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

Never argue with Karma, he reminded himself dryly. You always lose.
But his first loyalty must be to the Azure monks. They had retained Risk Limited тАУ and him тАУ to recover their sacred
fragment of silk.
That was his primary objective and obligation. He had no doubt of it.
When the sound of footsteps moved past the area where Dani waited, he was disappointed and relieved at the
same time.
Disappointed that the silk wasnтАЩt within his immediate grasp.
Relieved that Dani wasnтАЩt in immediate danger.
He didnтАЩt want to see Dani hurt, or even frightened, if he could avoid it.
Not that she couldnтАЩt use a good scare, Shane thought impatiently. She doesnтАЩt have a clue about how vulnerable
she is. A few bribes at the hotel and I had everything about her but her birth certificate.
And if she had brought that with her, he could have had it when he searched her room. She had made no attempt to
hide her identity or to have another identity waiting once she bought the silk.
Too trusting, Shane thought. An innocent in a game played by carnivores.
A fool, he summed up grimly.
Even now he could hardly believe that Dani had stood in the middle of the open-air market at the temple,
negotiating with Feng. Then she had roamed Lhasa, conducting legal and illegal currency transactions, accumulating
her bankroll.
Shane had spent most of the day watching her all to predictable movements. The only surprise was that the
Chinese security police agents hadnтАЩt swept down and snapped her up in a Beijing minute.
Or the Russian who is following her, Shane thought uneasily, toting up the odds against himself. At least, IтАЩm
betting heтАЩs Russian.
The pale foreigner had the bullet-headed blond look of an Estonian or Ukrainian. Shane had seen plenty of the type
in Afghanistan тАУ Spetznaz troopers, the special operations teams who roamed Afghanistan like packs of wolves in the
days before the Soviet empire collapsed.
He knew the look of the Spetznaz well. He had lived for months at a time with the ragged soldiers of the
mujahedeen, teaching them how to bring down high-tech Soviet tanks with ancient black powder weapons.
Cursing silently, he measured the extent of DaniтАЩs naivete. Only a blind innocent could have missed the
heavy-handed RussianтАЩs surveillance.
True, Shane admitted reluctantly, she had showed intelligence in adapting the old service-entrance gambit to
LhasaтАЩs Holiday Inn. She wasnтАЩt stupid.
But she still was an amateur in a game where professionals died regularly.
Greed could have blinded her, Shane reminded himself. That would explain the risks she takes as though she
doesnтАЩt even notice them.
The idea of Dani as a greedy dealer in dubious antiquities didnтАЩt appeal to him. Nor did it fit with what he had
found in her room. She had none of the luxurious items associated with greed. Her clothes had been comfortable,
easily washable under primitive circumstances, and well worn.
Her underwear had been the same.
If he had found some alluring bits of peekaboo lace in DaniтАЩs backpack, she would have been easy to ignore.
Fantasy underwear. Fantasy woman. Irrelevant to Shane Crowe.
But something about her plain, well-worn, painstakingly clean underwear had been relevant. Instantly.
For the first time in almost three years, his self-imposed vow of celibacy seemed confining rather than liberating.
More footsteps came from below. They stopped where he thought Dani was. Voices came.
Her voice and a manтАЩs.
Feng? Shane wondered.
Wondering was all he could do. He was too far from the edge of the roof to see directly or hear clearly. If he moved,
the rat would squeal and flee.
Dani wouldnтАЩt notice, but Feng would, if indeed he was the one talking to her.
The rat and Shane stared at each other in the deepening twilight. The animal was so close that Shane could see a
flea crawl slowly across the creatureтАЩs bald nose, headed for the corner of an eye.