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

"Have you heard about quadman Pendragon?" "I don't believe I know a
trooper by that name." The doormaster waved his hands. "He was one of the
firstтАФif not the firstтАФhit by the Shamba Freedom Forces. Six months ago, it
was." Khadaji nodded. "So?" "He's awake. The first to recover from the
poisoning."
"Ah."
"Good news, eh?'
"Indeed."
He wandered back into the octagon, thinking. So. The first one was out of
it. He tried to remember the earliest troopers he'd stationed. They all seemed
to run together, it was hard to pick out a single man or woman. There were
some who stuck in his memory, of course: the couple drinking contraband
voremhdlts in the swirltub; the trooper who covered his face with his hands
and would spend the months that way; the two nude women who came at
him with knives. There were so many of them, though, he couldn't summon
up, they were just bodies falling, locked in tetany. But they were coming back
to their interrupted lives, now. Quadman Pendragon may or may not have
seen him. Probably notтАФ he'd been particularly careful in the beginning,
sometimes wearing skinmasks, sometimes shooting from hiding. But not
always. They would start awakening by the dozens pretty soon, and some of
them had seen him. Some of them had known who he was. Very shortly, the
game was going to be over. Now it would get tricky, it could all fall apart if
he allowed it to go too far.
Khadaji found he was breathing faster, that his heart was rumbling along
quicker than normal. Funny. He had known this was coming and yet now
that it was here, he felt a thrill of fear running through him like some electric
current. The years of mind and body training, of mental and physical control
kicked in, and he calmed himself. He slowed his pulse and breathing, but the
hormone balance was not so easy. The chemicals were stirred and it took
more than a quick effort of will to smooth those waters. Later, he would go to
his cube and spend a few minutes meditating, that would do it. He needed a
clear mind for what was to come.
One more station. It would be dangerous, maybe foolishly so. The big
holoproj was hardly overтАФit was only just startedтАФbut this portion of it was
coming to a close. Kha-daji had mixed emotions about it. On the one hand,
there was the fearтАФhe could end it all now if he screwed it up. On the other
hand, if he pulled it off, it would be the final touch, a major coup. And it was
the last. If it worked, it would serve and if it failed, well, there were risks in
everything. As Subru had put it, one could be flattened by a ground-effect
tank while crossing the street. Life was always shadowed by death.
Preparations were simple. Khadaji took the container of extra spetsdod
darts from his desk, along with the writing pad with the number of casualties
from the hidden box under his desk and dropped them into a public
disposal. There was a flash as the unit's lasers ignited the rigged packets. The
disposal was built to take worse and now that evidence was gone. If nothing
else, the legend was safe.
He walked back to the Jade Flower and used the public com just outside
the fresher. As he waited for the connection to be made, he looked around,
taking in the sights and sounds and smells of the pub. It was all very sharp,
diamond-clear, made so he realized by the fact this might be the last time he