"Michael Moorcock - Seaton Begg - The Case of the Nazi Canary" - читать интересную книгу автора (Moorcock Michael)

"Von Bek?" Begg laughed at this mention of his old sparring partner, known to the British public as Monsieur
Zodiac, the Albino, Count of Crime. "I doubt if my cousin would deign to involve himself in this. It's not what you call
an epicurean crime, eh? What about this Fr├дulein Raubal?"
"Her first name, Geli, is short for Angela, I believe. Raubal's a fairly common name in southern Germany and
Austria. Who is she, do you know?"
"Herr Hitler's mistress, my dear chap." Begg smiled self-indulgently, at once mocking and forgiving his own relish
for scandal. "They are also, one hears, close relatives."
Sinclair shook his head. "Afraid I don't follow the German gossip columns."
"You should, old boy." The lean detective sprang from his chair. He tapped out his own pipe against the fireplace.
"You'd learn a lot more from them, Taffy, than from any piece of biased front-page news." He waved at the untidy
stacks of Der Spiegel, SvenskeDagbladet, Berliner Paste, and Muncbener Telegraf which shared not always
agreeable space with Le Figaro, Les Temps, Al Misr, The Times of India, The Cape Times, El Pais, La Posta, and the
Berlin-published Munda Veritas. Few were open at the early pages. "Now, anything else?"
"Well, the thing's from Briennerstrasse. Seems to be genuine. That's a pretty posh avenue in the salubrious bit of
Munich. Papal Nuncio's there and all that. So these chaps seem to have some powerful backers, as you say. Naturally,
Begg, you wouldn't consider working for such people!"
"Well, I agree it might be a bit unsavory to take their money, but I'm curious. Fascinating, eh, the dreams of power
of failed shopkeepers and frustrated shipping clerks?"
"That's downright perverse, Begg!" exclaimed the sensitive Celt. "Keep 'em away with a ten-foot pole, I say."
"Currently President Stalin's favorite foreign policy strategy, the ten-foot Pole." Sir Seaton referred to Lenin's
successor, who led the Bolshevik Party in the Duma and was spouting nationalistic rubbish every day, winning votes
from Monsieur Trotsky, the liberal internationalist. "Poland as a buffer zone in case civil war breaks out in Germany.
Could be the touch paper for another world conflict."
"Germany's safe enough," Taffy insisted. "She has the best and most just political constitution in the world.
Certainly better than ours. Even sturdier than the American."
Like so many old Harrovians, but unlike his former schoolfellow Begg, Sinclair had a comfortable, phlegmatic
belief in the sense of the commons and their strong survival instinct both as social democrats and as self-interested
individuals with jobs and businesses to ensure. War made economic sense for a couple of years at most and then
began impoverishing the participants. It was the one lesson learned from the recent beastliness ending with the Treaty
of Versailles.
Begg took back the German wire and read it aloud, translating swiftly. "My dear Sir Seaton: Here in Germany we
have long admired the exploits of your famous English detectives. We are sufficiently impressed with your national
virtues as a detecting folk to inquire if you, paramount in your specialized profession, would care to come at once to
Munich, where you will have the satisfaction of rescuing a reputation, bringing the guilty to justice, and also
knowing you have saved a noble and betrayed nation. The reputation is that of our country's most able
philosopher-general. I refer, of course, to our Guide Herr Adolf Hitler, author of Mein Kampf and bearer of the Iron
Cross, who has been devastated by the murder of his ward, Fr├дulein 'Geli' Raubal, and whose reputation could be
ruined by the scandal. With a view to seeing the triumph of justice, could we, the National Socialist Party, enjoin
you to lose no speed in taking the earliest zeppelin from Manchester to Munich? While B.O.A.C. provides an
excellent run from Croydon and appears quicker, there is a long delay making stops at Berlin and Frankfurt,
therefore we recommend you take the modern German vessel which leaves Manchester Moss Side field at five PM
and arrives at ten AM the next morning. An excellent train leaves Kings Cross at two pm and connects with the
airship, the Spirit of Nuremberg. Please excuse the brevity of this telegram. My inner voices tell me you are destined
to save not merely Germany but the entire Western world from an appalling catastrophe and become the best-loved
Englishman our country has ever known. On the presumption that you will accept our case, as you accept your
historic destiny, I have sent, via courier, all necessary first-class travel documents for yourself and an assistant,
together with documents enabling you to bring any personal transport you favor. We are, you see, familiar with your
foibles. I will personally be at Munich International Aerodrome to meet the ZZ. 700. I look forward to the honor of
shaking your hand. Writing in all admiration and expectation that your famous sense of fair play will move your
conscience, I am, Yours Most Sincerely, Rudolf Hess, Deputy Leader, The N.S.D.A.P., Briennerstrasse, Munich,