"Child Of The Stones" - читать интересную книгу автора (Mcauley Paul J)

УI donТt work for anyone.Ф

УYou made a compact with him. You told him that you had found out where I lived, and you agreed to steal my book for him.Ф

УI told you, I donТt work for anyone.Ф

Keeping the point of my blade at her throat, I pulled the briefcase from her grasp. УWhat would I find, Miranda, if I looked in here?Ф

She looked at me, sullen and defiant and scared.

УThe man who wants the book you stole could not find my house, attempted to lure me into an insultingly obvious trap, and hides behind a foolish pseudonym. If you had the benefit of a proper education, Miranda, you would know that the Count of Cagliostro was a charlatan who died more than two hundred years ago, a peddler of quack remedies whose chief fame is that he was immortalized in the writings of Alexander Dumas. I doubt that I have anything to fear from the man who has taken his name, and I also doubt that he has anything to teach you.Ф

УHe showed me how to break your wards, and he said heТd show me other stuff, too. HeТs a powerful man,Ф Miranda said sullenly, Уso you better watch out.Ф

УWe will soon see how powerful he is - you arranged to meet him here, did you not, in your Сusual placeТ? I warned you about the affinity of imps for telephones. One inhabits your mobile phone, and has been listening to your conversations. You arranged to meet Cagliostro. Very well. We will wait for him together.Ф

УHeТll hurt you.Ф

УNo, he wonТt. And I wonТt let him hurt you, either.Ф

УI can look after myself.Ф

УI know that you can,Ф I said. УBut the way you are going about it will only do you harm. I know about your father, Miranda. I know what he did to you, and I know what you did to him. I understandЧФ

She twisted in my grip again, started to shout bloody murder, the perennial cry of the London mob, and kicked at the door of the cupboard. I twisted the key and stood aside and let her run.

A large man in one of the green sweatshirts worn by the public houseТs staff stood at the top of the stairs, wanting to know what all the noise was about. I plucked up an imp and flung it at him and left him there, whimpering some nonsense about rats, and followed Miranda. I knew that she would go straight to Cagliostro. It was time to meet him.
* * * *
The red Jaguar was waiting at the end of Camden Passage. Donny Halliwell eased out of it like a cork from a champagne bottle.

I raised the briefcase, and told him that I would deal only with the man for whom he was working. The driver of the Jaguar said something; Donny Halliwell reached into the pocket of his crumpled jacket and showed me a small black pistol. His smile was a grimace, as if wires had pulled up the corners of his mouth. One of his front teeth was gold. УGet in the car,Ф he said.

I climbed into the back. Miranda was hunched in the corner, small and scared. She looked at me, her lower lip caught between her teeth, and looked away when I told her that everything would be all right.

УThere is a sword in his cane,Ф the man behind the steering wheel said. УDeal with it.Ф

Donny Halliwell took my cane from me, unsheathed the blade, stuck it between two paving stones, and put a right angle in it. He left it quivering there like a broken Excalibur, and levered himself into the car, making the back seat unpleasantly crowded and enveloping me in a yeasty smell of old sweat. The driver put his arm on the back of the passenger seat and looked at me. I realized that I had seen him two nights ago, in the cafe, and knew that he must be the man who called himself Cagliostro.

УYou can let the girl go,Ф I said. УShe has nothing to do with this.Ф

УShe tried to cheat me,Ф Cagliostro said. His was the kind of clipped English accent that had been the norm on BBC radio until about twenty years ago. With his square, handsome face and black polo-neck sweater worn under a black corduroy jacket, he looked like a philosophy professor who has written a bestselling book traducing the ideas of his colleagues. His black hair, almost certainly dyed, was cut very short, showing the white scalp beneath; his eyes were the pale blue of sunlight seen through snow, and unblinkingly intent. He looked older than me, but he was not.

Beside me, Miranda stirred and said, УI never cheated you. I was going to give you the book, but he found me, didnТt he? He took it back.Ф

УYou should have given it to me straight away,Ф Cagliostro said.

УWe had a deal. You said youТd teach me stuff.Ф

УAnd so I will,Ф Cagliostro said. УSuch wonders. What a pity that you and Mr Carlyle will not survive them.Ф He looked at Donny Halliwell and said, УShow me the book.Ф