"Kevin O'Donnel Jr. - The Journeys of McGill Feighan 01 - Caverns" - читать интересную книгу автора (O'Donnell Jr Kevin)

everywhere. She turned up her nose at the shrubberyтАФscraggly and
unpruned, it needed weeding, and a thick mulch.
At the back door she knocked, waited, and rapped again. Eventually a
black-haired, brown-eyed woman appeared. "Ms. Buongiorno?" she asked,
remembering her sketchy briefing.
"Why, yes," said the woman, drying her hands on a dish-towel. "What
can I do for you?"
"Ms. Chan, from the World Health Organization." She unlatched her
briefcase and rummaged in it, as if for identification. "I've been sent here to
examine your son; apparently there is concern that he has contracted an
alien disease which could spread ifтАФ"
Buongiorno frowned and held up a silencing hand. "Put your thumb in
the ID slot," she said.
The Nurse froze. She hadn't expected this. While her eyes fell to the small
electronic box by her right hand, she thought furiously. Then she drew
herself up and said haughtily, "I will not. It is against my religion."
Puzzlement wrinkled Buongiorno's face. "All right," she said. "Your
choice." She stepped back and began to close the door.
"I say!" bit off The Nurse. "Open this at once!"
"No."
"I have, in my briefcase, a court order compelling you to permit me to
inspect your son. Do you wish to be held in contempt of court?"
Worry ruffled Buongiorno's fatigue, but disappeared. "So sue me."
 It was more than The Nurse could stand. Setting herself, she kicked her
booted foot through the screen door. Wire twanged with irritation.
Buongiorno jumped into the shadows of the kitchen and shouted, "Pat!"
So her husband's home, thought The Nurse, as she shook her leg free of
the entangling screens. Entering, she looked quickly around. A standard
kitchen. Neat, though. Very neat. No handy pepper pots, no cups of
steaming coffee, nothing boiling on the stove. Good. The woman wouldn't
be able to throw things at her while her husband was getting his assтАФ
A man drifted in through the swinging door at the far end. For an instant,
as he stood under the lintel like a portrait in a frame, she almost laughed.
This little runt was going to protect his son? He'd be laid out in no time flтАФ
then her eyes adjusted. The door was half a meter taller than average, and a
full meter wider. The guy was no runt. He was, in fact, one of the largest
men she'd ever seen.
"Well now, darling," he said, smiling at The Nurse yet offering warmth
only to his wife, "what is it that's raised your voice?"
"Her." Buongiorno's voice quavered. Her finger, as it pointed first to The
Nurse and then to the mangled screens, trembled like a hummingbird's
beak.
"Ah." He seemed to notice the wreckage for the first time. "It's a proper
mess she's made, isn't it?"
"She kicked it in. She wants McGill. She says she's World Health
Organization, but wouldn't thumb the ID slot." Shivering, she backed to the
safety of her husband's side. "Pat, I'm scared."
The Nurse had had enough familial byplay. Balancing herself on the balls
of her feet, she said, "Gimme the kid or I take him."
"Well now, miss," said the man she was facing, "since we won't give,