - читать интересную книгу автора (Maxwell Ann)

It wasnтАЩt the first time she had felt the fragility of human life against the immensity of eternity. In her work as an
archaeologist, she had become accustomed to the weight of time and the dust of human bones and dreams.
But this was the first time in DaniтАЩs life that she had felt her own human vulnerability while waiting to commit a
crime punishable by death.
Yet she held her ground. The silk was more valuable than any life.
Even her own.
 Chapter Two

The rat was huge.
It had emerged from beneath a loose roof tile and scuttled down the roofs slope. Its coat was dark gray and shiny
in the radiance of the mountain twilight.
Claws clicked softly, quickly. The tiny sounds carried well in the quiet surrounding the base of the Potala Palace.
Shane Crowe, lying spread-eagled and absolutely motionless on the roof, knew the exact instant when the rat
caught his scent.
The rodent froze. The black end of its nose lifted and twitched. Eyes like black beads peered toward him.
IтАЩll bet the bastard is hoping for a free meal, Shane thought with grim humor. Sorry, pal. You lose. I may not smell
like a rose, and my beard itches from all the tile dust, but IтАЩm no corpse left for sky burial so that the Tibetan elements
can pick my flesh and soul clean of my bones.
The rat was cautious. It stayed where it was, waiting to see if the human moved.
I donтАЩt smell dead enough for you, huh? Shane asked silently. Well, stick around. I have a bad feeling about
tonight.
Damn all amateurs.
The highly academic Dr. Danielle Warren тАУ Dani to her friends тАУ has no business risking her long legs and elegant
neck in this business, Shane thought in disgust.
Especially not when a nasty piece of work like Feng was part of the bargain. Shane had been edging very, very
slowly down the roof, waiting for Feng to appear.
The four-legged variety of rat had appeared first. The rat waited now with the patience of all predators, trying to
decide if it had found a meal to eat or danger to flee.
Shane stared at the rat. To an animal, such a direct meeting of eyes was a threat. He hoped to drive the rat away
without making any motion that would reveal his own presence to anyone below.
Unlike the blithe Dani, Feng would be alert to any hint of danger from any quarter, even the roofs above.
Will he bring the silk? Shane asked himself for the hundredth time. Or will he just fleece the pretty little professor
and run like hell?
Emboldened by ShaneтАЩs absolute stillness, the rat skittered a few inches closer.
From below came the sound of other footsteps. The human kind.
Shane listened and prayed to ancient gods that he would be close enough to overhear whatever conversation took
place between the Han thief and the American archaeologist.
Bring it, Feng, he demanded silently. I want to meet the man who stole that silk from inside an Azure temple
guarded by men I trained myself.
The Han thief was adept. One in a million.
Shane was as familiar with the Tibetan capital as any Westerner could ever be, yet Feng had eluded him in Lhasa
for three days. That meant Feng was well connected and very, very cautious.
This would be ShaneтАЩs best chance, perhaps his only one, to retrieve the silk.
Damn that woman, he thought. She couldnтАЩt have picked a worse time or place to get in the way.
Not that IтАЩm ungrateful. She led me to Feng and hopefully
to the silk. But sheтАЩs so bloody naive that I canтАЩt just leave her to the vultures.
When Shane had first seen Dani, the depth of his protective instinct toward her had surprised him. He fought it, for
he knew it meant complications at a time when he couldnтАЩt afford any.
The feeling had persisted. He must protect the woman.
Shane had shrugged and accepted it as he had learned to accept so many things.