"Steve Perry - Matador 01 - The Man Who Never Missed" - читать интересную книгу автора (Perry Steven)

"They get any of the rebels?"
"Not alive. I hear there were twenty-five or thirty of the Scum involved in
the attack. Armed with stolen .177s and spetsdods."
"The troops ought to be wearing class two or three armor, Subbie."
The Lojt glanced at Khadaji's face through the smoke. He seemed more
relaxed, now. "There's not enough to go around. You were in the
Quartermasters, you know how Supply works. In a ten-kay, you only get so
many suits and additional reqs take months. Besides, class two won't stop a .
177 and you can't move in class three except to waddle."
"Way I heard it, most of the casualties are from dart poison, so class two
shouldтАФ"
"Where did you hear that?" Even through the drug, he sounded suspicious.
Careful, Khadaji told himself.
"I run a pub, Subbie. I hear a lot of things. Men get drunk or stoned, they
say things they don't think about."
Subru shook his head. "Damn! Listen, Emile, I know this won't get past
you, but upranks is shitting bricks over this thing. A lot of the troops the
Scum have hit are stiffies from Spasm poisoning and some of them were
wearing class two. I even heard of a couple wearing class three who took
darts."
"I don't believe it." He knew that was not true, he wasn't so stupid he'd try
a class three with a spetsdod.
"My information comes from high places, Emile. But if you hear any of the
troops babbling in their smoke or splash, see if you can't shut them up before
they get their asses into a sharp crack. The Old Man would love to have a
target to shoot at, any target, including our own."
"Okay, Subbie, I'll try and keep your boys out of trouble in my place. It
would be bad for business if somebody thought they talked too much in here
and made me off-limits."
"Thanks, Emile. I appreciate it."
Khadaji left the shaken Lojtnantinhaling flickstick smoke and walked for
the closest exit. He needed some unpolluted air. Sometimes, this game
seemed to get too twisty, even for him. But Lojtnant Subru was in
Administration, he had access to all the facts about the campaign against the
Shamba Scum and he believed that the rebels were able to knock off men in
class three body armor with spetsdods, something Khadaji himself knew was
impossible.
It was twisty, but it was going better than he'd hoped.
And the end was nearly here.


Chapter Five
 SLEEL'S PHLEBITIS MUST have responded to treatment, Khadaji thought,
because the bouncer was working the floor, watching for signs of trouble
from the crowd in the Jade Flower. It was quiet, though. Butch had run out of
mid-range sops and had, reluctantly, begun offering the high-range chemical
at the same price. Soldiers loved a bargain, and a lot of them were barely
awake at their tables, stoked with the glow of the depressant drug. Nobody
fought on high-sops, it took more energy than a user had available.
Anjue gave him the news when Khadaji went to check on the line.