"Michael Moorcock - The Affair of the Bassin Les Hivers" - читать интересную книгу автора (Moorcock Michael)

As their electromobile sped them back to the Quai dтАЩOrsay, Lapointe
mused on the problem. тАЬI need to find someone who has an idea of all the
metatemporals who come and go in Paris. Only one springs to mind and
that is Monsieur Zenith, the albino. YouтАЩll recall we have worked together
once or twice before. As soon as I get back to the office, I will put through a
call to Whitehall. If anyone knows where Zenith is, then it will be Sexton
Blake.тАЭ

Sexton Blake was the real name of the detective famously
fictionalised as Sir Seaton Begg and LapointeтАЩs opposite number in
London.

тАЬI did not know Monsieur Zenith was any longer amongst us,тАЭ
declared LeBec.

тАЬThere is no guarantee that he is. I can only hope. I understood that
he had made his home in Paris. Blake will confirm where I can find him.тАЭ

тАЬI understand, chief, that he was in earlier days wanted by the police
of several countries.тАЭ

тАЬQuite so. His last encounter with Blake, as a criminal, was during the
London Blitz. He and his old antagonist fought it out on a cliff house whose
foundations were weak. The fictional version of the case has been
recorded as The Affair of the Bronze Basilisk. ZenithтАЩs body was lost in the
ruins of the house and never recovered, but we now know that he returned
to Jugo-Slavia where he fought with TitoтАЩs guerillas against the Nazis, was
captured by the Gestapo before he could smoke the famous cyanide
cigarette he always kept in his case and was found half-dead by the British
when they liberated the infamous Milosevic Fortress in Belgrade, HQ of the
Gestapo in the region. For his various efforts on behalf of the allied
war-effort, Zenith was given a full pardon by the authorities and in his final
meeting with his old adversary Sexton Blake, both men made a
bargain-Blake would allow no more stories of Zenith to be published as part
of his own memoirs and Zenith would not publish his memoirs until fifty
years after that meeting which was in August 26, 1946. Both men have
been exposed to the same effects which conferred longevity upon them,
almost by accident. That fifty years has now, of course, passed.тАЭ

тАЬAnd Monsieur Zenith?тАЭ asked Le Bec as the car hummed smoothly
under the arches into the square leading to their offices. тАЬWhat has
happened to him?тАЭ

тАЬHe has become a kind of gentleman adventurer, working as often
with the authorities as against them and spending much of his time in
tracking down ex-Nazis, especially those with stolen wealth, which he either
returns in whole to their owners or, if it so pleases him, pays himself a ten
percent тАШcommissionтАЩ. He will now sometimes work with my old friend
Blake. His adventures will take him across parallel universes where he
assumes the name of тАШZodiacтАЩ. But he still keeps up with his old